Bestiary

Players use their pooled points in the Totem Back­ ground to “buy” the totem spirit that has chosen their pack. Each pack can only be affiliated with one totem. Each totem in this section lists the benefits that the pack gain when accepted by it; unless the totem’s description says otherwise, all bonuses and penalties apply as soon as the totem accepts the pack.

Example: Ali’s pack has just been accepted by Falcon. Each member of the pack immediately gains two points of Honor Renown. Every scene, one member of the pack adds three additional dots to her Leadership until she passes it on to another packmate. Any member of the pack can draw on the totem’s pool of four Willpower points — at least until they’re all expended.

Players can enhance their pack’s totem by spending experience points to increase their characters’ Totem

rating, per the Background’s description (p. 140). Totem spirits can also teach Gifts relating to their affiliation and powers. Some totems allow their children to use a particular Gift without teaching it to them, channeling the spirit’s power directly.

A totem does not just grant power to a pack; it also has restrictions that the werewolves must follow. These con­ straints on the pack’s behavior form part of the totem’s Ban. If the pack members don’t follow the Ban, their totem will cut off assistance. In this case, the werewolves lose all of the benefits of their totem, including access to extra Willpower, Gifts, and Traits, until they undertake a Rite of Contrition to appease their totem. A pack who repeatedly offends their totem may find that the spirit abandons them entirely.

The totems that follow are among the most common patrons to Garou packs. Several of these totems act as tribal totems, but members of that tribe don’t gain the benefits of that totem. Only individual packs who ally with an avatar of those totems gain the benefits. Most cubs learn their tribal Gifts through the spirits that they meet during their Rite of Passage.