Rites & Rituals

Level One Each caern has a specific power associated with it, generally of a beneficial nature. Thus, there are caerns of Rage, caerns of Gnosis, Strength, Enigmas, and so on. If a character is knowledgeable enough, she may tap into the caern’s power and use it herself. Doing so is commonly known as “opening” a caern. Such a feat shouldn’t be attempted lightly — Gaia’s sacred places don’t give up their power easily, and failure to harness such power can seriously harm the Garou.

Each caern has its own requirements of the ritemas­ ter. In order to open a caern of Enigmas, a Garou might walk a spiral path while calling out the Greek myth of Persephone; to open a caern of Rage, the Garou might change into Crinos and chant the litany of his ancestors who have fallen in battle against the Wyrm. The key is forging a connection to the particular spirit of the caern.

System

To open a caern, the character engages in a resisted, extended test of Wits + Rituals (difficulty 7) against the caern’s spirit, seeking to gain a number of suc­ cesses equal to the caern’s level. The caern spirit uses the caern’s level as its dice pool (difficulty of the ritemaster’s Gnosis), seeking to gain (Ritemaster’s Willpower) suc­ cesses. The first party to reach their target number of successes triumphs.

If the character wins the test, she can add the caern’s rating to her dice pool when performing actions appropriate to the caern’s focus. If she loses, she takes lethal damage equal to the number of successes by which the caern beat her; a botch makes this damage aggravated.

See page 310 for a list of caern types, their powers, and the spirits that can be encountered near them.