W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

• Uproot (Level Three) — The Grondr may easilyuproot diseased trees (or human dwellings…) by strikingat their foundations.System: The character strikes at the base of a tree,cornerstone of a building, support beam, or other foundation.The player spends one point of Rage and Gnosis androlls Wits + Primal-Urge, difficulty 7. For each success,the character adds five dice to her damage against thefoundation. If the tree or building falls as a result of thisGift, the player may choose the direction.• Beast Life (Level Four) — As the lupus Gift.• Stoking Fury’s Furnace (Level Four) — As theAhroun Gift.• Taint Evaporation (Level Four) — Pointing toa Bane or other Wyrm-tainted spirit, the Grondr speaksan ancient word of cleansing. The Wyrm-spirit’s Essenceloses coherence, easily dissipating into the air afterwards.System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rollsCharisma + Survival (difficulty of 5 or the target spirit’sGnosis, whichever is higher). For the rest of the scene,anything which causes the spirit to lose Essence (be itthe claws of a pack of angry Garou or the activation costof a Charm) makes the spirit lose an additional point ofEssence above and beyond what would otherwise havebeen lost or spent. Should the spirit be destroyed whilethis Gift is in effect, the Grondr regains the Gnosis pointspent to activate it.• Touch of Restoration (Level Four) — Focusingher Gnosis into a plant or seed, the Grondr brings it tofull growth with astonishing speed.System: The character touches an immature plantor the ground where one or more seeds have fallen, andthe player rolls Gnosis (difficulty 7). The plant or plantsaffected grow to maturity over the course of the nextmonth (or year, in the case of truly enormous plantssuch as redwoods).• Manifesting the Land’s Wounds (Level Five) —Marking the surrounding area with her tusks, the Grondrroots out the land’s corruption, causing it to manifestas a Bane. Before the War of Rage, this Gift was usedin the presence of waiting Garou packs, who tore themanifested spirit to shreds. During the War it was heldup as evidence of Grondr corruption.System: The character traverses the area to becleansed, marking it over the course of anywhere fromseveral minutes to several hours. At the end of thisperiod, the player spends two Gnosis points and rollsStamina + Occult (difficulty 8). Success causes the landto be cleansed of all Wyrm-taint and to begin to rapidlyrecover from all marks of ecological devastation over thenext year. The expurged Wyrm-taint becomes a Bane(distribute 5 points among the Bane’s Rage, Willpower,Gnosis, and Essence for each half-mile in diameter ofland cleansed).• The Living Wood (Level Five) — As the Childrenof Gaia Gift.• Wyld Warp (Level Five) — As the Black Fury Gift.RitesRite of the Hungry SoulLevel Three, MysticThe Rite of the Hungry Soul represents the ultimateexpression of the Grondr philosophy — consuming evilwithout being tainted by it. This rite allows a wereboarto consume a spirit, as long as it cannot escape. SomeGrondr use the rite on spirits they have defeated incombat, while others consume the Banes that powercorrupted fetishes, or even those possessing fomori —though in most cases consuming the Bane kills the host.Traditionally, Grondr use this rite on Banes and othercorrupt spirits, but the rite works equally well on anykind of spirit. Indiscriminately using this rite is an easyway to attract the ire of almost every spirit in the Umbra.Performing this rite is a contested roll between theritemaster’s Wits + Rituals and the spirit’s Rage. Theritemaster’s difficulty is equal to the difficulty of summoningthe spirit (see W20 p. 212), the difficulty of thespirit’s roll is the ritemaster’s Gnosis.If he is successful, the ritemaster consumes the spirit.He can use the spirit’s Charms as though they were innatepowers, spending the captive spirit’s Essence. Wheneverthe ritemaster would spend a point of Gnosis she canspend a point of the consumed spirit’s Essence instead.It cannot regain Essence, and loses one point per weekof captivity. When the spirit runs out of Essence, it isdestroyed; the ritemaster consumes its very core. Whilethe spirit lives, it can still get free — if someone killsthe ritemaster.The Grondr who used this rite to consume Banesand other tainted monstrosities did not suffer from anyWyrm-taint. Any shapeshifter who rediscovers thisritual in modern times might not benefit from the sameprotection.CHAPTER FOUR: GRONDR THE LOST BREEDS247