Gifts of Insight

Aligned Trait: Harmony (Death Crow Morrigans)

Prey on Weakness

This Gift tears away the facade behind which the prey hides, revealing his frailties to the shifter.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Action: Instant, Contested (Presence + Empathy + Harmony vs Composure + Primal Urge)
• Duration: Instant

The shifter may use this Gift against an individual whom he has been able to observe for at least one turn.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The prey remains opaque to scrutiny and gains a +3 bonus to all Subterfuge rolls against the shifter for the remainder of the scene.
• Failure: The Gift fails.
• Success: The shifter immediately becomes aware of the following information about the prey. If the shifter uses any of this information against the prey in a Social roll during this scene, he gains a +3 bonus to his dice pool.
  • her Virtue and Vice
  • how much damage she is currently suffering from
  • any frailties she possesses (including physical and mental Conditions and Tilts)
  • if she is sick, poisoned, or drugged
  • whether she is currently in the grip of strong emotions such as anger or grief.
• Exceptional Success: If the Uratha plays on the information gleaned in a Social maneuver against the prey, he automatically opens one Door in addition to the action’s other results.

Read the World's Loom

The world is filled with a deluge of seemingly trivial information that offers insight to the initiated.

• Cost: 5 Essence or 3 Essence if within Pack Territory
• Action: Instant (Wits + Occult + Harmony)
• Duration: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The shifter reads a false message in his surroundings; a flight of birds makes him fear a hostile pack approaches when no such threat exists.
• Failure: The Gift fails.
• Success: The shifter gains insight from his surroundings, hearing of a coming threat from the growling engines of a traffic jam, reading secrets from amidst the gang tags on the walls, or seeing the sorry state of the Gauntlet in the patterns of scurrying cockroaches. The character learns of a single event, threat, or circumstance of meaningful relevance to the shifter within his Aligned Trait in miles. The information gained relates to the present or the near future, although anything beyond 24 hours is likely to be extremely vague. If the character chooses a topic to which there are no meaningful answers, he can choose a different topic instead. Topics that the character can choose to have insight into (along with sample answers) include:
  • Threats. (The police chief is planning a raid on the pack; werewolves come seeking a showdown; the tenement is unstable and will soon collapse; the old spirit Thurizag has returned)
  • The supernatural. (Something preys on human residents in the area; something dwells in the high-rise; something numbs the minds of residents)
  • The Gauntlet. (It lies in tatters; swathes are thick and stifling; spirits are breaching it)
  • The Shadow. (Someone is cultivating a particular spiritual resonance; the pain-spirits are at war; interlopers have entered the Shadow)
  • Violence. (A riot is brewing; there is a pattern to the murders; a hunt is taking place)
  • Conflicts. (Gangs are feuding over drug territory; the big corporation is under financial attack, the mayoral election is turning nasty)
  • Weather. (A storm is coming; the blazing heat will not abate for a week; the heavy rain hides murders)
• Exceptional Success: The shifter can choose two topics to gain insight into.

Echo Dream

The world is filled with spiritual echoes of what has come before, patterns worn into its fabric. A shifter with this Gift can hear those echoes and glean insight from them.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Action: Instant (Wits + Investigation + Alignment Trait)
• Duration: Instant

The shifter focuses on a single object or location that he is handling or touching, no larger than a medium-sized room.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: Unable to focus on the visions that wash into his mind, the shifter is left dazed and loses a Willpower point.
• Failure: The Gift fails.
• Success: The shifter gains a spiritually significant vision from the object’s past such as a murder, intense emotional outburst or other event. Echoes usually only linger for a few years, but very potent impressions can persist for much longer, such as a tree where a serial killer strung up a dozen of her victims, or the fetish with which a lesser god of the Shadow was struck down. The vision granted by Echo Dream is clear but often highly symbolic in its depictions of what occurred.
• Exceptional Success: The vision provides a wellspring of insight; not only is the symbolism reduced in favor of straight-forward truth, but the shifter can use Prey on Weakness or Scent the Unnatural on any characters that he perceives in the vision.

Scent the Unnatural

The shifter who possesses this Facet can smell the tainted presence of creatures and powers that defy the natural order.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Action: Instant (Wits + Occult + Alignment Trait)
• Duration: Instant

The shifter can use this Gift to detect supernatural creatures and effects within 10 yards per dot of Alignment Trait he possesses. Scent the Unnatural will not detect shifters or the use of Gifts, nor will it detect spirits and their powers if in the Shadow. It will sense Ridden, Hosts, vampires, ghouls, mages, and other supernatural creatures, as well as active spells, items, enchantments, or other powers of such creatures.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The shifter gains the Ban Condition. He must carry a scented or perfumed object with him and must breathe from it at least once per scene.
• Failure: The Gift fails.
• Success: The shifter catches scent of a supernatural presence nearby. Each success indicates a single supernatural being or effect that is in the Gift’s range, including where it is (and, in the case of an effect or power, what area it covers). The Gift offers no further information about the supernatural being’s true nature, except for Hosts and Claimed. The shifter becomes immediately aware of the latter’s classification, although the Gift does not specify what type of Host, or what spirit is Claiming a victim.
• Exceptional Success: The shifter gains the specific scent of the supernatural individuals or effects nearby, and will easily recognize them without requiring the use of this Gift should he encounter them again.

One Step Ahead

Wherever the prey runs, wherever they flee, the predator is always one step ahead.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Action: Instant
• Duration: Instant

When using this Facet, the shifter must be able to perceive his prey, the building or location that they are currently within, or a map of an area on which the prey’s current location is marked. He gains insight into what the prey’s likely next steps will be on the scale in which he is observing, particularly in terms of the hunt. In person, he can tell which exit the prey might run for in the room, or where her patrol or ambling walk will take her. When observing a building or bolthole, he can tell which exit she will come out of if alarmed, flushed, or lured out. On the scale of a map, he gains an impression of to where she will attempt to flee or travel. The Gift provides information on the basis of current events and can become out-dated if the situation changes dramatically.