Changing Breeds 2.0- Because Someone had to

[ZealousChristian24]

Well, I dumped hyenas with dogs, foxes and other canids. Need two more to round the breed up.

Maybe Jackals and Coyotes?

[Satchel]

Well, I dumped hyenas with dogs, foxes and other canids. Need two more to round the breed up.

Bears.

[Thorbes]

Maybe Jackals and Coyotes?

That would work. Problem is I could see both foxes and coyotes being the Cunning splat of the Breed. Maybe Coyotes could be the Wisdom ones?

Bears.

I kinda think bears deserve a Breed of their own. Assuming you were serious and weren't messing with me

EDIT: well, that's what I get for not scrolling down to the diagram. Yeah, Satchel, you are right. I mean, if I included hyenas that are way different fron other canidae, why not bears that are closer? Well, I don't have a good answer to that, I just thought they were dog-like enough. Never had imagine they were closer kin to housecats, that's for sure! Live and learn.

[wyrdhamster]

I would stick to the Breeds topology of original Changing Breeds - they are more concerned with similarities in folklore, than proper biological connotation. And rather powerful Breeds, like Bastet or Ursara, will have multiple Species in it, each connected to other Renown. So let's see those biggest now. And it's okay if we do not have all 5 Renowns in Breed - it's just a general structure and should makes sense.

The Pack:
* Dogs - Honor ( being "good dog" )
* Foxes - Cunning
* Hyenas - Glory?
* Coyotes - Wisdom
* Wolves - Purity - technically, they are all super Wolf-Blooded

Bastet:
* European ("White") Liones - Glory
* Tigers - Purity
* Egyptian cats – Wisdom/Purity?
* "Hell" cats - Cunning?

Ursara:
* Grizzly - Glory
* Brown - Wisdom
* Polar - Purity

[Shock]

I would stick to the Breeds topology of original Changing Breeds - they are more concerned with similarities in folklore, than proper biological connotation. And rather powerful Breeds, like Bastet or Ursara, will have multiple Species in it, each connected to other Renown. So let's see those biggest now. And it's okay if we do not have all 5 Renowns in Breed - it's just a general structure and should makes sense.

Bastet:
* European ("White") Liones - Glory
* Tigers - Purity
* Egyptian cats – Wisdom/Purity?
* "Hell" cats - Cunning?

Lions: Glory

Tigers: Purity or Wisdom (plugging in Budda symbolism.)

Puma: Cunning.

Jaguar: Honor (the myths have them as shamans).

Last one I am at a loss for.

[Elfive]

I'm pretty sure dogs and wolves are technically the same thing. Although I'd prefer to avoid actual canines in the canid breed just because it seems redundant.

Also Ursara:
*Panda - Honor

[Thorbes]

I would keep dogs but take away wolves for obvious reasons. Add Jackals instead.

[Hexmeister Vic]

I'm surprised none of my added Tribes got any questions yet (werejellies, werecrabs, wereants, werehippos, oh my!). Most are balanced by not being as subtle, or as fast, or as killy as Uratha, while most of the bigger things need that added strength and mass to get around not being built for decisive victory.

Breed Gifts are on the way. I just got the Bag of Tricks aspects converted, and they look deviously fun to me.

5 more Facets and a little coding, and I'll have Character creation ready to go.

[Illuminated Minutia]

A while back I was kicking around an idea for other Werewolf-esque shifters. Granted this was more as antagonists or NPCs, but basically some of the other celestials at one point did something similar to Luna and had weird half-breed super-hosts of their own. Except, barring Helios/Sol and Mercury, they were tied to fairly common metals (Mars - Iron, Venus - Copper, etc) and so were driven to the brink of extinction ages ago. That gives you six other "breeds" to slink around with their own plots and goals.

On top of that I also like the idea that Gaia would generate agents of her own from time to time. Although, I don't see Gaia as being on a level where the eco-terrorist narrative would really work. Gaia is life, its the planet, its been through far worse than anything humanity will ever throw at it and even though we might pose a threat to our own continued existence, the planet isn't going to gnash its metaphysical teeth if Florida sinks or California becomes a desert. I could see like Gaia using Bear-people (or whatever-people) to smash certain pieces of God-Machine infrastructure or seal Avernian Gates or take care of other things that threaten the planet as a whole, though.

[Hexmeister Vic]

BREED GIFTS

The following Gifts are available to all Changing Breeds (Uratha included) as Shadow Gifts. However, if a Breed's Diet is Herbivorous, they treat the Herbivore Gifts as Wolf gifts for the purposes of Experience costs and starting gift Facet choices. Likewise, Omnivores treat the Omnivore Gifts as Wolf Gifts. All Shifters treat the Gift of Change as a Wolf Gift, and all Predatory breeds use the Wolf Gifts as their Breed Gifts.

HERBIVORE GIFTS
Gift of the Drove

Scent the Green Pasture (Cunning)
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival + Cunning
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: Animals are extremely attuned to their surroundings. This Facet allows a feral to be even more attuned than usual. Scenting the wind or feeling the trembles of the earth, he can “scan” his surroundings for trouble. In game terms, the player takes a reflexive action to get a feel for the territory, and then makes a Wits + Survival + Cunning roll to spot potential threats, trespassers or meals within 500 feet or so of the character. This Facet's roll enjoys a bonus, depending on the Feral’s surroundings and circumstances. In natural surroundings, the player gets a +3 bonus; in urban settings, the bonus drops to +2. If the feral knows his surroundings well, the dice pool receives an additional +1 bonus; if not, no further bonus applies. Other perception-based modifiers also apply, however, up to a maximum bonus or penalty of +5/–5. This Facet works in any form, and costs no Essence to employ.
Crash of Hooves (Glory)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Roll
Effect: During a Down and Dirty Combat, or any regular Combat action that benefits from Teamwork, the Primary actor adds the Shifter's Glory Renown to their Dice pool in addition to the successes on the supporting action roll. In order to gain this benefit, the Shifter must roll Strength + Brawl as his action. If the Primary actor is making a Ranged Attack, normal penalties for shooting into melee apply.
Wall of Horns (Honor)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: When the Shifter chooses to willingly defend another, they may spend 1 Essence, increasing both the Cover bonus they grant and their effective Durability rating by their Honor Renown
Relentless Drive (Purity)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Stamina + Athletics + Purity
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Shifter's efforts have taken most of their energy reserves. They gain the Exhausted Condition.
Failure: The Shifter doesn't tap into his effort properly and must rely solely upon his own toughness.
Success: The Shifter digs deep and finds a wellspring of stamina with which to keep going. For the Scene, the Shifter adds their Purity Renown to their effective Stamina for the purposes of resisting Tilts, being Beaten Down, Environmental Hazards, Diseases, or Poisons.
Exceptional Success: Such is the Shifter's fortitude, that in addition to the effects of a success, they gain the Inspired Condition.
Wanderer’s Patience (Wisdom)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: As long as the Shifter allows themselves to move in a slow, steady, but relatively uncontrolled fashion, they may spend 1 Essence to add their Wisdom Renown to a Resolve + Composure roll of any kind, provided the Shifter is not in Basu-Im.

Gift of the Herd

Alarming Alacrity (Cunning)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Turn
Effect: With the expenditure of 1 Essence, the werebeast can double his Speed for as many turns as he has points in his Cunning Renown. This Facet can be used in any form.
Titanic Might (Glory)
Cost: 5 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: The Werebeast's stature greatly increases. For the Duration of this Facet, add their Glory Renown to their Size rating, and they gain the 9-again rule to Strength rolls. This Facet triggers Kuruth, and will cause certain Facets, like the Father's Form, to end. Regardless of form, a character using this Facet inflicts full Lunacy when this Facet is active.
Mercy's Touch (Honor)
Cost: 1 essence per roll
Dice Pool: Composure + Medicine + Honor; subtract the target's Wound Penalties, if any, from the activation roll
Action: Extended (1 success per point of Lethal Damage on the Target or 1 per level of Disease Severity or Poison Toxicity); each roll represents 5 minutes of physical contact with the target for healing Damage or 10 for treating Disease or Poison)
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Shifter's attentions serve only to further exhaust the target. The target gains the Beaten Down condition until their wounds heal normally.
Failure: While comforting, the Shifter makes no progress in healing the sick or injured
Success: Although mercy is in short supply in the feral world, certain animals — cattle, hares, dogs, frogs, bears and especially serpents — are renowned for healing powers. With this Facet, a feral licks, lays his paw upon or wraps himself around a sick or wounded friend. The player spends an Essence point and rolls Composure + Medicine + Honor. The result is the number of Health points restored from lethal damage, healed at a rate of one point per success for every five minutes of interrupted consolation. This Facet normally does nothing to heal bashing or aggravated damage; the Facet can, however, end Tilts or mitigate the long-term effects of Disease or Poison if the healer takes devotes 10 minutes per level of Severity or Toxicity to do so. This Facet works in all forms.
Exceptional Success: The Shifter's attentions are especially effective. At their option, the Shifter may, in place of healling several points of Lethal damage or making progress in curing or supressing poison or disease, may choose to either fully heal the target of Bashing damage or heal a point of Aggravated damage for every 2 successes on this interval's roll.
Mother's Fury (Purity)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: Nothing is more dangerous than a mother bear defending her cubs. This Facet channels that ferocity to defend a Feral’s kin or other innocents. This Facet adds the Shifter's Purity to her hand-to-hand dice pools when defending her character’s family, her lover or children in general. This bonus lasts for one turn for each dot in her Primal Urge score, then reverts to the normal dice pools. Despite the Facet’s name, the character need not be female or a mother in order to employ this Facet. The defended character, however, must be more or less helpless against the impending attack, and cannot be another werebeast or supernatural creature, unless that creature is the character’s own child. Generally, this Facet is used to protect the Mortal, Beast-Blooded, and animal members of the Shifter's Pack.
Walking Blind (Wisdom)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Wits + Stealth + Wisdom
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The crowd parts for the Shifter. No matter where she walks, people step out of her way. This might be useful in some circumstances, but if the character is trying to blend into a crowd, it rather defeats the purpose. The character gains the Exposed Condition (–2 on all Stealth rolls) and can resolve this Condition by accepting a failure on a Stealth roll.
Failure: No effect; the character can attempt use the Facet again as long as she has a crowd to hide in and hasn’t been pinpointed (cumulative –1 penalty to each successive attempt).
Success: As long as the character remains in a crowd of at least 10 creatures and does not do anything to call attention to herself, Perception rolls to find her automatically fail. This includes looking at photographs of the crowd after the fact and trying to pick her out. It does not protect her from magical detection.
Exceptional Success: In addition to remaining hidden, the character can tell if someone is looking for her. This doesn’t help her discover people looking for her in pictures or video after the fact, but while she is still in the crowd she can sense if someone is looking for her (trying to break through the homogeneity of “crowd” to make her an individual, distinct entity).

OMNIVORE GIFTS
Gift of the Hive

Hedgehog's Anointment (Cunning)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival + Cunning
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Poisonous Resonance gets reabsorbed into the Shifter's body. He is afflicted with the Poisoned Tilt for the scene.
Failure: The Essence dissipates before the proper Resonance can be infused.
Success: The Essence used to power this Facet coats the Feral's hide in a nasty poison. Anytime a creature makes a Brawl-based roll against the character, they are afflicted with the Poisoned Tilt and over the course of a number of hours equal to the number of successes rolled, is affected by a Poison of a Toxicity equal to the Shifter's Cunning Renown. Primal Urge reduces the severity of this Poison as normal, and the damage caused by this Poison is magical, meaning it can damage Vampires or creatures similarly resistant to mundane sources of harm. The poison coating retains its potency for the entire scene following its application, after which it dissipates. If magical means are used to counteract this poison, there is a clash of wills.
Exceptional Success: In addition to the longer duration that the victim remains poisoned, the ability to inflict the Poisoned tilt remains for 1 day.
Royal Jelly (Glory)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Wits + Politics + Glory - Composure
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Shifter's chosen Protégé falters badly. The target is afflicted with the Demoralized condition.
Failure: Although clearly favored, the Shifter's patronage hardly shows on the Target's Aura.
Success: The magnificence of the Shifter is reflected in the soul of his ally. The target of this power gains the Glorious Condition, using the Higher of the Shifter's Glory Renown or his own.
Exceptional Success: When Resolving the Glorious Condition inflicted by this Facet, the target adds the Shifter's Glory to his own, and regains his Willpower as if he had satisfied his Virtue or similar attribute.
Sense of Familiarity (Honor)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Honor versus Resolve + Primal Urge
Action: Contested; Resistance is rolled Reflexively
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: Your calm demeanor and carefully muted Resonance do little to convince onlookers to ignore you. You gain the Easy Prey Condition.
Failure: Onlookers remark upon your presence and test for Lunacy as normal.
Success: By employing this trick — an extension of Lunacy — a feral can engage in strange, even supernatural, activity without drawing unwanted attention to himself. Potential witnesses either don’t notice what’s going on or convince themselves that what they are seeing fits into the natural order of things. If the Feral is running around in his animal form through a place he might be noticed, the player should compare his activation roll to the Resistance roll of those that might notice him. If the roll is successful, nobody detects anything strange. The character may not even be noticed at all. This sneaky character can even act in an overtly supernatural fashion (leaping over walls, jumping off buildings), yet may remain unseen. If he does something that’s clearly impossible for an animal, potential onlookers gain another Resistance roll. If they fail to beat the activation roll, the feral doesn’t provoke a strong or fearful reaction. He may become the subject of a dreamlike fascination, or wind up rationalized into something completely mundane. Circumstances will dictate the specifics. Note that violent or extreme actions — such as attacking someone or devouring a corpse — cannot be obscured by this Facet. This talent is a gift for tricksters, not a cloak for murderers. If the character’s presence would damage his physical environment (such as a rhino in a shopping mall, or any but the Swarm's War Beast Form), the player must spend one point of Essence to activate this power. If the beast is stealthy, though (for example, a crow or cat), there is no Essence cost. Witnesses who succumb to the Sense of Familiarity might never know they encountered anything supernatural at all. At best, the event will become an interesting story they tell at the bar; at worst, the event will be forgotten altogether. Additionally, if the Feral provokes Lunacy in an onlooker later in that scene, they subtract that Feral's Honor Renown from the roll.
Exceptional Success: So perfectly innocuous is the Feral's presence, that he gains the Invisible Predator Condition for the scene.
The Tenth Plague (Purity)
Cost: 5 essence
Dice Pool: Charisma + Presence + Purity - Composure
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: Beast shapes haunt your peripheral vision. You gain the Shadow Paranoia Condition
Failure: The creatures you summon fail to arrive with any quantity, speed, or psychological impact
Success: A multitude of creatures, often of the Shifter's Nahual but in a pinch, any size 2 or smaller creature appropriate for the environment where this Facet is invoked, appear, forming a swarm covering an area of 1 square yard per success. Any enemy in the Swarm takes magical Lethal damage equal to the Shifter's Purity Renown, and gains the Distracted Condition
Exceptional Success: Such is the weight and horror of the swarm that any enemy caught within it is inflicted with the Shadow Paranoia Condition.
Clamber (Wisdom)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Effect: Like a monkey, this character climbs and clambers about with surety and grace. The Shifter adds his Wisdom Renown to his dice pools for climbing, grasping and swinging around while this Facet is active. While certain breeds have forms more suited to these activities that others, the only limit to being able to master this Facet is effort.

The Bag of Tricks

Pearl of Great Price (Cunning)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Subterfuge + Cunning vs. Resolve + Primal Urge
Action: Contested; Resistance is rolled Reflexively
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Player is convinced that the object enchanted by this gift is something the victim cannot live without. The character gains the Swooning condition in regards to the target.
Failure: The target sees through the enchantment and recognizes the bauble for the junk that it is.
Success: The target is impressed by the enchantment. The character gains a +1 to Social rolls against the Target, while the target is at a -1 to Social rolls against the character. In addition, reduce the number of Doors the character must open while using Social Maneuvering against the target by his Cunning Renown. Note that this power counts as Hard Leverage, requiring a Breaking Point toward Spirit with a -2 to the roll.
Exceptional Success: The target gains the Swooning condition in regard to the Character in place of the penalties listed under Success; the character still enjoys the reduction in Doors, and takes no penalty to the Breaking Point roll.
Brave Escape (Glory)
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Intimidation + Glory - Composure
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Turn
Results
Dramatic Failure: Not only can the character not escape, but they gain the Cowed Condition
Failure: the character's antics fail to startle the target or create the necessary diversion to effect an escape attempt.
Success: In addition to successfully intimidating the target, the character may add their Glory renown to their Speed, provided they make an effort to escape the target.
Exceptional Success: As for a Success, plus the Target gains the Cowed condition for the scene.
Toss the Scent (Honor)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Honor versus Composure + Primal Urge
Action: Contested; Resistance is rolled Reflexively
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: the character gains the Easy Prey Condition for the next week
Failure: the scent does not transfer from the character to the target.
Success: the character manages to transfer their spoor to a place, object, or another person. For this Facet's duration, a tracker that fails to resist this Facet's effects gains the Lured Condition, targeting the area, object or person the scent was transferred to, and lasting until the tracking scene ends. If this power is used to transfer the scent to a person or creature, they may attempt to resist as the tracker does, adding their successes to the tracker's roll
Exceptional Success: In addition to being Lured, the tracker gains the Lost Tracker Condition. If transferred to a person, the effects persist for 1 day, which require a new resistance roll from that person everytime the tracker makes a subsequent attempt.
Tar Baby (Purity)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: Wits + Crafts + Purity versus Resolve + Primal Urge
Action: Contested; Resistance is rolled Reflexively
Duration: 1 Scene
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Character's aura is infected by the poppet's vile resonance. They gain the Ban condition, forcing the character to mock the strongest creature encountered in subsequent scenes.
Failure: The poppet's resonance fails to infect the target.
Success: The poppet carries a mocking resonance, inflicting the Atavism Condition upon the target, that lasts until the end of the scene or he satisfies the other Resolution requirements, generally by destroying the poppet, which is a Size 1 object with a Durability equal to the character's Purity renown.
Exceptional Success: the poppet is an Enhanced Object, and can soak Aggravated damage equal to its Durability rating
Blank Burrow (Wisdom)
Cost: 1 essence
Dice Pool: -
Action: Instant
Duration: Instantaneous
Effect: Ducking into a hole, niche or other hiding place, a trickster literally disappears from there and reappears in another niche nearby. The new hiding-place must be within 10 yards per dot of the Shifter's Wisdom Renown of the original one, and has to be large and dark enough to reasonably accommodate the shapechanger in his current form. The Character spends one point of Essence to “skip” the space between the two locations. This Facet works in any shape other than War-Beast, and is damned confusing to the Character’s enemies.

[amechra]

"Half actions" aren't a thing.

[Shock]

A while back I was kicking around an idea for other Werewolf-esque shifters. Granted this was more as antagonists or NPCs, but basically some of the other celestials at one point did something similar to Luna and had weird half-breed super-hosts of their own. Except, barring Helios/Sol and Mercury, they were tied to fairly common metals (Mars - Iron, Venus - Copper, etc) and so were driven to the brink of extinction ages ago. That gives you six other "breeds" to slink around with their own plots and goals.

On top of that I also like the idea that Gaia would generate agents of her own from time to time. Although, I don't see Gaia as being on a level where the eco-terrorist narrative would really work. Gaia is life, its the planet, its been through far worse than anything humanity will ever throw at it and even though we might pose a threat to our own continued existence, the planet isn't going to gnash its metaphysical teeth if Florida sinks or California becomes a desert. I could see like Gaia using Bear-people (or whatever-people) to smash certain pieces of God-Machine infrastructure or seal Avernian Gates or take care of other things that threaten the planet as a whole, though.

I would see the actions of Gaia being less about plots or plans or even "mysterious ways" and more the impulse and actions akin to a nerve synapse firing than a planned action.

Earth be weird yo, and sometimes, just frankly does weird stuff without planning.

[Hexmeister Vic]

"Half actions" aren't a thing.

Missed that. Fixed. Thanks.

[Hexmeister Vic]

I would see the actions of Gaia being less about plots or plans or even "mysterious ways" and more the impulse and actions akin to a nerve synapse firing than a planned action.

Earth be weird yo, and sometimes, just frankly does weird stuff without planning.

Definitely an entity of habit rather than planning.

[Darksider]

As long as it isn't Fera: The Mary Sueing I'll probably check out another shot at Changing Breeds if the devs can create a better creation system and a more diverse background than Nature vs Man. That's fine for one or two breeds because the themes still has a place in nWoD, but based on what I've seen there are other themes people would like to see explored as well. I'm actually wondering how well Beast mightl be able to scratch someone's Fera itch.

edit. Apologies for posting what I was thinking while reading the thread. Didn't mean to thread crap.