About to go through the First Change...

Greetings.  I've decided to start up in WoD as a Werewolf.  Always had a thing for werewolves compared to the other supernatural beings, and this RPG seems to exemplify werewolves really well.  But, there are somethings I need to go over first.

First off, I'm probably the only werewolf locally.  This obviously is a big problem considering how werewolves in this RPG are supposed to be, as a pack.  This could be somewhat changed by going the path of a Ghost Wolf, but you miss out on a lot of benefits the others get.  Plus, there's the fact that others will most likely be playing humans or Hunters, which also hits hard in terms of Harmony and degrading.  It's understandable not to walk out into a crowd and change in broad daylight, but I don't want to end up Harmony 2 or lower because I'm working alongside humans and Hunters.  Do I still check in these situations, or no?  Working alongside other characters, I'm assuming, don't count anyway, and neither does facing off against anything, even humans and Hunters, correct?

Thanks in advance for those who reply.

Welcome to the boards.

You might want to your Storyteller is you are even allowed to play a werewolf, specially if everyone else is going to be human.

The Pack thing is a minor issue with lots of role-playing potential for playing up a Ghost Wolf.

You wont be as strong as if you had a Pack at your back (maybe you'll be able to join up with a lot of NPCs) and certain things maybe denied your character because you are Packless.

The big thing is the fact that humans/mortals re-act to you as if you are dangerous (social penalty -1 for Primal Urge), should you change into any of your other forms  you'll trigger Lunacy in them.

Sure you do risk your Harmony if you reveal yourself to humans, but should it ever drop to 3 that won't be a problem any more.  Yes you risk your Harmony in front of any humans, every time.  Doesn't matter if they are your loved ones, best of friends, or partners in crime, if they are human you'll have to make a check if you change in front of them and they in turn will be affected by Lunacy.

Thought the werewolf "template" is part of the character creation process, it isn't a character in and of itself, FYI.

This may be a case where you ask your ST if its ok to not roll harmony degeneration when you change in front of the other PCs.  Technically, that's incorrect.  But the game you're describing isn't conventional and sometimes you bend the rules to make the game work for your particular scenario.

I already knew about the Lunacy factor, so that I got down pat.  But for the degeneration, it's really all about what the ST says.  Hopefully I can see if the ST can allow as you described just to avoid doing the roll almost every time.  And hopefully I won't be the only werewolf, but I think the popular options will be Hunters and Changelings, sadly...

Thanks again for the info.

Dont worry bud I know what your talking about.

You are worried about your Harmony getting hit for not hanging out with other werewolves.

I wouldnt worry too much, just talk to your Storyteller and double check if there will be lotsa npc werewolves to interact with or whether he will downplay the, "need peers or will go nuts," aspect.

He/she has probably already got it covered, but if s/he doesnt, there are other ways to make a werewolf.

There is, huh?  I'm intrigued now...

Basically, as I've been thinking about it, in the case that there are no other werewolves, I think I'll be going with a Ghost Wolf whose decided to roam the world, seeing what life has to offer as a werewolf, and finding himself in the middle of whatever the game comes across.  The auspice choice I've narrowed down to either Rahu, Itaheur or Irraka.  The other two, Cahalith and Elodoth, seem more geared to be in packs than just roaming loners.  As for what he'll be "equipped" with stats and gifts wise, I'll get into later.

Viper, I'm in agreement with most of the others- it's not a humongus deal provided it fits the story.  Being a lone wolf does have plenty of disadvantages based on the RAW, but with luck your ST will have that figured out.  I'd agree with you on your auspice choices for the most part, personally I feel Rahu or Irraka would be the easiest to start out playing, especailly in a mixed setting.  Something else that's worth asking your Storyteller is what (s)he plans on doing when you have gifts, rites, or powers that affect the pack or 'allies.'  WW often writes things in a cloudy way, it would be worth seeing up front what the ST's feelings are concerning thest types of things.  For example, inspiration gifts say allies, so does that mean it can affect mortals as well?  Or if you liked the idea of the Cahalith, could you expand the definitino of 'pack member' to 'allies' if you form a close bond with your companions?

To the others on the topic of "Revealing the Existence of Werewolves to a Human"; in the core book under the description, it excludes supernatural folks and wolf-blooded here, and makes a note to say: "Instances include public displays of bestial forms or Gift uses that prove to have witnesses who understand and remember what happened."  How do you all play that out?  If during a fit of rage a human spots you, then you kill him to prevent him from knowing about werewolves, is that a violation?  What if all of the people who witnessed it were moderate to low willpower and don't remember it, do you force a degeneration roll then?

Viper114:

It's understandable not to walk out into a crowd and change in broad daylight, but I don't want to end up Harmony 2 or lower because I'm working alongside humans and Hunters.  Do I still check in these situations, or no?  Working alongside other characters, I'm assuming, don't count anyway, and neither does facing off against anything, even humans and Hunters, correct?

You are probably already aware of this, but the premise of Werewolf is that the PCs are all werewolves in the same pack. The mechanics are designed to enforce this, thus things like betraying your pack and revealing the existence of werewolves to humans rate as quite serious sins against Harmony. So that's the reasoning behind the mechanics.

However, that is not to say that your idea of a lone werewolf PC in a group of humans couldn't work - it would just pose a challenge. Personally, I'd enforce the sin of revealing the existence of werewolves to humans as it is a pretty serious sin (level 4). However, I would only enforce it once  - when the werewolf PC first reveals his true nature to the other PCs. Every other time I wouldn't require a Harmony check because the werewolf has already revealed the existence of a werewolf to those humans. If, however, he takes Gauru in front of other humans for example, then yeah, that qualifies as a sin and he has to make the check. So, it will still be a challenge for you to play the werewolf, but I think it means that you have to be more resourceful when overcoming obstacles you could easily solve using your werewolf abilities but risk exposure to human bystanders.

Also, if your PC drops to Harmony 3, this won't be an issue. Unfortunately, he will become less stable and pick up a spirit compulsion at the very least (a couple derangements as well, at worst), so this is probably not a desirable option.

I say play it out and see what happens to your PC. Does he manage to strike a balance working with a group of humans while still being a werewolf or does his werewolf nature ultimately push him away from the group to seek out others of his kind? I think these kind of issues would be fascinating to explore in play! :)