Rage

Overview

The Shifters are creatures of instinct and passion, not just because a Beast resides within their breasts, but because they have never abandoned the soul of nature in reckless pursuit of civilization. Rage is a measure of a character's capacity for all-consuming madness as well as determination. It is animal magnetism and the lust that arises out of instinct; it is the fear that stems from ignorance and the hate that is spawned by unreason.

Rage is important to the Shifters because they can use it to perform extraordinary feats, and because it so often moves them to deeds they later regret. Moreover, Rage is what allows them to shapeshift between beast and human. Whatever its origin and nature, Rage consumes a Shifter's energy and attention. Much of a Shifter's existence goes into directing her Rage to good purpose, and even more into harnessing its dark impulses. Rage comes in two forms: the permanent Rage rating and the temporary Rage pool, which indicates how many Rage points your character has left to spend. The Rage Pool can never be greater than your Rage rating. When you use a point of Rage you remove it from your Rage Pool, not Rating. The rating stays constant, while the Pool gets depleted during roleplay.

Using Rage

Rage points can be expended in any number of ways:

Frenzy

Frenzy is the primary danger of Rage. It is the mad bloodlust that overwhelms the Shifters in times of great passion, hunger, or conflicting emotions. Whenever a character makes a Rage roll and score four or more successes, he enters a frenzy. See the combat primer for more details about the causes and resolution of frenzies.

Extra Actions

A Rage point can be spent to take an extra action. A Shifter cannot use more Rage points in a single turn than her Dexterity score or her Wits score, whichever is lower. You can only spend half your Rage points in one go.

Changing Forms

A Rage point can be spent to assume any desired form instantly, without requiring a Stamina + Primal-Urge roll.

Recovering from Stun

When a Shifter loses more Health levels in one turn than his Stamina rating, he is stunned and cannot act for another turn. However, spending a Rage point allows a character to ignore this effect.

Remaining Active/Alive

When a Shifter falls below the Incapacitated Health Level (7), he may elect to make a Rage roll in an attempt to remain active. The difficulty of the roll is 8. Each success instantly heals on Health Level, even if the wounds were aggravated. However a Shifter may attempt this roll only once, and if it fails, he does not recover. Also, as with any Rage roll, the risk of frenzy is run (see above).

There is a penalty from drawing on one's anger in such a way. If the roll succeeds, the Shifter must roll an extra die on his Battle Scars roll, adding the results of the two rolls. See Battle Scars Chart.

Beast Within

For every point of Rage above her Willpower rating, a character loses one die on all rolls involving social interaction. The Beast is simply too close to the surface and the Shifter's presence makes all around her uncomfortable.

Losing the Beast

If at any time a Shifter has neither Rage nor Willpower points, he has "lost the beast" and can no longer gain Rage. He cannot transform into anything except his breed form until he once again possesses Rage. He must first regain at least one Willpower point before he can regain Rage. (See Willpower.)

Gaining and Regaining Rage

Rage points constantly fluctuate during a game. Characters spend them to gain extra actions, change forms, etc. Rage points are regained in any of the following ways, unless otherwise noted for other Shifters:

The Moon

When the character first sees the moon at night, something deep in his soul surges. The character gains one Rage point under a New Moon, two points under a waning/crescent moon, three points under a half or waxing moon, and four points under a full moon. If the moon corresponds to the player's auspice, she regains all her Rage. This occurs only upon first sighting of the moon. For this reason, Shifters with high Rage ratings are best left alone or treated cautiously on their Auspice moon.

Botch

At the Storyteller's discretion, a character who botches a roll should receive a Rage point to represent the frustration, provided the situation is stressful. Remember that social situations can be just as stressful as combat, and a botched roll is even more frustrating during social circumstances.

Humiliation

The character may gain a Rage point during a particularly humiliating situation. The Storyteller, not the player, judges whether or not the humiliation was enough to award a point. Remember -- shifters do not like to be laughed at. This can be combined with the above rules for botching -- a werewolf who screws up in public is likely to become quite Irate.

Confrontation

At the Storyteller's discretion, a character may receive a Rage point after the first turn of a confrontational situation, just before combat really begins in earnest, or in any really tense roleplaying situations. This represents the anticipation of danger, the raising of hackles as anger rises to the surface.

Source

This was taken and modified slightly from the 2nd Edition core rulebook from Werewolf: the Apocalypse. All information is copyright White Wolf.