All shifters gain five Free Traits in addition to those gained from Negative Traits and Flaws (even though some of the source books don’t include this). A character may gain two Free Traits by taking a Derangement at character creation. If she does so, she may only gain Free Traits from three Negative Traits.
A shifter may gain an Ability Trait, Attribute Trait, or Background Trait at the cost of one Free Trait. Gnosis and Rage Traits cost two each, while Willpower and Basic Gifts (subject to normal approval restrictions) cost three Free Traits.
Additional Backgrounds can be found on page 53 of Dark Epics. Garou cannot take Retainers.
Fetish
All non-standard Fetishes, and all Fetishes level five or higher, require High Approval. Note that a list of additional (Low Approval) Fetishes and Talens is presented at the end of Chapter Four.
Klaives or Grand Klaives that have different melee-weapon shapes than normal, or are made from materials other than silver, require High Approval. They typically give no more benefits than the standard forms of these weapons. The tradition of crafting and wielding Klaives is a sacred one steeped in honor. Few with the skill to make these sacred weapons are willing to deviate from the standard form accepted by the Garou Nation.
Creatures without Rage may attempt a Willpower challenge instead, to resist the effects of a Harmony Flute.
No more than two extra levels of damage can be inflicted by an (activated) Fang Dagger. An activated Fang Dagger remains active for the remainder of the scene.
Kinfolk
Kinfolk takes the place of Retainers for Garou, a Background that Garou cannot purchase due to the effects of The Curse. For determining the statistics of kinfolk, use the same guidelines as those for Retainers in Prime.
Mentor
Mentors will not teach out-of-Tribe Gifts. Learning a Gift form a mentor includes all the disadvantages of learning Gifts from another Garou. Mentors can teach rites of the same level as the Gifts they can teach.
Pure Breed
Level five in Pure Breed requires Mid Approval.
The Traits granted by Pure Breed are not automatically added to all Social Challenges with Garou. The challenge must be one where the Garou’s noble bearing can be seen (or is known), and where such a patrician demeanor would affect the outcome of the challenge. This includes challenges for stare downs, Etiquette and Leadership Ability challenges, and Gifts such as Calm, Curse of Hatred, Mastery, Obedience, Paralyzing Stare, Roll Over, Staredown, and Visage of Fenris.
Because of the greater weight of accounting placed upon the descendants of the Garou Nation’s heroes, whenever a character with Pure Breed loses temporary Renown Traits, he will never lose less than half his Pure Breed total, rounding up. For example, a character with Pure Breed three will lose two Honor for “not protecting a helpless human”, rather than one Honor.
Rites
Characters may not have more than five total Traits in the Rites Background. The cost of rites through this Background is one Trait for a Basic rite, two Traits for an Intermediate, and three Traits for an Advanced rite. Two Minor Rites can be purchased for 1 Trait of the Rites Background.
The number of Rituals Ability Traits required before a character may learn rites is one Trait for Minor, two Traits for Basic rites, three Traits for Intermediate, and five Traits for Advanced rites. A Garou of any Rank may learn any rite, but the use of a rite not allowed by Rank is a dishonorable and unwise act. It is worth the loss of a temporary Honor and a temporary Wisdom Renown unless a sept’s Master of the rite is directly supervising the Garou.
Further rules for rites can be found in Chapter Three.
Totem
Pack totems are Jaggling spirits. A base totem (see page 90) costs a number of Background Traits equal to the Background cost of the totem (see pages 243-248). Ignore the charts in the book and use the following for purchasing improvements to the base totem.
Children of Uktena ignore the first health level of damage they suffer each scene while in the Umbra to reflect their “automatic level of soak” against all damage. Each story is considered to be a month for the purposes of the additional Experience Traits granted to Uktena's children. These Totem-granted Experience Traits can exceed the character’s monthly maximum, but may never be used to buy Gifts.
Top Approval is required for any new totem affiliations not found in the Camarilla's Rules Supplement.