Rage Revised

By Tony Grenander (domtempriall@hotmail.com)

Introduction

The Garou are known to get more furious and vicious the angrier they get. Interesting enough the rules found in Werewolf do not reflect this in a good way. Therefore, I decided to make my own Rage rules. The Rage rating is a measure of how angry a Garou (or any being with Rage) can get. Whenever the Garou gets frustrated, or is under a great amount of stress (good or bad), he must make a Rage roll (Temporary Rage). A Willpower can be spent to stop anything from happening, and to keep him calm, so long as the Willpower is spent instead of rolling the dice. The difficulties for Rage rolls are covered in Werewolf, and therefore not mentioned here. These rules have both strengths and weaknesses, but are overall more powerful than the old, so I suggest all STs to consider these rules carefully before using them. Personally, I have only used them in a Garou vs. Wyrm campaign, and have no idea how they would work in a crossover setting. Mail me if you have any thoughts about the changes I've done, or tell me how they work in a cross-over.

Extra Actions

For every success gained on the Rage (Temporary Rage) roll, the Garou may use that amount of extra actions the first turn (of combat). For every following turn, the Garou adds one to this value, up to his Permanent Rage rating. When the maximum (Permanent Rage rating) level of Rage is reached, the anger starts to fade. Every following turn the Rage level, and number of extra actions decreases by one. When a Garou is at zero Rage, he is no longer furious, and counts as if he was out of Rage (zero Rage). If he was frenzied, the frenzy ends, but he can still regain Rage (see below).

Gain and Regaining Rage During Combat

Certain things might fuel the anger, or keep it from declining. The following situations call for a new Rage roll, this time using one's Permanent Rage rating. If the successes are more than the current Rage level, they replace it, if not, the current rating stays. Four successes means the Garou frenzies, and six successes means he enters "rabid" frenzy.

Example 1. Trash, an elder Bonegnawer Ragabash, is down to one Rage (and declining) after a long and brutal fight. Suddenly a Sabbat vampire stabs him with a silver dagger. Trash instantly rolls for Rage, using his permanent dice pool. He scores three successes and regains two Rage, leaving him on a Rage level of 3. He can use the extra actions immediately if he wish. The next turn his Rage will decline down to 2.

Example 2. Trash's loyal companion, Blood-eye, gets into trouble, and has to roll for Rageback. He scores seven successes and flies to his feet angry as all hell, with seven extra Rage. Blood-eye had a Rage level of 7 (and growing), and gained seven extra, but as his Permanent Rage is 9, the seven extra only raises him to 9. He can use the gained Rage immediately. The next turn his Rage declines to 8, and will keep declining one level per turn until it reaches zero, when he will come out of the frenzy.

Situations where Rage can be regained:

1. A successful Rageback makes the Garou gain/regain one Rage per success.
2. When a close friend takes severe damage, roll for Rage (permanent rating) again. The ST may restrict a player to only "have" one or two close (loved) friends.
3. If the enemy is getting reinforcements, or the situation is really starting to look ugly, roll for Rage (permanent rating) again (see above). This only applies to extreme situations, i.e., an ambush , premeditated slaughter of innocents, or a glorious last stand against hordes of Wyrm spawn.
4. Botching an important roll in combat adds one to the Rage level (not past the maximum). The extra action is immediately available.
5. If the Garou suffers damage from silver, make a Rage roll (see above). This rule might make the use of silver weapons against Garou less attractive.
6. Encountering the real enemy, after fighting all its minions. Roll Rage again (see above). This should be "the monster at the end of the story" kind of thing, not a mere tough guy.

Four successes (or a botch) on any Rage roll means the Garou enters frenzy, and that he is not allowed to employ any more gifts until the frenzy ends. Six successes indicate that the Garou enters rabid frenzy, and becomes a "thrall of Wyrm." If a Garou has zero Temporary Rage in the beginning of a combat, and is asked to make a Rage roll, he is assumed to get zero successes (what else?). This means he won't be able to spend any extra actions the first turn, but will gain one Rage level every turn, up to the maximum.

Rageback

The ability to supercharge one's regenerative powers with Rage. Only Garou possesses this ability, not, Abominations, Fomori, or other beings with Rage. The Rage is what made the Garou "the guilty" in the war of Rage, and it's what makes them so dangerous to combat. The other changing breeds might be tough, but when it comes to cheating death, the Garou are second to none. Their connection with Gaia is unique, and unchallenged. When a Garou sufferd wounds that would kill it, Gaia channels raw Rage through her children. It is a Rage so powerful it might bring them back from death. The Garou rolls his Rage (Permanent) against a difficulty of 8. Every Success instantly heals one health level (even aggravated), but leaves a permanent scar behind. The roll is also a frenzy roll which adds one/success to the Rage level, and sends the Garou into frenzy (see above). A Garou will never enter "rabid" frenzy because of Rageback. Due to the nature of this instant healing, the Garou does not lose any time/actions. Broken bones meld together, gaping wounds close, scattered body parts fly through the air to merge with the body, and even a "destroyed" Garou will heal in an instant. The only way to destroy a Garou is to kill it repeatedly, until it stays dead. There are ways to halt, or remove a Garou's regenerative abilities, and these ways will make Rageback attempts futile (certain Wyrm toxins, gifts, charms).

Other Rage Benefits

Benefits not mentioned here, but mentioned in the WoD rulebooks, apply if the ST wants them to.

Stockpiling Rage (in everyday life)

When the Garou is provoked, thwarted, or concentrating hard (uses Willpower or suppressing the beast), he gains one Temporary Rage, up to his maximum rating. This Rage gain does not call for a Rage roll, but will make him more prone to frenzy in the future. If players start to burn Willpower just to gain Rage, kick their heads in. This rule only applies in everyday life, and is meant to reflect a social handicap of the Garou.

Rage Drawbacks

All creatures (including other Garou) will feel uneasy around someone with a higher (temporary) Rage rating than the creature's own Willpower. Raise the difficulty for all social rolls by one per every Rage-point that exceeds the target's Willpower. This is mutually exclusive with the pure breed background (i.e., one takes out the other) when dealing with Garou or kinfolk.

If a Rage roll is succeeded (zero successes) a creature with Rage will still respond in a very aggressive way, possibly scare people in his surroundings. In normal society, the Garou temperament is abnormal; even a "small" outburst of anger will classify him/her as a maniac, and make people very afraid of him (they feel the beast).

Gifts

Some gifts became less effective, so I modified them. I also added a couple of new ones (just to make the already mighty, even mightier).

Silver Claws (Level 3 Ahroun)

Stoking Fury's Furnace (Level 4 Ahroun)

Frenzy (Level 5 Ahroun)

Unending Rage (Level 6 Ahroun)