Shapeshifting

The defining facet of the Uratha is their ability to change forms. All werewolves are capable of assuming five different forms, each of which has different strengths and provides different modifiers to a character’s traits.

To change shape, an Uratha draws on the supernatural power that infuses his body, making his form protean like quicksilver, forcing muscle and sinew into the desired shape. While most werewolves consider the five forms each Uratha inherits sufficient, some delve into the possibility of assuming other forms. Such Uratha can hail from any tribe, and are often found conversing with Lunes, trying to attain the true freedom of shapechanging said to be the province of Mother Luna.

The forms:

• Hishu Human
• Dalu Near-Human
• Gauru War Form
• Urshul Near-Wolf
• Urhan The Wolf

System

Shapeshifting requires a Stamina + Survival Skill + Primal Urge roll (using the character’s base Stamina in Hishu form) as an instant action. Success allows an Uratha to shift to any form she desires. An exceptional success on this roll allows the character to shift forms as a reflexive action and take another action in that turn. Alternatively, a player may spend a point of Essence for the character to change shape as a reflexive action with no need for a roll. Uratha may also change shape as a reflexive action, without a roll or point expenditure, while their moon is in their auspice phase. Returning to Hishu form is always a reflexive action with no roll or point expenditure necessary, as it’s the form with which werewolves are most familiar.

Trait modifiers listed for the given forms always apply to the character’s base dots in Hishu form. A character who is in Gauru form and shifts to Urshul form doesn’t get the trait bonuses of both forms. The Urshul form modifiers are simply applied to his Hishu traits. The minimum to which a trait can drop is 1; a character cannot fall to 0 Manipulation by shapeshifting. Advantages such as Speed that are determined by adding dots in a character’s traits also receive bonuses in various forms. A Speed modifier listed is applied to a character’s standard Speed in Hishu form. (Any bonuses to Strength and/or Dexterity listed for a particular form are already accounted for.) Therefore, the +7 bonus to Speed in Urshul form already takes into account the +2 increase in Strength and the +1 increase in Dexterity, with an additional bonus based on the build of the form.

Defense is always the lower of either Dexterity or Wits, as measured by a character’s Dexterity in his current form. A character with Dexterity 2 and Wits 3 has a Defense of 2 in Hishu form. When he shifts to Urshul form, his Dexterity improves to 4. His Defense is now 3, as his Wits is lower than his Dexterity.

Due to increases in Stamina and Size, some forms grant additional Health dots while such a form is maintained. These dots are added to the right end of your character’s Health chart. Wounds suffered in corresponding boxes cycle back into his Health chart when he assumes a form with fewer overall Health. That is, those “unaccounted for” injuries push existing, less severe ones right off his Health chart, or if his Health Chart is full of injuries they upgrade the least severe wounds he has.

See “Temporary Health Dots” in the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 173, for more information. If a character possesses any Fighting Style Merits, they are usable only in Hishu and Dalu forms. The other forms are too unlike human anatomy for the character’s fighting arts to do any good, and it’s particularly hard to focus on a disciplined fighting style while Raging. If a werewolf is knocked unconscious or killed, he immediately reverts to Hishu form.