Milestone Gifts

Tribes of the Moon p. 12
Auspice, Lodges & Tribes
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Milestone Gifts are without a dot rating. One doesn’t purchase such an ability with experience points. So what is a Milestone Gift, and how is it achieved?

Milestone Gifts are bestowed by the Firstborn to a member of the tribe who has in some way embodied the ideals of the tribe and the totem. A Hunter in Darkness who comes a hair’s breadth away from dying to protect the sanctity of an ancient temple or a powerful locus may be a candidate; so, too, a Bone Shadow who single-handedly puzzles out the ban to an idigam raging across the desert with its mad army.

The bestowal of such a potent Gift is not something given lightly, and it does not occur without fanfare. Each werewolf experiences the gaining of the Gift in a different way. One might find an intensely spiritual and personal experience; called to the Shadow, a Blood Talon finds the jaws of Fenris on the back of her neck, and she is dragged to a mountain lair, where he teaches her. Another might experience something rather public: after negotiating a tricky peace between warring vampires using various half-truths and full lies, an Iron Master may fall to his knees in front of his pack, and they all hear the cacophonous whispers and distant howls of Sagrim-Ur whirling about their packmate.

Note that each Milestone Gift is given a set of prerequisites. Harmony is fundamental to gaining and keeping such a boon: if a character drops below Harmony 6, she has three cycles of the moon to regain that lost balance. Fail to do so, and the Firstborn will snatch the knowledge of the Gift in his jaws, withdrawing the ability forever (as in, the werewolf can never regain it). Many go at least a little mad with the loss of such knowledge, given that the werewolf becomes fully aware of just how keenly she has disappointed the tribal totem. Some even gain temporary derangements, lasting weeks or even months. A werewolf’s own sense of treachery or weakness might plague her endlessly until she is able to regain some measure of Harmony and find a rough semblance of calm.

Before granting a character access to a Milestone Gift, the Storyteller should discuss the opportunity and cost with that character’s player. Some such Gifts, while potent, are also with a troublesome cost. For instance, the Bone Shadow Gift: Eyes of Death Wolf results in the loss of a character’s eyes. The Gift compensates for this, of course, but if that character falls below Harmony 6 for too long and loses the blessing of the Firstborn… well, her eyes are still gone. And now the Gift does not compensate for the loss of vision, making that character blind. Therefore, it’s worth having a conversation with the player and ensuring that he is comfortable with the cost and repercussion. Great power, great responsibility, as the saying goes.

If the Storyteller so decides, a Milestone Gift can be purchased with experience points, though this is not the recommended fashion by which a werewolf would receive such a Firstborn blessing. The purchase of a Milestone Gift is equivalent to 30 experience points.