Silent Strider Gifts

A Strider with this Gift is never lost while the stars shine in the sky. This Gift is taught by a spirit servant of the North Star.

This practical Gift prevents the Silent Striders who have it from ever being lost. Under a cloudy night sky and without the benefit of a chart or compass, a Strider can still make his way through unfamiliar territory. Although he cannot tell exactly where he is at all times, the Strider will always have a perfect sense of direction. Also, he always knows the exact distance he has traveled. Various star-spirits and other inhabitants of the Aetherial teach this Gift.

(Camp: Harbingers)

Other werewolves look to the Ahroun for leadership in battle, and this Gift helps them live up to that trust. The werewolf employs this Gift to lend her resolve and righteous anger to those who share her cause. A lion- or wolf-spirit teaches it.

The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, "This place stinks of the Wyrm" (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm's taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or who has eated tainted food. This power requires active concentration. Any spirit of Gaia may teach this Gift.

The Garou can muffle any sound she makes, the better to creep up on an enemy or escape unnoticed. An owl-spirit teaches this Gift.

(Kucha Ekundu)

The Garou doubles her running speed. A roadrunner- or cheetah-spirit teaches this Gift.

Young Silent Striders quickly learn the need for extraordinary speed and stamina -- often the message that even untested youths are asked to carry cannot wait for the message bearer to sleep or eat. A Garou with this Gift can run from moonrise to moonrise subsisting on nothing more than her spiritual energy, crossing almost four hundred miles, but as soon as she breaks her run she must eat and rest. This Gift is taught by a wolf-spirit.

The White Howler version is called Death Sight

By spending a Gnosis point, the lupus can center herself in relation to Gaia, and always know which direction she is traveling in or facing, no matter where she may be in the Gaia realms. In addition, the lupus carries her “territory” around with her, in a mystical sense. Wolves will detect this, and concede her  right to travel through their territories and hunt there. Even other lupus must make a Willpower roll not to recognize this right. Other animals will also recognize this, and not attack the intruder.

The Garou can become completely invisible to all senses, spirits or monitoring devices by remaining still. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

(Camp: Wayfarers)

The White Howler Version is called Spectral Authority

(Camp: Bitter Hex)

The metis may verbalize the hatred in her heart, disheartening opponents with the intensity of her emotion. A spirit of hate teaches this Gift.

Camp: Dispossessed

This Gift was used in bygone days to assassinate corrupt officials or merchants who were the tools of vampires. Beautiful young Garou would dance for them, then strike when the target least suspected. The secrets of the dancer's knife had been kept alive by members of the Dispossessed camp, who found it useful to play on their gypsy heritage. In these desperate times, it's a common tool of the camp's Galliards when a fight gets messy. This Gift is taught by a cobra-spirit.

Camp: Freebooters (Black Furies)

The Garou can run at full speed for three days without rest, food or water. When the Garou reaches her destination, she has 10 minutes to complete whatever business brought her, then she must sleep for three days. A camel- or wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

(Camp: Seekers) / (Camp: Hand of Tyr)

Name changed to Pulse of the Prey in 20th Anniversary Edition

This Gift allows Gaia’s warriors to read and wield the spirit of speech, bypassing the need to learn different languages and dialects. The Garou may speak and understand any human language she encounters, though she speaks with an obvious accent, marking her as an outsider. Speech of the World doesn’t convey literacy, nor is it an encyclopedia of cultural information. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

The Strider can summon to herself any dedicated handheld object (see the Rite of Talisman Dedication). The item disappears from wherever it currently rests, even from somebody else's grasp, and appears in the Garou's grip. Striders use this Gift to bring special items to them once they have finished a journey or to recover items lost along the way. A packrat-spirit teaches this Gift.

When activating this Gift, the Garou calls upon the spirit of Sebek the crocodile to bear her up as she runs across the water. The werewolf can also run across other liquids (a vat of industrial cleaner, sewage, or even lava), but this Gift provides no protection for her feet -- any damage is greatly lessened as the harmful substance only comes into contact with a small part of her body, but she must soak it nonetheless. Particularly fast and spiritually attuned Silent Striders claim to have run across seas using this Gift. It is taught by a crocodile-spirit, or that of a crocodile bird.

Camp: Harbingers

The Harbingers are noted for their intuitive ability to find trouble or Wyrm-corruption, no matter how well hidden. They sometimes appear from nowhere, just "happening across" some problem or threat. This Gift allows a Harbinger to discover trouble without really searching for it -- he just starts down a road and sees where it takes him. Almost invariably, his path crosses some threat that needs seeing to.

The Garou takes no damage from poison or disease, and he may exist in any environment, regardless of pressure, temperature or atmospheric condition. This Gift does not protect the Garou from hazardous situations (like falling), only hazardous environments. A bear-spirit teaches this Gift.

Sometimes someone's journey ends too soon, such as a man dying before he can tell the Silent Strider important information. Silent Striders with this Gift do not let the end of someone else's journey be the end of theirs. As long as the Silent Strider can find the body, they can then follow the trails of the spirit until they find the ghost. A servant of Owl teaches this Gift.

Camp: Harbingers

Once a Garou steps into the Dark Umbra, he carries an aura of death and decay with him always. The aura is difficult to see, but it is there nonetheless -- the perceptive might smell a faint must in his fur, or catch strange reflections in the pupils of his eyes. This Gift harnesses that deathly aura, weaving it into a protective shield against the attacks or special abilities of ghosts. This Gift is taught by the denizens of the Dark Umbra, and is not easily come by.

The Strider with this Gift can jump truly astounding distances. A jackrabbit-spirit teaches this Gift.

Whether the Garou is on foot or in a vehicle, this Gift allows him to reduce the travel time on a lengthy journey. Striders use this Gift only when the need is dire; usually, they prefer to see the sights and take their time. A horse-spirit can teach this Gift.

The Silent Strider uses his claws to gouge an eerie sigil into a nearby surface, which fascinates and attracts the unquiet dead. An owl-spirit teaches this Gift.

The Halls of Ma'at are where the dead go to be judged; the liars, cheaters and murders are denied eternal life. The Silent Striders can invoke the judgement of Ma'at on the living, seeing through lies to find the ugly truth beneath. This Gift is taught by an ibis-spirit, the symbol of Thoth.

This Gift allows the user to read or write any human language encountered, no matter how ancient or obscure. Galliards often use this Gift when translating ancient texts to revive old legends or compose new songs for moots. This Gift is taught by a Raven-spirit.

(Lay of the Land)

The Garou may commune with the spirits of a city or town and gain information about the area from them, including rough population, enclaves of Garou or other being and secret tunnels. This Gift does not function in the wilderness, since the Bone Gnawers have lost the knack for conversing with such spirits easily. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

The Strider’s claws darken with the leaden sheen of the Dark Umbra, marking her foes fit for the attentions of the restless dead. An owl-spirit teaches this Gift.

No other tribe among the Garou has as much hatred for vampires, for as just a cause, as the Silent Striders. It is no surprise then that the Striders sought out this Gift, searching long through the spirit world and the physical world for the secret to incapacitating a vampire. They found an answer from the spirit children of Cobra, who taught them a spirit-poison usable against the vampires who defiled Cobra's name.

None could stay the words of Djeheuty, the messenger of the Gods. Those who have this Gift do not even have to accompany the message, but can send it on its way and be assured that it will reach its destination. The spirit of any migrating animal teaches this Gift.

(Camp: Swords of Night)

Upon learning this Gift, the Garou's mental defenses are strengthened to the utmost. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

The Garou can run at 10 times his normal land speed. The effects last for up to eight hours, during which the Garou can do nothing but concentrate on running. When the Gift's effects end, the Garou must eat immediately or face frenzy from hunger. A cheetah- or air-spirit teaches this Gift.

Camp: Eaters of the Dead

The Garou can inflict visions of death upon an unsuspecting opponent. Worse, these visions are highly personal premonitions of the opponent's untimely demise, as if someone "had walked over his grave." The fear this creates is paralyzing; in the worst cases, the victim falls catatonic and cannot be revived for days. On recovery, the stricken individual cannot remember details of what so terrified him, simply that involved his death. Victims who survive the encounter with the Eater of the Dead are forever marked with a white lock or patch of hair. This Gift is taught by a death-spirit.

(Camp: Bitter Hex)

Sympathetic magic is the oldest form of sorcery, and it is still effective. Although many cultures find this sort of magic repellent, the Uktena believe that the ends well justify the means. The Garou can harm his victim from afar using a specially created doll. He must have a piece of his victim or an object belonging to him, and he must then construct the doll. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

This Gift creates a specialized moon bridge that takes the Strider to her destination instantly. At least a sliver of moon must be visible at her area of departure. A Lune teaches this Gift.

This awe-inspiring Gift is only available to the greatest Strider heroes. The Strider must be in Homid form, must spend a Gnosis and a Willpower point, and must enact a 10-minute chant to the greatest of ancient Egyptian spirits. Once this is done, the Garou expands and grows, becoming a giant similar to the depictions of pharaohs on mastabas and sarcophagi. This Gift is taught by Sphinx.

The Garou may step into and out of the Umbra at will, without need of a reflective surface or even any effort at all. An owl-spirit teaches this Gift.