Bagheera Gifts
Level One Gift System
Humbaba's Escape One of the tribe’s first and most valuable tricks, this Gift allows a wereleopard to dislocate her limbs and slide through small openings. Though the Bagheera claim that the wise cat Humbaba invented the trick, the Simba maintain that he originally learned it from Mouse-spirits. The player rolls Dexterity + Athletics to dislocate her cat’s limbs. The harder the attempt, the higher the difficulty becomes. Undoing her wrist to get out handcuffs would be difficulty 6, while dislocating your spine and ribs to get through an air shaft would be 10. While the cat is out of joint, her Stamina rating drops by two. Simple adjustments don’t cost any Gnosis, but large-scale body-shifts cost one point.
Treeclimber As the General Gift of the same name. Leopards excel at climbing, and most kuasha teach this secret first. Same as the General gift.
Level Two Gift System
Lawgiver's Legacy In the distant past, it is said that the Bagheera were intended to be the arbitrators of the cat-folk. The position never materialized, but this Gift offers an edge to Bagheera trying to exercise this ancient right with minimal force. With it, a panther can raise her voice to drown out all others without actually shouting, and it adds a note of command that makes even Simba take the panther’s words seriously. This Gift works like the Level One General Gift: Command Attention, but the effects last for an entire scene. Anyone who wants to contest the Bagheera’s authority must win a resisted Willpower roll with the panther (difficulty 7).
Ojas Surge By channeling ojas, the mystical energy inside us all, a Bagheera can boost his physical and perceptual abilities beyond their normal limits. To do so, he attains a posture and meditates for a moment, then guides the ojas through his body, directing it to whatever his needs might be. To perform the Gift, the panther must meditate first. This usually takes some time, and depends on experience; it usually takes a First Rank Bahgeera five turns (minutes) to center himself, while a Fifth Rank cat can do it in one. As he attains this state, he rolls his Gnosis (difficulty 7). Each success he wins can then be applied as a dot in one or all of the following Attributes; Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Charisma, Perception or Wits. The Surge also brings a rush of ecstasy, a tingling wash that sharpens the senses and lightens the heart. The Attribute bonuses last for one scene, and cannot be “stacked.” The feeling of well-being lasts all day. The Surge can be done as many times as the Bagheera desires, but each additional try after the first raises the difficulty by two and doubles the meditating time. If an attempt to channel the rush fails, the cat gets depressed and cannot try again that day. A botch may provoke a frenzy.
Level Three Gift System
Cobra's Dance Long ago, a panther named Tola entered into negotiations with King Snake. After weeks of discussion and debate, the two came to an understanding of sorts. No one knows what secrets Tola offered King Snake, but he learned this Gift as part of the exchange. The Dance allows a cat to freeze prey with a glance. Some old Bagheera claim to know other secrets of the serpent folk, but if any other gifts have survived, they’re not well known. To begin the Dance, a panther sways in place; the player rolls Manipulation + Expression and spends a Gnosis point. This requires at least one turn spend dancing, and the effect lasts one turn per success. The roll’s difficulty depends on the target: hypnotizing most animals is easy (5), while freezing a hostile vampire is anything but (10). To break the spell, the target must win a Willpower contest with the cat (difficulty 8).Otherwise, he’s held stunned and helpless until the gift wears off. Once the Dance takes hold, the cat can do whatever she likes---such as leaving, talking or mauling the target.
Traveler's Tongue As the Rank three Homid Gift: Babel’s Cure. As the Rank three Homid Gift: Babel’s Cure.
Level Four Gift System
The Paradox of Time To most followers of Hinduism, time is not the linear stream Westerners believe it is. Rather, all times are one time, viewed from a perspective that shifts. In other words, it only appears to move because we believe it does. A skilled Bagheera can employ this seeming paradox to utterly confuse an enemy or enlighten a pilgrim. By showing him the relative nature of time, the panther can offer him a glimpse of his folly---or baffle him for minutes on end. While the cat talks to his target in low, hypnotic tones, the player rolls Manipulation + Enigmas against the target’s current Willpower rating. For each success, the subject’s perceptions skew slightly, disorienting him for two turns. Until the Gift wears off, he subtracts three dice from all Dice Pools due to terminal onfusion. Mages who understand the Time Sphere are totally immune to this Gift’s effects.
Potter's Clay As the Level Three Homid Gift: Craft of the Maker. As the Level Three Homid Gift: Craft of the Maker.
Level Five Gift System
Part the Curtain Like the Level Four Common gift: Walking Between Worlds, this spell allows a leopard to cross into the Near Umbra. This variation, however, lets her bring others across as well. The Mistress of Catkind is said to have brought this Gift to several Bagheera elders during the British occupation of India. Working with allies from the Swara and Khan, these old cats turned several staid English manors into shrieking chaos. All systems resemble the aforementioned Gift, except that the Bagheera can take one additional ally through for every point of Gnosis she possesses.
Shiva's Might In one of the most impressive feats of godlike destruction this side of a nuke, a Bagheera may change into a form reminiscent of Shiva the Destroyer or Kali the Dark Mother (depending on the cat’s gender). In a burst of holy light, the Bastet becomes a 12-foot-tall, six armed Crinos-form werepanther, wielding flaming weapons. Until the ground is littered with bodies, the engine of feline wrath hacks everything around it---foe and otherwise---into bloody giblets. Obviously, this is a last resort, but a very effective one. The player invoking this godlike manifestation spends two Rage points and Two Gnosis points, then immediately rolls for frenzy (difficulty 3). If he wins five successes or more, the Bagheera springs into Crinos form, grows three feet taller, and sprouts four more arms, each bearing a flaming weapon. This destroyer form, the Juddho, goes into a sudden killing frenzy which lasts for one turn for every point of Rage in the Bastet’s permanent rating. If he fails, nothing happens; a botch brings on a fox frenzy instead. The stats for Juddho form are:

Strength

+6

Dexterity

+3

Stamina

+6

Appearance

0

Weapons

Strength+4 (agg.)


No one is safe from Shiva’s Might – anyone in sight will be attacked. The Bagheera is totally incapable of any form of rational communication or combat strategy. Until the Juddho form disappears, he knows only how to kill. In his mind, he wanders through the hells of Asura, slashing and biting everything he meets. When the Gift finally fades, the panther drops to 0 Rage, assumes his breed form, and falls asleep for at least four hours.

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