Metis Deformities

Several of the following metis deformities are reprinted from the main rulebook, the Werewolf Players Guide,
Guardians of the Caern, and other books in order to give Storytellers and players a comprehensive list. A
number of them are new. Players are encouraged to make up new metis deformities in consultation with their
Storytellers. Here are a few provisos for designing these on your own.

• Remember, unless it has a negative impact on your character, it isn’t really a deformity! Make sure that
your metis suffers somehow from the condition, either physically, socially or mentally. In some cases,
the character may receive some small advantage from the deformity, which is fine. Just make sure that
the bad far outweighs the good.
• Many persons with varied disabilities in the real world lead productive and rich lives, and laws are
finally changing to protect their interests and rights to access and equality. But remember that the
characters live n a darker world. Most werewolves despise the metis, thinking they’re a sign of Gaea’s
sickness. A lot of Garou aren’t going out of their way to be considerate to metis or make sure they have
any special equipment they need to survive. Thus, if you design a metis deformity, it should be playable
within the given context. For example, if you create a metis Red Talon who has no limbs, the Storyteller
is going to be hard pressed to come up with a chronicle involving that character. On the other hand, a
Glass Walker chronicle focusing on cyberspace and the adventures in the Digital Web might be a perfect
venue for a quadriplegic character. In simple terms, make the deformity fit the character and the story.
• If choosing a deformity from the provided list, players should feel free to customize it to suit their
character. Be descriptive! If the metis has hooves, what do they look like? Are they cloven like a goat’s
or more solid like a horse’s? Do they make the character less stealthy or agile? Is the character able to
use them in combat? If so, how? Of course, always check with the Storyteller about your ideas and
customizations.

Albino: You were born without any melanin in your body so there is no pigment in your fur or skin, in any of
your forms. Your pale, pinkish skin sunburns easily; lengthy exposure to sunlight can cause you damage if you
don't wear protective clothing. Your hair is stark white and thin so you must wear a hat in the sun. Your ruby
eyes are very sensitive to light; you must wear sunglasses or suffer a +2 difficulty on all Perception-based rolls
when acting in sunshine or bright light. To say your fur stands out among the browns, golds and blacks of the
other werewolves’ an understatement. Every part of your body is sensitive to sunlight, which means that you
wear long sleeves, a hat and sunglasses all year round; in your wolf form, you have to stay out of the sun or get
burned.

Bestial Reflection: You have a strange and mystical disfigurement: you reflect only your natural breed form
(Crinos) in all mirrored surfaces, no matter what form you are wearing. This makes it extremely hard to pass
unnoticed in human society, but many Philodoxes and Theurges believe it is a sign of your inner honesty.

Cleft Lip: The split n your lip detracts from your appearance, but perhaps worse for a Garou, you have a speech
impediment thanks to your hard palate. A minor annoyance to some, for Galliards this is a serious disability. All
metis with this deformity are at +2 difficulty to Social rolls that involve major speeches, performance or
seduction.

Conjoined Twin Syndrome: When your parents mated, the fertilized egg split, albeit imperfectly. Instead of
having two identical metis twins, your mother bore you with a remnant of your twin still embedded in part of
your body. It’s pretty clear to any onlookers that you have part of a metis fetus stuck onto your flesh. While this
causes you no physical difficulty, it’s a real problem in social situations. Add +2 difficulty on all Social rolls
that involve Appearance and Charisma.
Deaf: You are completely deaf, perhaps even born without external ears. You must communicate in ways such
as sign language, and cannot effectively communicate through howls – having been deaf from birth, you cannot
articulate them properly. The closest sensation to hearing that you possess is feeling the vibrations of loud
sounds. Total deafness may also have a speech impediment.

Deranged: Although you may be physically perfect, your mind is damaged. Select a Derangement from
Chapter Five (Players Guide to the Garou WW3806, page 226).

Evil Eye: You were born with only one eye, which is somehow strange and unsettling – it may be in the center
of your forehead, or distended and bloodshot, or slitted like a serpent’s. You suffer a two-die penalty to any
rolls made that require depth perception, such as ranged combat. You also suffer a +1 difficulty to all Social
rolls and lack peripheral vision on your ‘blind side’.

Fits: You suffer from periodic spells of unconsciousness and loss of muscular control. When you roll a botch in
a stressful situation, you may enter one of these fits and must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) each turn
until you gain control. Until then, you can do nothing but writhe on the ground.

Fits of Madness: One or more types of mental illness plague you on a periodic basis; these may include manic
depression, schizophrenia or extreme paranoia. Whatever your malaise, you tend to fall to pieces when you’re
under stress. Make a Willpower roll at difficulty 8 whenever the going gets tough; less than three successes
means you go quietly nuts for awhile.

Foul Scent: Whether you reek of an overripe skunk, week-old sweat or perhaps Black Spiral #5, your scent
disgusts other werewolves. Some believe you to be dangerous and won’t come close; others want to pick fights
with you. Increase the difficulty of Social rolls among humans by one and by two around animals, including
wolves and Garou.

Fragile Claws/No Claws: Your claws are brittle and break easily. When you claw or rake someone, you risk
losing some claws. On a botched claw attack, your claws break and fall out (the number is up to the Storyteller;
generally one for every Health Level of damage you would have inflicted on your foe, up to a maximum of five
per hand), and you take one unsoakable Health Level of damage. Your claws will regenerate within a week, but
they will still be brittle and fragile. On the other hand, you might have no claws at all. In this case, you can’t
inflict aggravated damage with a claw attack (obviously). This puts you at a serious disadvantage in a fight.

Gorilla arms or Kangaroo legs: +1 to the difficulties of all dexterity and social rolls.

Hairless: You have no hair or fur in any of your forms, making you a straight sight indeed while in Crinos.
Take a +1 difficulty to all Social rolls while in any form except Homid. Also, the character may have no dots in
the background Pure breed.

Hard of Hearing: Because of your metis birth, you can’t hear as well as other werewolves. If hard of hearing,
you have a +2 difficulty to all Perception rolls involving sound.

Hemophilia: Your blood has a limited ability to clot. In combat, you cannot regenerate health levels as do other
Garou. In fact, a Gift like Mother’s Touch is necessary for you to heal at all. Being so limited in a fight may
well brand you a coward among other werewolves.

Hideous: Your face and form are badly disfigured, making you a horror among werewolves. Your appearance
is 0, and cannot be raised with experience points.

Hooves: Like an herbivore, you have hooved feet, which are apparent in all your forms; these are your back
legs in Crinos, Hispo or Lupus. These hooves may look like a cow’s, a goat’s or a deer’s, but they’re definitely
the accouterments of a grass eater. Hooves, whether cloven or solid, don't alter your movement but hooves are
the mark of prey, not predators. Take +1 difficulty to all Social rolls and see that you eat plenty of meat
especially around other werewolves.

Horns: Much like hooves, horns are a mark of prey rather than predator. As with hooves, you receive a +1
penalty to all Social rolls due to your appearance. However, if your horns look more like antlers, some Fianna
may give you respect because you seem marked by their totem, Stag. The same is true for a metis with a single
horn on their forehead; Children of Gaea may believe Unicorn blesses you.

Hunchback: Quasimodo...Igor...They don't have anything on you. Your spine is terribly deformed, bent and
twisted, and you have an abnormally large hump. Your mobility is severely impaired; the difficulty of all your
Dexterity rolls increases by 2. Due to the unsightly lump that is your back, the difficulty of all Social rolls
increases by 1. However, odds are that you're powerfully strong to boot.

Human Face: As horrifying as it may seem, you keep a human visage no matter what your form. The
appearance of a human-faced wolf is particularly ghastly, and some werewolves might mistake you for a fomor
or a Black Spiral Dancer. Humans, may also mistake you to be a Demon of some sort. You incur a +1 difficulty
on all Social Rolls.

Hunchback: You were born with a front-to-back or side-to-side curve of your spine that has gotten
progressively more severe as you’ve aged. Not only does it give you a negative social status (+1 difficulty to
Social rolls), it also impedes your movement. Add +1 difficulty to all Dexterity-based rolls.

Hyperactive Senses: This deformity is a mixed blessing. While you have a bonus to pick up minute clues that
someone else might miss, such as the scent of a Leech after a rainstorm, there’s also a terrible downside.
Whatever sense group you choose to be hyperactive, gets all too easily overwhelmed by normal stimuli. The
firing of a gun, the flashlight in your eyes, the stench of crude oil – these might be enough to make you deaf,
blind or choked for several minutes. Storytellers should be sure to use these penalties of this deformity more
often than its benefits.

Hyper-allergic: You were born overly sensitive to the flood of manufactured products currently sweeping the
world. Contact with anything that is plastic-based or otherwise manmade, such as polyester or linoleum, causes
you to break out in debilitating hives or suffer a bout of respiratory distress. Either way, you’re useless until you
get away from the offending material. Natural materials and fibers, such as wood, stone or wool, don’t bother
you at all.

Hyper-acute Senses: Your sensory abilities are stronger than ones of other Garou. They help in some cases; all
difficulties related to sensory input are reduced by 2. However, you can easily suffer injury from sudden
powerful stimuli, such as blinding lights or explosions. The Storyteller is sure to play up the bad side of this
disfigurement.

Lame: Your legs don’t work properly, and are visibly badly made. Although you can stand and fight without
penalty, and you are still very strong, your walking and running speed is reduced to a quarter of what it would
ordinarily be.

Loose Teeth: Your natural weaponry is faulty; if you botch a biting attack, you risk doing damage to yourself
as your teeth break off. Garou teeth will grow back over time (about a month), but a character with Loose Teeth
ought to avoid biting people. Unfortunately, Garou in a frenzy tend to forget about little things like this.
When a character with this disfigurement bites someone, he risks losing some teeth. On a botch, teeth break
loose and fall out (how many is up to the Storyteller; generally one per wound level he would have inflicted on
his foe).
Malformed Tail: Stubby or reptilian your tail screws up your balance and causes back pain. You have a +1 to
all dexterity and social rolls when in Crinos, Hispo, or lupus form.

Monstrous: It’s not one thing; it’s everything. Your form is, simply put, hideous. Pups run howling from you,
and adults tend to look at your feet. Your appearance is 0 and can never be higher; depending on the situation,
you may also incur a +1 difficulty to Social rolls (Storyteller discretion).

Musk: Your stink gives a +1 to all social rolls with human, increasing to +2 with animals and strange Garou.

Mute: Whether howls of warning or the Queen’s English, oral communication is important to werewolves.
You’re out of the loop on this because you can’t make a sound as your larynx does not work at all, and hasn’t
from the day of your birth. Your neck may appear oddly swollen, or your tongue may be forked as well. To
communicate with wolves, you have to rely totally on body language, such as the lifting of your tail and ears to
indicate submission or dominance and you cannot speak or howl under any circumstances. Among humans, it’s
a little easier, as long as you have pencil and paper. The Gift: Spirit Speech will still allow you to converse with
spirits.

No Claws: You do not have a claw attack in any form.

No Ears: All canids rely heavily on their ears to signal emotions. Raised ears indicate alertness; gently lowered
ears mean submission, while ears flat against the head may signal anger and aggression. None of this means
much to you, though, because you were born without external ears. Not only is it more difficult to catch certain
sounds (+1 difficulty to Perception rolls involving hearing, all forms), you also are lacking in social abilities
among wolves. Add a +1 difficulty to all Social rolls when in Lupus form.

No Sense of Smell: You have no olfactory nerves, or else what’s there doesn’t work right. Your sense of smell
is severely impaired if it functions at all. This is an unfortunate thing for a creature that relies so much on her
nose. Take a +2 penalty to all Perception rolls involving smell.

No Tail/Deformed Tail: Whether you have a hairless, bony protrusion or look like the werewolf version of a
Manx cat, not having a tail means serious communication problems with others of your kind. You have a +1
difficulty in all Social situations while in Lupus, Hispo and Crinos forms. Likewise, your sense of balance
suffers; add +1 difficulty to Dexterity rolls as well while wearing those forms. A variation on this deformity
would be having a thin, snakelike tail or some similar disfigurement.

One Eye: Whether you simply have no eye in either your right or left socket, or you have one cyclopean eye in
the middle of your face, depth perception is not your strong suit. Take a +2 penalty on all Perception rolls
involving sight. If you have a cyclopean eye, your Social rolls are at +1 difficulty as well.

Oversized Limbs: One or more of your limbs doesn’t fit right; it’s far too large for the rest of your body mass,
offsetting your balance and giving you a twisted appearance. You incur +1 difficulty to both Dexterity and
Social rolls because of the limb.

Palsy: Palsy is an uncontrollable shaking that comes and goes depending on your circumstances and
environment. When in a stressful situation, make a Willpower roll at difficulty 8. If you score less than three
successes, you start shaking until the situation passes and have a +1 difficulty on all Dexterity rolls.

Poor Sight/Blind: You have two eyes in the right place, but they don’t work so well. No glasses or contacts can
correct this problem, either. Take a +2 difficulty on all visual Perception rolls. If you are blind, you
automatically fail any rolls involving vision.
Physical Deformity: This category is a catchall for physical disabilities not otherwise detailed, such as missing
limbs, paraplegia and so on. With Storyteller approval, take a +2 difficulty to all Dexterity rolls. You may wish
to define this a bit further depending on your character. For example, a werewolf may be paralyzed from the
waist down, unable to run, but he still may be able to shoot well (i.e. with no penalty).

Puny: You are of extremely small stature or scrawny build. You have the Flaw: Short, and you do not have a
Hurt Health Level. You receive a lot of bullying from Ahrouns.

Reek: You smell terrible, even to other Garou – even dogs that would roll in rotting meat on a hot summer day
avoid you. Your scent can be muted somewhat with copious amounts of smelly, cheap perfume, but it’s only
marginally an improvement. You suffer a +2 difficulty on all Social rolls unless dealing with people with
absolutely no sense of smell whatsoever, and are much easier to track by scent (-3 to the difficulty of any
trackers).

Restricted Forms: Choose any form other than your breed form of Crinos; because of your deformity, you are
never able to assume this form of your choice. When trying to change forms under stress, you simply skip over
this shape and transform into the next closest thing. For example, if you are in Crinos and have chosen Glabro
as your restricted form, with two successes on a dice roll, you change to Homid. It’s as if the Glabro form
simply didn’t exist for you.

Seizures: You don’t go mad, but when you are under the gun, you lose all control of your body. When you
botch an important roll, make a Willpower check at difficulty 8. Less than three successes means that you
writhe uncontrollably until the Storyteller tells you to make another roll. You can make no actions while
experiencing a seizure.

Serpent’s Tongue: Your tongue resembles a snake’s tongue, long and thin with a fork at the end. Many Garou
see this as a taint of the Wyrm, and will treat you badly.

Silver Sensitivity: Your susceptibility to silver is worse than that of other Garou. Silver does an additional
Health Level of damage per turn of contact, and pure silver even causes you one Health Level of damage in
Homid form. If you carry anything made of silver, your Gnosis is reduced by two points, instead of one.
Prolonged exposure to large quantities of raw silver makes you ill even if you don't touch it (think radiation
sickness). However, this disfigurement allows you to sense the presence of silver through the appearance of a
rash or blisters on your skin; roll Perception + Medicine (difficulty 8) to detect silver. This action cannot reveal
where the silver is, just that the metal is near. You cannot take the Merit: Silver Tolerance.

Third Eye: You have a bizarre disfigurement: a third eye on your forehead. You have a +1 difficulty on all
Social rolls and receive no Perception bonuses. However, some mystical Garou may treat you with respect;
Stargazers, for example, believe the third eye is able to peer into the Umbra or see mystical things. (Whether or
not you can train your third eye to see into the Umbra or sense mystical things is the Storyteller's decision.)

Tough Hide: Your thick, leathery hide resists damage (+1 die to soak rolls), but it also has major drawbacks.
You are constantly scratching and picking at your hot, uncomfortable skin. Since your hide is so thick, your hair
(or fur, depending which form you are in) grows out in random tufts, so you have bald spots all over your body.
Your Appearance can never be higher than 1, and you are at +2 difficulty for all Social rolls.

Wasting Disease: Maybe it’s not a particular illness, but you have a weak constitution. You chough and wheeze
a lot and can’t keep up when the other werewolves trot for hours on end. Take a +2 difficulty on all Stamina
rolls, including rolls to shapeshift (but not soak rolls).

Weak Immune System: You tend to get sick and stay that way more often than others in your pack. Your
body's natural immune system can't keep up with the stress you subject yourself to, so you are more prone to
becoming sick. You do not receive the Bruised Health level, and you may prove susceptible to Wyrm
emanations.

Weak Musculature: You may be graceful and have a good constitution, but as far as how much weight you can
lift, you’re a wimp. Your Strength in Crinos can never be greater than 5; adjust accordingly in your other forms.
Other werewolves laugh at your puny muscles.

Withered Limb: You have four limbs, but one is withered or paralyzed, possibly with atrophied muscles.
Depending on your form, you can’t walk well, and your running is slower than that of other werewolves. You
incur a +2 Dexterity penalty when trying to use this limb.