The Changing Breeds

I recently took a look through the Changing Breeds books out of curiosity (and because I know there are some non-Garou in the Ohio/PA area).

I noticed that some of the breeds have distinct advantages and disadvantages, but that these things are super unbalanced with the books not making any real attempts to balance them.

For instance: Bastet can't step sideways (without an Advanced gift or gaining a Den-Realm, a rare thing), they also have the lowest starting Rage/Gnosis/Willpower of anything that possesses those abilities (With the exception of Homids starting with 2 Gnosis). The advantage is that you can maybe, with ST discretion, maybe, maybe, learn Hedge Magic, but you pay out the butt for it. They are also supposed to rank incredibly slowly.

Ratkin, Gurahl, Rokea, Naga and a few others have innate "racial" abilities (and in the case of Garou tribal, and Rokea get breed and auspice), but it looks like Bastet get the short end of the stick. Even Bastet totems (Jamak) don't grant totem benefits, they grant "favors" that have to be negotiated for and are one-shot uses (then you have to renegotiate) and favors are things like a Trait or an Ability to use.

My big question is, what's the advantage to playing a Bastet? Their gifts are no more awesome than any other gifts (and a bunch are pretty much for flavor) and they have not distinct "racial edge". All Bastet are balanced among each other, but as far as Changing Breeds go, it looks like they get no edge or leg up anywhere.

Discuss.

Also, none of the Changing Breeds like Trait caps, by rank or otherwise.

Do you follow the Garou standard? Why is a Rank 1 Bear/Shark (Bear Shark?) physically as strong as a Rank 1 Garou when both are in Homid?

Aiko wrote:My big question is, what's the advantage to playing a Bastet?

Being able to fully enjoy Awakened Catnip.

playing something that can be fun. not everything has to be because it is powerfull.

^ What he said. Ratkin get kinda boned compared to Garou. They get one less physical trait, so even at max traits I'm always bidding less than someone of equal rank. And they have NO armor gifts or anything to give them more health levels. At least from my own groupings. The only thing they're exceptionally good at, is running away. But they're still very fun to play. It's the world they live in, different from the Garou, and unique in it's own way. Like for example, Ratkin don't settle shit by fighting usually. They have a rite called the Ritual of the Shiny Thing, where everybody has to run off and find something shiny, and whoever wins is right. And Engineers(One of the 8 types of Ratkin.) handle territory and other disputes by building fighting robots and squaring them off, like Battlebots. Much cooler than Garou problem solving in my humble opinion.

I get that "fun doesn't always equal power", but I also realize that in the Org, i you can't keep yourself alive you can't have fun - especially with getting something "Super rare" passed. I think the problem would be balanced (within the Org at least) if all Bastet were simply notify. The books even mention how many actually do travel. From what I read they sound so very fun to play, but if I were to play one, I would want something under the belt to ensure the character could do SOMETHING in the WOD. "Super neat stuff" aside, general gifts don't stack up, in fact, the Elder gifts have to do with hacking computers. Makes no sense. The tribe gifts are neat and VERY specific to that tribes role. I LOVE that fact. Sadly in OWbN though, my ability to find clean water is a waste of points most times.

If there was a neat social structure that would be cool - but there wasn't really one. Unless you are a member of the Ahadi in Africa. Something you could only do if you lived in Africa and had a game there (by the current rules).

It does say they travel, I also heard they were passing a thing to make it HARDER to get a bastet. You could only play a tribe of bastet that lives in the area that your game is based in. So if you want to play a Bagheera, what the fuck is that doing in PA! You can't do that. I don't know if it passed or not.

I'm going to be honest though, as long as you don't piss off the garou until you're a higher rank, no one is going to kill you. Considering that outside RATR, PCs don't die that often. But, you know the werecats like to fly solo a lot of the time anyway and don't like the werewolves. Dogs and cats, who knew right?

BTW, Gurahl can't step sideways without a rite either. They also really don't leave their protectorate.

There was nothing to make Bastet harder to get. The recent change made Bastet of specific areas easier to get, but getting a Bastet out of it's area is exactly the same as it's always been. That may even get easier this year though, so we'll see.

Many Bastet Tribes have more traits in Crinos than Garou, which is a modest advantage. Some of their gifts are omg ridiculous, like Shiva's Might pretty much says you reset a game.
But not all Bastet get those gifts.
It's true that the Native American Bastet Tribes are weaker compared to the rest. Pumonca are ok, but have less diversity than Garou, Qualmi are like weaker Nuwisha.

To be fair, don't even try to compare the small disadvantages Gurahl get to Bastet. Gurahl are extremely powerful, possibly the most powerful creature type a player can actually play in the org. Bastet aren't even as powerful as most garou.

What Bastet do get...is that they can learn Garou gifts. So remember that when looking at their gifts lists, cuz they get to steal Garou gifts too, which gives them some more diversity than you might normally think.

Playing a Pumonca in RATR is really easy now, and playing a Qualmi or Pumonca based out of Cleveland would be easy as well.

Really, Bagheera have all the best shit though. If you really want one, try passing it.
They are the most likely to travel according to the books, so passing one through council probably wouldn't be that hard, it would just be a simply majority vote. With a good background and the CBC's support, that is pretty much a sure bet.

People often look at the R&U and think "oh well i'd never get that passed". Those people are usually wrong. I got a Gurahl passed, i've gotten a Salubri passed, I've passed dozens of changes to the bylaws, and a variety of plot proposals over the years. Yeah it's some work, but it's not impossible.

I mentally noted the part about "swiping gifts" and almost pissed when I read it in the book. You can learn any gift (Barring Garou auspical gifts, which it says specifically) and also those from any other breed and technically any other Bastet tribe... and they aren't strictly barred by rank for gifts, which can be disgusting, but it also makes it very ST discretionary which to my mind means "don't bet on it" in most instances.

I was specifically looking at Qualmi and Pumonca (because of the region). I know some tribes are insane, like Bagheera and Khan, but like Jacob said, the Native Bastet are a little wimpy. Even basic gift choices are "I can find clean water. Yay!" (Which, amusingly I noted that Gurahl have like 3 or 4 gifts for finding food. Weird.)

Playing a Pumonca in RATR is really easy now, and playing a Qualmi or Pumonca based out of Cleveland would be easy as well.

Are they CBC approval or just notify now?

I'm sure most STs will let them have some stuff to an extent.
Sure they will probably be upset with a Bastet with a ton of tribal gifts from garou or something, but a few here or there will probably be fine.
It's their thing after all...they take shit from other supernaturals.

As for the Pumonca, It's either Coord Approval or notify now for our area....I can't remember which and the R&U Spreadsheet on the site is a mess right now.
Either or it's not big deal. I talk to the coord all the time, so getting approval probably won't be hard as long as you bring a good story to the table, and the notify is of course a joke and shouldn't even exist cuz it stops nothing...

With pack mind link can you send it to just one member or is it a walky talky where every one in the pack hears?