Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition tribe
Bone Gnawers
Bone Gnawers is a tribe in Werewolf W5: Urban survivors under Rat who protect the overlooked and earn Honor by keeping faith.
Last reviewed
Key facts
- Patron
- Rat
- Renown Affinity
- honor
Overview
The Bone Gnawers live where the Garou Nation would rather not look: shelters, alleys, tunnels, and the parts of a city everyone else edits out of the picture. Their patron is Rat and their favored Renown is Honor, which surprises people who expect a tribe of scavengers to be measured by something else. Honor here means keeping faith with the people nobody else keeps faith with. In play a Bone Gnawer is the pack's network. You know who sleeps where, which building is empty, which officer takes money, and which spirit haunts the old rail yard, because you talk to the people other Garou step around. The tribe also carries the chronicle's conscience, since its territory is counted in human beings rather than acres. Expect to argue with Silver Fangs about what a caern is for.
How it works
Patron: Rat Renown Affinity: Honor Focus: Urban survival, adaptation, and looking after the overlooked Typical Gifts: Urban and survival Gifts Gifts at Creation: 3 total, one from your auspice, one from the Bone Gnawer tribe list, one free
Tips and playstyle
Best For: Players who want an information game, a strong human anchor, and a tribe that plays against type. Playstyle: Spend Background dots on Contacts and Allies, take Streetwise as one of your 3 starting Specialties, and treat every Honor dot as a promise you kept. In a city, Homid form does more work than Crinos. Character Concepts: Shelter volunteer, busker, scrap dealer, outreach nurse, a kid who grew up in the tunnels and stayed.
Frequently asked questions
Are Bone Gnawers weak?
They are poor, which is not the same thing. A Bone Gnawer has the same 3 starting Gifts, the same forms, and the same Rage as any Garou, plus a network no other tribe bothers to build. The disadvantage shows at a moot, not in a fight.
Why is Honor their Renown affinity?
Because the tribe reads Honor as loyalty to the people it protects rather than fidelity to the letter of the Litany. Keeping a promise to a human who has nothing is exactly the deed this tribe recognizes.
Do Bone Gnawers get along with Glass Walkers?
They share a city and almost nothing else. Glass Walkers work through institutions, money, and technology; Bone Gnawers work through the people those institutions discard. A pack with both covers far more ground than either alone.