Unspecified Gift Retests

[Founder]

The Storytellers are currently discussing the possibility of specifying more appropriate Ability retests for Gift usage. When Laws of the Wild (Revised) doesn't specify an Ability to be used, Occult is the default. In some cases, Occult seems to be inappropriate. We would like to hear the players' thoughts on which Gifts they would like looked at. Recommendations for a more appropriate Ability to use are also welcome.

At this time, we do not guarantee that any of these issues will receive attention in our house rules.

[Cal Forsythe]

I would like to suggest two options. The first is to make the rule:

"Gifts are supernatural powers of the spirit world, so Occult can always be used to retest when using a Gift. Additionally, if there is another Ability appropriate to the test that Ability may also be used. (Many Gift descriptions include mention of such Abilities.) What other Ability can be used, if any, is at the discretion of the Storyteller overseeing the Scene."

The reason I like this is so that if there's any doubt as to what retest to use we can say "just use Occult" & move the Scene along.

The second option is something I do with my own sheet that would be cool to see other people & the STs do to make life easier (as they have time). On my sheet when I have a Gift that requires a test I use Grapevine's "note" function to list the Ability that's used for the retest. A Gift list would look like this:

Homid: Jam Technology (Occult)
Homid: Master of Fire (no test)
Philodox: Call to Duty (Leadership)
Philodox: Strength of Purpose (Rituals)
Uktena: Spirit Speech (no test)
Uktena: Sense Magic (Enigmas)

[spiritseye]

I like the first option that is mentioned above. Occult is usually what I think of when it comes to gifts. However I would offer an alternative. If a retest isn't specified that the retest should be based on the base usage of the gift. For an example:

If Name the Spirit doesn't specify a retest, I would say that Spirit Lore or Enigmas would be appropriate. Now I could be wrong on the gift not having a retest but I am just using it as an example.

Just my thoughts.

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