Level One

Hunter’s Mists
As the Black Furies Gift: Curse of Aeolus

Storm of Pests
By singing a plea to Tzinzie and his kind, a werejaguar can call up a cloud of mosquitoes, gnats, biting flies, or some equally obnoxious bugs. These creatures don’t so much damage as distract their prey, although they might, at the Storyteller option, carry diseases like malaria or yellow fever. By drawing the victim’s attention to the biting pests, the Balam may prepare either an ambush or an escape.

System: The jaguar’s player rolls Manipulation + Survival. In most rainforests or coastal areas, the difficulty is 5. In other places, the difficulty rises to 7, and goes to 9 in areas where bugs are scarce. For each success, an area roughly 10 feet square is filled with flying bugs, reducing all Dice Pools by 2 for one turn per success. After that, the insects desperse. The cat is not immune to bug bites, but usually knows what to expect and can act normally.

Level Two

Ancestral Wings
According to their folklore, the Balam were once two tribes. One of the original families, the Olioiuqui, had wings. By digging into this ancestral past, a werejaguar can invoke their gift and fly for short distances.

System: The player rolls Intelligence + Primal-Urge against difficulty 8 and spends a Gnosis point. If successful, brightly-colored wings burst from the Balam’s shoulders and carry him aloft. While winged, the cat can fly at 15 yards per turn in any form, and may carry up to 200 pounds of additional weight. This Gift lasts for one scene (or one half-hour), after which the wings atrophy and harmlessly drop off.

Smoking Mirror
As the Level Three Common Gift: Farsight.

Level Three

Touch of the Tree-Frog
By touching a victim with her paw, teeth or even spittle, a Balam can paralyze him for minutes on end. Some jaguars take this opportunity to get away, or to deliver a warning; others make more sadistic use of that time. This Gift stems from the Tree-frog-spirits, whose fluids coat the arrows of the ancient folk.

System: the Jaguar spends a Gnosis point to activate the Gift; once done, it lingers in her skin until she brushes against someone. Unless the target makes a Stamina + Awareness or Prima-Urge roll (difficulty 8), he is frozen for one turn per point of the Balam’s current Gnosis (the score she had before she cast the Gift). He may, if he’s lucky, break the paralysis with a Willpower roll (difficulty 9); if not, he remains helpless for the duration.

Wandering Forest
As the Red Talons Gift: Trackless Waste.

Level Four

Vision Cloud
Among the old folk, the jaguars were respected for their insight. Many Olmacs and Maya came to them for visions, and the tribe responded by evoking this ageless Gift. By calling to the spirits of the air and the plants, a modern jaguar can still conjure the Vision Cloud, a swirling fog which wraps itself through the clearing or cave, bringing mystic insights to those who seek them - and to those who do not.

System: By rolling Manipulation + Enigmas and spending a Gnosis point, the Bastet is allowed to call up the Cloud from nothingness. This misty kaleidoscope fills an area up to 50 feet square including the Bastet himself. The hallucinations which ensue are left to the Storyteller’s discretion, but should foreshadow possible future events, reveal lost lore, or offer clues that clever characters can decipher (see “Storytelling” in Werewolf, pages 59-61 for ideas).

Jungle’s Vengeance
By tapping into her ties with the land, a Balam urges the jungle to turn against any invaders. The assault begins innocently enough, with vines that trip and swarms of hungry bugs; if the outsiders don’t get the hint and leave, however, the Vengeance turns nastier. Pools of quicksand, poisonous plants and insects and clouds of noxious gas spring into existence right in the invader’ path. Ultimately, the Gift whittles a determined force of trespassers down into a handful of desperate survivors easy pickings for an angry werejaguar and her friends….
System: the player puts a point of Rage and two points of Gnosis into the Gift, which then swells into a series of scattered but purposeful events. Although the Storyteller has the final say about exactly what happens where and to whom, the land and its pests begin a subtle campaign to drive invaders out. These events escalate from annoyances to fatalities as the Storyteller desires. Although they won’t be powerful enough to destroy a band of supernatural foes, most mortals will be driven to near-madness before the Gift runs its course.

Level Five

Feed the Gods
By reaching out with his hand, a powerful jaguar can rip the heart out of an enemy from a distance, pull it to his palm, and consume it in a burst of fire. This Gift kills the target if it succeeds. Only strong magic can rebuild the ashes of the heart or grow another one in its place.

System: the Balam’s player rolls Gnosis against difficulty 7, and spends two points of Gnosis as well. The cat’s successes must double the target’s Stamina rating; any armor, magical defenses, or dots in Fortitude, Glamour, the Spirit Sphere, Avatar or innate countermagick subtract one success for every dot of protection. Hence, this Gift isn’t a very effective method of sacrificing supernatural beings. Against unarmored humans, however, it’s devastating. The victim keels over and dies, as his heart flares into flame. It takes two turns to burn the heart into ash; by then, the victim is irrevocably dead unless someone has the power to rebuild his heart from powder and return the soul to its body. This Gift is totally useless against those already dead (but not undead - vampires can still be destroyed this way).

Heal the Wounded Land
As the Level Four Metis Gift: Redeem the Waste.