VOD: Pantheon

Influences
Influence measures the degree to which you can make your wishes count in mortal society. In most cases, you acquire Influence through multiple means, including persuasion, bribery, intimidation, direct manipulation of minds and emotions, and passing herself off as mortal when necessary. It takes time to accumulate more than a dot or two of Influence in a community of any size, and high Influence is the realm of influential Kinfolk or powerful Urrah who spend years or even generations cultivating their positions or who do a lot of dangerous wheeling and dealing. Influence is not license to do whatever strikes your fancy. It’s always easiest to get institutions to do what they’re already inclined to. City guards need little prodding to arrest suspicious strangers or break up illicit operations whose owners haven’t been paying bribes, but require more incentive to go out killing apparently innocent bystanders or trying to arrest the most important civic leaders. Roleplaying therefore supports straightforward declarations of Influence use, and more so as the Garou twists the institution’s purpose and outlook.

While we could break down Influences into all different levels of society, for the simplicity purposes we are only going to use 7 Influences. If there is a field in which you wish to have control over then you will have to use Contacts/Allies to show your limited control in that field. It will be implied that the field is too small to make a big impact on the society so it won't garnish its own Influence.

Note that your Influences only work within the immediate area and city-state that your character is based near. To make your Influences stretch farther than that you must purchase the Fame background.

System: At the start of each game you will be given cards for each of your Influences and a number of points on that card equal to your score in the Influence. You can spend them whenever you would like but must spend a number of points equal to the effect you wish to achieve. Influence can be used by any person even if they don’t have points in a specific Influence. You may trade Influence with others for favors or any means whatsoever (though the cards cannot be stolen). Where the Influence originated doesn't matter; it only matters who spends it. There are other ways in game of getting influence (via NPC's and other means). Further, unused influence expires after two months to reflect the struggle to maintain sway in an area you don't interact with. The date an influence is granted will be written on the card, and a card after the two month threshold will be considered invalid.

If you do not show up to game, you will not get influence for that game!

All Backgrounds traded for with Influence are gone after use.

Areas of Influence:

• Military
• Occult
• Political
• Scholastic
• Street
• Temple
• Trade

Influence Restrictions:
The Curse is a very real impediment to those working their way through the mortal world. A garou's maximum possible dots in Influence is capped by 5 - (1/2 Rage, rounded up). Simply put: Please note this does not effect how a garou can spend/trade the influence they have, only that they have an extra impediment in trying to raise their base Influence over a certain level. While you may have too much Rage to earn Trade 5 on your character sheet, you can wait until you've stockpiled enough to turn in for that effect.

General Influence Actions:
Growth
To Establish an Influence (by raising it from 0 to 1), you must spend a Downtime Action to do so. Each specific type of Influence requires its own Downtime Action.

Once you have Influences established, you may spend a Downtime Action towards Influence Growth. This allows you to gain one Growth Point in all your current Influences to eventually raise them to a higher level. Kinfolk gain two Growth Points with this specific action instead of the usual one. You may only spend one Downtime Action each Downtime cycle to raise Influences in this fashion. This action is one that cannot be seen, by default. It can take some time to grow your Influences based on a few factors that we keep record of behind the scenes.

There are additional ways to help your Influences grow. Keep in mind, both of these bonuses will make your growth actions able to be noticed by someone using Watch in the correct area. These additional ways include:

• You can expend a relevant Background of the level you are trying to get to give additional help. For example, if you want to Grow your Trade Influence from 3 to 4, you could use your Resources 4 background to help speed up the Growth. Each background may only be expended once in a given downtime to aid an Influence Growth. So you could not use your Resources of 4 to aid both your Trade Influence AND your Temple Influence, for example. This gives an additional (+1) Growth Point.
• You may spend an additional downtime for 1 Growth Point in one specific Influence. This can be done more than once per Influence per Downtime.

The following chart is how much growth points you need to level up your influence. Growth does not reset after attaining the new level. Example: Cleon the Cliath wishes to grow their Influences (Military 2 and Political 2) and establish some new ones. First, he spends one downtime action to establish Street Influence. This will raise his Street Influence from 0 to 1. Then, he spends a downtime action to grow all of his Influences (which he can only do once per downtime cycle), so his newly bought Street Influence will gain its first of 3 Growth Points needed to raise itself to 2. Then, his already existing influences of Political and Military each gain 1 Growth Point, putting his Military Growth Points at 6 and his Political Growth Points at 7. At this point, Cleon expends his Resources Background of 3 and spend a third Downtime Action to get two additional Growth Points in Political. With this, Cleon has 9 Political Growth Points, raising his Political Influence from 2 to 3.

Stealth/Watch
Players are not expected to learn and apply this system with every action; we are providing it here for clarity of what will happen behind the scenes.

All Influence actions have a level of visibility that determines who is able to notice the shadowy actions that happen in backroom deals and darkened alleyways. A number of factors influence the visibility of an Influence action, and the strength or weakness of these determine how much of it reaches the ears and eyes of others.

• Visibility of the Influence
• Stealth of the Action
• Vigilance of the Watcher

Adding these factors together will determine whether an individual is able to notice an Influence Action being taken. Any result of 1 or greater is able to be detected by those using the Watch Action. Normally, only individuals who are using the Watch Influence action are able to notice an Influence Action happening, but certain powerful actions (effects of 20+ for example) may, at the ST's discretion, have the potential of being noticed by everyone as some things are just too far sweeping or noticeable in their effects to hide easily. If an ST decides that such an action has a potential to be seen by everyone, they will inform the player in advance, so they can attempt to cover it with a Stealth Influence Action.

It is important to note that the Watch Influence action will only tell individuals about the Influence Actions taken, but will not reveal the identity of the individual(s) who were responsible for said actions.

Military Influence
The Ancient Greek landscape is dotted with many city-states, some small and some so large they have their own sizable standing military forces. This influence give you access to one of those military forces. Such forces include Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Thebes, and so on. The trick with this influence is that it must be repurchased with each separate city-state you wish to control.

Military influence will be noted on your sheet which groups you have sway in and can only be spent by someone with at least 1 point of military influence. (This will be noted in the Miscellaneous section on your sheet just like Fields of Expertise, though if you trade it to someone else they will use their Field of Expertise.)
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., have all forces withdraw from a territory, disband an entire citystate's army), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Occult Influence
The hidden world of the supernatural teems with secrets, conspiracies and unusual factions. By using Occult Influence, you can dig up information to improve your knowledge, get inside the occult community and find rare components for magical rituals. Cult leaders, charlatans, witches, would-be occultists and a few more dangerous elements can be found here.
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., locate a potent, forgotten place of power, find the resting place or sanctum of one of the strongest supernatural entities), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Political Influence
Bribing influential nobles and attracting “favorable” merchants are just a few of the antics that falls under the purview of Political Influence. Well-timed blackmail, bribery or any sundry tricks are stock in trade on both sides of this fence. Some of the likely contacts and allies include nobles, sages, landowners and merchants. When you take this Influence, you must select the city in which you have this sway. It must be repurchased with each separate city-state you wish to exert your will over.

Political influence will be noted on your sheet which groups you have sway in and can only be spent by someone with at least 1 point of Political influence. (This will be noted in the Miscellaneous section on your sheet just like Fields of Expertise, though if you trade it to someone else they will use their Field of Expertise.)
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., oust a city-state's leader, having a city-state switch league allegiances), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Scholastic Influence
In an age where the quest for learning and knowledge is taking on a new significance, those who have access to knowledge are powerful indeed. Someone with this Influence can control the amount of knowledge dispensed to the people- and the percentage of truth dispensed. Within this sphere of Influence, one finds the tutors, scholars, philosophers, historians, physicians, and many young and impressionable minds.
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., founding a Library, inspire a philosophical craze), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Street Influence
Ignored and often spat upon on by their “betters,” those in the dark alleys and slums, where plague and pestilence scurries along by the gutter, have created their own culture to deal with life and any outsiders who might come calling. When calling on Street Influence, you use your connections on the underside of the city to find the lepers, thieves of all sorts, ruffians, petty criminals, prostitutes, residents of the cheap side of towns, actors and fringe elements of so-called “deviant” cultures.
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., gain control of a city-state's criminal underbelly, terrorize a city-state), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Temple Influence
In the Ancient World, the landscape is dotted with Temples to the gods and priests of those gods, and their policies and practices exert considerable influence over the direction of politics and communities. Knowing the appropriate people allows insight into the main-stream faiths of those lands. When you exercise Temple Influence, you can change religious policy, affect the assignment of priests or priestesses, and access a variety of lore and resources. Contacts and allies affected by Temple Influence would include priests, oracles, mystery cults. and various attendees and assistants.

Temple influence will be noted on your sheet which religion you have sway in and can only be spent by someone with at least 1 point of Temple influence. (This will be noted in the Miscellaneous section like Fields of Expertise though if you trade it to someone else they will use their field of Expertise.)
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., learn the location of a forgotten relic of legend, find the resting place or sanctum of a god), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Trade Influence
Manipulating anything from Theban traders to Corinthian craftsmen is a hobby of some Garou, especially those who use their knowledge to keep hidden wealth. Though your actual available money is a function of your Resources, you can use Trade to start or smother businesses, crush or support trading guilds, and alter tax records. Clearly, such power over money is not to be trifled with, fortunes are made and destroyed with this sort of pull.
Influence actions do not cap out at 20, exceptions are just too rare to warrant listing. You may submit and arrange actions of a higher number (i.e., change a city-state's trade relations, destroy a city-state's economy), and these will be addressed on a case by case basis.