Other References:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/112871/Werewolf-The-Apocalypse-20th-Anniversary-Edition?term=Werewolf+the+Ap

3rd Edition parts that are worth a look:

New World of Darkness Rulebook (1st Edition)

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1124/New-World-of-Darkness-Rulebook-1st-Edition?src=also_purchased

World of Darkness: Book of Spirits

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/27863/World-of-Darkness-Book-of-Spirits

WTA20 defined some basic spirit creation rules on page 443, using Banes as an example.  9-18 points to divide between Rage/Gnosis/Willpower for a Gaffling.  19-30 points for a Jaggling.  [Optional note: A materialized Bane example was given 12-18 points of attributes for materialize and an equal number of points for abilities.]

 One page 142, Totem rules were reset to grant 8 points to a beginning Totem for Rage/Gnosis/Willpower.   Essence basics were reset to the new rules and all other costs stayed the same.  They have all Common Charms: Airt Sense, Materialize, Realm Sense, and Re-form at no cost.  The 1 background point for 10 points of essence rule will be reinserted as a house rule, since banes were listed at up to 300 essence; however the very first point spend just rounds the total up so 6 essence would simply be 10.   Since it is more cost efficient to upgrade a totem first by making it a 5 point spirit Ally or Mentor in the rules below, this will be an acceptable way to upgrade a totem as a house rule as well and then expand from that benchmark with the other optional rules.

For 2nd edition, essence is the same as Power (bought in 2nd in groups of 10 for 1 point).   Stricter definitions of Materialize and other powers will be followed from below, as a way of putting things together less chaotically for Homebrew. 

House rule: Spirit Allies: start with 3 points to divide between Rage, Gnosis, and Willpower.   They have an essence score equal to the sum of their Rage, Gnosis, and Willpower.  They have all the Common Charms: Airt Sense, Materialize, Realm Sense, and Re-form at no cost. 

Additional Rage, Gnosis and Willpower may be bought for 1 point for 3 points.  Essence beyond the original amount most be bought for 1 point each.  Other charms are 2 points each.  Backgrounds would cost one point each.   Merits and Flaws may be bought or exchanged at the standard rate.

Rank 1 (Awakened Gaffling): 15 points to spend on Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (Totem cost), Essence (Totem cost), Specialty Charms (Totem Cost), and Backgrounds (player Backgrounds and Totem status costs).  Maximum Stats: R/G/W of 3 each, Essence (or Power) 30, 7 specialty charms, 15 points of Backgrounds.  Minor Ban: supernatural weakness that is not life threatening but inconvenient (i.e. garlic allergy, soda addiction, may not cross running water, must bathe 3 times a day, etc…)  Bans may also copy of a totem ban of equal or higher level.

Rank 2 (Powerful Gaffling): 30 points to spend on Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (Totem cost), Essence (Totem cost), Specialty Charms (Totem Cost), and Backgrounds (player Backgrounds and Totem status costs).  Maximum Stats: R/G/W of 5 each, Essence (or Power) 60, 15 specialty charms, 30 points of Backgrounds.  Minor Ban: supernatural weakness that is not life threatening but inconvenient (i.e. garlic allergy, soda addiction, may not cross running water, must bathe 3 times a day, etc…)  Average Ban: causes extra damage or affect abilities (slowed by pepper, can’t cross a salt line, rendered powerless by sunlight).  Bans may also copy of a totem ban of equal or higher level.

Rank 3 (Disciple level Jaggling): 45 points to spend on Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (Totem cost), Essence (Totem cost), Specialty Charms (Totem Cost), and Backgrounds (player Backgrounds and Totem status costs).  Maximum Stats: R/G/W of 7 each, Essence (or Power) 90, 22 specialty charms, 45 points of Backgrounds.  Average Ban: causes extra damage or affect abilities (slowed by pepper, can’t cross a salt line, rendered powerless by sunlight).   Bans may also copy of a totem ban of equal or higher level.

Rank 4 (Adept level Jaggling): 60 points to spend on Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (Totem cost), Essence (Totem cost), Specialty Charms (Totem Cost), and Backgrounds (player Backgrounds and Totem status costs).  Maximum Stats: R/G/W of 9 each, Essence (or Power) 120, 30 specialty charms, 60 points of Backgrounds.  Average Ban: causes extra damage or affect abilities (slowed by pepper, can’t cross a salt line, rendered powerless by sunlight for an hour, etc.).   Bans may also copy of a totem ban of equal or higher level.

Rank 5 (Master level Jaggling): 75 points to spend on Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (Totem cost), Essence (Totem cost), Specialty Charms (Totem Cost), and Backgrounds (player Backgrounds and Totem status costs).  Maximum Stats: R/G/W of 10 each, Essence (or Power) 150, 32 specialty charms, 75 points of Backgrounds.   Powerful Bans: can kill or shut down powers for a long period of time.  (Sunlight kills like a vampire, sunlight renders powerless for 24 hours, can’t soak silver, loses powers for 24 hours by touching silver, can’t soak cold iron, loses powers for 24 hours by touching cold iron, etc…)  Bans may also copy of a totem ban of equal or higher level.

*Spirits successfully operating in the material world often use the mage Arcane background.    Allies, Artifact (WTO), Caern (WTA), Contacts, Chantry (MTA), Kinfolk (WTA), Fetish (WTA), Haunt (WTO), Haven (VTM), Herd (VTM), Mentor, Node (MTA), Resources, Retainer (VTM), Sanctum (MTA) and Totem (WTA) are all really good spirit backgrounds.   

Spirits may take up to 25 points of flaws for extra points.   Most WTA, WTO, VTM, and MTA flaws apply.   May also take up to 10 points of merits.  Spirit only flaw: extra bans (must be of equal value) worth the spirits level in points (may be taken up to 4 times {a level 5 spirits can have 20 extra points and 5 bans total this way})

Before going on, it should be noted that any spirit above rank 5 would be about as subtle as Godzilla in the material world.   Rage, Gnosis and Willpower may exceed 10 and go all the way to 20 for anything Spirit Rank VI+.   This would normally be Spirit Rank: VI to R/G/W to 12, VII to R/G/W to 14, VIII to R/G/W to 16, IX to R/G/W to 18, X to R/G/W to 20. 

Note: The spirit’s skills are still limited by its nature, regardless of the score and things contrary to that are only accomplished at half the potential dice (5 dice maximum instead of 10).  Aphrodite might be really good at seduction, but not so good at calculus.  A frog spirit from the dark swamp might be great with occult knowledge, but not so good with a computer.   The spirit of Conan the Barbarian might be great at lifting, moving like a cat, and have lots of stamina, but Conan might not be so great at running the New York Marathon. 

Only the avatars of greater spirits were noted to exceed these levels and therefore sets a lower new normal.

---

Essence: The health and power of a spirit.   Normally the sum total of Rage, Willpower and Gnosis added together.   A weaker spirit may have less and a stronger spirit may have more.  Formerly power, the highest essence rating in the WTA20 is currently 300.  That is a level which would only be matched by Totems. 

Allied Rank 5 spirits would be normally limited to 150 essence which is 50 times more than their starting combined attributes.  It is also more than 5 times the typical maximum combined ratings of Rage, Gnosis and Willpower.

Backgrounds: The following applies to rank 5 and below spirits 

• All Backgrounds are limited to rank 5 but may be purchased multiple times.
• A spirit may have up to 10 level five talismans (Talisman5/Festish5/Device5/Artifact5/Chimera5/etc.)
• A spirit may have 10 master level Allies (Ally5)
• A spirit may have 10 levels of Resource 5 bestowing a list $30,000 per month stipend each due to 1993 rates of the US household median income of 31,241.00. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/incpovhlth/1993/tableh3.html     The 2021 US household median income is $69,717.   https://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/us/    This means a character with 10 stacks of resources 5 may have an allotment of $697,717.00 per month.
• No spirit can bestow more than 50 points to a pack or individual Totem (WTA)
• No spirit can bestow more than 50 points to a Chantry (Mage)
• Contacts 5 bought multiple times grants contacts in multiple fields above the base usage. This becomes the equivalent of the merits without needing to be purchased as Social Merits.
• A spirit may own up to 10 Node 5s. This may also include other systems: Caern (WTA), Haunt (WTO), and Holdings (CTD).
• A character may have up to 10 Status5 across multiple systems being honored by the Camarilla (1), Sabbat (2), Independents (3), Anarchs (4), the Garou (5), Traditions (6), the Technocracy (7), Empire of Stygia (8), Seelie (9) and Unseelie (10). Such a character would most likely be considered a well-respected diplomat and likely a kidnapping target rather than someone people want dead.  Other organizations might be just as likely to kill him.

Rank 6 and above spirits may have higher level items, such as Doctor Who’s Tardis L8 (C8 S8 T8) or Excalibur the L10 Wonder.   The may also possess twice as much in items or background gains per step level up.   So a level 8 spirit could own 80 Node5s for example.

Please note that spirits are just as capable of using tools and charms to exceed their limitations as player characters are.   The game caps will limit them in the end no matter what however.

Common charms (all spirit normally have and all at no cost normally):

Airt Sense: Roll Gnosis to find a person, place or thing in the Umbra.  This can create a path to follow for allies (light beam, trail of crumbs, yellow brick road, etc.).   If it would take the spirit outside of their Realm area.  The new rules give no essence cost for this charm, greatly increasing its usefulness and power.

Realm Sense: May sense what is happening in their realm both in the Physical world and in the Umbra.  Sensing a specific area or certain questions require a roll.  This ability is a more powerful version of the older abilities of Domain Sense, Forest Sense, Field Sense, Tech Sense, and others.  The older abilities may still be bought by spirits choosing to stay outside their realms.  Other abilities such as Sense the Unnatural and Sense the Wyrm are also covered by this ability, though they require a Gnosis check of variable difficulty. 

A spirits realm is normally no larger than a 10 mile radius per spirit level, thus an Ally 5: level 5 Master Jaggling could sense things in a 100 mile diameter.  Spirits rarely leave their Realm areas, seeing the lack of this sense with the same fear most human would have of total sensory deprivation.  In fact, the vast majority will willingly meet their ends rather than face such overwhelming fears. 

Also, like with materialized skill use, a spirit checking something outside of their expertise may only use half of their Gnosis score.  The new rules give no essence cost for this charm, greatly increasing its usefulness and power.

Rank Three: a radius of up to 30 miles

Re-form: Roll Gnosis to flee and reform in the spirit’s home domain (home within their realm).  This is normally untraceable defense.  The charm tracking can get around this defense and the spirits who have it are greatly feared as a result.  A spirit can’t reform if an attack knocks it into slumber (unconscious).  The new rules give no essence cost for this charm, greatly increasing its usefulness and power.

Specialty Charms:

Armor: add gnosis to soak rolls for the duration of the scene at a cost of 2 essence.  With the house rules this would include all forms of attack (stacking gnosis dice to physical soak rolls as well as mind, social and spiritual soak dice [the maximum of 20 still applies]).   As a result, this also increases the maximum health levels and willpower levels for the simplified combat rules [the maximum of 20 still applies].  This skill is used as reflexively as a human blinking an eye and if the spirit doesn’t have enough essence to use it automatically re-forms.   This skill also works while materialized.  This charm may be granted on allies as well for 2 essence each per scene.   As noted, the cost is 2 essence.

Blast: Deals Rage damage (aggravated) to the opponent.  It does not need to hit and the attack can’t be dodged.  The form depends on the type of spirit: a flame elemental uses fire, Laura Croft uses weapons, an AD&D Blue Dragon breathes lightning, a Jedi might use a telekinetic push, etc.  The cost is one essence for a single target.   The cost is two essence for a target as large as a fireball, 20’ radius with 33,000 cubic feet.

Cleanse the Blight: the spirit rolls Gnosis with the difficulty being determined by the strength of the Blight in the area.  This power may be used to cure any force of destruction to a person, place, or thing curing: biological waste, cancer, chemical waste, disease, fungal infestations, mold infestations, nerve damage, parasites, poison, radiation, radioactive waste, unhealable wounds and other such destructive forces.  The difficulty is Gnosis versus the corruptive spirits willpower, or 6 for normal issues and 8 for things that cause aggravated damage.   This does not heal, it just removes what was causing the damage.   This consolidates and replaces all lesser powers.   The new rules give no essence cost for this charm, greatly increasing its usefulness and power.

Control Electrical Systems: the spirit rolls Gnosis (3 for a toaster; 4 for television or stereo; 6 for normal home computer; 8 for advanced/specialized research and medical devices; 10 for Weaver Tech and similar 'magical' devices).  The new rules give no essence cost for this charm, greatly increasing its usefulness and power.