Bagheera

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"Our wisdom is older than the Brahmans, more ancient than the sutras. We have seen the Aryans, the Greeks, the Mughals and the British pass through, and we have been unmoved. In the First Days, we learned our place under Heaven: to observe, to destroy and to usher the soul to its next life's destiny."
Bastet Breedbook pg.#47

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Kali's Executioners

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The Bagheera are werepanthers, and are traditionally from India and Africa, although they have never been particularly choosey about race. Known as the Children of Saraam and feared as Kali's Executioners, they are strong of both body and mind, filled with a keen sense of justice and their spirit with righteous wrath. They are both beautiful, and the most approachable of the Bastet, as they may be the ones most likely to put the past in the past to do what needs done. Being sleek and graceful, the Bagheera can be found with black fur in their feline forms, although males can have the standard leopard coloration. There eyes, be it the oldest Bagheera or youngest, are said to look the wisest of the cats.


When Bagheera gather together to form a war party, known as taklah, they become truly fearsome entities. Not to be confused with a Garou pack, this short term war party can be devastating in power, with a combination of Gifts and Rites to run their target down and destroy as fast as possible. It takes more than just a simple threat to gather the Bagheera together, so when they do it is not a time for socializing or disagreements or delays.

** Pictures and Title all taken from Bastet Breedbook pg.# 45-47 **


Bagheera Gifts

PGttCB 69-70, Bastet 105-106

Level 1

  • Humbaba's Escape
  • Treeclimber

Level 2

  • Lawgiver's Legacy
  • Ojas Surge

Level 3

  • Eye of the Cobra

  • Cobra's Dance
  • Babel's Cure (Traveler's Tongues)

Level 4

  • Craft of the Maker (Potter's Clay)

  • The Paradox of Time

Level 5

  • Shiva's Might

  • Part the Curtain
Bagheera Gift Details
Rank 1

Humbaba's Escape - One of the tribe's first and most valuable tricks, this Gift allows a wereleopard to dislocate her limbs and slide through small openings. Though the Bagheera claim that the wise cat Humbaba invented the trick, the Simba maintain that he originally learned it from Mouse spirits.

System: The player rolls her Dexterity + Athletics to dislocate her limbs. The harder the attempt, the higher the difficulty becomes. Undoing your wrist to get out of handcuffs would be difficulty 6, while dislocating your spine and ribs to get through an air shaft would be 10. While the cat is out of joint, her Stamina rating drops by two. Simple adjustments don't cost any Gnosis, but large-scale body-shifts cost one point

(PGttCB p69, Bastet BB p105)


Treeclimber - As the common Bastet Gift. Leopards excel at climbing, and most Kuasha teach this secret first.

(PGttCB p69, Bastet BB p105)

Rank 2

Lawgiver's Legacy - In the distant past, it is said that the Bagheera were intended to be the arbitrators of the cat-folk. The position never materialized, but this Gift offers an edge to the Bagheera trying to exercise this ancient right with minimal force. With it, a panther can raise her voice to drown out all others without actually shouting, and it adds a note of command that makes even Simba take the panther's words seriously.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Expression (difficulty 7) to get everyone's attention for one scene. The Gift also reduces the difficulty of her next social roll by 1 for every success she rolls. Anyone who wants to contest to Bagheera's authority must will a resisted Willpower roll with the panther (difficulty 7).

(PGttCB p69, Bastet BB p105)


Ojas Surge - By channeling ojas, the mystical energy inside us all, a Bagheera can boost his physical and perceptual abilities beyond their normal limits. To do so, he attains a posture and meditates for a moment, then guides the ojas through his body, directing it to whatever his need might be.

System: To perform the Gift, the panther must first meditate for five minutes. He may reduce this time by one minute for every rank he's achieved beyond first (to a minimum of one minute). After he's centered himself, he rolls Gnosis (difficulty 7). Each success can be used to boost one of the following attributes by one dot: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Charisma, Perception, or Wits. The successes can be distribited in any way the Bagheera wishes, and the effects last for one scene. Multiple uses of the Gift are not cumulative. The Bagheera may use the Gift as often as he wishes, but each use beyond the first in a given day raises the difficult by two and doubles the meditation time. A failed attempt to initiate the surge leaves the Bagheera depressed, and the Gift cannot be used again that day.

(PGttCB p69, Bastet BB p106)

Rank 3

Cobra's Dance - Long ago, a panther named Tola entered into negotiations with King Snake. After weeks of discussion and debate, the two came to an understanding of sorts. No one knows what secrets Tola offered King Snake, but he learned this Gift as part of the exchange. The Dance allows a cat to freeze prey with a glance. Some old Bagheera claim to know other secrets of the serpent folk, but if any other Gifts have survived, they're not well known.

System: To begin the Dance, a panther sways in place; the player rolls Manipulation + Expression and spends a Gnosis point. This requires at least one turn spent dancing, and the effect lasts one turn per success. The rolls difficulty depends on the target: hypnotizing most animals is easy (5), while freezing a hostile vampire is anything but (10). to break the spell, the target must win a Willpower contest with the cat (difficulty 8). Otherwise, he's held stunned and helpless until the Gift wears off. Once the Dance takes hold, the cat can do whatever he likes - such as leave, talking or mauling the target.

(Bastet BB p106)


Eye of the Cobra - As the Garou Galliard Gift.

(PGttCB p70)


Traveler's Tongues - As the Bastet Homid Gift: Babel's Cure.

(Bastet BB p101)

Rank 4

The Paradox of Time - To most followers of Hinduism, time is not the linear stream Westerners believe it is. Rather, all times are one time, viewed from a perspective that shifts. In other words, it only appears to move because we believe it does. A skilled Bagheera can employ this seeming paradox to utterly confuse an enemy or enlighten a pilgrim. By showing him the relative nature of time, the panther can offer him a glimpse of his folly - or baffle him for minutes on end.

System: While the cat talks to his target in a low, hypnotic tones, the player rolls Manipulation + Enigmas against the target's Willpower rating. For each success, the subjects perceptions skew slightly, disorientating him for two turns. Until the Gift wears off, he subtracts three dice from all dice pools due to terminal confusion. Mages who understand the Time Sphere are totally immune to this Gift's effects.

(Bastet BB p106)


Potter's Clay - As the Rank Three Bastet Homid Gift: Craft of the Maker (As the Garou Homid Gift: Reshape Object.)

(PGttCB p70, Bastet BB p101)

Rank 5

Part the Curtain - Like the Rank Four common Bastet Gift: Walking Between Worlds, this spell allows a leopard to cross into the Near Umbra. This variation, however, lets her bring others across as well. the Mistress of Cat-kind is said to have brought this Gift to several Bagheera elders during the British occupation of India. Working with allies from the Swara and Khan, these old cats turned several staid English manors into shrieking chaos.

System: All systems resemble the aforementioned Gift, except that the Bagheera can take one additional ally through for every point of Gnosis she possesses.

(Bastet BB p106)


Shiva's Might - One of the most impressive feats of godlike destruction this side of a nuke, a Bagheera may change into a form reminiscent of Shiva the Destroyer or Kali the Dark Mother (depending on the cat's gender). In a burst of holy light, the Bastet becomes a 12 foot tall, six armed Crinos form werepanther wielding flaming weapons. Until the ground is littered with bodies, this engine of reline wrath hacks everything around it - foe and otherwise - into bloody giblets. Obviously, this is a last resort, but a very effective one.

System: The player invoking this godlike manifestation spends two Rage points and two Gnosis points, then immediately rolls for frenzy (difficulty 3). If he wins five successes or more, the Bagheera springs into Crinos form, grows three feet taller, and sprouts four more arms, each bearing a flaming weapon. This destroyer form, the Juddho, goes into a sudden killing frenzy which lasts for one turn for every point of Rage in the Bastet's permanent rating. If he fails, nothing happens; a botch brings on a fox frenzy instead. The stats for the Judho form are:

Strength: +6, Dexterity: +3, Stamina: +6, Appearance: 0, Weapons: Strength +4 (Aggravated)

No one is safe from Shiva's Might - anyone in sight will be attacked. The Bagheera is totally incapable of any form of rational communication or combat strategy. Until the Juddho form disappears, he knows only how to kill. In his mind, he wanders through the hells of the Asura, slashing and hitting everything he meets. When the gift finally fades, the panther drops to 0 rage, assumes his breed form, and falls asleep for at least four hours.

(PGttCB p70, Bastet BB p106)


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