Talens are simpler versions of fetishes, created with the Rite of Binding, which are easier to create but more limited in effect. Like fetishes, talens are objects that contain spirits. They require a Gnosis roll to activate, but not to attune. However, talens can be used only once. After fulfilling the terms of its binding pact, the talen’s spirit departs and the item loses its potency. Where forceful binding into a fetish is a slap in the face of the entire spirit world, werewolves consider aggressive binding into a talen acceptable, as the binding is only temporary. A talen’s Gnosis rating is equal to the bound spirit’s Gnosis. One extra talen of the same type can be made for each additional success on the Rite of Binding roll. For example, three successes create three Bane arrows. Gafflings are commonly bound to make talens; more powerful spirits make the creation of multiple talens easier, adding two or three extra talens to the total number generated. Talens last until used.

You must be at least a fostern and must have Rite of binding. While you can force a spirit in, it is highly discouraged, and is better to make a deal. Talens is temporarily, and hoarding talens for long stretches of time can and will lose you Renown and possible notoriety with spirits, making future deals harder.

To make custom talens you must have spirted lore 2, occult 3 and have been making talens, this is so players can get used to making talens and pcs have the knowledge to make them. Working with sts is necessary for balance. Scenes are required to make custom talens and make deals for them. Making by the book talens requires a deal but can be talked about with st.

How they work

To use a fetish, the Garou must first attune herself to it by making a Gnosis roll. The difficulty for this roll is the fetish’s Gnosis rating. Attunement establishes a spiritual bond between fetish and user, enabling the Garou to take the fetish anywhere in the Tellurian and providing instinctive understanding of the fetish’s powers. Only a single success is required to attune to the fetish; failure indicates that the fetish has rejected the character. Another roll may not be attempted until the werewolf has somehow reached accord with the resident spirit. Attunement also effectively “dedicates” a fetish to its wielder, as though the Rite of Talisman Dedication had been performed on it. Since fetishes have their own Gnosis, an attuned fetish doesn’t count against the maximum number of objects a werewolf can have dedicated to him.

Each time the wielder wishes to use one of the fetish’s powers, the player must make a Gnosis roll (difficulty equal to the fetish’s Gnosis rating) to “activate” the power. Alternatively, she may simply spend a Gnosis point to activate the power automatically. Rage may not be spent during the same turn in which a fetish is activated.

So, you're an enterprising theurge and you'd like to make some fetishes right? These rules can be found in Hammer and Klaive (Werewolf Revised) – Some of this will involve conferring with your ST on exactly what will be needed for the fetish. These rules are used so that making a fetish is not reduced to a mere dice roll – fetishes are sacred treasures of the Garou nation and those who make them are looked upon favorably.

An optional first step is Research – where your PC looks into how other successful fetishes have been made or their effects (i.e. a klaive does agg to all targets because of the war spirits bound within etc.)

Doing research on a fetish makes later phases of fetish creation easier. Players must firmly present the specifics of the fetish they seek to design to the Storyteller — no one can do research if they don't know what they're researching. With the Storyteller's permission, players roll Charisma plus either their Mentor or Kinfolk Background against difficulty 8, or roll Charisma plus Allies or Contacts against Difficulty 9. Every success reduces the target difficulty of the actual Rite of the Fetish by 1. A botch indicates misleading research and the first success on the Rite of the Fetish roll is ignored. This also requires roleplaying and time, assume a week of research for each point of Background—Getting together information from a large family will take longer than just asking your siblings to see what they can dig up. If speed is required, players can elect to roll fewer dice and take less time with their research.

Again, this step is optional, you don't have to spend weeks doing this research but it can help if you have the connections.

Only ranks Adren and above can make Fetishes. This isn't up for debate.

Get with your ST regarding what Gnosis and Level your proposed fetish will have (The rules are too lengthy and wordy to put here in full. But follow along with your ST in Hammer and Klaive and you will be fine. Basically, compare what you want the fetish to do with what other fetishes with a similar power level do to determine the most appropriate level and gnosis rating)

The required scenes are waived for low-leveled Fetishes. You are still required to post a Request in the Requests channel or message your ST however, and wait for approval.

Finding an appropriate object is mostly a matter of shopping around and having an appraiser's eye. Roll Wits + an Ability appropriate to the object being searched for. As an example, looking for a good sword would come under the Melee ability, while a good flute would fall to Performance. The difficulty of the roll depends on the rarity of the object: Something you can find in an average mall would be 5, something you find in specialty shops would be a 7, and something truly exotic would be a 9. These do not reflect so much the difficulty in finding any such object, all that requires is a lot of hard work and research. Rather, this reflects the difficulty of finding a good example of the object; the rarer the item, the more likely you'll have to settle for what you find. Finding a good quality item is essential — If the Wits roll gets less successes than the Level of the Fetish, then few spirits will ever bother negotiating to enter it

Finding someone to make an item for you is more a matter of knowing those in the field rather than the field itself. Rolling Allies, Contacts and Kinfolk is the easiest way to do this, with a difficulty depending upon the size of the field. Of course, if the character knows someone in the field directly, success should be automatic. Some Storytellers may also allow players trying to find pre-made fetishes to also make one of these Background rolls to enlist the help of those they know. (“Dear Suzy, how's my favorite little sister? Hey, you wouldn't be able to check out some music shops in Portland and search for a…”) Every two successes on this roll reduces the difficulty of the other roll by 1.

Good quality items or vessels are ussaully crafted rather then bought. When a vessel is created, which can be made by you or someone else, even kinfolk can make vessels, these are objects that have been specially crafted for spirits to inhabit. A vessel needs to have a number of success equal to 5 times the fetish level, craft roll can be made once a week and you can use WP. DC depends on the complexity of the item. After that then a deal with a spirit must be made, usually by following a ban, as a spirit is permanent in a fetish unless released, a garou is usually expected to follow the ban or deal as well. Falling to do so can cause the fetish to become inactive or harder to use.

Finally, making an object yourself is a straight Wits + Crafts roll, with a difficulty set by the Storyteller depending on the complexity of the object. Storytellers may also give bonuses based upon other associated Abilities. For example, a Garou with Melee 5 is going to have an easier time crafting a good sword than an untrained klutz — he knows precisely the length and balance that suits his hand, and can work accordingly.

There is not necessarily a system for this specifically, as traditions vary among tribes and breeds but essentially you purify the object by exposing it to the elements in a way that the Garou feels prepares it to accept the spirit.

This phase of creating a fetish can be handled entirely within the rules for the Rite of Cleansing. Storytellers may choose to give a bonus for particularly successful Cleansing Rites, reducing the difficulty on the Rite of the Fetish by 1 for every success rolled over the level of the fetish being created. Creative variations on this Rite should also be rewarded by dropping the difficulty on the Rite of Cleansing by 1. Whoever performs this rite (and it need not be the fetish creator in most cases) must know the Rite of Cleansing, this part is not contained within the Rite of the Fetish.

There is no bonus for a good success on the rite of summoning however rolling one success will increase the rite of the fetish difficulty by 2 and rolling two successes will increase the rite of the fetish difficulty by 1. This is because you start out having already offended the spirit.

Finally we come to

There are a few final modifiers for the final contested roll

You can:

• Persuade, praise or cajole the spirit (With a difficulty equal to the spirit's willpower. You must achieve a number of successes equal to the Fetish Level for this to be effective)
• Give the spirit a permanent point of Gnosis to lower the difficulty by 2
• Offer a taboo (i.e. “this blade shall never be held except by an Ahroun”) - this gives a difficulty reduction of 1 to 3 depending on the taboo.
• Direct threats (This can be difficult, and failure ends the rite immediately)

The final rite goes as follows:

• The ritualist rolls Wits + Rituals, but this time with a difficulty of the spirit's Willpower. (Any modifiers based upon the quality of the object or any other preparation are counted for this extended roll.)
• In return, the spirit rolls Gnosis with a difficulty of the ritualist's Charisma + the level of the fetish. (It's much harder for a spirit to turn down a chance to be in a grand, incredible fetish than in a standard run-of-the-mill one.)

• The ritualist needs to gain a number of successes more than the spirit equal to the Level of the fetish being made. (So a Level 4 fetish will require the ritualist to roll four more successes than the spirit.)
• The spirit needs to get a number of successes more than the ritualist equal to the ritualist's Charisma. (At which point, the spirit presumably gets bored with the proceedings.)

What makes this more complicated is that every roll beyond the first in the extended test must be earned by the ritualist by trying another tactic in the negotiation. Any of the tactics discussed above (such as Gnosis bribes, taboos, threats, and so forth) are legitimate, as are any clever tricks the player might think of.

Finally, the ritualist can choose to 'double up' on tactics in order to reduce the difficulty. Instead of just employing a taboo, they could offer two taboos. The first taboo earns the ritualist another roll, the second one drops the difficulty of that and all future rolls. This continues until either the ritualist gains the needed advantage of successes (whereupon the fetish is created), the spirit does the same (in which case the spirit becomes bored and leaves) or the negotiations stall, with the ritualist unable to think of a way to continue. (In which case, again, the spirit leaves.)