Derek Hale is a werewolf from a well-respected family of werewolves, though he is thought to be the last of his family still living. He has become somewhat prominent himself in and around Beacon Hills.
Personality
Derek is profoundly protective of Beacon Hills and those who are dear to him, putting himself in serious danger for them time and time again. You wouldn't get the impression most of the time though, since his outward expression remains largely stoic at best, more usually gruff and grouchy. Probably due to the circumstances of his past, he doesn't find it easy to express his feelings openly and tends to default to anger, frustration, or annoyance rather than a more genuine indication of how he feels. Those who know him will understand his personality and expression more, as well as understand how much of his communication is non-verbal. He does not tend to mince words, although he can put on a charming approach for short periods, to manipulate others into doing what he wants, and he shows little hesitation to do so in any case.
Background
Derek was born into the respected Hale family, a family of werewolves of which his mother, Talia, was perhaps the best known. He grew up in Beacon Hills, in a house named for them, called Hale House. Attending Beacon Hills High School, he played basketball for a time. His uncle, Peter, resented Talia's alpha status and began his attempts to manipulate the family, starting with Derek. However, Derek proved less than useful and Peter soon refocused his efforts.
After the whole situation came to a point, with Peter killing Kate at last, Derek confronted his uncle and killed him, becoming an alpha in the process. Feeling motivated to gather a pack of his own, he approached Isaac, Erica and Boyd, turning them and forming a group of betas. However, Isaac soon wandered, and the chaos with the Kanima added an extra level of complication to establishing a new pack, as well as Peter's unlikely return. After this, Erica and Boyd went missing, but Derek soon helped them into hiding, to avoid the new threat of the alpha pack, which he helped to fight. After giving up his alpha spark to save a life, he returned to his former beta status. However, as time has passed, he has noticed indications of his powers returning through some unknown means.
SKILLS
ATHLETICS: Competent - Derek is highly athletic and keeps himself very fit. Although his superhuman abilities enhance his body's systems, including his stamina to engage in such extensive exercise, his dedication maintains an exceptional form. He has trained in a number of sports and, for a time, played basketball competitively. He is also good at running, leaping, and climbing, all part of a basic athletic foundation he carefully sustains.
COMBAT: Competent - Derek is a more than able fighter, though he is not primarily a warrior. Despite this, he is a fierce combatant and holds his own even against the odds; his accomplishments should be testament to his ability. He's able to come up with battle strategy in the heat of the moment, proficient at sizing up opponents, and can even manage multiple powerful opponents for a time.
DRIVING: Competent - Derek can drive a variety of automobiles and pilot other, similar vehicles at a proficient level. He is able to drive without incident and is licensed to do so. It can be assumed that his enhanced wolf abilities could allow him to accomplish certain stunts or dangerous acts.
LINGUISTICS: Expert - Derek knows a number of languages to a level of conversational fluency or better and also understands communication enough to grasp dialogues that are not purely verbal in nature, or which aren't based around words so much as sounds.
LORE: Expert - Having been born into a family of werewolves, Derek was surrounded by the lore of his kind from the start. He is highly knowledgeable about werewolves and other such beings, and he possesses vast volumes of information that most do not.
SURVIVALISM: Expert - Derek is exceptionally well-trained in survival, with a broad array of useful skills such as pathfinding, tracking, foraging, herbalism, first aid, and so many more. Even in less than ideal situations away from modern amenities, it is highly likely that Derek could survive for an indefinite period of time as long as survival is possible. He is also able, through his knowhow, to account for others and make sure they can survive too.
ABILITIES
BEAST FORMS - Werewolves are famously able to transform into more bestial shapes, gaining various special traits and abilities based on their current form. With training, they learn to perform partial-shifts, such as manifesting claws or fangs while otherwise remaining in human form. By default, werewolves of this type are able to manifest what is often called the "Wolfman" form, which essentially resembles their human shape but with a more bestial edge, including features such as glowing eyes, fangs, and claws. Other, more powerful or exotic forms are detailed in separate power entries, as are the special traits that their various forms provide.
THE BITE - Some werewolves are born that way, others are bitten. Alpha werewolves are able to create more werewolves, usually referred to as betas, by biting them or, in some cases, by clawing them deeply enough. This supernatural transformation generally only works on humans, and it works best on healthy humans with strong recuperative abilities, making teenagers especially good candidates for the Bite.
AGILITY: Enhanced-level Power - Through his werewolf heritage, Derek is gifted with agility far greater by several degrees than any regular human. His reflexes, jumping ability, and climbing ability are all drastically greater than human-level, and with some effort he is able to perform acts such as catching arrows or dodging projectiles.
ALPHA ROAR: Enhanced-level Power - Alpha werewolves of this type are capable of producing a roar that has supernatural properties. An alpha's roar is used to assert dominance over supernatural creatures and can be used to a variety of effects, including the ability to energize, weaken, or even restrain beta or omega werewolves of this type. They can affect the transformation of other shapeshifting supernaturals, triggering a change from one form to the other or vice versa.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Enhanced-level Power - When he wants to, Derek can apply a certain animal magnetism and affect others, charming them and manipulating them into doing what he wants them to do. The ability has been enhanced since he rediscovered his alpha spark. This is not as easy to do on those intimately familiar with him, and it is more difficult on those already opposed to him. It is easiest and most effective on those who either already like him, are attracted to him, or have no real opinion either way about him. He is only able to incline people to regard him more favorably and not able to manipulate others into doing things that are strictly against their ethics, but charm, distraction, and enabling are all very possible.
DIREWOLF FORM: Supreme-level Power - Derek has learned to take the shape of a massive direwolf. In this form, he possesses the following traits: Supreme-level Strength sufficient to crush stone in his jaws, Enhanced-level Agility, Supreme-level Toughness and stamina sufficient to resist most mundane forms of trauma, Enhanced-level Senses akin to those of a wolf that enable him to track by scent and hear over great distances, Enhanced-level Claws/Fangs that allow him to tear through most conventional materials, and Enhanced-level Travel Speed, allowing him to run at over one hundred miles per hour.
DOMINATION: Enhanced-level Power - Werewolves are naturally regarded by most other animals as dominant predators and are typically able to dominate or frighten away other animals. Even humans are not immune to this natural aura, though it's generally the weaker-willed that Derek could most likely dominate. Even rival predators are susceptible to fright or flight when confronted with a werewolf's growl, eyes, or shift.
MEMORY CLAWS: Enhanced-level Power - Though it is extremely dangerous to attempt, Derek is able to transfer memories by inserting his claws into the nape of a person's neck. This is able to establish direct telepathic communication and may allow, in ideal circumstances, for memory manipulation.
NATURAL WEAPONS: Enhanced-level Power - In shifted form, Derek possesses formidable natural weapons. His fangs are keen and his jaw powerful enough to shatter solid bone. His claws, however, are even more potent and able to cut through even substances as dense and sturdy as steel.
PAIN TRANSFER: Enhanced-level Power - Derek can take pain from someone else onto himself and alleviate that pain. This requires significant focus, or exclusive depending on the severity of the pain.
SENSES: Enhanced-level Power - Werewolves have senses far superior to a human's, able to see farther and employ night vision, to hear clearly at a distance, and perhaps most especially, able to pick up individual scents, even old ones, and track via scent. Other things can be sensed due to these enhanced faculties, such as illness.
TOUGHNESS: Enhanced-level Power - Due to the natural ability of enhanced healing and recovery, Derek is able to shrug off minor injuries, which heal almost instantly. Even non-lethal injury from personal weaponry such as blades and guns heals fairly quickly, and severe injury can be healed over a period of hours or days, depending on the seriousness of the injury. It has been indicated that even severed limbs may regrow, though the time frame on that would likely be significant.
ADVANTAGES
AREA KNOWLEDGE - Having lived most of his life in or around Beacon Hills, with only a short time away, he is intimately familiar with the area and most of its inhabitants. He keeps himself up to date and aware of changes, regarding Beacon Hills as something of his responsibility. His almost lifelong presence also means that he is a fairly significant source of knowledge of the area, including things that have changed.
GOOD INTENTIONS - Derek may be gruff and hard to deal with, but he almost always has good intentions in what he does. Those familiar with him will understand that under it all, he really does do his best to help and save others.
HALE LEGACY - The Hale family name still commands a certain amount of respect from werewolves with any awareness at all, and as presumably the only living member of that proud legacy, Derek is a fairly prominent figure. His unique status can command respect and might afford him favors.
INHERITANCE - Derek's family were very well off, and as the oldest (legally) living child, he controls the vast majority of the Hale Estate. He owns Hale House and the land it sits on, as well as having significant financial resources at his disposal.
PACK - While he may have been on-again, off-again with Scott McCall in the past, when the chips are down both Derek and Scott, as well as their associated people, have long been willing to put aside differences against a common threat. Since the two packs integrated, Derek shares leadership of the Beacon Hills Pack with Scott and often finds himself, as the more experienced werewolf, taking up a mentoring role.
POWER OF THE PACK - Everyone has heard the phrase "strength in numbers." For this type of werewolf, the expression is quite literally true. After being accepted by the pack's alpha (or alphas, in unusual cases), a werewolf gets stronger, faster, and tougher than they would be as a lone wolf. The strength of this enhancement depends both on how many total members the pack has, as well as how close together the members are at a given time. The size of the pack also affects the pack's alpha, whose powers increase when they're leading or protecting their pack members. In practical terms, this usually does not increase the characters' power ratings to a higher level than is on their sheet, though when the pack is strong and working together their abilities may increase from, say, Basic to Basic+ or Enhanced to Enhanced+. In staff-approved circumstances, those powers may be elevated from Basic to Enhanced or Enhanced to Supernatural as befits the current plot or scene.
WEAKNESSES
DAMAGED - Coming from a tragic background, Derek lives with serious emotional damage. Because of this, he tends to express himself through different levels of anger, annoyance, or frustration, with rare moments of anything else. He is deeply affected with serious trauma and at times seems to display indications of PTSD. He also seems to be a questionable judge of character, which has often led to disaster or at least unhappiness for him and added more emotional fallout to his already troubled psyche.
GOOD INTENTIONS - Even though he may not always accomplish what he sets out to do, Derek is well-intentioned and keeps trying to help people. This has, time and again, landed him in serious danger and let to significant injury and inconvenience.
HALE LEGACY - While his family's prominence and his identity may prove advantageous, it also may just as easily be the opposite. Those who hold a vendetta against his family have only one option in visiting vengeance upon it: Derek.
LUNAR CYCLE - Werewolves are closely tied to the phases of the moon. This affects them in various ways, such that they are at their strongest when the moon is full and their weakest during a lunar eclipse. The phase of the moon also strongly affects the werewolf's emotions, such that they can become almost overwhelming near the full moon. Werewolves often find a strong urge to shift during the full moon, as well as on the nights just before and after a full moon. Most werewolves eventually learn to control their shifts and to manage their emotions via various methods.
WEREWOLF WEAKNESSES - Due to his being a werewolf, Derek is vulnerable to all of the weaknesses that affect werewolves. These include wolfsbane or monkshood, mountain ash, a total lunar eclipse, moonstone, and low-amp electricity, all of which either have a serious effect on a werewolf's health and well-being or affect his ability to shift.
