Lycanthropy Curse 5E

Ability Score Increases:

As a lycanthrope at level 1, Your Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom scores become 18 if they aren't higher.

Damage Immunities

You gain the following Immunities: You are immune to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage made by non magical or silvered weapons.

Becoming a Lycanthrope:

The Curse of Lycanthropy spreads two ways: bite and tusk attacks as natural weapons inherent to a Lycanthrope’s transformation or being born into the curse as the child of a Lycanthrope.

The risk of being infected with Lycanthropy is decided by a saving throw against the creature’s infection DC. This is calculated by 8 + proficiency bonus + the Lycanthrope’s Constitution modifier. Lycanthropes can spread their curse quickly, but each subsection of the curse has its own set of feelings about that.

Types of Lycanthropy:

• Wereboar Half Humanoid/ Half Boar
• Werewolf Half Humanoid/ Half Wolf
• Werebear Half Humanoid/ Half Bear
• Weretiger Half Humanoid/ Half Tiger
• WereRat Half Humanoid/ Half Ratling

Explanations and abilities pertaining to subclass of lycanthropes...

• Wereboars gain the ability to Charge their attackers and hitting them with their Tusk Attack (2D6+Str) which is a natural weapon. They also gain Relentless
• *Werebears gain the ability to use Charge, they add +1 to their AC due to their resillient hide as well as Relentless.
• Werewolf gain the ability to use *Bite (1D8+Str) & Claw (2D4+Str)
• *Weretiger gain the ability to use Bite(1D10+Str) Claw(1D8+Str) and Pounce which is described in description block.
• Wererat gain the ability to use Bite (1D4 + Str or Dex) and gain proficency in stealth checks, if already proficient. You gain double proficency.

WereBear

• Alignments : Lawful Good
• General Personality : Solitary, Kind, Cautious
• Traits in Humanoid form: Broad-Chested, Built, and hairy in the same color as their fur
• Favored Territory: Remote Forests, Mountains, Hills.
• Social Preferences: Prefers Isolation.
• Werebears are the good ones. Given their preference about how they spread their curse, it’s unlikely anyone would find an Evil person struggling against their new Good nature (but it would be an excellent subversion). If an established NPC that the players know already becomes cursed by a Wearbear, that NPC may need to take a mysterious vacation to their private cabin in the woods every full moon. Given the Lawful Good standing, they might start feeling guilty about old habits, like skimping on taxes. They might even find themselves drawn to do good work within their community as a manifestation of their Werebear nature to protect their territory.

WereBoar

• Alignments : Neutral Evil
• General Personality : Violent, Antagonistic, Durable; Love charging into combat headfirst
• Traits in Humanoid form: Stocky and Swole with Short Bristle-like hair all over their bodies
• Favored Territory: Remote Forests, Mountains, Hills.
• Social Preferences: Gangs or Family Members of Wereboars, occasionally ally with Orcs
• WereBoars The bestial nature of Lycanthropy curses is fully realized in a Wereboar. Their traits, as well as the Werewolf’s, are easy to handwave as simply the desire to destroy and nothing more. However, their behavior suggests a set of priorities. They like to travel in groups of their peers which suggests that they can see eye to eye with members of their own kind. They can be violent to outsiders, but still, have a soft spot for their family. Orcs love strength almost as much as they love their gods, so maybe Wereboars have a similar disposition and respect displays of physical power. A character’s Intelligence and Wisdom scores are NOT lowered when they become a Wereboar, so when they charge headfirst into combat it isn’t because they suddenly got dumber or have worse judgment. My suspicion would be that they feel the most natural when they are in the thick of a fight and are actively looking for a reason to do so. This could be roleplayed such that all other worldly pleasures are sort of muted like being high on painkillers; but when they fight they feel alive.

WereRat

• Alignments : Lawful Evil
• General Personality : Clever, Shifty, and Calculated; prefers to ambush
• Traits in Humanoid form: Twitchy and Paranoid with thin hair and quick eyes
• Favored Territory: Sewers, Cellars, Catacombs; Close enough to feed off civilization without getting involved
• Social Preferences: Solitary or in Organized crime circles; Oftentimes keep Giant Rats.
• Wererats Wererats are tricky to roleplay. Next to Werebears, they are the most likely to have gotten their Lycanthropy from someone they know. Someone who becomes a Wererat 9/10 knows what they are getting into so they likely had a similar profile before they transformed. A Wererat curse to someone expecting it would likely amplify those traits to the extreme. Maybe they were careful before, but it manifests now as general anxiety about the world. They are paranoid and see enemies in every shadow. They are lawful so they seek to impose order on their lives. Wererats might even have a sort of collective code they all obey, similar to real-life organized criminals. If a character was claustrophobic before becoming a Wererat, they might be in a strange place now where they are actively afraid of going to closed-in spaces, but feel safe when they get there.

WereTiger

• Alignments : Neutral
• General Personality :Proud, Ferocious, and Detail-oriented Hunters.
• Traits in Humanoid form: Tall and Meticulously Groomed.
• Favored Territory: Jungles and Fringes of Society, but close enough they can travel in to trade and party.
• Social Preferences:Alone or in small family groups.
• WereTigers: The portrait we get of a Weretiger is a highly competitive, proud hunter who cares a lot about his appearance. That is a person with something to prove. They want to be known as a composed accurate individual that strikes at just the right time. A Player or DM might apply this as a hyper-awareness of their character’s curse as a Lycanthrope and is out to prove all the ideas about them being slobbering monsters wrong. Fearing being branded as a savage, they strive to embody a lot of high society ideals while still feeling like they don’t belong around normal people.

WereWolves

• Alignments : Chaotic Evil
• General Personality :Savage almost to the point of being rabid
• Traits in Humanoid form: Volatile, Prefers raw meat, Carefully attuned senses,
• Favored Territory: Wildlands with lots of hunting ground
• Social Preferences:Forms packs with Wolves and Dire Wolves

WereWolf Cont.

• WereWolves:Werewolves just love fighting, tearing, being the boss, and being alone. These traits on their own can be really toxic, but they can enrich a character if done right. The key is the why. One of the things that sets D&D apart from other storytelling mediums is the amount of exposure you get to a character or an idea. As part of that, sometimes you roll the dice and you lose. As already stated, Werewolves love fighting, but one might suspect they hate losing. Maybe after a loss, a Werewolf knows how bad their temper can be and seeks isolation to lick their wounds and process it before they make another mistake. Losing could sharpen their minds to a fine edge, overriding their need to fight everything, and focusing only on besting the one creature that defeated them. Maybe after being defeated, they submit to the winning party and trust them to lead them to more victories. If a character tries to deny their love of violence, maybe they seek to burn off frustration in organized fights, but avoid conflict in any place that could actually kill someone. Not every application of Lycanthropy has to be an in-depth character overhaul though. Maybe a Werewolf manifests his qualities as a love for animals and wide-open pastures. They might know the best springs in the wilderness from their constant hunting. A character in this game is made for the enjoyment of everyone, so adjust as necessary to fit your game.

How to Use Lycanthropy with NPC:

Once you have updated the NPC’s mechanics with the above chart and immunities, Lycanthrope NPCs need two considerations: what is the relationship to their curse and how do they interact with their new instincts and abilities?

How Were They Cursed? Let’s explore how they got their curse first. Did they get it when they married into a family? Did a Wereboar infect him just for giggles? Were they willing participants? Were they born to it? Once that question is answered, decide their personality and the new feelings they have which might influence their decisions.

There are hundreds of directions you can go with a curse like this.

How do they cope with their new compulsions? While Werewolves are the mad dog type, a Lycanthrope of the Weretiger variety might manifest his cleanliness in every part of his life. He might become angry if he was having a night on the town in a perfectly pressed robe and someone has the audacity to spill a drink on it. A Wererat might manifest general anxiety that leads them to seek more and more power to make themselves feel safe.

If you have a Wizard NPC that charges into combat like a madman, it might be because he’s secretly a Wereboar.

If an NPC loves the thrill of combat, are they bored by their resistance to damage or does the power intoxicate them? If they were timid before, are they afraid of hurting other people and seek solitude? Do they know magic well enough to know that the curse can be reversed?

Each Lycanthrope comes with its own general profile and you, the DM, decide how much of that you want to incorporate. There will always be exceptions to these behavior patterns and you should feel free to break them for the sake of the story. But, generally, these rules apply to the behavior of were-NPCs.

How to use Lycanthropy with Players:

This is going to be one of those moments where you need to talk to the entire table before you allow something. Establish what Lycanthropy means in your game. Decide beforehand if it is well known and what stereotypes there are about Lycanthropes. Talk to your players about what struggling against the curse or embracing it means. They need to understand the responsibility of their power and their ability to spread the curse even on accident.

It is a curse and it should be role-played that way. It’s more than just free powers. It helps define a character.

Lycanthrope Player Characters and non-Player Characters gain the same powers. This includes gaining immunity to non-magical and non-silvered bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. However, even some individuals that work for the Wizards of the Coast don’t house rule it this way.

A lot of DMs might be frustrated by the proposition of full out immunity to the most basic of attacks. We would like to compare this to the Aaracockra race. Both of them require advance planning by the DM to actually challenge that player. So talk to your DM before proceeding.

A lot of the basic monsters follow a brute approach in that they have a lot of health and hit hard with a melee weapon. For example, most of the NPC stat blocks have a crossbow option in the back of the Monster Manual, but since the priority is on strength, their chance to hit and damage are poor. With an Aaracockra, just flying out of range can mean they miss a lot of the crossfire and chaos. What Aaracockra and Lycanthropes have in common is that they can both be countered by an enemy casting Firebolt.

I’m not saying that every enemy your party faces needs to cast spells. That would get predictable fast. However, poison dart traps could still hurt a Lycanthrope. Fire damage from being beaten with torches can hurt them. Undead, like Specters and Wights, can hurt them. At high-level play, it’s a 50/50 chance that a boss creature has magical weapons anyway. Lycanthropes can die from fall damage as it turns out as well, allowing the creative DM ways around this seemingly broken mechanic.

The encounters the DM sets before a party decides what is powerful. If the Lycanthrope in your party is outshining the other players, it might not be right for your table or figure out creative ways to counter this.