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Yup, I'm starting a new thread dedicated to those furry little things known as lycanthropes! I'll start by posting revised versions of werewolves, shortly followed by bears and rats. Some of the stuff here (=every damn thing) has been inspired by (=totally ripped off from) Werewolf: the Apocalypse. First a minor point on shapeshifters:
-They are born, not afflicted. All werethings are considered natural lycanthropes ruleswise. A werecreature is born of a union between two lycanthropes of the same variety.
So, if you have your own ideas on new shapeshifters, I'd be happy to see 'em!
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
The most common of the changing breeds is the werewolf. They are savage beasts, interested only in the prosperity of their race and the destruction of civilisation. They are effective eco-terrorists, often attacking lumberjacks, fishermen, hunters and trappers. They believe that only the strong should be allowed to survive, and they use the same mentality even in matters of other werewolves.
Few notes:
-Werewolves' initial hit die number is 2d8, and they can advance by character classes.
-A werewolf's skills and feats don't change in different forms. The only exceptions are Weapon Finesse (bite), which the character gains in forms capable of biting if his dexterity is higher than his strength, and Multiattack, which the character gains in forms capable of multiple natural attacks.
The Five Forms:
Contrary to popular belief, werewolves can assume five different forms, known as Man, Brute, War, Dire and Wolf. The Man form is indistinguishable from a human (or a member of whatever species the character's Man form embodies), the Brute is as the Man form, except that the werewolf gains some bodymass and hair in the change, War is the terrible wolf-man form which the werewolves use for battle, Dire is a form resembling a fearsome wolf and the Wolf form is a normal wolf.
Handling the Forms:
When rolling up a werewolf, the ability scores arranged without any modifiers are considered to be those for his Man form. If your werewolf's Man form is of another race (i.e. he is descended from a different stock of werewolves) he gains all the traits of that race, just as a human werewolf gains an extra feat, extra skill points and Favored Class: Any. When the character takes another form, add the following modifiers to his ability scores:
Brute: +4 Str, +4 Con. +1 natural armor.
War: +8 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, Increase size by one category, 2 claw attacks at 1d8 damage if base size is medium, 1d6 if small, bite attack at 1d8 if base size medium, 1d6 if small, gain Trip ability with bite. Speed +10 ft. +3 natural armor.
Dire: +6 Str, +4 Dex, +6 Con, bite attack at 1d6 if size is medium, 1d4 if small, gain Trip ability with bite. Speed +20 ft. +2 natural armor.
Wolf: +2 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Dex, bite attack at 1d6 if size is medium, 1d4 if small, gain Scent special ability, gain Trip ability with bite. Speed + 20 ft. +2 natural armor.
Changing the Form:
When a werewolf changes into another form he must actually go through the forms in between his current form and the form he is assuming. So, a werewolf in Man form wanting to turn into Wolf form would have to turn from Man to Brute, Brute to War, War to Dire and Dire to Wolf. All werewolves are able to take the skill Change Shape (Wis) to help in quick shapechanging. Below are the difficulties for the different changes:
Condition: DC:
Change by one form 5
Change by two forms 10
Change by three forms 15
Change by four forms (total change) 20
If the moon is full -10
If the moon is gibbous -5
If the moon is crescent +5
If the moon is new +10
If a werewolf fails the check, he remains in the form he started with. This means that it might be safe to make only one change per round, as this is easy, but in a stressful situation one should try to make a harder change, as this takes less time. As shown on the table, the moon has a certain effect on a werewolf's changing. This is because of the werewolves' close ties with the moon, which also is the reason for their suspectibility to silver. (a.k.a. "Moon Metal" by werewolves)
A change is a standard action.
Other Stuff:
Werewolves have the Lycanthropic Empathy and Damage Reduction abilities from the Monster Manual Lycanthrope section.
CR: 3
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil (there are exceptions to this rule, but such "Lone Wolves" are often hunted down by their relatives)
Werewolf characters: Werewolves, as creatures of the wild, favor classes such as the barbarian, druid and ranger. Werewolf druids are mostly Neutral Evil.
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
The Rat's Children are a race that are kin to the werewolves. In the days of old they fought together with the other changing breeds for the good of nature, but the werewolves turned into savages, filled with hatred of all humankind, and the wererats became urbanised and adapted to the human's corrupt ways. Living in the sewers of large cities, the wererats stalk anything that dares to make its way down into their territory. They have a strict society and a reputation for being great assasins. They are enemies to both werebears and werewolves, and they watch the other changers with contempt.
And now, to the creatures themselves:
-Wererats advance with character classes.
-A wererat gains Weapon Finesse to any natural weapons in a form with a higher dexterity than strenght score.
The Three Forms:
Wererats possess a number of forms, although not rivaling with the amount of the werewolves. The main form is Man, indistinguishable from a normal human (or whichever race the wererat traces his blood back to), War is a ratman battle form sometimes called "Sneak" or "Ratfink" and the Rat is a form of a large wharf rat.
Handling the Forms:
As with werewolves, but the modifiers for a wererat's forms are as follows:
War: +2 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Con, prehensile tail, (see more information below) gain bite attack at 1d6 damage if medium size, 1d4 if small. Speed +10 ft., Climb speed at 20 ft. +2 natural armor.
Rat: -2 Str, +6 Dex, +2 Con, size decrease by one category, gain scent, gain bite attack at 1d4 damage if base size medium, 1d3 if small. Speed +10 ft., Climb speed at 20 ft. +1 natural armor.
Changing the Form:
As with werewolves.
Other Stuff:
Gain the Lycanthropic Empathy and Damage Reduction abilities of lycanthropes.
CR: 2
Alignment: Usually Lawful Evil
Wererat Characters: As urban creatures most wererats are rogues, although some are fighters, monks and even wizards. Note that wererat monks are capable of using their natural attacks with their monkish attack bonuses.
The Tail:
In its War form, a wererat can use its tail as a third limb, allowing for the use of a light weapon. (but not a shield!) He may take the Multidexterity and Multiweapon Fighting feats for the use of his tail.
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
The Children of the Bear have fought since the beginning of time for the good of nature, giving no mercy to those who despoil it. They are famous for their kindness towards all living things and a love for nature rivalled only by some of the most fanatical druids. They are natural enemies of the werewolves and wererats, which they like to call "Our Misled Brothers and Sisters", but are on good terms with other changers.
A few notes:
-A werebear's initial HD is 3d8 and they can advance by character class.
-In a form capable of multiple natural attacks they gain the Multiattack feat.
The Three Forms:
Werebears have only three forms: Man, War and Bear.
Handling The Forms:
As with werewolves, except for the modifiers for werebears' forms:
War: +16 Str, +2 Dex, +8 Con, increase size by one category (to tall), gain 2 claw attacks at 1d8 damage if base size is medium and 1d6 if small, gain bite attack at 2d8 damage if base size is medium, 2d6 if small, gain Improved Grab as per a Brown bear, except that characters with base size of small can only grapple small creatures. +5 natural armor.
Bear: +8 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Con, gain 2 claw attacks at 1d4 damage if base size is medium, 1d3 if small, gain bite attack at 1d6 damage if base size is medium, 1d4 if small. Speed +10 ft., gain Scent ability. +2 natural armor.
Changing the Form:
As with werewolves.
Other Stuff:
Gain the Lycanthropic Empathy and Damage Reduction abilities of lycanthropes.
CR: 4
Alignment: Usually Neutral Good
Werebear Characters: As creatures of nature, werebears favor the druid and ranger classes, although a few barbarians exist. Some also take to the disciplines of the monk or the paladin, and many clerics of Nature Deities also exist.
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
Cool Werebear, but what are the LAs for these? Are they templates? If they are, what can it be applied to(Humanoids, Outsider, Dragon, etc.)? I should really think of this stuff before I post/edit. Anyway, what about armor/weapons. Do they change form with you? Is it automatic? If I was a Werebear Paladin with +5 Full Plate Mail and wanted to change to War Form, would the armor conform to my new shape? What if I changed to Bear Form?
Last edited by The Iron Mark; 17th February 2002 at 07:11 AM..
Originally posted by The Iron Mark Cool Werebear, but what are the LAs for these? Are they templates? If they are, what can it be applied to(Humanoids, Outsider, Dragon, etc.)? I should really think of this stuff before I post/edit. Anyway, what about armor/weapons. Do they change form with you? Is it automatic? If I was a Werebear Paladin with +5 Full Plate Mail and wanted to change to War Form, would the armor conform to my new shape? What if I changed to Bear Form?
They are templates, in a way. They can be applied to any humanoid with one base hit die, representing the Werecreature's "roots". In the beginning all werethings were members of these races, given the ability to shapeshift. So you could have dwarven wererats, elven werewolves and halfling werebears.
The second question: a werecreature changing form has all the equipment possessed by the previous form, that couldn't be kept in the new form, blended into his being. So your said paladin in war form would lose the armor, but if he went back to human form he'd get it back.
Hope that helps!
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
Hmmm... I'll need to make a few corrections to the forms, adding Natural Armor bonuses for the different forms.
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
When you go into Bear Form you walk on all four legs, what about War Form? I was thinking two legs but wasn't sure. And could you or someone else find out an ECL for this? It's at least +3 because of the Hit Dice. What could be cool about this is being a Ranger using a greatsword and my bite for two weapons.
Originally posted by The Iron Mark When you go into Bear Form you walk on all four legs, what about War Form? I was thinking two legs but wasn't sure. And could you or someone else find out an ECL for this? It's at least +3 because of the Hit Dice. What could be cool about this is being a Ranger using a greatsword and my bite for two weapons.
Yup, in War form you walk on two legs. I'm not really good at figuring ECL, so someone else who's interested should do it.
Also note that the change into animal form doesn't change a creature's size. So a halfling werewolf going into Wolf form would still be small, but in War form he'd be Medium-size. The same goes for every other changer.
Next I'll be dealing with yet another kind of Werecreatures, but I'll leave their identity open... one clue:
Keep them away from balls of thread!
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
Well if it stays on two feet and just becomes bigger, wouldn't magic armor change to fight the new size? Normal armor would just break, but magic armor is magic after. I think that's all I need to ask, other than could someone find an ECL for these, especially Werebear. Of course, a guesstimate would be fine.
Originally posted by The Iron Mark Well if it stays on two feet and just becomes bigger, wouldn't magic armor change to fight the new size? Normal armor would just break, but magic armor is magic after. I think that's all I need to ask, other than could someone find an ECL for these, especially Werebear. Of course, a guesstimate would be fine.
Yeah, that's true. I forgot that part about magic armor adapting to its wearer, so you could say that a Werebear in War form would have all the equipment of his Man form.
And there's no problem in using your own creations in these forums, and you may even add into the stuff that I've created.
You guessed right: the next creatures I'll be dealing with will be a sort of a werekitty, in fact the Werecheetah. After that I'll propably do something less feline...
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
Location: City of Charion, Nation of Cremoria, Prime Material Plane of Areh
Posts: 5,009
I would if I could, but I have a feeling you know more about the 'world' of Werewolf the Apocalypse than I do, but you're free to use any of my many lycanthropes as a base fore more of these wonderful write-ups. Any chance that you will do the Kindred later? I would love to be able to use them in my campaigns
Originally posted by Krishnath I would if I could, but I have a feeling you know more about the 'world' of Werewolf the Apocalypse than I do, but you're free to use any of my many lycanthropes as a base fore more of these wonderful write-ups. Any chance that you will do the Kindred later? I would love to be able to use them in my campaigns
Well, I'm actually basing the stuff over here on Werewolf: The Apocalypse, but I have made a few changes. For one, I ripped the different forms for the werewolf and the wererat from W:tA, but with the Werebear I reduced the original number of forms (5) into 3. I won't be dealing with werecats other than the werecheetah, but thereafter I'll propably do my favourite changers: the werecoyotees. Now, I just need stats for a coyote...
Changes: Werebear alignment should be Neutral Good, not Lawful Good. I got too much stuck with the alignments given in the MM. I needed to free the spot for Lawful Good lycanthropes for another creature I'll be working on...
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
About werecheetah, in Hexen 2 (just mentioned) are werejaguar (nasty creatures). I know what they would be, but I'm quite amateur with DnD, so I'd forget a thing or two from the critter.
Aw, I'll give a try:
Werejaguar
Hit points: 5d10+9 (35hp)
Initiative: +7 (+3 dex, +4 improved initiative)
Armor Class: 19 (+3 dex, +6 natural)
Weapon: Bastard sword +5 melee, Claw +6 melee
Damage: Bastard sword 1d10+2, Claw 1d6+4
Special abilities: Invurnerability, Rage
STR 15, DEX 15, CON 17, INT ?, WIS ?, CHA 8
Climate: Warm
Appears: Alone (1), Pair (2), Group (3-6)
Alignment: Neutral or Neutral Evil
Invurnerability: The werejaguar can go invurnerable for 5 seconds any time, as many times, but it can't do anything during this time. -EDIT- Oh well, it can breathe and that sort of stuff. Primarily the make an howl. -EDIT-
Rage: As a barbarian.
Add everything I forgot.
__________________ "Like I'd go there to burn myself? I'm not stupid! Good manners force me to let the ladies go first!"
- Charismatic Half-Orc saying
Last edited by Perfect Skum; 22nd February 2002 at 09:02 PM..
Location: City of Charion, Nation of Cremoria, Prime Material Plane of Areh
Posts: 5,009
Hexen in all respect, but werecreatures in D&D should all be written as templates, the werejaguar should be based of the Jaguar (which curiosly enough is absent from the MM, it's HD should be between Leopard and Lion at 4HD, and it should be able to hold it's own even against a tiger, jaguars hunt crocodiles and anacondas in the amazon river!) or if not being able to find that, as a temporary solution, the leopard. And should definitly not be invulnerable, even if it is only temporary.
__________________ "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his." - General George Patton
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house." - George Carlin
"Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper." - Larry Flynt
"The black wind begins to howl." - Magus
Originally posted by Magus Darkholme What about a werelion? Anybody write them up yet?
I'll be dealing with 'em after I've finally done the werecheetah. I'm pretty busy at the moment, 'cause today I have to DM a game for one group and tomorrow for another... I'll have the werecheetah done earliest by tomorrow, but I doubt that.
__________________ No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood.
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