different name for "ware-chimera"

[Syunsuke]

I really like the concept of were-chimera in this article.
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Hybrid Contestants)

1.Were-chimera: The result of a mad artificer who studied lycanthropes, this terrible creature morphs into any form it needs to gain advantage against its prey. In combat, it’s been known to change from a dragon (controller) to a lion (skirmisher), to a goat (charging brute), to still other creatures as necessary.

But, for me, the name "were-chimera" sounds a man/woman morphs into chimera, not a man/woman morphs into many kinds of animal.
(What do you think? I'm not so good at English...maybe rather obvious

So, I want different name for this creature.
Were-something, -thrope (-anthrope?), or whatever.
Maybe panthrope or omnithrope?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Chimaerathrope?

 

[Jhaelen]

polyanthrope would probably be the best fit (poly = many).

 

[Pentius]

Were-beast, perhaps?

Or the more generic "shapeshifter"

 

[Kaodi]

Chimythere. " Chi " for Chimaera, " Myth " for Mythology, " Ere " for " Were " .

 

[Janx]

Chimaerathrope?

that was good. Or the obvious:

Weremera.

 

[Umbran]

"Werewolf" is, linguistically, "man-wolf". Lycanthrope is basically "wolf-man". The "were-" and "-anthrope" are both references to being a human (in Old English and Greek, respectively).

Does the thing normally have the form of a human (or humanoid)? If not, then really neither the "were-" nor "-anthrope" apply.

("Polyanthrope" then, would be a doppelganger - taking forms of many humans.)

And Chimera doesn't mean just having many forms, it means having many forms at one time - like having the body of a lioness, with a tail that ends in a snake's head, and a goat head coming out of the middle of the spine. (Chimera was sister to Cerberus and the Lernean Hydra - the Greeks had a thing for monsters with many heads).

A "were-chimera", then, doesn't just change his shape - he changes *parts* of his shape - so maybe he has goat's feet for climbing a mountain, but then swaps out to tiger paws when he wants to rake you with claws, while having a turtle body for armor, switching to an eagle's body when he needs to fly.

Or, maybe he just sprouts extra heads for various needs - that's more manageable, power-wise.

Not that you need to follow real-world language meanings for naming your critters, but I find there's inspiration to be found in the real structures.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I believe that if I have my 80s television correct... the word you're looking for is 'MANIMAL'.

 

[AWizardInDallas]

Lycans

I use alternative names for lycanthropes too! I refer to werewolves as 'wolven' and wererats as 'ratlings' (insulting) or 'ratmen'. I used to hate even dealing with lycanthropes at all but I got better (and I use Hero Lab).

 

[Janx]

so per Umbran, you've got a poly-chimera, or a polymera or chimerpoly or a polychime.

I like Umbran's point about the chimera definition. If your critter just shifted into other animals, that's a shapeshifter. If your critter morphs body parts that better fits the definition of a chimera, a critter that has mixed body parts.