Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
Prelude
There is something about lycanthropy that has a hold, a certain allure, which drives us to want to better understand, or even yet to be one. Lycanthropes, more scientifically therianthropes, have been staple in fantasy and gothic fiction. When the sun sets is when the horrors of the world come out to play. This product gives a means of playing a werewolf within the confines of the D20 Modern Ruleset.
Overview
The first thing that stands out is the Werewolf Racial Hero Base Class. It allows a player to effectively ‘slip past’ the set of rules laid down in D20 modern for advancing in character classes. It takes the creature in its entirety to start advancing in a class all of its own. Like any other class in D20 Modern, the Werewolf Racial Hero gains talents and feats like any other base class, there is no difference here.
The difference between a Werewolf Racial Hero and a standard mortal hero is in what each are capable of learning and advancing their capabilities of as they progress in power. Werewolves are potentially more dangerous as they have ability score modifiers that increase their faculties right from the beginning. This is a blessing and a curse as even though they are keenly aware of their surroundings their sense of reason is written over by the beast within. All werewolf heroes are capable of shifting into a hybrid form of man and wolf without having to take levels in the Werewolf Racial Hero class. As in classic literature, the moon holds sway over these creatures and drives them into a lunar frenzy on the nights of the full moon.
Players that wish to start off as a werewolf have the choice of taking one of three new starting occupations: Feral Werewolf, Urban Werewolf and Werewolf Shadow-Warrior. Choosing one of these starting occupations has the potential to shape the way the inner beast manifests itself by allowing the character to get a bonus feat from the D20 Modern rules or from within the confines the After Sunset.
After Sunset: Werewolves offers an array of feats to enhance you lycanthropic hero, each one potentially changing the make-up and mettle of the character. Examples include Hide of the Wolf, Savage Bite, Son of the Moon and Thick Hide among others. Hide of the Wolf allows your hero to gain a +4 bonus to their Armor Class, Savage Bite allows you a x3 modifier on Critical Hits with the natural bite attack that werewolves have, Son of the Moon allows you an ability increase when you can see a portion a lit moon and Thick Hide allows you a +2 natural armor bonus to defense while in your hybrid werewolf form.
Equipment
Two new pieces of equipment are touched upon within: Silver Ammunition and Silver Nitrate Ammunition. Silver ammunition allows for dealing with foes that are Werewolves or Werewolf heroes trying to ferret ou a bad seed among their kind. It deals lethal damage to any target and is feared by those that have a damage reduction but are vulnerable to silver. Unless werewolves are widely known about, Silver Ammunition is tough to come by and hardly ever available through regular channels. Silver Nitrate ammunition is even more toxic and more highly feared by those that carry the affliction of lycanthropy as it contains liquid silver in a hollow point that is administered directly into the victim’s bloodstream upon impact. Liquid silver is treated as a poison and unless the victim can bypass a saving throw, they are prone to primary and secondary Constitution damage.
The Werewolf Racial Hero Class
The werewolf racial hero class gives the character access to talent trees not available to characters that aren’t werewolves. These three unique talent trees include the Greater Lycanthrope, Hybrid Damage Reduction and Inner Beast Talent Trees. Each Talent Tree allows for options that increases the werewolves already innate unique abilities. Options include being able to be healed of damage when reverting back to human form from hybrid form, damage reduction that allows you to ignore hit point loss but increases your intolerance to silver and resistance to the passage of time based on how healthy the werewolf hero is.
Campaign Options
A trio of options rounds off the product and potentially adds depth to any campaign that incorporates the rules within. The first option deals with werewolves in the most traditional sense based on how they are presented in fiction: infection. The product does not base lycanthropic heroes in the manner that they are traditionally portrayed, meaning that lycanthropy is not something that can be passed on through a bite. This option treats lycanthropy as an affliction that must be overcome with a saving to avoid becoming that which has preyed and hunted you. Additionally there is the option of ‘curing’ transmitted lycanthropy.
The second option allows characters a skill based method for changing forms. The product is written from the standpoint that a werewolf hero can only change form a number of times per day based on their character level. This option presents a new skill for D20 modern as it exists in Dungeons and Dragons: Control Shape. Control Shape is a wisdom based skill. Any character that is aware of their lycanthropic heritage is able to learn the skill. Each night at moonrise the character must make a skill check to resist involuntary shapechanging. A series of Difficult Classes exist based on the phase of the moon and willful transformation.
The third option is best suited for games with a bit of an Urban Arcana/Shadow Chasers arc. It takes a standard hero to realize their shadow heritage and embrace it to become Wolf-Kin Shadowtouched. These characters are portrayed as the descendants of a previous incursion into the world by true werewolves that intermingled and bred with humans. When magic became dormant, their powers weakened and were passed down into their descendants. The return of magic into the world allowed those touched with the blood of lycanthropes to embrace their heritage and bridge the gap between shadow and reality.
Conclusion
After Sunset: Werewolves is a masterfully written and well thought out. Little or no customization is required to drop it into an existing D20 Modern campaign. I am quite impressed with the thought and research that went it and gladly give it five stars. It is well worth the money if you are looking to add a supernatural twist to your D20 Modern game.
There is something about lycanthropy that has a hold, a certain allure, which drives us to want to better understand, or even yet to be one. Lycanthropes, more scientifically therianthropes, have been staple in fantasy and gothic fiction. When the sun sets is when the horrors of the world come out to play. This product gives a means of playing a werewolf within the confines of the D20 Modern Ruleset.
Overview
The first thing that stands out is the Werewolf Racial Hero Base Class. It allows a player to effectively ‘slip past’ the set of rules laid down in D20 modern for advancing in character classes. It takes the creature in its entirety to start advancing in a class all of its own. Like any other class in D20 Modern, the Werewolf Racial Hero gains talents and feats like any other base class, there is no difference here.
The difference between a Werewolf Racial Hero and a standard mortal hero is in what each are capable of learning and advancing their capabilities of as they progress in power. Werewolves are potentially more dangerous as they have ability score modifiers that increase their faculties right from the beginning. This is a blessing and a curse as even though they are keenly aware of their surroundings their sense of reason is written over by the beast within. All werewolf heroes are capable of shifting into a hybrid form of man and wolf without having to take levels in the Werewolf Racial Hero class. As in classic literature, the moon holds sway over these creatures and drives them into a lunar frenzy on the nights of the full moon.
Players that wish to start off as a werewolf have the choice of taking one of three new starting occupations: Feral Werewolf, Urban Werewolf and Werewolf Shadow-Warrior. Choosing one of these starting occupations has the potential to shape the way the inner beast manifests itself by allowing the character to get a bonus feat from the D20 Modern rules or from within the confines the After Sunset.
After Sunset: Werewolves offers an array of feats to enhance you lycanthropic hero, each one potentially changing the make-up and mettle of the character. Examples include Hide of the Wolf, Savage Bite, Son of the Moon and Thick Hide among others. Hide of the Wolf allows your hero to gain a +4 bonus to their Armor Class, Savage Bite allows you a x3 modifier on Critical Hits with the natural bite attack that werewolves have, Son of the Moon allows you an ability increase when you can see a portion a lit moon and Thick Hide allows you a +2 natural armor bonus to defense while in your hybrid werewolf form.
Equipment
Two new pieces of equipment are touched upon within: Silver Ammunition and Silver Nitrate Ammunition. Silver ammunition allows for dealing with foes that are Werewolves or Werewolf heroes trying to ferret ou a bad seed among their kind. It deals lethal damage to any target and is feared by those that have a damage reduction but are vulnerable to silver. Unless werewolves are widely known about, Silver Ammunition is tough to come by and hardly ever available through regular channels. Silver Nitrate ammunition is even more toxic and more highly feared by those that carry the affliction of lycanthropy as it contains liquid silver in a hollow point that is administered directly into the victim’s bloodstream upon impact. Liquid silver is treated as a poison and unless the victim can bypass a saving throw, they are prone to primary and secondary Constitution damage.
The Werewolf Racial Hero Class
The werewolf racial hero class gives the character access to talent trees not available to characters that aren’t werewolves. These three unique talent trees include the Greater Lycanthrope, Hybrid Damage Reduction and Inner Beast Talent Trees. Each Talent Tree allows for options that increases the werewolves already innate unique abilities. Options include being able to be healed of damage when reverting back to human form from hybrid form, damage reduction that allows you to ignore hit point loss but increases your intolerance to silver and resistance to the passage of time based on how healthy the werewolf hero is.
Campaign Options
A trio of options rounds off the product and potentially adds depth to any campaign that incorporates the rules within. The first option deals with werewolves in the most traditional sense based on how they are presented in fiction: infection. The product does not base lycanthropic heroes in the manner that they are traditionally portrayed, meaning that lycanthropy is not something that can be passed on through a bite. This option treats lycanthropy as an affliction that must be overcome with a saving to avoid becoming that which has preyed and hunted you. Additionally there is the option of ‘curing’ transmitted lycanthropy.
The second option allows characters a skill based method for changing forms. The product is written from the standpoint that a werewolf hero can only change form a number of times per day based on their character level. This option presents a new skill for D20 modern as it exists in Dungeons and Dragons: Control Shape. Control Shape is a wisdom based skill. Any character that is aware of their lycanthropic heritage is able to learn the skill. Each night at moonrise the character must make a skill check to resist involuntary shapechanging. A series of Difficult Classes exist based on the phase of the moon and willful transformation.
The third option is best suited for games with a bit of an Urban Arcana/Shadow Chasers arc. It takes a standard hero to realize their shadow heritage and embrace it to become Wolf-Kin Shadowtouched. These characters are portrayed as the descendants of a previous incursion into the world by true werewolves that intermingled and bred with humans. When magic became dormant, their powers weakened and were passed down into their descendants. The return of magic into the world allowed those touched with the blood of lycanthropes to embrace their heritage and bridge the gap between shadow and reality.
Conclusion
After Sunset: Werewolves is a masterfully written and well thought out. Little or no customization is required to drop it into an existing D20 Modern campaign. I am quite impressed with the thought and research that went it and gladly give it five stars. It is well worth the money if you are looking to add a supernatural twist to your D20 Modern game.
