D&D 5E Curse of Strahd (spoilers): PC wants to be a werewolf

[Cap'n Kobold]

Wolves are one of the creatures that Strahd seems to have specific power over: controlling them and seeing through their eyes.
Giving at least disadvantage to saving against any sort of charm effect by Strahd would be thematic. (Or perhaps only while in Wolf or Hybrid form: give the character a choice between giving in to the wolf and staying human and in control.)
You can present this to the player by telling him that whilst his character is in Hybrid or Wolf form, he can feel the presence of his Alpha in the back of his head (Strahd looking through his eyes.) When the party meet Strahd, make the point that his wolf instincts see Strahd as his worthy alpha.

I think that a lot of how best to handle the lycanthropy will depend upon how you think the player will regard it. Are they going to ignore the curse aspects of becoming a beast and just revel in the combat potential of werewolf invulnerability, or are they going to try to retain control and play it out?

 

[evilbob]

Here are my thoughts on crunch so far. This is sort of tailored to this situation: a barbarian who chose the curse. I like that it is mostly a penalty at first, but can evolve into something that will be very strong in combat (at RP cost).

Starting immediately

- Can communicate with wolves and dire wolves indirectly; can sense their emotions and communicate in feelings. Can attempt to give 1-word commands, with advantage to CHA rolls made to influence them.
- Horses no longer allow you ride them; other non-wolf/dog animals are uncomfortable around you.
- Will wake up away from the party in weird places, maybe the occasional blood stain, with no memory but having had "strange dreams." It should become very quickly apparent that this character should not be given watch, and may be a burden on the party as they decide whether or not to watch him as well. (This ends after the first full moon is over.)

During the first full moon

- Change into hybrid form is uncontrollable. As he is embracing it, he'll get a DC 13 Will save to try to regain control of himself; on a fail he won't control his character for an hour, and each hour he can repeat the save until he succeeds (or morning). He'll feel the uncontrollable urge to attack anyone he finds, although he'll only use his natural weapons when not in control of himself. This change lasts until morning and does not wear off.
- Full moons last 3 nights in a row. After the first night, if he succeeded at some point on the previous full moon check, he'll get advantage on the first roll to control himself. This will repeat every full moon, but when it isn't a full moon he isn't forced to change.

After the first successful control (i.e. once the player successfully rolls to control himself)

- He already had darkvision but would have gotten this in hybrid and wolf form.
- In a reversal from previous sources, I'm going to say that the curse can only be removed when it is NOT a full moon. It's too strong otherwise, especially for one who embraced it.
- I like the "level up your wolfiness" idea; as he continues to do wolfish (i.e. horrible) things, he will gain in werewolf power.
- Since he embraced it, and he's a barbarian, it will work as a barbarian rage: he can voluntarily change into hybrid or wolf form by using a barbarian rage as a bonus action. If he changes into a wolf, he gains the wolf form but no barbarian rage features, but he can maintain that form for a number of hours equal to his level. If he chooses a hybrid form, he'll gain the normal barbarian rage bonuses plus the bonuses and penalties listed below, and must continue to attack or be damaged, or he'll lose the change after 1 minute.
- Each time he uses a barbarian rage without transforming into a wolf or hybrid form, he must make a DC 13 Will save or transform into hybrid form. If he was already damaged in the same encounter, he has disadvantage on this save.

Wolf form

- Normal wolf stats, except he retains his mental stats. No equipment merge: everything falls to the ground. HP is treated like a druid shift.

Hybrid form

- No equipment merge: everything falls to the ground or is ruined, as appropriate. Gain 11 temporary HP (otherwise your HP is your own).
- You look more like the Wolfman from classic movies: super hairy, maybe a few inches taller, but not crazy different. With enough clothing and darkness people wouldn't realize you weren't a human.
- Gain bite and claw attacks (STR based, as the werewolf stat block, with same chance to inflict curse on bite). Your natural weapons are treated as magical for the purposes of DR (otherwise werewolves could never hurt each other).
- +1 to AC
- Your rage damage resistance changes to: you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from weapons that aren't silvered.
- Each time you take damage, you must make a DC 13 Will save or make an opportunity attack against the closest ally or non-enemy. (This will be especially crappy since he is a wolf totem barbarian who gives advantage to adjacent allies.)

Hybrid form, empowered

- You look like the werewolves from the Underworld movies: you are a true hybrid-looking monster; you gain at least a foot or two of height and are nearly a large creature. No one would mistake you for a human anymore.
- Your rage damage resistance changes to: you have immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from weapons that aren't silvered.
- Your rage bonus damage is doubled when you are in hybrid form.
- You gain the fighter's Second Wind feature, which can be used in any form. It is recharged immediately after transforming.

 

[Savage Wombat]

The original Ravenloft rules made it much harder to cure lycanthropy - you had to kill the original (non-infected) werewolf before trying, and the process could be fatal. In my CoS game I've been hinting at that by having the victims of werewolf bites drink the wolvesbane tea and make Con saves. Nothing bad has ever happened, but it keeps the players nervous.

 

[evilbob]

The original Ravenloft rules made it much harder to cure lycanthropy - you had to kill the original (non-infected) werewolf before trying, and the process could be fatal.

Not that we need to get too far off on a tangent, but I checked the AD&D MM and the original I6 module and I can't find anything about lycanthropy rules requiring this. It is something you hear a lot, though (thus this character's original belief). I find it a little too close to the vampire stuff to use it in my campaign.

Another tangent: part of the reason the werewolf rules seem so lacking to me is that - besides the fact that werewolves as PCs are way wimpier in 5th Edition - werewolves as monsters just feel pretty pathetic in D&D, especially compared to werewolves in the White Wolf universe, which are INTENSE. I was disappointed that they didn't present any challenge, especially for level 6 PCs. Even boosting their HP didn't make them last very long. I guess these are just particularly binary monsters: either you have the thing that can kill them or you don't, and if you don't they're immortal. But the odds of most parties not having at least one silver weapon or magic user seems low. And since they're melee-only, they're extremely susceptible to terrain advantages and superior tactics.

 

[Azurewraith]

Give him the stat boosts described in the Phb but everytime he turns snatch his character sheet and make him do horrible things for the night.

 

[MrHotter]

Even if you don't want to turn the character into an NPC, I would think it would still need to be a 'curse' instead of just a power boost. If the player is aware that he may lose control of his character in times of stress or hunger, then he may want to think about curing his lycanthropy.

You could always go the other way and make the entire party a bunch of monster types by turning the other players into vampires, revenants, or flesh golem.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Not that we need to get too far off on a tangent, but I checked the AD&D MM and the original I6 module and I can't find anything about lycanthropy rules requiring this. It is something you hear a lot, though (thus this character's original belief). I find it a little too close to the vampire stuff to use it in my campaign.

Not the module, the boxed set. Most of us fans tend to reference the campaign world and it's specialized rules more than the original module. Anyway...

Another tangent: part of the reason the werewolf rules seem so lacking to me is that - besides the fact that werewolves as PCs are way wimpier in 5th Edition - werewolves as monsters just feel pretty pathetic in D&D, especially compared to werewolves in the White Wolf universe, which are INTENSE. I was disappointed that they didn't present any challenge, especially for level 6 PCs. Even boosting their HP didn't make them last very long. I guess these are just particularly binary monsters: either you have the thing that can kill them or you don't, and if you don't they're immortal. But the odds of most parties not having at least one silver weapon or magic user seems low. And since they're melee-only, they're extremely susceptible to terrain advantages and superior tactics.

Yeah, that's true. On the other hand, I'm having trouble picturing any non-WW werewolves that were anywhere near that power level. Werewolves don't generally seem too much more dangerous than a smart wolf - it's just that (a) you can't kill them and (b) you might wind up being one. And it doesn't sound like you want to give him "super-powers" for being a were, just a different build. I think I'd come up with something very like what you've already detailed in that light, so I'd keep heading in that direction.

 

[evilbob]

Not the module, the boxed set. Most of us fans tend to reference the campaign world and it's specialized rules more than the original module.

Ah, I see! I have never put my hands on one of those but I would love to see it one day.


I guess the heart of the thing I'm having a hard time getting ideas about is: how do you simulate a "lack of control" without taking someone's character sheet away?

Hence the idea about "when you get damaged you hit someone else" - that imposes a feeling of lack of control but the player still actually makes the choices and controls the character. I need more ideas like that...

 

[Savage Wombat]

I guess the heart of the thing I'm having a hard time getting ideas about is: how do you simulate a "lack of control" without taking someone's character sheet away?

Hence the idea about "when you get damaged you hit someone else" - that imposes a feeling of lack of control but the player still actually makes the choices and controls the character. I need more ideas like that...

That's mostly outside the scope of D&D rules. I bet other games have mechanisms that might work for that - I wonder what's out there? I know FATE rewards you for making sub-optimal, role-playing choices.

 

[77IM]

I like the "when you get hurt" trigger for attacking allies. Here are some other ideas:

- When you meet a person who seems like you could kill them and get away with it (DM's discretion), you must make a Wisdom save or else wolf out and attack them.
- When you wolf out, you can't transform back to human form unless you kill someone. The wolf must be satisfied.
- If someone attempts to Intimidate or Frighten you and fails, you must wolf out and attack them until dead.
- When you smell blood, you must make a Wisdom save or else wolf out and go into a frenzy.
- In wolf/hybrid form, you can't distinguish friend from foe, and must attack the nearest character (you pick, in the event of a tie). (So if he's adjacent to someone for wolf-totem purposes, and the enemy they are attacking dies, then depending on the initiative sequence he might have to attack his ally if they are the closest remaining creature.)
- Each time you miss with an attack, take damage, or get humiliated (DM's discretion) gain some "savagery points." These increase the Wisdom save DC of other wolfish drawbacks, including a save to transform back into a person. They are reduced by killing things (the wolf must be satisfied).
- You have a "wolf frenzy" attack, where you get 1 extra attack, but must randomly roll your targets. It only works when you are within range of an ally. So you get to choose when to put them at risk.
- You must commit 12 "wolfish acts" each level before levelling up. (You gain XP normally, but can't advance to the next level until you have your wolfish acts done.) A wolfish act might include killing an innocent or a captive, attacking an ally, or starting a fight. (Instead of 12 you might use a number equal to the next level; or a number that increase as you get more wolfish; or something.)