D&D 5E Help with my 5th level barbarian Lycanthrope

[Zombiekat89]

So, right off the bat background. My name is Michelle (you can call me zombiekat89) and I started my dungeons and dragon campaign 4 months back. Home-brew in 5e and my first time running a campaign. I'm new to this but have watched matt mercer tips, matt colville tips and reading the books. I have 5 players and play at my house once every two weeks.

I threw my players into a monster hunt in the city of Orlais the capital of the humans. A werewolf was picking up women and dragging them back to his den and my players witness the kidnapping of a harem girl which lead to the chase after him. Inside the den my Rando the Half orc Barbarian got bit by the werewolf and failed his saving throw. My world sees monsters as bad omens and have witchers who hunt monsters. Rando decided he wanted to stay a werewolf even after I threw a high levelled paladin at him and marked him as dangerous.

My question, how to do i deal with this silvered weapons half damaged with his raging half damaged. I mean my players are all new and he is already getting way over powered for his level. I made a magic item of my own a Lycanthropy tooth which details he cannot turn werewolf form without wisdom saving throws to maintain his mental state, failure results in him turning on the team and acting wildly. Now do I just give all my villains silvered weapons? I'm kinda in over my head thinking of this.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I'd say that silvered & magical weapons do full damage whether he's raging or not. There's a downside to being a Lycanthrope, after all.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'd say that silvered & magical weapons do full damage whether he's raging or not. There's a downside to being a Lycanthrope, after all.

I would agree with this.

Also, welcome to the forums Michelle!

 

[Zombiekat89]

Thank you, Funny enough it was Matt Colville who said there are tons of people who have researched this stuff and I felt, hey I'm struggling maybe someone can help.

I like the idea of Silvered weapons getting full damage on him no matter his rage or not. What about his attacks. While in werewolf he has multi attack does that mean he gets three attacks at 5th level in werewolf?

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Thank you, Funny enough it was Matt Colville who said there are tons of people who have researched this stuff and I felt, hey I'm struggling maybe someone can help.

I like the idea of Silvered weapons getting full damage on him no matter his rage or not. What about his attacks. While in werewolf he has multi attack does that mean he gets three attacks at 5th level in werewolf?

No. He can use his action to Attack per his character class (and get 2 attacks) or use the Multiattack action to give him the attacks stated for his werewolf form. I would not have these two things 'stack'.

 

[Zombiekat89]

Oh so he still only has one action in his turn and need to pick the werewolf attack action or his barbarian attack action. So in his werewolf form he would not be able to use his weapon?

 

[Sunseeker]

If a hunter plans on hunting werewolves, they are 100% likely to carry silvered weapons...or something else that can bypass resistance, or die.

There's not much you can do about his Barbarian damage reduction though.

You're really just going to have to play up the risk of him going crazy. The fact that he's a "marked man" now is going to of course mean anyone seen helping him is also going to be a marked man, so you're going to have to reinforce that to your players. THEY are hunted now too. They're denied quests, they're not welcome in town, and so on.

I mean that sucks for them that they're low level and you have a half-orc barbarian lycanthrope making their lives difficult but frankly unless you're willing to buff them up, they're going to have to be the ones to make that call that Rando's gotta go.

Oh so he still only has one action in his turn and need to pick the werewolf attack action or his barbarian attack action. So in his werewolf form he would not be able to use his weapon?

Not exactly. In 5E, werewolves have dexterous hands, so they can use weapons. HOWEVER, the Werewolf attack option "Multiattack" takes up his whole "Action" slot. Just like his "Attack Action" takes up his whole Action slot. He cannot say, Multiattack with two weapons and a bite. He can claw, claw, bite; OR he can use his Barbarian Attack Action (with however many attacks that may give him).

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

Silver weapons shouldn't bypass the barbarian reduction, just the damage immunity. Was the barbarian chaotic evil before he became a werewolf? If not, it says that when a character embraces the curse, their alignment changes to that of the were creature that afflicted them, which is chaotic evil in the case of a werewolf. Furthermore the DM is allowed to say that said alignment shift causes the character to become an NPC until he is cured. This solves all the problems if the barbarian wasn't chaotic evil previously.

Curing him is also an option. Remove Curse should do nicely.

 

[monboesen]

My advice. The minute the player seeks to gain any form of advantage from being a homocidal shapechanging wolfbeast is the minute they turn into an NPC.

Lycanthropy should never be something a player/character embraces. It is a horrible curse that will lead to killing friends, family, innocents etc.

The only way i would accept it in play as a DM, would be a player/character doing his best to be cured. That can be the cause of some interesting moral choices and roleplaying.

 

[velthik]

when he rages, thats when he transforms. give him resistance to nonsilvered weapons, but weakness to silvered ones. basic bite and claw attacks.