D&D (2024) Lycanthropes in the MM

[Corinnguard]

The Garoul heritage in Level Up has two cultures under its' belt, the Blood Pack culture and the Moonkeeper culture.

Blood Pack | Level Up

a5e.tools

Moonkeeper | Level Up

a5e.tools

 

[Bedrockgames]

I actually kind of like grouping them by "were". My only concern there is if there is some monster I've forgotten, or a future monster that starts with "were-" and gets in the middle of their entry

 

[Corinnguard]

I actually kind of like grouping them by "were". My only concern there is if there is some monster I've forgotten, or a future monster that starts with "were-" and gets in the middle of their entry

Such as a lycanthrope based off of monstrosity instead of a beast? There were templates back in 3e that tried to do that.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Such as a lycanthrope based off of monstrosity instead of a beast? There were templates back in 3e that tried to do that.

No. I just mean if there happens to be another monster that isn't a were creature but by coincidence its name begins with were

 

[wizard71]

They don't have that ability anymore. The monk can do force damage.

Wow! I didn’t even notice that. That is ridiculously overpowered! So my barbarian can shrug off a massive giant’s club or a Dragon’s bite but a wimpy monk yell “Wah-Pow!” and cuts right through my defenses? Thx for nothing WOTC.

 

[Rushbolt]

The Lycanthrope's damage immunity from normal weapons of the 2014 Monster Manual was not a great choice for a game with effective, repeatable spellcasting damage. This definitely punished martials that did not own silver or magical weapons far too heavily. On the other hand, making Lycanthropes that are affected by normal and silver weapons exactly the same unless it's a critical hit removes all the flavor from the species. I am coming around to the idea that a Regeneration ability stopped by silver damage may have been the best way to keep the flavor while adjusting the mechanics to put martials on better footing with spellcasters. I wondered if Regeneration was cut from this revision and it wasn't used for this species for simplicity reasons, but it appears both Trolls and Slaadi kept their Regeneration traits. This just seems like a substandard design attempt to me.

 

[Stormonu]

Wow! I didn’t even notice that. That is ridiculously overpowered! So my barbarian can shrug off a massive giant’s club or a Dragon’s bite but a wimpy monk yell “Wah-Pow!” and cuts right through my defenses? Thx for nothing WOTC.

He's hitting your soul, not your body (Think The Ancient One punching Banner out of the Hulk)

 

[Remathilis]

The Lycanthrope's damage immunity from normal weapons of the 2014 Monster Manual was not a great choice for a game with effective, repeatable spellcasting damage. This definitely punished martials that did not own silver or magical weapons far too heavily. On the other hand, making Lycanthropes that are affected

This is true. And the game has always punished weapon users far more than spellcasters when it came to that. Fighter doesn't have a silver weapon? Tank it while the casters magic missile and sacred flame it to death.. To make a monster like werewolves work, you have to make them immune to a majority of magic as well.

But D&D opted for the opposite. Less flavor, but at least the fighter can do something.

 

[wizard71]

He's hitting your soul, not your body (Think The Ancient One punching Banner out of the Hulk)My foot he is hitting my soul. That weakling should not be able to get through DR like that. It’s force damage. Not radiant or necrotic. Force damage is is literally physical damage. No class should make another class’s main ability obsolete at 5th level.

 

[wizard71]

This is true. And the game has always punished weapon users far more than spellcasters when it came to that. Fighter doesn't have a silver weapon? Tank it while the casters magic missile and sacred flame it to death.. To make a monster like werewolves work, you have to make them immune to a majority of magic as well.

But D&D opted for the opposite. Less flavor, but at least the fighter can do something.

So you think that the Rajshahi is unfair to casters then? Should it lose its heightened magic resistance?