D&D (2024) Lycanthropes in the MM

[Remathilis]

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

The raksasha is one specific creature. How many creatures were immune or resistant to normal weapons?

 

[Stormonu]

No PC class or race should have a universal immunity, and there should be a chink in their armor somewhere.

And monks are not weaklings - they are as skilled as any other martial character, with innately supernatural abilities.

Also, learn to take a joke.

 

[DarkCrisis]

WotC took out some flavor and made them easier to kill? I am shocked. This is my shocked face. Shocked Pikachu.

 

[Reynard]

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.

The issue is the weird idea that magic somehow bypasses all resistances. It's dumb and has been dumb for 25 years.

 

[Voadam]

The issue is the weird idea that magic somehow bypasses all resistances. It's dumb and has been dumb for 25 years.

Regeneration stopped by silver works pretty well to address that. Magic works as well as non-silver weapons or mundane fire and acid, but to really get them you need the martial silver blade/bullet.

 

[Stormonu]

The issue is the weird idea that magic somehow bypasses all resistances. It's dumb and has been dumb for 25 years.

I do wish the case that silver trumped magic vs. lycanthropes.

Maybe normal weapons do nothing (Immunity), Magic weapons do half (Resistance) and Silver does full? Or, could go a step up Normal --> Resistance, Magic --> Full, Sliver --> Extra (I think 2024 is close to the latter).

 

[DarkCrisis]

I recall players (and myself) buying a Silver Dagger just incase we ever ran into a Were-beast. Sure, I wasn't using my D8 Longsword but at least I could I could stab it if needs be.

That's one thing I liked was preparing for "just in case". Everyone carried a quarterstaff just in case you needed to bash oozes or skeletons. Now you can Sneak Attack an undead right in the kidneys and easily cast a cantrip fire spell on a Mummy or Troll.

 

[Reynard]

I do wish the case that silver trumped magic vs. lycanthropes.

Maybe normal weapons do nothing (Immunity), Magic weapons do half (Resistance) and Silver does full? Or, could go a step up Normal --> Resistance, Magic --> Full, Sliver --> Extra (I think 2024 is close to the latter).

I think if there is a very specific material needed to harm a creature based on some metaphysics or lore, then it should only be that thing that harms them.

Fast healing and a regeneration are a good way to model that in a way that makes the game fun, though. You can run Wolfman over with a truck and he will go down -- but only long enough for you to beat feet out of there.

 

[Stormonu]

I think if there is a very specific material needed to harm a creature based on some metaphysics or lore, then it should only be that thing that harms them.

Fast healing and a regeneration are a good way to model that in a way that makes the game fun, though. You can run Wolfman over with a truck and he will go down -- but only long enough for you to beat feet out of there.

Trolls and fire, Werewolves and silver, Fey and cold iron - yeah, I mostly agree. But it can get a bit sketchy if its the only thing that can permanently put something down. You end up with golf bags to handle all the different possibilities you may encounter. It is a neat approach to put in an element of pressure to go and get the right tools if you know about the threat beforehand, but if its just a random or unannounced encounter that can be frustrating if there's not another way to go around (not everything should be able to be defeated through combat, but players need some obvious way through these sort of puzzles - and its hard to predict what PCs will interpret as "obvious")

I don't think magic should be the end all solution though, but I could see it being the bare minimum to do something, even if its to get the obstacle out of the way long enough to get around it. In the cases of needing special materials - cold steel, crystal, lodestone, silver, etc. I'd like to see these items be the ones that do full damage and magic weapons get half. Buuuut, what do you do about Wizards and Clerics and their energy attacks? Do they just get free pass and laugh at the fighters?

 

[Corinnguard]

Are lycanthropes in 5e affected by Wolfsbane like they are in Level Up?