Lycanthropes.

[escaflowne777]

Im not certain if this has been adressed yet, but if it has, it certainly doesn't surprise me. First, let me start off by saying, what the hell. I've always wanted to play an afflicted lycanthrope, and anticipating the new edition i thought that maybe they would kill the level adjustment and let me take feats to gain powers. Instead, we get these meek little hereditary beasts that honestly, don't hold a candle to the monster of yor. I got roped into DMing our first 4th edition game, and ended up sending our Pcs against a few Werewolves. Other than the moon frenzy, (which I must admit, had quite some utility) their abilities are quite poor. Regeneration helps, but with a wizard blasting em with magic, they didn't stand a chance. My questions are, for what purpose did they destroy lycanthropes, will there be more, and why can't we play them?

 

[abyssaldeath]

I think they killed the affliction because it caused more problems then it created RP opportunities. Especially for werewolves. If a PC was afflicted the PC pretty much lost control of their character and 4e wants to limit player down time.

 

[escaflowne777]

I understand that, i really do, but, they could at least offer the option, or some glimmer of rules to come, instead of saying, "NO! Lycanthropy is ONLY hereditary!"

 

[TimeOut]

You know, you could always come up with such rules yourself.

All necessary tools are in the PHB, DMG and most notably in your imagination.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It also is more traditional then the infected variety, which is a more modern creation.

 

[escaflowne777]

These are two very good points. I don't know where I'd begin with making them playable though, maybe make the diseases their bites spread takable as a feat only after you take shape shifting and regeneration as feats also. Besides though, if I wanted to go traditional you would be correct, they'd only change on the full moon, no moon frenzy, and no knowledge of their change. Assuming I'm going to roll with the new werewolves though, what do you think about the feats?

 

[ferratus]

I'm keeping the werewolves and shifters as is because it works very well for having them as a secret druidic society. I had shelved it in the early stages of my campaign because werewolfism that spread through attacks caused problems for making them an illuminati. Now I just use a ritual to transform them instead of hereditary and I'm done.

For those that want infected werewolves, I'd make this change. If they haven't cured their disease by the next full moon, they get full on cursed lyncanthropy. That gives you time to construct what the player's stats would be while cursed for the next gaming session.

If you want to embrace your werewolfism, retrain as a shifter. Then do the various biting and claw attacks as powers, and the increased movement and other miscellanea as feats. Instead of boosting ability scores, have bonuses to attack called "savage surge". This would all be the equivalent flavor of a "control shapechange" feat in 3e.

 

[DreamChaser]

The reason they can't be played is because the goal of this first set of books for the new edition was to put all the playable races on even footing, logistically speaking. There are major practical and logistical challenges to balancing the ability to transform into an animal at will. Either, the animal form sucks, in which case why play it or the animal form is too cool.

Additionally, it isn't a matter of balancing one. There is a difference between a rat, a wolf, and a bear as an at will form.

DC

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've always wanted to play an afflicted lycanthrope

I can tell you that the introductory pages of the PHB tell the new player that they can play the 'playable races' in the PHB, but not monsters.

Traditionally when a PC succumbed to lycanthropy they became an NPC anyway, in all the games I'd played in (with the exception of games specifically about werewolves such as WoD, of course!). It might be worth saying that if you want to play an afflicted lycanthrope it might be worth looking at an RPG which is specifically dedicated to it

Eberron had a major historical 'thing' based upon the problem of transmittable lycanthropy, in terms of the crusade which the Silver Flame launched against them - so when Eberron stuff starts appearing in 2009 you might see some useful details then, but you might not want to wait that long!

Apparently the disease rules in the DMG are rather nifty, and it might be quite possible to introduce a 'lycanthropy disease'.

At any rate, it looks like you and your DM would have to come up with a whole range of homebrewed stuff to support this at the moment - which probably shouldn't be too much of a surprise at this stage in the game.

Cheers

 

[Jack Colby]

The rules as written are a baseline, and are therefore as simple as possible. You (if you're the DM) can always change or add to this to achieve the desired effects or complexity you want. In this case, I'm not even sure why you'd need rules beyond the guidelines already given for diseases. Just say the character is infected and then let them be a werewolf.