Lycanthropy

[emanresu]

I would like you lycan fans to chime in here and reveal secrets/tricks of the trade, what works best with this/that, min/maxing. In building a beastly terror what templates will work well with eachother.

Secondly Im slightly confused by the template and charactor creation optimization. What is the cost of Lycanthropy natural vs afflicted, only the natural can cause Lycanthropy in others, this I know, Im just ?'ing well everything about them. As an example - do you need animal HD levels to get the +16 str for the Bear Lycan?

Sample build ?

Barbarian 3, natural born werebear(template is +3 LA right?), in a 6th level party, would he be considered of equal level with the rest of party(ECL) ? His CR would be +1 so he would progress/advance slower in levels than the rest of the party, having to pay for 8th level experience points for 7th level. But what about his saves and hit points are they of a 3rd level barbarian?

 

[emoplato]

I would like you lycan fans to chime in here and reveal secrets/tricks of the trade, what works best with this/that, min/maxing.

Secondly Im slightly confused by the template and charactor creation. What is the cost of Lycanthropy natural vs afflicted, only the natural can
infect others, this I know, Im just ?'ing well everything about them.

Sample build ?

Barbarian 3, natural born werebear(template is +3 LA right?), in a 6th level party, would he be considered of equal level with the rest of party(ECL) ? His CR would be +1 so he would progress/advance slower in levels than the rest of the party, having to pay for 8th level experience points for 7th level. But what about his saves and hit points are they of a 3rd level barbarian?

Whenever you deal with Lycanthropy you also pay the equivalent hit die of the animal you want to turn into. The differences is that naturals gain more damage reduction and can inflict it if they want to. There are spells and PrC's that mess with being natural may give a bit more resistance, but that is really for difference.
Well, assuming you chose a black bear(+8 str., +2 dex., +4 con.) you would have an ECL of 9 and base stats of BAB 5, F:6, R:4, W:2, 3d8 and 3d12 hit die. A brown bear has double the hit die but almost double the benefit(+16 str., +2 dex., +8 con.).

 

[Greenfield]

You could build a "Savage Progression" prestige class for a lycanthrope, such as your were-bear Barbarian. But if you look in the MM for how to build it as a straight template, no your Barb3/Werebear isn't ECL 6.

Here's how ECL works for monsters and monstrous templates:

The Character Adjustment entry after each monster in the book isn't the ECL adjustment. The ECL is the creature's natural hit dice *PLUS* the Character Adjustment.

So if you want to add character levels to, say, a Giant Eagle, you start with the eagle's hit dice (4 D10), then add the Character Adjustment (+2), for a total ECL of 6. Now add character levels to that.

Well, it's the same for the Were Bear. Six hit dice of bear + 3 Character Level adjustments for a total of 9. And that's without any character levels.

A natural werebear couldn't reasonably have a Savage Progression, since it isn't an acquired template. You're born with it. You also can't mix savage progression style template acquisition with class advancement. Once you start becoming a lycanthrope, the only levels you can take are lycanthrope until you've paid them all off.

Now you could do a Savage Progression template for an afflicted lycanthrope, but forget about being a Barbarian/Were Bear. The afflicted variety has a forced alignment of Lawful Good, and Barbie can't be Lawful.

Now, why is one variety a +3 character adjustment, and the other only a +2?

Natural lycanthropes get DR10/Silver, afflicted ones get DR5/Silver. Afflicted ones can't spread the condition, natural ones can.

The difference in DR alone could easily account for the difference.

Now, if someone wanted to run a reduced power lycanthrope to keep their level down to match game standards, say your 6th level version, I'd say they need to run a very young Were Bear (like, maybe 8 years old). Their natural Human size is Small, as a child, and when they change they become Medium. Their Human form has childlike penalties to Wisdom, Strength, Dexterity and Con which become countered when they convert to Ursine form. Then apply age modifiers as they grow.

They start as Were Bear 3/Adjustment 3/Barbarian 0. And they can't take Barbarian levels until they finish growing up to an adult Were Bear with 6 hit dice and 3 level adjustment. Their first actual character level is at 10th.

Now, what do they get with their Savage Progression? The very idea comes from Savage Species, so I'd look there for anything authoritative. Lacking that, I'd work out with the DM what's an appropriate and balanced advancement.

Yeah, I know, the appeal of running a Were Bear melee type is that it isn't "appropriate" or "balanced", it's rip-roaring awesome. Sorry 'bout that.

 

[emoplato]

Personally, take a shifter(Races of Eberron) and a weretouched master(Eberron Campaign Guide) it is much more cost effective. They also develop better attacks and have other options via different shifting and have incredible barbarian synergy. You can't shift at will but every shifter feat you have increases duration by one round(3+con. mod) and every two gets another use, the prestige class provides two. One really worth of note is shifter savagery if your raging while shifting natural attack damage increases by two size categories and they do not specify singularly or specifically(beast strike stacking). They also can have a similar theme if the fluff is that important to you.
If you want true natural attack damage madness gestalt a shifter druid 20/barbarian 2, totemist 4, weretouched master 5, totem rager 9 can increase the size damage category out by 5 before any improved natural attack feat, fang rings, or other enhancement. Ask the party arcane caster to store two greater mighty wallops with astral vambraces(psycarnum, minds eye) you can have up to 10/10 increase and they last all day. All have to say is watch out for flying books and cones of saliva.

 

[emoplato]

A good non-gestalt option would unarmed swordsage 4/barbarian 2/fist of the forest 3/weretouched master 5/bloodclaw master 3/x. Any natural attack is done at your highest attack bonus and gains full strength bonus, manuevers, and a base speed of 60. It also manages to squeeze in more shifting uses. The necessary feats aside from the given is power attack, great fortitude, and multiattack, suggested ones are adaptive style, snap kick, craven(only if you can stomach the penalty, tiger claw does wonders to flat-foot opponents), and extra rage aside from the ones mentioned before.