My weretiger

[fissionessence]

I made a weretiger. In my campaign, there's a city called Ver'Kheru where the upper-class are mostly weretigers, and I really don't like the 4E Monster Manual's lycanthropes, so I made my own system for them. They're obviously a pretty important aspect of my campaign to use a basic lycanthrope system I don't like. Anyway, here is a stat block for a Ver'Kheru Elite—one of the city's higher-ups.

They fight with a scimitar and a katar, not even necessarily revealing their true nature. Their AC and defenses, and attacks and damage are all on par with a 5th level monster. If the Elite deems it better to die than reveal the secret of its true nature, award XP based on level 5 monster. However, many times they Elites will fight in human form just long enough to get a good idea of their opponents, then they transform into hybrid and use their healing power to get back up to full and go from there.

~ fissionessence

 

[fissionessence]

Bump to ask for feedback.

· What do you think of this template for building lycanthropes?
· Is this a well-balanced monster or is it too strong/weak/complicated? Does it need to be made into an elite? (Come to think of it, that's kind of awkward that its name says it's elite, but it isn't in game terms )
· Would you use this weretiger in your campgaign?
· If you were going to build a lycantrhope in a different way than what's presented in the MM, and you wanted each form to be distinct, how would you deal with the challenge of the assumption that the base [human?] form should be weaker . . . how would this affect the designated level, role and commensurate XP of the monster?

Anyway, even if you don't reply, thanks for checking out the thread I hope the weretiger is in some way useful to you, hehe

~ fissionessence

 

[AumShantih]

Really neat write up!
I do think it's too long a description for a standard monster. It would be fine as a Elite or even a Solo.

You may wish to condense the attack blocks - list all the basic items in all the forms first, and then tag them with keywords (Human Form, Hybrid Form, Tiger Form). It would really aid with running them. I'd also consolidate the defense ratings, or better yet, keep them static.

Regardless, it's a cool idea, and I may end up using them in my Planescape game.

 

[77IM]

This write-up is really good! That's exactly how I would describe a creature with three distinct forms. I would give them the same hit points in all forms (because otherwise changing the max HP becomes confusing), and would keep the stats of all their forms separate (I think mixing up the abilities as AumShantih suggests would make them harder to run -- your brain would need to constantly filter out the irrelevant powers associated with the other two forms). Personally, I prefer most of my shapeshifters to retain all their stats between forms, and to simply gain a couple of powers and minor bonuses (I really like how werewolf and wererat are done, for example). It's just easier that way. But if these guys are your special monster that you like a lot, and you're willing to deal with the issues ("oh wait, he's in tiger form so now his AC is 2 lower so actually you did hit...") then go for it.

I do think these guys are are too complicated for a standard monster -- imagine rolling recharge for three or four of these guys. If double claw was at-will it would be easier but that might make the ability too strong; maybe take away the -2 escape penalty?

Alternately, just make them Elite monsters. It sounds like that is the role they are intended to fill anyway (a slightly stronger guy surrounded by henchmen).

-- 77IM