D&D 4E Notes from the 4E Corebooks: Alignment, Monsters, Artifacts and More

[Voss]

No, as with most of Tolkien's material, he just copy/pasted old northern European legends (and largely simplified them).

 

[Stormtalon]

Thank goodness all the stupid additional lycanthropes have gone. I mean, do we really need the weretiger? The werefox? The wereshark? The werebadger? OK, I made the last one up.

You haven't known true terror until you've seen the monstrosity which is the ferocious, cuddly werekoala....

The horror, the horror....

 

[Cadfan]

Wouldn't that be Tolkien?

Actually, in my opinion, Beorn illustrates the need for one-animal-form shapeshifters who are separated from the lycanthropy umbrella.

 

[MindWanderer]

I've used werebadgers and werelions in campaigns before, and I play a dire werebat in the Core Coliseum. I've also seen a wereporpoise, a couple of werevipers, and a wereeagle. I've thought about playing a weresquid but never got around to it.

 

[Festivus]

There will probably be lots more in Adventurer's Vault in September and future DMGs. There could maybe be rules to make your own too in the DMG.

I added that book to my preorder list when I saw there were only 4 artifacts.

 

[Xyl]

Merging werewolves and kitsune into the same umbrella "lycanthrope" template organized by animal type is just as crazy as merging western ravenous rampaging gold-hoarding lizard-like dragons and eastern magical, shapeshifting nature spirits into the same umbrella "dragon" template organized by color.

Oh, wait...

If you took the concept of fox as trickster, crossed it with the western werewolf myth, took out the parts that are specifically connected with wolves (like attacking people or being dependent on the moon)... you'd have something pretty close to kitsune, I think. There is the issue of whether it's a human who turns into an animal or an animal who turns into a human, but if you treat lycanthropes as a separate species rather than a transformation then that's not a big concern.

 

[Rechan]

If you took the concept of fox as trickster, crossed it with the western werewolf myth, took out the parts that are specifically connected with wolves (like attacking people or being dependent on the moon)... you'd have something pretty close to kitsune, I think. There is the issue of whether it's a human who turns into an animal or an animal who turns into a human, but if you treat lycanthropes as a separate species rather than a transformation then that's not a big concern.

Actually, if you want to be specific, I suggest taking the Aranea and switching 'Spider' with 'Fox'.

Aranea are innate spellcasters (Kitsune have magic too), and can shapeshift.

 

[pukunui]

Heh, I read that bit as "Were-sharks, were-polynesian, werefoxes"

LOL. Under the influence of the full moon, your bodymass increases significantly, your skin changes to a chocolatey-brown color and becomes covered with cultural tattoo patterns and you gain the ability to score tries.

 

[Rechan]

You haven't known true terror until you've seen the monstrosity which is the ferocious, cuddly werekoala....

The horror, the horror....

You jest, but have you heard of Drop bears?

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

There was a Living Greyhawk adventure that dealt with a druid controlling a tribe of werebeavers to create a dam in the mountains and threaten a town with a catastrophic flood.