Players wanting to become infected with Lycanthrope

[Sammael99]

FWIW, there's a werewolf character in my campaign. He was infected during a fight with a werewolf in wolf form. It's been about three months in game time, but that's due to the fact that it's not so easy to cure Lycanthropy IMC. The character needs to either kill the natural lycathrope at the origin of his infection lineage (very difficult in this case) or the cults of Mezrâ (goddess of knowledge and magic) and Zendâ (goddess of protection and healing) who also happen to be the two moons, can perform a joint ritual when both moons are new (a rare occurence).

Therefore, the character is currently living with the curse. I run lycanthropes much like the game werewolf, ie. they have urges that are hard to control and, when provoked, they can fly into a rage and change. If the character can't regain control, only unconsciousness will bring him down. He has already killed one PC in the party (unplanned...) but that has been enough reason for them NOT to rely on this as an asset.

The character went into a monastery to learn to control his urges and he took one level of monk to simulate this. The DC for his control rolls varies depending on moon phases, day/night and the nature of the provocations, if any. Since the character happens to be a barbarian, he also has to control for change when he rolls.

Overall, this has been great in the game from a r-ping point of view. One player lost his PC but he wasn't too annoyed because it was great story wise (he dies trying to protect villagers from the wrath of the werewolf).

In the present situation, I'd either advise to go stricly by the book, as mentioned above, or do totally differently and tell the player that since you're GM these are your rules to decide. My players certainly wouldn't assume that they "know" this kind of stuff out of character, I'm prone to change a lot of stuff. I have no problem whatsoever telling a player that he assumed something because he'd read the rules but it's actually run differently...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Let the muchy guy have his rat. Play it straight by the rules, and if he tries to keep but control the curse, tell him 'fine, but you can't gain any levels for 'x' number of levels, until you've adapted to your new form', where "x" is the ECL of a wererat.

There. Instant balance, and a man-rat to boot.

 

[Pielorinho]

In the present situation, I'd either advise to go stricly by the book, as mentioned above, or do totally differently and tell the player that since you're GM these are your rules to decide. My players certainly wouldn't assume that they "know" this kind of stuff out of character, I'm prone to change a lot of stuff. I have no problem whatsoever telling a player that he assumed something because he'd read the rules but it's actually run differently...

Great advice. While Forrester's reading of the rules is both accurate and hilarious, I think this is a case just begging for creative DM changes to the rules. Does his PC have any way to know exactly how the lycanthropic curse works? If not, let his player's information represent the false information the PC has.

In your campaign, for example, maybe the victims of a wererat's bite don't turn into wererats: maybe they turn into rats. Permanently. But the change is gradual: over a course of weeks, they begin to shrink, grow fur, grow elongated front teeth, and crave cheese. During that time, a cure disease will remove the curse. Once the character has completed the change, however, only a wish or miracle will restore the character to humanoid status.

Daniel

 

[Pielorinho]

I just want to add that I can totally see an evil character deciding this is a good idea. It's obviously a very stupid idea, of course, but a stupid evil PC might crave the power of the monsters he's been fighting, and might see lycanthropy as an easy path to that power.

So before you inflict the smackdown on the PC, praise the player for his excellent roleplaying skills .

Daniel

 

[Sammael99]

In your campaign, for example, maybe the victims of a wererat's bite don't turn into wererats: maybe they turn into rats. Permanently. But the change is gradual: over a course of weeks, they begin to shrink, grow fur, grow elongated front teeth, and crave cheese. During that time, a cure disease will remove the curse. Once the character has completed the change, however, only a wish or miracle will restore the character to humanoid status.

Daniel

[Monty Python Quote]

Interviewer: And when did you first notice these... shall we say... tendencies?

Confessor: Well... I was about seventeen and some mates and me went to a party, and, er... we had quite a lot to drink... and then some of the fellows there ... started handing ... cheese around ... and well just out of curiosity 1 tried a bit ... and well that was that.

Interviewer: And what else did these fallows do?

Confessor: Well some of them started dressing up as mice a bit ... and then when they'd got the costumes on they started ... squeaking.

Interviewer: Yes. And was that all?

Confessor: That was all.

Interviewer: And what was your reaction to this?

Confessor: Well I was shocked. But, er... gradually I came to feel that I was more at ease ... with other mice.

[/Monty Python Quote]

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Tar Markvar]

I have a similar situation in my game. The thing is, I'm running an Evil campaign (a gimmick to entice jaded WoD gamers into D&D), and the PCs decided that they WANT to be lycanthropes. In a recent fight against werewolves, they kept one alive and forced it to bite them. Two of the characters (one PC and one NPC) were infected, and the others were not.

In this case, though, the party could fairly easily deal with the problem if the one PC turned on them in a fit of blind lycanthropic rage, and I don't want the lycanthrope to die at the hands of the party--I want her to be a threat. She also happens to be a half-black-dragon (I know how this sounds), though, and I guess her augmented were-form strength plus her acid breath would be a big plus to her.

This thread has been very helpful so far. Damage Reduction isn't a problem in this case, because the party all have +2 weapons (they're a lvl 8 or 9 party), and no one really fears being bitten. In this case, I'm thinking that my best bet would be to have the lycanthropic half-dragon run off and attack a weaker target--say, a small village, a farmer's livestock, or one of the party's lower-level hirelings. Of course, the hireling NPC will create some trouble, too, because, well, the PCs will have to kill him when he attacks.

Just how much of the PC's stats will the werewolf keep in wolf form? Will it, in this case, be a huge wolf with acid breath and scaly skin? Do they really keep the character's HD and such? Can a barbarian lycanthrope Rage?

 

[mmu1]

Damn, the problems some people have... Is anyone forcing you to let the guy develop into a lycanthrope? If you don't want to do it, and don't think the player should have it, decide that he gets better. If you think he should be punished for doing something stupid like intentionally exposing himself to a were-rat corpse, have him contract some filth-related disease, and be done with it, instead of playing stupid games with the whole party.

You know... Deal with the whole thing like an adult instead of giggling like an idiot over how much fun it's going to be when the were-rat just tears into the other characters, like some people here seem to think would be a good idea?

 

[Nifft]

You know... Deal with the whole thing like an adult instead of giggling like an idiot

Someone not have a good day at the office?

*Nifft sends mmu1 a vanilla coke*

-- Nifft

 

[Pielorinho]

If you think he should be punished for doing something stupid like intentionally exposing himself to a were-rat corpse, have him contract some filth-related disease, and be done with it, instead of playing stupid games with the whole party.

I'm not clear on your objection. The bulk of the DM's job, as I see it, is to advance a cool storyline using unexpected but plausible plot twists that enhance the players' fun.

If I were a player, I'd have fun in this situation, even if I were playing the evil guy who got bit by a wererat. When I realized I was going to start attacking my companions, I say, "Oh, crap!", and then I'd gleefully lay into them.

We had something similar happen in last night's session: my rogue fell under a curse making him think that he had to defend an acient dwarven burial ground. Once i found out what was going on, I happily tried to slaughter my previous companions, cursing in ancient dwarfish, until my companions happily beat me into unconsciousness. Good times were had by all.

Daniel

 

[mmu1]

I'm not clear on your objection. The bulk of the DM's job, as I see it, is to advance a cool storyline using unexpected but plausible plot twists that enhance the players' fun.

What about this thread struck you as having to do with "enhancing the players' fun", exactly? The impression I got, and the objection I have, is that it mainly seems to be about vindictive and adversarial ways of punishing someone for metagaming.