Question - Lycanthropy and Knowledge check

[Ragmon]

Hi.

Quick question: which knowledge check do you need to identify a Were-Animal (a Lycanthrope), and know about the cure for its infection?

 

[Wyvernhand]

Lycanthropes keep their base creature type, so technically it would most likely be Local for a humanoid base. They also gain the Shapeshifter subtype, which should fall under Arcana, but isn't really clarified.

It also depends a bit on setting. In Eberron, Lycanthropes (and Shifters) are more natural, akin to fey, and thus I'd house rule them to Nature in that setting.

 

[Greenfield]

While I generally tend towards Knowledge - Arcana, since you're not just dealing with a creature, but with a curse or affliction.

Lycanthrope is a template that gets applied to a creature, rather than a creature in and of itself.

So you could use Knowledge - Nature or Knowledge - Dungeoneering to recognize the base creature and note the differences between what this one is and what the race usually is, but Arcana is the one that's specific to Lycanthropy.

 

[radja]

Hi.

Quick question: which knowledge check do you need to identify a Were-Animal (a Lycanthrope), and know about the cure for its infection?

for knowing specifically about the cure, I'd also allow a healing check (possibly using int as the stat, since it's a knowledge check)

 

[Ragmon]

Thnx guys. All i figured from these great ideas is that there is no official knowledge check for Lycanthropes.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Thnx guys. All i figured from these great ideas is that there is no official knowledge check for Lycanthropes.

More that there are many potential knowledge checks each for their own aspect of lycanthropy. Arcana could provide information on the magical aspects of the curse itself and how to break the curse, Healing could provide information on how to treat a victim to reduce chances of infliction or recognizing signs of infliction, Dungeoneering could provide practical aspects of recognizing a lycanthrope or places they're likely to be or how best to kill them, Nature would let you recognize signs that lycanthropes are present in a natural place or their effect on an ecosystem, etc.

 

[Wyvernhand]

Thnx guys. All i figured from these great ideas is that there is no official knowledge check for Lycanthropes.

No, there officially is. Knowledge checks are officially based on creature type. Officially, a were-bear orc is the same as a were-rat human, which is local. A were-tiger hill giant, on the other hand, would be covered by the giant type and the nature knowledge. Since lycanthropy doesn't change creature type other than adding the shapechanger subtype, and subtypes don't have knowledge checks attached to them.

 

[koesherbacon]

I've got a follow up question for this thread.

In a game for 5th level characters I'm going to be running several types of Lycanthropes will be involved (Were- -rats, -boars, and a -tiger).

The PCs overhear other patrons of the inn and tavern talking about the strange behavior of town residents. The townsfolk claim to see their family members leaving their homes late at night and not return until the morning. Once they have returned, they have no memories of leaving their homes nor what they did during the absence. Additionally, bosses are complaining about those under their employ being much more tired than usual during their day-time work, although their workers have no idea why they are so tired.

What would be the Knowledge (Arcana) or (Religion [religion makes sense IMHO]) DC to identify that the townsfolk who are leaving their homes and returning without memories of the night's events are lycanthropes?

I was thinking of putting it at DC 25, by using the "Identify a monster's abilities and weaknesses" as a base with 5 being their CR and adding an additional +10 since I would rather not have the PCs realize what's happening unless they roll incredibly well, since up to this point none of the PCs have had any experience with lycanthropes.

Think that's the right DC to identify the townsfolk as lycanthropes based off of what they overhear?

 

[radja]

I wouldnt give this a DC at all. People walking around at night without memories (or claiming not to have memories) could be anything: sleepwalking, being switched with a doppelganger (and ofcourse lying about the memory loss), a non-malevolent entity reading their minds at night abducting them for a few hours to gain knowledge. It's too little information to point directly at lycanthropy, although a knowledge check could point to lycanthropy as one possible cause. The characters can easily follow one of the townsfolk leaving at night to find out that there's lycanthropy at work. Alternatively have them find a pattern to the disappearances at night, always around full moon. That would be a clue pointing to lycanthropy, allowing a check to identify lycanthropy as the probable cause.

 

[Rakusia]

gather information? for when the player wants to investigate but not actually talk to npc's