Questions about lycanthropy

[Pielorinho]

Okay, if you play in my game and you read this, you’ll suffer oozing butt warts. And unsightly body hair. And pit odor that’d put a troglodyte to shame. You’re warned.

One of the PCs in my game just became infected by a wererat: we ended last session with her transformation. I’ve read over the lycanthropy rules, though, and I’m a little confused as to how they should work:
1) Am I right in thinking that an unintentional transformation always takes the lycanthrope to the animal form?
2) Does the transformation back to humanoid form heal the lycanthrope?
3) When in hybrid form, can a wererat speak? Use weapons? Cast spells?
4) When a lycanthrope unintentionally changes shape due to damage, does she lose control over herself?
5) How does changing to a hybrid form affect the lycanthrope’s stats?

Thanks for any help. If you can reference specific rules in your answers, so much the better: I’ve read the section a couple of times, but I think I’m missing something.

Daniel

 

[Magus_Jerel]

1) Am I right in thinking that an unintentional transformation always takes the lycanthrope to the animal form?
2) Does the transformation back to humanoid form heal the lycanthrope?
3) When in hybrid form, can a wererat speak? Use weapons? Cast spells?
4) When a lycanthrope unintentionally changes shape due to damage, does she lose control over herself?
5) How does changing to a hybrid form affect the lycanthrope’s stats?

1. I would think hybrid - not animal.
The text is a bit ambiguous as the MM's "control shape" says one thing and the Lycanthropy as an affliction text says another.

The Curse text itself under wererat reads "Curse of lycanthropy as hybrid or rat". The "actual" in game answer requires a Rule 0 - it only has to be one or the other. I would base it off which form the character got bit by. If bit by the rat - they turn into a rat. If bit by the hybrid form, they turn into the hybrid form.

2. No - the change is not "as per polymorph self" which DOES award some minor healing. I think that is what you are confusing here.

3. In hybrid - yes, yes, and yes.

4. yes. The character is effectively an NPC - until they revert back to their normal form.

5. their "race" changes to that of they hybrid or were-animal form.

Extrapolating the race modifiers from the Wererat in the MM:

In either form: Dex +6 Con +2; Climb +14, Listen, search, and spot +8 Move silently +6

In the Rat form only - there is a +11 to the hide check
In the Hybrid form - this is only +7

These replace the character's existing "racial modifiers"

 

[Happiest_Sadist]

Good, except those modifiers stack with the player's stats including racial stats. Ex. an orc werewolf is stronger than a kobold werewolf.

 

[Magus_Jerel]

um... they don't. The "footnotes" in the MM explicitly state that the stats in the sample are based of a Human with Str 11 Dex 11 Con 11 Int 10 Wis 10 and Cha 10.

Furthermore - under NPC adjustmens by race or kind in the DMG pg 58 "wererat" is listed as a possible race. Here is the text given:

Wererat(Lycanthrope); +1 CR +2 natural armor +2 fort +2 will +2 listen +2 search +2 spot. See the MM for rat or hybrid form. NPC loses gear in hybrid form.

This is why I extrapolated the statistics from the MM. I take the "losing gear" to mean that the gear merges with the NPC's hybrid form and becomes non-functional. Of course - IMC, Most wererats probably stay in their hybrid forms most of the time - and going into their natural form would cause them to lose their gear.

 

[Pielorinho]

Magus, can you give me a rules-cite for questions 3 and 4? As for question 2 (re: healing), the MM specifically says that lycanthropes heal per polymorph when they take on animal or hybrid forms. I'm pretty sure they don't heal when taking humanoid forms, but I wanted to verify that.

Thanks!
Daniel

 

[Voadam]

2) Does the transformation back to humanoid form heal the lycanthrope?

Daniel

I would say it does.

From the srd:

Alternate Form (Su): All lycanthropes can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph self spell (though their gear does not change). Wererats, weretigers, and werewolves also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features. Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action. Upon assuming either form, the lycanthrope regains hit points as if having rested for a day. A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retains their animal form, however. This shapeshifting ability can be difficult to control (see Lycanthropy as an Affliction, below).

The relevant part "Upon assuming either form, the lycanthrope regains hit points as if having rested for a day."

I would interpret either form as referring to any of their forms, although reading it as animal or hybrid only would be an ok reading as well because it seems ambiguous.

 

[Voadam]

#1

1) Am I right in thinking that an unintentional transformation always takes the lycanthrope to the animal form?

Daniel

You are correct here

from the srd:

Check: The afflicted character must make a check at moonrise each night of the full moon to resist involuntarily assuming animal form. An injured character must also check for an involuntary change after accumulating enough damage to reduce his or her hit points by one-quarter and again after each additional one-quarter lost (save DC same as for full moon).

and under infected lycanthropy

Thereafter, the character is subject to involuntary transformation under the full moon and whenever damaged in combat. He or she feels an overwhelming rage building up and must succeed at a Control Shape check to resist changing into animal form (see the sidebar).

They can voluntarily change into hybrid, but involuntary checks go to animal form.

 

[Voadam]

#3

3) When in hybrid form, can a wererat speak? Use weapons? Cast spells?

Daniel

Judgment call but I would say no on speaking yes on weapons and no on verbal components for spells but yes otherwise.

from the srd:

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): Any humanoid hit by a lycanthrope’s bite attack in animal form must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15) or contract lycanthropy. A wererat can spread lycanthropy with its bite or by hitting with a piercing or slashing weapon. Bludgeoning or nonpenetrating attacks do not transmit the condition.

Alternate Form (Su): All lycanthropes can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph self spell (though their gear does not change). Wererats, weretigers, and werewolves also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features. Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action. Upon assuming either form, the lycanthrope regains hit points as if having rested for a day. A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retains their animal form, however. This shapeshifting ability can be difficult to control (see Lycanthropy as an Affliction, below).

Wererat

Alternate Form (Su): A wererat can assume a bipedal hybrid form or the form of a dire rat. The bipedal form is Medium-size with head, torso, and tail identical to those of a rat, although the limbs remain human. The rat form is 2 feet long from nose to rump and is preferred for travel and spying on potential victims.

The hybrid has hands and can use tools but has a mouse head which I would say is incapable of forming human speech or verbal components of spells.

 

[Voadam]

4) When a lycanthrope unintentionally changes shape due to damage, does she lose control over herself?

Daniel [/B]

From the srd:

When a character contracts lycanthropy through a lycanthrope’s attack (see above), no symptoms appear until the first night of the next full moon. On that night, the afflicted character involuntarily assumes animal form and becomes a ravening beast, forgetting his or her own identity. The character remains in animal form, assuming the appropriate alignment, until dawn and remembers nothing about the incident.

So the first transformation is out of his mind.

Check: The afflicted character must make a check at moonrise each night of the full moon to resist involuntarily assuming animal form. An injured character must also check for an involuntary change after accumulating enough damage to reduce his or her hit points by one-quarter and again after each additional one-quarter lost
(save DC same as for full moon).

When returning to normal form after an involuntary change, the character attempts a Wisdom check (DC 15) to realize what has happened. If the check succeeds, the character becomes aware of the affliction and can now voluntarily attempt to change to animal or hybrid form, using the appropriate DC. An attempt is a standard action and can be made each round. Any voluntary change to animal or hybrid form immediately and permanently changes the character’s alignment to that of the appropriate lycanthrope.

An afflicted character who is aware of his or her condition can also try to return to humanoid from after assuming animal or hybrid form, using the appropriate DC. Only one attempt is allowed, however, as described above.

It does not say that you are out of your mind when you involuntarily transform after the first time, only that you must make a roll to remember what happened. You can attempt to break out of it so you are aware during it, (you do not automatically attempt to break out of it, you could choose to stay in the animal form instead).

 

[Voadam]

#5

5) How does changing to a hybrid form affect the lycanthrope’s stats?

Daniel [/B]

From the srd:

Abilities: For a lycanthrope in humanoid form, ability scores are unchanged. In animal or hybrid form, a lycanthrope’s ability scores improve by type, as set out in the table below.

Wererat Dire rat Dex +6, Con +2 Multiattack (despite only one natural weapon), Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon Finesse (any)

The sample is Dex 17 Con 13 everything else 10 as rat or hybrid.

I would add the +6 to dex and +2 to Con to the characters existing one when in hybrid form.