Replacing lycanthrope DR with Regeneration

[Terath Ninir]

Maybe I'm reading this too literally... but what's unholy about werecreatures? Some of them are good, some of them are evil. Their were-ness has nothing to do with holy or unholy.

I think he is looking for were-critters more like mythology and stories than the D&D version. In many stories they are unholy, or at least cursed.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Regeneration 1 or 2 isn't enough to make a difference in combat.

You'd need about 10, maybe even 20 to take on an entire group, for it to make a noticable difference.

Also, Regeneration works against spells and energy attacks, which DR doesn't.

Geoff.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Oh da? I'm thinking being impossible to permanently kill without silver is worth a good bit. I'm wanting them to be smote down with extreme prejudice, then the party's backs turn and it's up and gone or attacking...

Yeah, I was thinking about more classical werecreatures, possibly including things like the forvalaka. Also, using "unholy" as a general "wow, a whole freaking lot of." Like "werewolves are damn tough."

EDIT: More of a recurring/almost impossible to slay creature than a straight combat encounter. I was considering the energy/spell part when I first posted, but didn't mention it.

 

[Jdvn1]

Okay, I follow now. I don't know why it never occured to me to run a whole bunch of evil were-things. Seems like a good idea, possibly.

 

[Kilroy]

Regen(silver) really does seem more appropriate than DRX/(silver).

It would be nice if really massive damage from non-silver sources had a chance of killing them anyway, but I'm not sure of a way to work that using the regen rules.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Actually, that was one of my problems with DR; they were killable (quite easily, for afflicted) without silver. I'm still really not sure how much to use.

 

[BryonD]

FWIW, per the Grim Tales / UK approach:

Regeneration 10 with a single vulnerability is worth 1.0 CR for a monster
DR 10/Silver is worth 0.22 CR

So replacing DR with Regen is worth around an increase of 1 CR, more or less depending on the magnitude you select.

It is true that regeneration is not as big a deal as it seems on paper.
Beating a regenerating monster into submission and then drowing or otherwise putting an end to it is not that hard.

If you want a truly unkillable without silver monster, then you are using Regen combined with some other ability that does not really exist in D&D. I recall Skip Williams joked that a skilled and patient fighter could kill a Pit Fiend with a normal sword by pounding it until it starved to death.

 

[Mirage_Patrick]

But...that would give 2 different regen rates, too, wouldn't it? One for afflicted and one for naturals, just like I had. Regen of 1 and 3 might be better than 1 and 2, but I'm really not sure as to the in-game value of regen vs. DR. DR's easier to run, that's for sure.

no...just 1 regeneration rate, remember that all regeneration types are bypassed (ie - only heal naturally or with magic) by at least 1 attack type (fire and acid for trolls).

Therefore, you just simply give the creature a regen of 5 which will not heal damage caused with a silver weapon.

If it is silver, there is no regen, it needs to heal at a rate of HD/day (assuming still alive), or with the use of cure spells

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I get the feeling that we're talking about two different things, Mirage Patrick. By "2 different rates," I mean that afflicted lycanthropes heal at one rate, and naturals at another. In your system, afflicted would have regen 1 or 2, and naturals would have regen 3; 2 different rates.

I think that Regen 5/silver is better than DR 5/silver, though, expecially since it heals spell damage (which DR doesn't block).

 

[trentonjoe]

Personally, I think switching to regeneration 5 (with silver weapons doing "real" damage) is fair. I like the idea actually.

I wil try it out this weekend and let everyone know.