Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
One of the players in my current campaign wanted to play a werewolf, and I hate the official 5e rules for lycanthropy (especially with 2024 completely removing the immunity to non-silvered weapons and regeneration feature from lycanthrope monster stat blocks). So, I made my own version. I wrote it up as a contagion, as per the section on Curses and Contagions in the 2024 DMG, though it intentionally blurs the line between Contagion and Curse. I also wrote it to be general enough that this single contagion will work for any Beast that has a Bite attack, instead of there being specific “strains” of lycanthropy for different animals. If anyone is interested, please feel free to use this for your own games. Tagged “D&D General” because, though I wrote this with the 2024 rules in mind, it should work just as well for the 2014 rules, or Level Up, or whatever flavor of 5e you prefer. I suppose it might be able to be ported to other editions with a little work.
A few notes to keep in mind: For the purposes of determining the Lunar Transformation save DC and Moonrise/Moonset times, I’m considering the new moon and full moon to include the two days/nights before and after the “true” full and new moon. The “half moons” (more properly first and last quarter) get lumped in with the waxing crescent and waning gibbous in order to make the moon cycle fit cleanly within a 28-day month, but you could conceivably tweak these assumptions to fit a 30 day month if you wanted to. Or just use the current real-life moon phase, or roll randomly for current in-game moon phase, or ignore the whole shifting DC and timing windows aspect and make it a flat DC 15 save at all times if you’re so inclined.
I use another homebrew subsystem that divides days into six approximately 4-hour time blocks. If you want to use my Lycanthropy contagion but don’t want to adopt this time block system, assume “Dawn” is roughly 6:00 AM to 9:59 AM; “Midday” is roughly 10:00 AM to 1:59 PM, “Afternoon” is roughly 2:00 PM to 5:59 PM, “Evening” is roughly 6:00 PM to 9:59 PM, “Midnight” is roughly 10:00 PM to 1:59 AM, and “Predawn” is roughly 2:00 AM to 5:59 PM. You could also make the moonrise and moonset times more granular by having moonrise start 51 minutes later each day and moonset be 8 hours after moonrise.
Regarding the Moon Madness effect, I used the effect of the Enemies Abound spell pretty much verbatim, because I wanted the lycanthrope character to be a threat to their own party members while shapeshifted, while still allowing the player to be the one in control of their character’s actions. So, the idea is, for roleplaying purposes your character perceives themselves as being surrounded by hostile creatures, whether they fight, fly, or freeze is up to you, but if you do try to make any attacks you must choose your targets at random. If you prefer to have the player temporarily lose control of their character completely, by all means feel free to make that change.
Finally, because the lycanthrope character in my campaign is also a longtooth shifter, the intent here is that any bite attack an infected or cursed character has can spread the contagion. So, if they’re a shifter, or a lizardfolk, or an Eberron Gnoll, or they used Alter Self to give themselves a toothy maw as a weapon, or if they’re just a freak of a monk who likes to describe their Unarmed Strikes as bites, it all counts. A bite is a bite is a bite.
Lycanthropy
Magical Contagion
Lycanthropy is an unusual combination of contagion and curse. Beasts and humanoids alike can be infected by and spread the contagion, but only humanoids can become cursed by it. An infected beast carries the contagion and can spread the contagion with a bite for 1d4 weeks but suffers no ill effects from it. An infected humanoid suffers the following effects for one month:
Lunar Transformation: When an infected humanoid gains the Unconscious condition while the moon is in the sky, it must make a Charisma saving throw, the DC of which depends on the phase of the moon, as shown on the table below. The creature has advantage on this saving throw if it is under the effects of a Protection from Evil and Good spell. On a failed save, the infected creature shapeshifts into a hybrid of its humanoid form and the beast it was infected by until the moon sets. If the creature is within an area affected by the Magic Circle or Hallow spell, it does not shapeshift until the spell ends or the creature is removed from the affected area.
Any equipment the creature was wearing or carrying falls to the ground in its space when it shapeshifts. While in hybrid form, the creature can’t speak, don armor, use weapons or other items, or cast spells that require verbal or material components. The creature’s hit point maximum is increased by the beast’s hit points, and it gains the beast’s armor class, speeds, and all traits, actions, bonus actions, and reactions from the beast’s stat block. The Dispel Evil and Good spell forces a cursed creature in hybrid form to shapeshift back into its humanoid form.
Moon-Madness. While infected creature is in hybrid form, it is unable to distinguish friend from foe and regards all creatures it can see as enemies. Whenever the infected creature chooses another creature as a target, it must choose the target at random from among the creatures it can see within range of the attack, spell, or other ability it’s using. If an enemy provokes an opportunity attack from the infected creature, the creature must make that attack if it is able to. When the infected creature takes damage, it can make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a successful save, the infected creature suppresses this effect until the end of its next turn. The Calm Emotions spell suppresses the effect for the duration of the spell.
Regeneration. While the infected creature is in hybrid form, it regains a number of Hit Points equal to the beast’s Hit Points at the start of each of its turns. The creature reverts to its Humanoid form if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
Silver Allergy. When the infected creature takes damage from a silvered weapon, it can’t regain hit points until the end of its next turn.
Fighting the Contagion. A creature that has proficiency with an herbalism kit can spend 8 hours crafting and 25 gp worth of materials to create a potion that grants Advantage on saving throws to avoid shapeshifting for 24 hours. If a newly infected humanoid goes a full month without shapeshifting under the contagion’s effects, the contagion ends.
If an infected humanoid ever shapeshifts into hybrid form, it becomes permanently cursed with the effects of the contagion. The Remove Curse and Greater Restoration spells suppress the effects of the curse for 24 hours but do not end it. There are rumors that the death of the creature a cursed humanoid was originally infected by might end the curse, or be part of a magic ritual that can end it, or else that a potion made with the heart’s blood of said creature can cure the curse completely, but such rumors are unconfirmed. There is no known way to permanently end the curse.
Spreading the Contagion. Any humanoid or beast of the same type as the infected creature that takes damage from the infected creature’s Bite attack must make Constitution saving throw, the DC of which is equal to 8 + the infected creature’s Constitution modifier + the infected creature’s Proficiency Bonus. On a failed save, the bitten creature becomes infected with the contagion. On a successful save, the creature can’t catch the contagion from that particular infected creature for the next 24 hours.
A humanoid with at least one parent that has been cursed by the contagion is born cursed as well, but the curse’s effects don’t manifest until some time in the cursed humanoid’s adolescence. Roll 2d4+10 to determine at what age the curse takes hold.
Magical Contagion
Lycanthropy is an unusual combination of contagion and curse. Beasts and humanoids alike can be infected by and spread the contagion, but only humanoids can become cursed by it. An infected beast carries the contagion and can spread the contagion with a bite for 1d4 weeks but suffers no ill effects from it. An infected humanoid suffers the following effects for one month:
Lunar Transformation: When an infected humanoid gains the Unconscious condition while the moon is in the sky, it must make a Charisma saving throw, the DC of which depends on the phase of the moon, as shown on the table below. The creature has advantage on this saving throw if it is under the effects of a Protection from Evil and Good spell. On a failed save, the infected creature shapeshifts into a hybrid of its humanoid form and the beast it was infected by until the moon sets. If the creature is within an area affected by the Magic Circle or Hallow spell, it does not shapeshift until the spell ends or the creature is removed from the affected area.
| Moon Phase | Duration | Save DC | Moonrise | Moonset |
| New Moon | 5 days | 10 | Dawn | Evening |
| Waxing Crescent or First Quarter | 5 days | 15 | Midday | Midnight |
| Waxing Gibbous | 4 days | 20 | Afternoon | Predawn |
| Full Moon | 5 nights | 25 | Evening | Dawn |
| Waning Gibbous or Last Qarter | 5 nights | 20 | Midnight | Midday |
| Waning Crescent | 4 nights | 15 | Predawn | Afternoon |
Any equipment the creature was wearing or carrying falls to the ground in its space when it shapeshifts. While in hybrid form, the creature can’t speak, don armor, use weapons or other items, or cast spells that require verbal or material components. The creature’s hit point maximum is increased by the beast’s hit points, and it gains the beast’s armor class, speeds, and all traits, actions, bonus actions, and reactions from the beast’s stat block. The Dispel Evil and Good spell forces a cursed creature in hybrid form to shapeshift back into its humanoid form.
Moon-Madness. While infected creature is in hybrid form, it is unable to distinguish friend from foe and regards all creatures it can see as enemies. Whenever the infected creature chooses another creature as a target, it must choose the target at random from among the creatures it can see within range of the attack, spell, or other ability it’s using. If an enemy provokes an opportunity attack from the infected creature, the creature must make that attack if it is able to. When the infected creature takes damage, it can make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a successful save, the infected creature suppresses this effect until the end of its next turn. The Calm Emotions spell suppresses the effect for the duration of the spell.
Regeneration. While the infected creature is in hybrid form, it regains a number of Hit Points equal to the beast’s Hit Points at the start of each of its turns. The creature reverts to its Humanoid form if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
Silver Allergy. When the infected creature takes damage from a silvered weapon, it can’t regain hit points until the end of its next turn.
Fighting the Contagion. A creature that has proficiency with an herbalism kit can spend 8 hours crafting and 25 gp worth of materials to create a potion that grants Advantage on saving throws to avoid shapeshifting for 24 hours. If a newly infected humanoid goes a full month without shapeshifting under the contagion’s effects, the contagion ends.
If an infected humanoid ever shapeshifts into hybrid form, it becomes permanently cursed with the effects of the contagion. The Remove Curse and Greater Restoration spells suppress the effects of the curse for 24 hours but do not end it. There are rumors that the death of the creature a cursed humanoid was originally infected by might end the curse, or be part of a magic ritual that can end it, or else that a potion made with the heart’s blood of said creature can cure the curse completely, but such rumors are unconfirmed. There is no known way to permanently end the curse.
Spreading the Contagion. Any humanoid or beast of the same type as the infected creature that takes damage from the infected creature’s Bite attack must make Constitution saving throw, the DC of which is equal to 8 + the infected creature’s Constitution modifier + the infected creature’s Proficiency Bonus. On a failed save, the bitten creature becomes infected with the contagion. On a successful save, the creature can’t catch the contagion from that particular infected creature for the next 24 hours.
A humanoid with at least one parent that has been cursed by the contagion is born cursed as well, but the curse’s effects don’t manifest until some time in the cursed humanoid’s adolescence. Roll 2d4+10 to determine at what age the curse takes hold.
A few notes to keep in mind: For the purposes of determining the Lunar Transformation save DC and Moonrise/Moonset times, I’m considering the new moon and full moon to include the two days/nights before and after the “true” full and new moon. The “half moons” (more properly first and last quarter) get lumped in with the waxing crescent and waning gibbous in order to make the moon cycle fit cleanly within a 28-day month, but you could conceivably tweak these assumptions to fit a 30 day month if you wanted to. Or just use the current real-life moon phase, or roll randomly for current in-game moon phase, or ignore the whole shifting DC and timing windows aspect and make it a flat DC 15 save at all times if you’re so inclined.
I use another homebrew subsystem that divides days into six approximately 4-hour time blocks. If you want to use my Lycanthropy contagion but don’t want to adopt this time block system, assume “Dawn” is roughly 6:00 AM to 9:59 AM; “Midday” is roughly 10:00 AM to 1:59 PM, “Afternoon” is roughly 2:00 PM to 5:59 PM, “Evening” is roughly 6:00 PM to 9:59 PM, “Midnight” is roughly 10:00 PM to 1:59 AM, and “Predawn” is roughly 2:00 AM to 5:59 PM. You could also make the moonrise and moonset times more granular by having moonrise start 51 minutes later each day and moonset be 8 hours after moonrise.
Regarding the Moon Madness effect, I used the effect of the Enemies Abound spell pretty much verbatim, because I wanted the lycanthrope character to be a threat to their own party members while shapeshifted, while still allowing the player to be the one in control of their character’s actions. So, the idea is, for roleplaying purposes your character perceives themselves as being surrounded by hostile creatures, whether they fight, fly, or freeze is up to you, but if you do try to make any attacks you must choose your targets at random. If you prefer to have the player temporarily lose control of their character completely, by all means feel free to make that change.
Finally, because the lycanthrope character in my campaign is also a longtooth shifter, the intent here is that any bite attack an infected or cursed character has can spread the contagion. So, if they’re a shifter, or a lizardfolk, or an Eberron Gnoll, or they used Alter Self to give themselves a toothy maw as a weapon, or if they’re just a freak of a monk who likes to describe their Unarmed Strikes as bites, it all counts. A bite is a bite is a bite.
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