Special Conversion Thread: Lycanthropes and their ilk
Cleon
Legend
Bearing in mind BECMI lycanthropes "can speak with normal animals of its weretype", shall we substitute a speak with animals ability that only works on rats?
They don't need the bonus to Charisma checks, since they have summon rats to produce controlled minions.
Good! I'll rough something up when I get the time.
Cleon
Legend
Shall we go with speak with rats then.
BECMI wererats are nasty chaotic evil monsters who eat rats and giant rats (and sometimes other wererats) when they don't have enough food from other sources.
That doesn't sound very empathic to me!
So, would the following be enough?
Speak With Rats (Su): A ratwere can communicate with rats and dire rats as if it had a permanent speak with animals spell. It can also use this ability to speak with other ratweres and wererats using this ability, which sounds like rodent squeaks and chirps.
If we want to keep the mechanical effects of Rat Empathy we can stick a racial bonus to Cha-based livestock skills in the Skill entry, e.g.:
Skills: Ratweres have a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks, and a +8 racial bonus on Climb, and Swim checks. Ratweres can use their Dexterity modifier or their Strength modifier for Climb and Swim checks, whichever is better.
A ratwere has a +4 racial bonus on Charisma-based skill checks against rats and dire rats.
In rat or hybrid-form, a ratwere gains a +8 racial bonus on Balance checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb and Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Cleon
Legend
That'd be OK. They can always devour rats they are controlling via their summon rodents power.
Updating the Ratwere Working Draft.
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
The working draft has
Why not just Wis damage, which kills the wrong kind of creatures?
Disease (Su): Ratwere plague -- bite, Fortitude DC X, incubation period X, damage X Wis. Humans reduced to 0 Wis transform into Greater Wererats and regain lost Wis, Dire Rats reduced to 0 Wis transform into Ratweres and regain lost Wis, and other creatures reduced to 0 Wis die.
Want to put some conditions on for healing the disease beyond just making saves?
Why not just Wis damage, which kills the wrong kind of creatures?
Disease (Su): Ratwere plague -- bite, Fortitude DC X, incubation period X, damage X Wis. Humans reduced to 0 Wis transform into Greater Wererats and regain lost Wis, Dire Rats reduced to 0 Wis transform into Ratweres and regain lost Wis, and other creatures reduced to 0 Wis die.
Want to put some conditions on for healing the disease beyond just making saves?
Cleon
Legend
The BECMI version of lycanthropy was inevitable fatal/transformational unless it was magically cured, suggesting it's a "saves do not end disease" supernatural sickness like Mummy Rot.
It was also pretty hard to cure, requiring an 11th+ level cleric. That seems rather mean for a low-level monster though, so I'd entertain the idea of allowing weaker priests to cure it if they succeed at a level check low enough that 11th level clerics auto-roll it (e.g. remove disease with a DC 21 level check, or possibly DC 21 remove curse followed by remove disease.)
Cleon
Legend
'Cause I didn't think of it, that's why! I picked Con damage because that's the standard fatal-effect damage, it's as simple as that.
The original game makes no mention of the symptoms of wererat lycanthropy. The supplement Night Howlers (1992) has this to say:
Signs of lycanthropy appear in half that time. Aching joints, elongated teeth, and sudden hair growth are common symptoms. Restlessness, strange cravings, and stranger dreams inevitably plague the victim’s nights.
The victim may be cured if he can find help before lycanthropy runs its course and turns him into a full-fledged lycanthrope. A cleric of 11th level or greater can cure lycanthropy with a cure disease spell. Once a lycanthrope has undergone the first transformation to beast form, not even a wish is a guaranteed cure.
Demihumans learn from an early age that lycanthropy means death to them. Lycanthropy acts as a poison to elves, dwarves, halflings, and most humanoids (save vs. poison or be infected). A demihuman infected with lycanthropy immediately feels feverish and weak, suffering a –2 on all rolls to hit and on saving throws. He can survive for 1-6 days, during which the condition will worsen. A stricken character unable to find a cleric of 11th level or greater to cure the disease within that span will die.
The victim may be cured if he can find help before lycanthropy runs its course and turns him into a full-fledged lycanthrope. A cleric of 11th level or greater can cure lycanthropy with a cure disease spell. Once a lycanthrope has undergone the first transformation to beast form, not even a wish is a guaranteed cure.
Demihumans learn from an early age that lycanthropy means death to them. Lycanthropy acts as a poison to elves, dwarves, halflings, and most humanoids (save vs. poison or be infected). A demihuman infected with lycanthropy immediately feels feverish and weak, suffering a –2 on all rolls to hit and on saving throws. He can survive for 1-6 days, during which the condition will worsen. A stricken character unable to find a cleric of 11th level or greater to cure the disease within that span will die.
I guess "feverish and weak" could mean anything.
How about we have Wis damage for all types of victim, plus they're Sickened while the cursed disease is running its course? That'd match the -2 penalty of the PC4 description.
You might notice that Night Howlers says Lycanthropy kills demihumans in 1d6 days instead of the 2d12 days it takes to transform humans. All other BECMI sources say it takes the same time to affect demihumans as humans, so I would have the Wis damage be the same for both.
Oh, and in closing, the original 1977 Basic D&D version of lycanthropy did not put a caster level restriction on healing it - any cleric who could cast cure disease could remove it.
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