Special Conversion Thread: Lycanthropes and their ilk

[Cleon]

Updating Werepanther Working Draft.

So is that it for this one?

I've just realized it shouldn't have "and natural lycanthrope" from "The werepanther presented here is a 1st-level human warrior and natural lycanthrope", since this form of lycanthropy doesn't come in natural and afflicted varieties.

I'll remove it...

 

[Cleon]

I've just realized it shouldn't have "and natural lycanthrope" from "The werepanther presented here is a 1st-level human warrior and natural lycanthrope", since this form of lycanthropy doesn't come in natural and afflicted varieties.

I'll remove it...

Just noticed the panther form's AC is all screwy. +4 Dex and +4 natural give AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14, not the AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 in the draft.

Must have forgotten to change the deriver numbers from the Werejaguar base creature we used.

Easy enough to correct...

Updating Werepanther Working Draft.

EDIT: Oh, and the "Unusual Curse" trait applies to his human form as well as his animal one, so it ought to be in both the Special Qualities lines.

Re-updating Werepanther Working Draft.

EDITED EDIT: Dang it, the +8 racial bonus to Climb that should be in the skills description is AWOL. I've added it in.

That also means it's probably missing from the Werejaguar...

Yup, it's not in the new conversions' Werejaguar post, so we'll have to fix it if (when) the Creature Catalog is working again.

Hold on, I typed too soon.

I checked my CC archive and we've already corrected it with "A werejaguar in jaguar or hybrid form has a +8 racial bonus to Climb checks and it can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened."

It's just the New Conversions post that's in error, and we can't edit that.

 

[freyar]

Your corrections to the werepanther sound right to me.

As for the thralls, I'd stick with the Dungeon version for some distinction. Plus lycanthropic empathy grants a +4 racial bonus on Cha-based checks that I don't see "thralls" really getting.

 

[Cleon]

Your corrections to the werepanther sound right to me.

As for the thralls, I'd stick with the Dungeon version for some distinction. Plus lycanthropic empathy grants a +4 racial bonus on Cha-based checks that I don't see "thralls" really getting.

I'm fine dropping the Cha-based bonus but would like to keep the ability to communicate with great cats.

How about this.

Panther Speech (Ex): A werepanther thrall can communicate with great cats (lions, jaguars, tigers et cetera) and other werepanthers in a snarling language that sounds like the animal cries of an ordinary panther.

 

[freyar]

That's fine. Just the weapons then?

 

[Cleon]

That's fine.

Updating the Werepanther Thrall Working Draft.

Just the weapons then?

Well they've got that special bond with the Panther Lord that allows the Lord to see through their eyes and send them orders, plus which means if the Lord dies they revert back to their former human(oid).

We'll also need to work in somewhere that their human(oid) is so changed that they're almost unrecognizable as the person they were before being transformed.

I'm not sure how to approach - I guess it could be a special quality, but we could also work it into the background info. In part it depends whether we want to make it a mechanical thing - e.g. it could work like being "disguised" with an alter self spell (+10 Disguise), but it seems more likely to just be a flat DC for someone familiar with the pre-lycanthrope person to recognize them.

 

[freyar]

I think I'd go with a flat DC for recognition. I guess that can just go in the background.

As for the special bond, we did a pair of undead bone tyrant masters and minions not too long ago with a similar telepathic bond. Or maybe we could even go to Mossmutter, the false Keraptis, and skin puppets for something.

 

[Cleon]

I think I'd go with a flat DC for recognition. I guess that can just go in the background.

Works for me.

Although I think we should include it in the Panther Lord's "Curse of the Panther Lord" when we get to that conversion.

As for the special bond, we did a pair of undead bone tyrant masters and minions not too long ago with a similar telepathic bond. Or maybe we could even go to Mossmutter, the false Keraptis, and skin puppets for something.

Yes, I was thinking of the Bone Tyrant when I typed the ability into the Special Qualities line.

So, do you want to get it out of the way before we start on the weapons?

 

[freyar]

Yes, let's put the change of appearance in the lord's curse.

Yeah, let's deal with that bonding ability. The appropriate abilities from the bone tyrant are

Minion Bond (Su): A bone tyrant master has a permanent telepathic bond to all its minions (as the spell, except it can't be dispelled). Note that the minions are only bonded to the master, not to each other.
...
Master Dependence (Su): If a bone tyrant minion is destroyed while it is bonded to a bone tyrant master, the master immediately gains one positive level. If the bone tyrant master is destroyed, the minion is immediately banished to the lower plane it originated from.

In addition, if a bone tyrant master has advanced its Hit Dice, all minions it is bonded to gain one negative level for every 2 additional HD its master has. These negative levels provide the normal effects to the minions (being undead, each negative level gives a +1 bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, ability checks; gain of 5 hit points; and +1 to effective level for spells and special abilities). The negative levels last until the minion bond is broken, a minion does not lose any if its master gains positive levels.

I think we can ignore that last paragraph safely, but we can adapt the first part of Master Dependence. We also don't need the reverse Minion Dependence ability.

Wait, I was just re-reading the original werepanthers. Where does the telepathic bond come from? All I can see is that a werepanther is "permanently charmed by the baron."

 

[Cleon]

Yes, let's put the change of appearance in the lord's curse.

Yeah, let's deal with that bonding ability. The appropriate abilities from the bone tyrant are

I think we can ignore that last paragraph safely, but we can adapt the first part of Master Dependence. We also don't need the reverse Minion Dependence ability.

Wait, I was just re-reading the original werepanthers. Where does the telepathic bond come from? All I can see is that a werepanther is "permanently charmed by the baron."

In the original Dungeon #50 version the Werepanther's master von Kharkov can enter a trance allowing him to see through any of his werepanther's eyes (as well as any other feline in the land) and he can also issue telepathic commands to anyone he has bitten (allowing a save vs. spell to resist for unwilling recipients).

The telepathic commands bit is probably due to him also being a Nosferatu though, since that's a standard power of that strain of vampirism.

With the MCA2 version, it just says the werepanthers "serve their creator, the shaman panther lord" but doesn't go into much details as to how.

I like the idea of a trance ability for the Panther Lord. It seems suitably shamanistic.