D&D 5E Werewolf Damage Immunity Question

[JoeCrow]

Can werewolves damage each other with their natural attacks? Lycanthropes are supposed to have

Damage Immunities: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered

, but does that mean that when werewolves fight each other, they've either gotta bust out the magic weapons or just rely on bad language? That seems kinda out of theme for them.

 

[DocSun]

Personally I would consider their attacks magical for the purposes of hurting each other due to the magical nature of their transformation. Unless you want an Abraham Lincoln situation where they turn their enemies in order to keep them from hurting each other.... actually that's not a bad idea.

 

[Derren]

Can werewolves damage each other with their natural attacks? Lycanthropes are supposed to have , but does that mean that when werewolves fight each other, they've either gotta bust out the magic weapons or just rely on bad language? That seems kinda out of theme for them.

Yes, it does. But why would they do that instead of banding together and killing 80% of all monsters in existence which all do not have magical weapon attacks and rule large parts of the world?

 

[Joe Liker]

I always assumed that a werewolf who wanted to kill another werewolf would know enough about lycanthropes to find himself a silvered weapon.

 

[JoeCrow]

Well, I kinda need to know because the werewolfed PC is about to throw down with the werewolf cultist, and if they're just gonna be tickle-fighting it'll be kind of anticlimactic.

 

[DocSun]

In the end you are the DM and the rules adjudicator. Make your ruling and keep to it at least for this campaign.

 

[JoeCrow]

Yeah, I was just looking for some external validation. Weak of me, I know. I'm thinking that lycanthrope natural attacks count as magical weapons, but then I have the question, should that just be a special case of "vs. other lycanthropes" or should it be a blanket critter enhancement? It'll make lycanthropes more dangerous, but I'm not necessarily opposed to that.

 

[Will Doyle]

I noticed that the slam attacks of a flesh golem are specifically called out as counting as magical weapons (for some reason). If the trait exists, you'd think it would be used for the lycanthrope too?

I'm with you though - I'd go with houseruling it to be the special case of "vs. other lycanthropes".

 

[DocSun]

My fair play DM would be voting to making it only vs other lycanthropes so that they can fight each other. The other part of me would actually love to see it play out where they cant hurt each other making themselves into life long enemies unless they are willing to handle silver that could potentially hurt themselves with or learn magic.

 

[PnPgamer]

I would guess making them have silvered weapons would be good enough.

Otherwise, they could fatigue each other to death. Combat for 6 hours can be tiresome, even if it is slapping an invulnerable opponent.