Werewolf Teeth Question

[Diamond Cross]

So let's say you've fought a Werewolf. It's completely helpless before you, but not dead. You take out its teeth and form a necklace out of them.

Then you kill the werewolf.

So, now that the werewolf's dead, do the teeth still have the ability to inflict lycanthrope on a person if they were to scratch or cut them?

 

[The Human Target]

The answer is- its up to the DM.

If I was the DM my answer would be- nooooo waaaaaay!

This sounds like players trying to make money off infecting people, or trying to infect themselves after the fact.

I'd let you guys do that, then remove all the PCs from play when they became evil NPCs.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I was thinking more along the lines of accidental infection.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

DM decision based on the flavor of the campaign.

Is lycanthrophy a disease? Then the teeth would still carry the diseases for a few hours to a few days but sooner of later they'd be as harmless as any other tooth necklace.

Is the lycanthropy a curse?

If yes, does it die with the werewolf? It certainly should. If it doesn't... Why?! Prepare a good answer before allowing it.

Overall I'd say the teeth are harmless in any campaign I'm likely to run.

 

[DogBackward]

I can certainly see an argument for being able to use the teeth to, for example, make a magic weapon that spreads lycanthropy. Or requiring them for a poison that spreads it. But I don't think it fits to just have the plain ol' teeth spread the disease. Even if you wanna say it's purely biological and comes from the saliva, it'd only last for a short while at the most.

 

[The Human Target]

Why would any non-chaotic evil character actually want to spread lycanthropy with a weapon?

 

[frankthedm]

Teeth on a string don't make a bite attack.

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su)
Any humanoid or giant hit by a werewolf’s bite attack in animal or hybrid form must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract lycanthropy.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Why would any non-chaotic evil character actually want to spread lycanthropy with a weapon?

To create a lycanthropy vaccine or because they want to create a race of lycanthropic supermen in a misquided attampt at protecting humanity from the predations of evil...,

 

[The Human Target]

To create a lycanthropy vaccine or because they want to create a race of lycanthropic supermen in a misquided attampt at protecting humanity from the predations of evil...,

That PC needs a hard slapping.

 

[kitsune9]

There's several ways that one can use to approach this:

1. Lycanthropy is a curse. So since curses are supernatural or magical in nature, this is completely up to the DM. If having any part of the werewolf causes a scratch, or puncture, then the curse is transmitted.

2. Lycanthropy is biological. Now we have to think about how lycanthropy is transmitted. Is it transmitted via teeth or nails that are hollow and essentially a saliva / poison is administered? If so, then it becomes a matter of time before the poison in the teeth has completely dried out that a scratch from the teeth mark is just that, a scratch.

3. Lycanthropy is viral / bacterial. This follows under biological, but merits its own discussion. Viruses and bacteria can be more resilient to continue living if the environment is right. For example, the AIDS virus has dozens of mutagenic variations and each medication cocktail designed to mitigate a particular strain will allow it to mutate into a new strain. So again, this can be whatever the DM wants when it comes to lycanthropy when it is viral or bacterial in nature.

Ultimately, as the other posters have stated, it's up to the DM, but if you want to put in the thought exercise, here's some ideas to get you going. I'm sure the others can jump in pull some cool ideas too.

Happy Gaming!