Why are Lycanthropes less virulent now?

[Emirikol]

Why are Lycanthropes less virulent now? Didn't the simple bite do you in for past editions (and historically)? Would it break D&D if I went back to the old ways?


Jh
Wasn't the same true of ghast/ghoul/wight at one time too?

 

[Presto2112]

Umm, they aren't. Especially if you use them sparingly.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Probably because there was a lot of verbal noise about how unfair it was about a were getting a single lucky bite/strike and then the PC is laden with a condition that can be a right pain the arse to deal and/or get rid of.

For a lot of players, the fun isn't in struggling to maintain your humanity as you slowly succumb to your condition, but rather meeting interesting creatures, slaughtering the lot, and taking their loot.

Personally, I'm glad the virulence of those attacks have been watered down.

Of course, nobody is stopping you from upping the potency of those attacks for your own games if you so desire.

 

[Torment]

some of my PCs might be a bit too happy with the lycanthropy.

"so... you mean that I get more strenght? sweet"

 

[Nifft]

"so... you mean that I get more strenght? sweet"

They think it's a gift until they see how sucky Animal HD are...

-- N

 

[Bardsandsages]

Well, from a purely logical standpoint, if all it took was a bite to automatically turn you into a werewolf, the world would soon be nothing but werewolves. Which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, depending on the setting (Ravenloft, for example, would be a nice setting for a lupine epidemic). But it can get cumbersome to run.

For a lot of players, the fun isn't in struggling to maintain your humanity as you slowly succumb to your condition, but rather meeting interesting creatures, slaughtering the lot, and taking their loot.

Pretty much, if you want angst, you play World of Darkness. If you want to adventure and collect loot, you play D&D.

And therein is part of the problem, really. Because in D&D alignments are absolutes. So if you become a werewolf, you don't get a choice to struggle. You become evil and that's it. Granted, the DM can make executive decisions to the contrary, but the game mechanic doesn't really lend itself to that sort of stuff.

 

[Delta]

Didn't the simple bite do you in for past editions (and historically)?

No. In OD&D/1E/2E you needed to lose 50% of your hit points to lycanthrope bite.

 

[lukelightning]

So if you become a werewolf, you don't get a choice to struggle. You become evil and that's it.

That's how I prefer it, actually. The "struggle" normally means all you do is do some token moaning about fate/being cursed/whatever and then go about your day-to-day business as a super-strong character with DR.

The werewolves of legends were horrible monsters. No matter how good they were in their human form, they became bloodthirsty kin-murderers in animal form. I'd say "sure, you can stay being Chaotic Good in regular form...but once you change, hand over your character sheet, you are an NPC till you revert.

 

[Celebrim]

Pretty much, if you want angst, you play World of Darkness.

That's funny, because in practice, every WoD group I ever saw was pretty much about meeting interesting creatures, killing them, and taking thier loot. They may have done it while wearing black and while simpering and wallowing in sexual frustration (at least until they got accepted into the group), but the werewolf crowd didn't even bother with that much. It was more like four color superheroes without the colors.

I never once met anyone that actually roleplay angst about being a monster. Invariably, it came out from thier play that being a monster was the thing that they were least angsty about, which says alot about why the game was so attractive.

 

[Numion]

I thought that a single bite can turn you a lucanthrope in 3E, if an (easy) save is failed. If it doesn't work that way, too bad for one of my players whose character has succumbed to it twice

Anyway, it's surprisingly hard to remove once the initial period is gone, for low to mid level characters. The extra STR is mostly useless though, since without training it's difficult to remain in a humanoid shape that can use weapons.