Why are Lycanthropes less virulent now?

[Estlor]

The Real Ghostbusters.

 

[jedavis]

Nyeshet: Nice! Might have to steal those ideas and start writing tables.

I like that idea for lycantown too...

Yeah, lycanthrope characters as-is are pretty broken... you don't really lose much. Although since the 3.5 update, they've gotten worse with the addition of the animal HD. Before, you could just get a massive strength and durability boost for the cost of +2 or +3 LA (don't remember exactly, but it was in savage species). Now, you get saddled with a bunch of extra HD, too, which can put a dent in your character advancement. Much harder to break if you can't get very many class levels.

Although I do prefer Nyeshet's idea, where the lycanthropy doesn't affect the character's humanoid stats.

 

[lukelightning]

a NG werewolf will always produce NG werewolves.

It's horrible....ever since getting bit by that werewolf, on full moons I turn into a wolf...and chase vermin out of my neighbors' fields, guard their property, help lost people, and bring help to children who have fallen down wells.

 

[D.Shaffer]

I had an idea for a 'fallen' CG Werebear Paladin, who decided the best way to convert a tribe of orcs to good was to slowly infect them all with lycanthropy. The people I bounced the idea off of werent to happy with it.

 

[robberbaron]

Rent a British film called Dog Soldiers.

 

[Cheiromancer]

The people I bounced the idea off of werent to happy with it.

A were-ent! That would be a cool monster!

 

[Anti-Sean]

A were-ent! That would be a cool monster!

In this case, his bark *isn't* worse than his bite!

...I'll just let myself out, thanks.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

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

I seem to recall it was a certain % based on damage. Like 1% per point or something, and 2% in Ravenloft.

 

[Tonguez]

It's horrible....ever since getting bit by that werewolf, on full moons I turn into a wolf...and chase vermin out of my neighbors' fields, guard their property, help lost people, and bring help to children who have fallen down wells.

Were-collie
Were-Saint Bernard
Were-Labrador

 

[Banshee16]

I don't think they used to be *that* virulent. In 2nd Ed, you had a 2% chance per point of damage suffered to contract lycanthropy. Given some of the creature, like werewolves, only might have been doing 1-6 damage or something like that, per attack, that means on average *if* you got hit (which wasn't often, given they had predefined Thac0's), you had like a 6% average chance per hit to get infected.

I houseruled that the chance was cumulative during each combat, for all damage by a single lycanthrope. So if got hit 3 times, for 3 damage each, you rolled once at the end of the combat, and would have a 18% chance to contract.

I think in 3E it's *easier* for low level victims to be infected, because they could be hit for even a low amount of damage, and whether they get hit for 1 point, or 10 points, they've got an equal chance to be infected...which is more in line with mythology.

I think the only change to the virulence factor is that infected lycanthropes can't infect others.

Banshee