D&D 5E Wizards planning a change to lycanthropes?

[tetrasodium]

Of course, any way you slice it, my players are going to deal with regenerating lycans the same way they deal with trolls. Have one character cast Chill Touch and everyone else attack normally.

That was a really shortsighted inclusion on a cantrip. Hopefully the raveloft book introduces a new mechanic for it

 

[Faolyn]

For a grittier version, I think I’d consider altering the spell damage to require the type be radiant or necrotic, and weapon damage must be silvered whether magical or not.

And fire. Fire always works. It's more primordial than werecreatures are, after all.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'd be tempted to remove the bit about spells, and leave only silver, so if you actually want to kill a werebeast, you have to get stabby. I might allow specific spells like Moonbeam and similar to prevent the regeneration as well.

This is kind of where my head went. Any spell turning off the regen is just too weak. Especially with how trivially easy it is to accomplish unless you have an entirely magic-less party

 

[Chaosmancer]

And fire. Fire always works. It's more primordial than werecreatures are, after all.

Actually... I disagree on that.

I've seen a lot of times where a regen creature just walks through fire. I think I'd much prefer it to be only radiant and necrotic, with it regenerating from everything else, so you can get those classic scenes.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Actually... I disagree on that.

I've seen a lot of times where a regen creature just walks through fire. I think I'd much prefer it to be only radiant and necrotic, with it regenerating from everything else, so you can get those classic scenes.

I think I'd prefer if only a rare type of damage stopped the regen, like Acid. There's only a few power dealing acid damage, and they are all kinda weak.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Is there any damage type couldn't be healed easily? for example necrotic.

Silver weapons could be too expensive in some low magic-level campaings, worse when the PCs start from zero, for example the classic trope of the shipwrecker arrives to the beach. Other reason is inmunity to no-magic weapons could cause the spellcasters to become too important and indispensable, and if the spellcasters are KO for the fight the the rest of the group is too vulnerable.

 

[Faolyn]

Actually... I disagree on that.

I've seen a lot of times where a regen creature just walks through fire. I think I'd much prefer it to be only radiant and necrotic, with it regenerating from everything else, so you can get those classic scenes.

Fair enough. I'd go with fire myself for a lycanthrope, since they're mortal creatures, but I can see where you're coming from.

Edit: I'd actually go more for immunity to fire if they brought back the allergens like wolvesbane, or the more exotic ones from Ravenloft. I actually did a workup of how I'd do it for 5e (I need to go back and finish cleaning up my list of lycanthrope templates I did for a template-loving friend).

Allergy	Con save DC	Ingested	Inhaled	Injury
Mild	13	10 (3d6)	3 (1d6)	7 (2d6)
Severe	15	16 (3d10)	5 (1d10)	11 (2d10)

The damage is poison damage. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the lycanthrope is also poisoned for 1 minute. It may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success

 

[tetrasodium]

Is there any damage type couldn't be healed easily? for example necrotic.

Silver weapons could be too expensive in some low magic-level campaings, worse when the PCs start from zero, for example the classic trope of the shipwrecker arrives to the beach. Other reason is inmunity to no-magic weapons could cause the spellcasters to become too important and indispensable, and if the spellcasters are KO for the fight the the rest of the group is too vulnerable.

Spoiler: Wotc needs to design monsters & spells for the game they make instead

Magic weapons are really pretty common by the standards of PHB145 where armor prices are listed & silvered weapons are even more common. If the GM is going to say "you can't buy them" that's a choice for their campaign & they can provide some kind of work around if they want their players to have an exception. "the gm says they don't exist" isn't a good reason to design monsters so a bunch of other problems are created for every game where they do.

I'm going to agree with others that fire shouldn't be the go to nuke regen damage type because WotC went out of their way to make it so common and typically the best option. It's not like people are attacking monsters with torches or dropping to d4/d6 cantrips to deal fire damage

 

[The Glen]

Look at books that covered this in the past, normally the effect only works in the hybrid form. Looking at Nighthowlers, you only got the immunity if you were full blown wolfman, human or beast form got nothing. It's a balance issue. Early levels there isn't a lot of magic items so you've got the best tank. Or otherwise you've got a lot of silver and magic weapons showing up at a rate that isn't believable. Regeneration is great, but at higher levels it's not going to help. Add in the fact if you run across an encounter where they aren't going to have magic weapons or even weapons at all like fighting beasts and the encounter is going to be lopsided regardless the CR.

 

[Remathilis]

So just to be clear:

Old:
Normal weapon: no damage
Silver weapon: full damage
Magical weapon: full damage
Spell: full damage

New:
Normal weapon: full damage, regen 10
Silver weapon: full damage, no regen
Magical weapon: full damage, regen 10
Spell: full damage, no regen.

Do I have that right?