Lycanthropes aren’t a race, so much as a group of people whom all suffer from a common curse. Lycanthropes have the ability to change into animal or hybrid forms, and they sometimes do so involuntarily. Any kind of giant or humanoid can suffer from lycanthropy. In Faerûn, the following kinds of lycanthropes are common: Werebat, werebear, wereboar, werecats, werecrocodile, wererat, wereshark, weretiger, werewolf and the elven lythari, a special kind of werewolf. Each of these lycanthropes can transform from its normal humanoid form to that of a particular animal or a hybrid form that is a cross between the humanoid and the animal forms.
In their humanoid forms, lycanthropes are essentially the same as they ever were. While their chances to die a violent death have likely increased greatly, their natural life expectancy is the same as it was before they became lycanthropes. Their height, weight and other physical features are unchanged as well. In their animal forms, lycanthropes appear to be of an age proportional to their human forms. In other words, an elderly human werewolf in her wolf form looks like an elderly wolf, despite the fact that a real wolf her age would have long been dead.
There are, in fact, two kinds of lycanthropes: those who have contracted the condition as a curse (afflicted lycanthropes), and those who were born with it (natural lycanthropes). The child of a natural lycanthrope is always a natural lycanthrope, but the child of an afflicted lycanthrope is a normal example of his or her race until puberty, at which point there is a 50% chance that the child manifests lycanthropy as a natural lycanthrope.
Lycanthropes have the same life expectancy and age categories as characters of their base race.
History: Lycanthropy appears to have been a plague on Faerûn since its earliest days. Some say that Malar, the Beastlord, created the first lycanthropes from barbaric human tribes thousands of years ago in order to infuse the race with the feral cunning and strength of the predatory animals they admired. Others believe that lycanthropy was a gift of the goddess Selûne to human children orphaned in the dangerous wilds, a blessing to help them survive. From these ancient humans, old lycanthropic bloodlines have descended through the ages, few in number but scattered through all the wilderness of Faerûn.
Lycanthropes have no real racial history, since their story is the story of an individual here, a family there, or more rarely a pack of bloodthirsty marauders in another place. While evil lycanthropes have slaughtered whole villages on occasion, and good lycanthropes have valiantly defended the homes of the innocent against evil raiders, lycanthropes have never assembled in numbers greater than a few dozen, founded cities, or raised kingdoms.
While most of Faerûn’s lycanthrope bloodlines run in otherwise human folk, lycanthropes of other races are not impossible. Orc wereboars and goblin werewolves sometimes become fearsome champions of their tribes. Elven werewolves known as lythari are a race of natural lycanthropes whose origins go back to the first elven explorations of Faerûn, and the good lythari have lived among the moon elves and wood elves for thousands of years.
Rumour has it that a number of new kinds of lycanthropes have been found in Faerûn since the Time of Troubles. There have been scattered reports of werebison, weredogs, weredolphins, wereleopards, wereowls and werepanthers.
Outlook: A lycanthrope’s outlook is usually based upon its life in its humanoid form. However, there are some generalizations that can be made.
Natural lycanthropes rarely have a problem with their lycanthropy. They view their “curse” as a gift. These folk realize that their lycanthropy makes them special, and many of them take up careers as adventurers. If lycanthropy is feared or reviled in their humanoid culture, they may feel some shame for being so different from those around them, but they rarely if ever wish to be “cured” of their condition. Natural lycanthropes of evil alignment revel in their feral nature, and view themselves as stronger and more fit than their normal fellows. Their strength gives them the right to murder, plunder and terrorize any who are too weak to defend themselves.
Afflicted lycanthropes are often horrified to find that they have contracted the condition. Waking up covered with blood and a convenient case of amnesia is bad enough. To learn that this is a situation that is going to repeat itself three nights every month for the rest of your life can be nearly intolerable. Most such people try to find a cure as quickly as possible. Of course, not everyone has access to belladonna — which must be taken within an hour of the attack anyhow — or to a high-level spellcaster who can remove the condition.
The worst part for a cursed lycanthrope is that any voluntary change into an animal or hybrid form immediately changes the humanoid’s alignment to that of the lycanthropic form. If this differs from the character’s current alignment, it can be a jarring shift, and the larger the shift the worse it is on the character. It’s hard for a paladin-werewolf to remain a paladin for long in the face of the seductive lure of giving in to his feral side.
Once a character’s alignment is in accord with that of her animal shape, though, the afflicted lycanthrope comes to terms with her curse. The battle between the two sides of her personality — her humanoid and her animal selves — is over.
Most lycanthrope adventurers are loners. They may join a band of like-minded adventurers and even work with them for several tendays at a time. Once that full moon rises, though, they disappear in search of a place to be by themselves. They know all too well that many people are not fond of lycanthropes, so they take great pains to conceal their true nature.
Characters: A lycanthrope’s humanoid form determines her class. Many cursed lycanthropes were adventurers to begin with, since these are the sorts of people most likely to have the kinds of encounters that lead to such troubles. If the lycanthrope wasn’t an adventurer before, she is likely to become one now. Entire chapters of an adventurer’s saga can be written about her quest to find some way to have the curse removed, even if the story’s protagonist was once a simple commoner who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Society: Natural lycanthropes often come from a family of lycanthropes who have passed the “curse” down through the generations. They are usually careful to conceal their true nature from people they don’t know very well, since there are many non-lycanthropes who believe that the only good lycanthrope is a dead one. Children of natural lycanthropes can start to change form on the first full moon after their birth.
Afflicted lycanthropes rarely have any kind of society or family to support them. Unless they are found by the lycanthrope who bestowed the curse on them in the first place, many afflicted lycanthropes never meet another of their own kind. Evil lycanthropes have been known to carelessly spread their curse in order to create a pack of followers. Of course, if the new lycanthropes are less than thrilled about their affliction, this strategy can easily backfire.
Lycanthropes age, become adults, and die just like anyone else of their humanoid race. Their animal forms ages proportionally with the humanoid forms. A young lycanthrope becomes a young animal. An elderly lycanthrope who can barely walk finds herself in the same situation as an animal.
Again, lythari are the exception. Lythari are almost always friends with each other to begin with. They often run in a pack together, and are usually revered by other elves as creatures of powerful magic.
Language: A lycanthrope speaks whatever languages are common to her humanoid form. She also can communicate empathically with normal or dire animals of the same form as her lycanthropic animal shape.
A lycanthrope’s literacy is determined by her humanoid form.
Religion: A lycanthrope’s racial deities are determined by her base race. Born lycanthropes usually worship a nature god in their race’s pantheon if there is such a deity. Selûne and Malar are also the patron deities of good and evil lycanthropes, respectively.
Relations: A lycanthrope’s relations with other races are mostly determined by her base race. However, since the alignments of most lycanthropes are fairly well known, most people assume that the lycanthrope has the same alignment in all of its forms. If they know of the lycanthrope’s affliction, they often base their opinions on the lycanthrope by how close they are to each other in their alignments.
Refer to the Lycanthrope Template below for details on creating lycanthropes.
| Animal | Animal | Animal | Animal | Animal or Hybrid Form | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Form | HD | BAB | Base Saves | Ability Score Adjustments | Alignment |
| Lythari | Wolf | 2d8 | +1 | Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0 | Str +2, Dex +4, Con +4 | Chaotic Good |
| Werebat | Dire bat | 4d8 | +3 | Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4 | Str +6, Dex +12, Con +6 | Neutral Evil |
| Werebear | Brown bear | 6d8 | +4 | Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2 | Str +16, Dex +2, Con +8 | Lawful Good |
| Wereboar | Boar | 3d8 | +2 | Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +1 | Str +4, Con +6 | Neutral |
| Werecrocodile | Crocodile | 3d8 | +2 | Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +1 | Str +8, Dex +2, Con +6 | Neutral Evil |
| Wererat | Dire rat | 1d8 | +0 | Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0 | Dex +6, Con +2 | Chaotic Evil |
| Wereshark | Large shark | 7d8 | +5 | Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2 | Str +6, Dex +4, Con +2 | Neutral Evil |
| Weretiger | Tiger | 6d8 | +4 | Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2 | Str +12, Dex +4, Con +6 | Neutral |
| Werewolf | Wolf | 2d8 | +1 | Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0 | Str +2, Dex +4, Con +4 | Chaotic Evil |
| Name | Animal Feats | Skill Points | Animal Class Skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lythari | Track, Weapon Focus (Bite) | (2 + Int mod) ×5 | Listen, Spot |
| Werebat | Alertness, Stealthy | (2 + Int mod) ×7 | Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot |
| Werebear | Endurance, Run, Track | (2 + Int mod) ×9 | Listen, Spot |
| Wereboar | Alertness, Toughness | (2 + Int mod) ×6 | Listen, Spot |
| Werecrocodile | Alertness, Skill Focus (Hide) | (2 + Int mod) ×6 | Hide, Listen, Spot |
| Wererat | Alertness, Weapon Finesse (Bite) | (2 + Int mod) ×4 | Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot |
| Wereshark | Alertness, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative | (2 + Int mod) ×10 | Listen, Spot |
| Weretiger | Alertness, Weapon Focus (Bite, Claw) | (2 + Int mod) ×9 | Hide, Move Silently, Swim |
| Werewolf | Track, Weapon Focus (Bite) | (2 + Int mod) ×5 | Listen, Spot |
When a character contracts lycanthropy through a lycanthrope’s bite (see above), no symptoms appear until the first night of the next full moon. On that night, the afflicted character involuntarily assumes animal form and forgets his or her own identity, temporarily becoming an NPC under the DM’s control. The character remains in animal form, assuming the appropriate alignment, until the next dawn.
The character’s actions during this first episode are dictated by the alignment of its animal form. Good-aligned creatures seek to avoid settlements or travellers and non-natural environments, seeking out wilderness environs. They may hunt the natural prey of their kind, but avoid attacking non-evil intelligent creatures. Evil creatures seek to murder as many intelligent creatures as possible, often killing their own family members and friends. They generally seek out places where such victims may be found. Neutral creatures seek remote areas and avoid contact with civilization, but might attack travellers or other folk abroad in the wilderness out of natural ferocity and hunger, not malice. In any case, the character remembers nothing about the entire episode (or subsequent episodes) unless he succeeds at a Wisdom check (DC 15) on awaking, in which case he becomes aware of his lycanthropic condition.
Thereafter, the character is subject to involuntary transformation under the full moon and whenever damaged in combat. He or she feels an overwhelming rage building up and must succeed at a Control Shape check to resist changing into animal form. Any character not yet aware of his or her lycanthropic condition temporarily becomes an NPC under the DM’s control during an involuntary change, and acts as described above.
A character with awareness of his condition retains his identity and does not lose control of his actions if he changes. However, each time he changes to his animal form, he must make a Will save (DC 15 + number of times he has been in animal form) or permanently assume the alignment of his animal form in all shapes. An evil lycanthrope who is aware of his actions in animal form is not compelled to murder and kill indiscriminately, but he delights in bloodshed and will certainly seek out opportunities to slaughter intelligent beings, preferably those of his own race.
Once the character becomes aware of the affliction, he can now voluntarily attempt to change to animal or hybrid form, using the appropriate Control Shape DC. An attempt is a standard action and can be made each round. Any voluntary change to animal or hybrid form immediately and permanently changes the character’s alignment to that of the appropriate lycanthrope.
Changing Form: Changing form is a standard action. If the change is involuntary, the character performs the change on his next turn following the triggering event. Changing to animal or hybrid form ruins the character’s armour and clothing (including any items worn) if the new form is larger than the character’s natural form; carried items are simply dropped. Characters can hastily doff clothing while changing, but not armour. Magic armour survives the change if it succeeds at a Fortitude save (DC 15). An afflicted character who is not aware of his condition remains in animal form until the next dawn. An afflicted character who is aware of his or her condition (see above) can try to resume humanoid form following a change (voluntary or involuntary) with a Control Shape check, but if he fails his check, he remains in animal (or hybrid) form until the following dawn.
Most types of lycanthropes have special abilities of their own, since each gains the special abilities and racial skill bonuses of its animal form.
Lythari and Werewolves: Lythari and werewolves have the following special abilities:
Trip (Ex): In animal form, if the werewolf hits with a bite attack, she can attempt to trip the target as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the foe cannot try to trip the werewolf.
Skills: Lythari and werewolves gain a +4 racial bonus to Survival checks when tracking by scent.
Werebat: Werebats have the following special abilities:
Blindsense (Ex): In animal form, the werebat notices and locates creatures and objects within 40 feet. Creatures detected through blindsense have 100% concealment against the werebat unless it can also see them normally. A silence spell or deafness effect negates this ability.
Skills: Werebats receive a +4 racial bonus to Spot and Listen checks. These bonuses are lost if the werebat’s blindsight is negated.
Werebear: Werebears have the following special abilities:
Improved Grab (Ex): In animal form, if the werebear hits with a claw attack, she can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Skills: Werebears receive a +4 racial bonus to Swim checks.
Wereboar: Wereboars have the following special ability:
Ferocity (Ex): In any form, the wereboar continues to fight without penalty even when disabled or dying.
Werecrocodile: Werecrocodiles have the following special abilities:
Hold Breath (Ex): In any form, a werecrocodile can hold her breath for a number of rounds equal to four times her Constitution score before she risks drowning.
Improved Grab (Ex): In animal form, if the werecrocodile hits an opponent that is at least one size category smaller than herself with her bite attack, she can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Skills: In animal form, a werecrocodile gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks when in water.
Wererat: Wererats have the following special abilities:
Disease (Ex): In animal form, a wererat’s bite carries filth fever (Fort save DC 12, incubation period 1d3 days).
Skills: A wererat in rat or hybrid form uses her Dexterity modifier for Climb checks. Wererats gain a +8 racial bonus to Swim checks in any form.
Wereshark: Weresharks have the following special abilities:
Keen Scent (Ex): In any form, a wereshark in water detects creatures within 180 feet. Exact location is not revealed unless the wereshark is within 5 feet of the creature.
Blindsense (Ex): In any form, a wereshark in water notices and locates creatures within 30 feet. Creatures detected through blindsense have 100% concealment against the wereshark unless she can also see them normally.
Weretiger: Weretigers have the following special abilities:
Improved Grab (Ex): In animal form, if the weretiger hits with a claw or bite attack, she can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If she gets a hold, she can rake.
Pounce (Ex): In animal form, if the weretiger leaps upon her foe during the first round of combat, she can make a full attack, even if she has already taken a move action.
Rake (Ex): A weretiger in animal form who gets a hold can make two rake attacks with her hind legs, each dealing damage equal to 1d8 + Strength modifier. She can attempt to rake each round that she grapples her opponent.
Skills: In any form, the weretiger gains a +4 racial bonus to Balance, Hide and Move Silently checks. In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, her Hide bonus rises to +8 in animal form.
“Lycanthrope” is a template that can be added to any humanoid or giant (referred to hereafter as the “character”). Becoming a lycanthrope is very much like multiclassing as an animal and gaining the appropriate Hit Dice.
Size and Type: The character’s type does not change, but the character gains the shapechanger subtype. The lycanthrope takes on the characteristics of some creature of the Animal type (referred to hereafter as the “animal”). This can be any predator, scavenger or omnivore whose size is within one step of the base creature’s size (Small to Large for a Medium base character). Lycanthropes can also adopt a hybrid shape that combines features of the character and the animal. A lycanthrope’s hybrid form is the same size as the animal form or base form, whichever is larger.
Hit Dice and Hit Points: Same as the character plus those of the animal. To calculate total hit points, apply Constitution modifiers according to the score the lycanthrope has in each form. For example, a human commoner with a Constitution score of 11 as a human and a Constitution score of 15 as a wolf has 1d4 plus 2d8+4 hit points.
Speed: Same as the character or animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using.
AC: The character’s natural armour increases by +2 in all forms. In hybrid form, the lycanthrope’s natural armour bonus is equal to the natural armour bonus of her animal form or her base form, whichever is better.
Base Attack: Add the base attack for the animal to the base attack for the character.
Attacks: Same as the character or animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using. A lycanthrope in hybrid form gains 2 claws and a bite for natural attacks. These deal damage based on the hybrid form’s size:
| Hybrid Size | Claw | Bite |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 1d3 | 1d4 |
| Medium | 1d4 | 1d6 |
| Large | 1d6 | 1d8 |
| Huge | 2d4 | 2d6 |
A hybrid may attack with a weapon and a bite, or may attack with her natural attacks. The bite attack of a hybrid is a secondary attack, but does not penalize the character’s attacks with any weapons she wields or her claws.
Damage: Same as the character or animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using.
Special Attacks: A lycanthrope retains all of the special attacks of the character or animal, depending on which form she is using. The humanoid and hybrid forms do not gain any special attacks of the animal form. A lycanthrope spellcaster cannot cast spells with V, S or M components in animal form, or spells with V components in hybrid form.
Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): Any humanoid or giant hit by a natural lycanthrope’s bite attack in animal or hybrid form must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15) or contract lycanthropy. If the victim is not within one size category of the lycanthrope (for example, a hill giant bitten by a wererat), the victim cannot contract lycanthropy from that lycanthrope. Afflicted lycanthropes cannot pass on the Curse of Lycanthropy.
Special Qualities: A lycanthrope retains all the special qualities of the character and the animal in all forms, and also gains those listed below.
Alternate Form (Su): A lycanthrope can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph spell on itself, though her gear is not affected, she does not regain hit points for changing form, and only the specific animal form listed for the lycanthrope can be assumed. She does not assume the ability scores of the animal, but instead adds the animal’s physical ability score modifiers to her own ability scores. A lycanthrope also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features. Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action. A slain lycanthrope reverts to her humanoid form, although she remains dead. Separated body parts retain their animal form. Afflicted lycanthropes find this ability difficult to control (see Lycanthropy as an Affliction), but natural lycanthropes have full control over this power.
Damage Reduction (Ex): An afflicted lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 5/silver. A natural lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 10/silver.
Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex): In any form, lycanthropes can communicate and empathize with normal or dire animals of their animal form. This gives them a +4 racial bonus to checks when influencing the animal’s attitude and allows the communication of simple concepts and (if the animal is friendly) commands, such as “friend”, “foe”, “flee” and “attack”.
Low-light Vision (Ex): The lycanthrope gains low-light vision in any form.
Scent (Ex): The lycanthrope gains scent in any form.
Base Save Bonuses: Add the base save bonuses of the base animal to the base save bonuses of the base creature.
Abilities: All lycanthropes gain +2 to Wisdom. In addition, when in animal or hybrid form, a lycanthrope’s physical ability scores improve, as set out in Table: Lycanthrope Traits. These adjustments are equal to the animal’s normal ability score –10 or –11. For example, a were-crocodile (Str 19, Dex 12, Con 17) would add Str +8, Dex +2, and Con +6 to her normal ability scores when she takes crocodile or hybrid form.
In addition, the lycanthrope may also gain an additional ability score increase by virtue of her extra hit dice.
Skills: The lycanthrope gains skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die of her animal form, as if she had multiclassed into the animal type. (Animal is never her first Hit Die, though, and she does not gain quadruple skill points for any animal Hit Dice.) Any skill listed in the animal description is a class skill for the lycanthrope’s animal levels. In any form, the lycanthrope retains any racial skill bonuses of the base character and of the animal, although conditional skill bonuses, such as a weretiger’s camouflage bonus to Hide checks, only apply in the associated form.
Feats: Add the animal’s feats to the character’s. If this results in the lycanthrope having the same feat twice, the lycanthrope gains no benefit unless the feat normally can be taken more once, in which case the duplicated feat works as noted in the feat description. This may grant the lycanthrope more feats than a character of her total Hit Dice would otherwise be entitled to. Any “extra” feats are gained as bonus feats.
It’s possible that the lycanthrope cannot meet the prerequisites for all her feats when in humanoid form. When this occurs, the lycanthrope still has the feats, but cannot use them when in humanoid form. Lycanthropes receive Iron Will as a bonus feat.
Climate/Terrain: Any.
Organization: Solitary or pair, sometimes family (2–4), pack (6–10) or troupe (family plus related animals)
Challenge Rating: By class level or base creature, as modified below:
Level Adjustment: Same as the character, +2 (afflicted) or +3 (natural). In addition, the character’s effective character level is increased by the racial Hit Dice of the animal form.
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any (see the Curse of Lycanthropy). Noble creatures such as bears, eagles or lions tend to produce good-aligned lycanthropes. Sinister creatures such as rats, snakes or wolves tend to produce evil-aligned lycanthropes. This is a reflection of how these animals are perceived, not any innate quality of the animal itself.
Advancement: By character class
Source: Races of Faerûn (Page 142), Monster Manual (Page 170)