Summary
Dungeons & Dragonshas many different monsters you may put at the table, some based on real-world cultures while others are more unique creations. Speaking of real-world references, few creatures have the dramatic charm of Lycanthropy — the famous Werewolves — cursed beings who become monsters against their will and can even kill those they love without hesitation.
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Lycanthropy is a thing in D&D, with its own mechanics, and while it differs from the myths in some parts, it’s still a compelling curse to have, both from a mechanical perspective and story writing. How can you add Werewolves (and others) into your story, though?
5Understand The Types Of Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy in D&D covers a few more animal transformations. Each has its own levelsand alignments, though you’re free to change those details to fit your story better, as you have Werewolves, Wereboars, Wererats, Werebears, and Weretigers. They all share immunity from non-magical weapons that aren’t made of silver, so fighting them can be extra challenging, depending on the party composition.
Wererats would be the weakest with a CR of two, followed by Werewolves with three, and Wereboars and Weretigers share the same CR of four, with Werebears being the toughest with a CR of five. None of them can talk while transformed, and the person usually loses control of themselves during the transformation.
Curiously, Weretigers have a neutral alignment, and Werebears have a good alignment, meaning they are not necessarily going to start a dangerous rampage during their transformation unless you feel like changing that because you want to use the bear, the most dangerous one. Still, with a CR of only five, these creatures aren’t the most compelling enemies for a higher-level group unless you tweak their stats a bit to make them more durable.
4Using Them As A BBEG
you’re able to use them for many types of stories. For example, a powerful enemy can transform for a stage-two fight, depending on how well they control the transformation (more on that later). But if you want to make a more classic Werewolf story, you have the perfect crime scenario to work with, as a rampaging monster terrorizing a city is already intense, but you also have a situation where the person responsible doesn’t remember their actions.
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That will make things such as Zone of Truth inconsistent, and even insight checks on the NPC give tricky results for the players, as the murderer doesn’t know they’re killing people. Creating a criminal investigation story isn’t the easiest thing in the world, sure, but it’ll still be a fun experience for a DM wanting to challenge themself, and you can make it all more challenging by having a monster to find among people instead of a typical humanoid as the one responsible for the crimes.
3Give The NPC Delicate Choices
If they’re aware of their transformation, NPCs have a compelling choice: they can attempt to control it or succumb to it. Either can create a compelling character, making them the ultimate victim, a tragic villain who gave up on fighting it, or a straight-up jerk who uses these powers for their satisfaction, having them as more of a screwed-up blessing than a curse.
To succumb to it, you need to change your alignment to the monster’s, as you need to be Chaotic Evil to control a Werewolf transformation, but you’ll be able to transform whenever you want to, regardless of the full moon. There are no specific rules on controlling the transformation without losing yourself in the process, but that’s where things can get interesting.
Instead of making all those choices yourself, focus on making the NPC and the party befriend one another and let them choose how they want to proceed. They can go for the kill or try to save their friend and let their input and actions affect the NPC’s choice to give up or not. This could endwith a tragic ending of a lovable NPCor even a friendly Werewolf as an ally, in case they take control of the transformation.
2Let Players Choose How To Deal With The Problem
As mentioned before, players can go for a mercy-killing of the monster or help them control the transformation, both being exciting options, and it’s best to leave the ending open, so their input can affect things significantly. However, there are other resources, and the spell Remove Curse solves Lycanthropy, at least in most cases, which is another reason you should be careful with using Lycanthropy at a higher-level party, as Remove Curse is relatively easy to obtain. As a third-level spell, it’s available to Clerics, Paladins, Wizards, and Warlocks, and they can get it at level five (except for the Paladin).
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If you want to make a Lycanthropy story for higher levels, you can instead have someone who was born like that (aka the child of a Lycanthrope). That makes the curse harder to get rid of, with only the Wish spell being powerful enough to undo it, which is a ninth-level spell only available to Wizards and Sorcerers, so analyze your players' classes and levels before deciding when or how to apply the solutions. If they can’t learn these spells themselves, you can still offer peaceful solutions, such as finding another NPC capable of casting them or a scroll with these powers, and Good-aligned characters having to choose between using a Wish spell for their benefit or saving a friend is an interesting dilemma.
1You Can Curse A Player, Too
Luckily, being bitten isn’t a guaranteed transformation. When that happens, the player must roll a Constitution saving throw, whose DC varies depending on the creature. If the player becomes a Lycanthrope, their stats may change during the transformation, and they’ll face similar dilemmas about attempting to control it or finding a solution to it. Forcing the players to deal with that constantly would be annoying, but if they have Remove Curse, you can do so without worrying about destroying the party by accident.
Still, you can give them saving throws during their full moon sprees to see how much they can keep things in check,among several other details.Between a Lycanthrope NPC and Player, you can also let them have an exciting monster vs. monster fight or have people believe the player is the monster haunting the village. Alternatively, you can spread the curse to other NPCs; perhaps a survivor of the Werewolf attack becomes another one next time.
