Lycanthropic Dilemma

[Avantgeek]

One of the players in my current campaign was mauled by a weretiger two weeks ago and failed his save against the "disease", so now he's unpleasant to be around at certain times of the month...

I'm thinking of letting him run the character until he changes, and then taking control myself when he changes (and giving him the character back when he reverts to human).

I don't really want to strip him of his character, but I also don't want this to be a beneficial thing - at least not until he has to dump the points into the skill.

So, I guess I'm soliciting opinions on how to handle the situation. All things considered, this doesn't unbalance things terribly much in the campaign (at least not so much so that I can't adjust for it realtively easily).

Thanks.

 

[James McMurray]

Definitely take over when he changes. Also, don't forget that it isn't just the lunar cycle that causes changes, but damage and even just lots of stress.

If I was him I'd be more interested in finding a cure than buying skill in controlling it. At least from a roleplaying perspective. Even from a powergamer's view, the chance of failure at an opportune moment turning into a TPK is no small thing.

 

[dorain]

before i started grabbing character sheets i'd have a talk with the player and see if he thought he could effectively roleplay the character while transformed. let him know what your expectations are in those situations and that if you don't think he is sticking to the nature of the beast then you will be forced to run it yourself. if this is something he wants to face in game give him the opportunity to make it work. he might surpirise you, besides its a great opportunity for some serious roleplaying, he might be looking forward to that aspect of things, and would be rather dissapointed if he didn't get the opportunity to play it out.

 

[thundershot]

Heh. If the player isn't aware that his character's infected, when the time comes, ask him/her to leave the room while the combat occurs. Then have him/her come back in after it's done. Yes, they'll be ticked at first, but it'll be interesting when the other PCs tell him what happened.

Sure, it's only effective the first time, but hey...


Chris

 

[David Argall]

weretiger PC

"this doesn't unbalance things terribly much in the campaign"

??
weretiger is a CR5. +22 to stats, +68 to skills, +3 feats... This is not a problem? I would think the PC should devote about 5 levels of XP to buying control of the disease. In the meantime, it's largely a handicap [lessening as he pays levels]. Any time he changes, he loses all XP for the encounter and behaves in DM decided ways.

 

[Humanophile]

I actually think that taking total control of the character during periods of change is your best bet here. The first time or two, don't even give him that much warning (how would the character know whether he made his save or not?), but after that, lycanthropy is supposed to be about waking up bloody, with torn clothes, and no memory of what you did the night before. Letting the player have any degree of power mitigates the horror and allows him to channel his mad rage into more... productive angles, which really takes away the penalty angle of it.

Of course, after he makes the wisdom check to know what's wrong (or some other irrefutable evidence convinces him), I'd be a little less tight about it. Let him control his character in combat involuntary changes (he mauls the enemies, followed by anyone else around until he changes back; not hard here), but take over during the full moon changes just to keep him aware that this is a definite drawback to his character.

 

[Avantgeek]

Thanks!

I appreciate the replies!

The calander and moon phases I've set up for the game worked out fortuitously (depending on your point of view). The first full moon after he was bitten rolled around two game-days later. While the party was on the road. He changed while they were camped and was almost wiped out by the party's ranger. The party knows what's up, and have shared the information with them (and he's doing a good job of role-playing not believing things - though waking up covered with blood and the stump of a humanoid arm by his body have him thinking the other PCs may be right).

Anywho...

It's too late for me to surprise the player with his condition. I have, however, been having things happen while he's metamorphosized that no one is really aware of (in or out of character). This may not be playing fair, but I think it will work in the short run.

David Argall: Yes, the weretiger is a pretty potent set of bonuses. The downside to it, and the reason it doesn't unbalance the campaign overly much, is that - at this point - he has no control. He's as much a danger to the party as an asset.

I'm going to let him gain experience points normally until his next level (which isn't too far away). If he decides NOT seek a cure and try to control the "beast within", then I'll slap on the +5 CR. He'll have to get the experience points to cover his new beastiliness before he can gain another level - which will be quite some time.

The average level of the party is 7th, and it's a large group (8 players typically), so they have to deal with some pretty stiff opposition anyway. And, the players are all fairly good at "optimizing" what their characters can do. (They stink at working together, but that's another story.) So, considering the random nature of things at the moment, and their general power, and inability to utilize teamwork, I'm not terribly concerned about the addition of lycanthropic firepower to their arsenal (and I've been a bit stingier than I probably should be with magic items).

Whew... I'm gettin' long-winded.

James McMurray: He's already changed in combat, and that almost tipped the scales in the fight the wrong way for the party (especially since he's one of their more able melee combatants).

Okay... I'm going now. Thanks again!