Werepanther (with Panther Lord) Original Stats
Lycanthrope, Werepanther
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tropical hills and mountains
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Pride, tribe
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Very (11–12)
TREASURE: Nil (C)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: 1–2 (2–8, lair)
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVEMENT: 12 (15 cat)
HIT DICE: 5+1
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 weapons (2 claw/1 bite cat)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon (1d3/1d3/1d6 cat)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Scarring (rake 1d4/1d4 cat)
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Silver or +1 weapons to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (5′–6′ tall)
MORALE: Elite (14)
XP VALUE: 420
Panther Lord: 3,000+
Werepanthers are a rare variety of lycanthrope found mainly in tropical mountains. The result of ancient juju rituals to marry the power and senses of a wild beast to a man, werepanthers serve their creator, the shaman panther lord.
Werepanthers hare a panther form, a human form, and a humanoid form. The panther form is much like a mountain lion, only coal-black in color. The human form is dark-skinned and powerful, with exceptional strength and dexterity. The principal form is the humanoid form: the face is feline, the body is covered with black fur, the amber eyes are intelligent and piercing, and the fangs are sharp. This form is more massive than the human form, but lithe, and the humanoid werepanther moves with a slinking, predatory walk.
Werepathers in humanoid form can speak, but find the human tongue difficult; they tend to snarl. They can also communicate with each other and other great cats in a feline language of snarls, growls, roars and coughs.
Combat: In panther form, a werepanther attacks with two claws and a bite. If both claws hit, it makes two raking attacks with its rear claws. None of these attacks inflict lycanthropy.
In humanoid or human form, werepanthers typically carry cruel, black maces of jet, fashioned to resemble a clawed panther’s paw (1d8 damage), a wickedly curved knife of the same material (1d4+1) and, if overseeing slaves, a short, barbed whip (scourge: 1d2). If a natural 20 is rolled with the scourge, the weapon strikes the opponent’s face, with 70% chance of scarring (–1 to Charisma) and a 10% chance of blinding one eye. The humanoid form’s strength adds +1 to weapon damage.
Werepanthers can be hurt only by silver weapons or magical weapons of at least +1 enchantment. Silver weapons inflict half damage, while magical weapons cause normal damage. At death a werepanther reverts to human form.
Habitat/Society: In panther form, werepanthers conform to the behavior of great cats. This form is taken for hunting and recreation. They rarely take human form, except when living among or near humans. The preferred form is the humanoid form, which they take when living in their own communities far from men. Werepanthers in all forms tend to be proud, arrogant, and somewhat unapproachable.
Werepanthers are deadly night hunters. They are catlike in their habits: aloof, mysterious, clean, clever, and cruel in playing with their prey. They are led by an individual of exceptional power, a true lycanthrope with the abilities of a shaman or witch doctor (see below).
Werepanthers live in isolated settlements of crude huts, surrounded by a wooden palisade if huge or gargantuan predators frequent the area. Werepanthers are slave-takers, and raid for captives to do menial labor. The typical settlement will have two to three times as many slaves as werepanthers. The werepanthers are cruel masters. They use their scourges freely to discipline and punish their slaves, rather than as weapons of war.
Ecology: Werepanthers are meat eaters, preferring their food uncooked and bloody. They prey upon human and humanoid tribes in their territory and claim werejaguars, weretigers, and wemics as bitter enemies. Strong opponents taken back to the settlement to become werepanthers themselves.
Panther Lord
This is the most powerful werepanther of the tribe, and the only one whose bite transmits lycanthropy This individual has at least 8 Hit Dice and the powers of a shaman or witch doctor as well. The panther lord can command domestic cats and great cats of mountain lion size or less. Upon the death of the panther lord, all werepanthers of the tribe permanently revert to their human form.
When the panther lord bites an individual, on the next full moon, that individual goes through horrible convulsions as the disease takes its course. The victim's face and body change so that former associates do not recognize him. His face darkens to an umber hue, and he grows stronger and more agile. After three hours, the victim's alignment changes to lawful evil and he gains the powers of a werepanther.
Originally from MCA2 - Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995).
Werepanther
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Hilly/forested
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Pride
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivorous
INTELLIGENCE: Very
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: Varies by location
ARMOR CLASS: 2 (4)
MOVEMENT: 12 (15)
HIT DICE: 5 + 1
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 (3)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon (1-3/1-3/l-6)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Shapeshift (rear claws 2-7/2-7)
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Silver or magical weapons to hit; (surprised only on a 1)
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (5′-6½′ tall in human form, or large predatory cat)
MORALE: 14; 20 defending von Kharkov
XP VALUE: 975
Werepanthers are unique to Valachan. They are the elite guards and enforcers of Baron Urik von Kharkov, the nosferatu vampire lord of that domain. The statistics in parentheses represent creature’s panther form.
While many vampires have human henchmen to guard their resting places, von Kharkov has created these monsters to do his bidding. The baron, unlike other nosferatu vampires, was once a panther and can assume panther form. When so transformed, his panther bite infects the victim with an unusual lycanthropy. On the next full moon, the victim goes through horrible convulsions as the disease takes its full course. His face and body change so much that former associates do not recognize him, and his skin darkens to an umber hue. Furthermore, he grows stronger and more agile (S 17, D 16, unless scores are already better than this). After three hours of convulsions, the process is complete. The victim can now shapechange into panther form at will, his alignment has changed to lawful evil, and he is permanently charmed by the baron. Only silver or magical weapons can harm a werepanther.
The werepanthers are easy to pick out from the rest of the population. There are other dark skinned people in Valachan, but the werepanthers are the only ones who wear banded armor and carry cruel, unique weapons of war. Each carries a heavy black mace with the blunt end fashioned like a panther’s paw; this weapon is referred to fearfully by the Valachanese as “the baron’s arm.” It is a mace +1 and does 3-10 hp damage (including the werepanther’s +1 Strength bonus). The other two weapons are a long, thick, black-bladed knife (Dmg 1-5/2-7) and a short whip of black leather strips tipped with sharp, cruel pieces of metal. When the whip hits a victim in the face (on a natural 20), it has a 70% chance of leaving a permanent scar (–1 to Charisma) and a 10% chance of blinding one eye. Werepanthers are also proficient with heavy crossbows but are rarely seen walking around with them. In melee combat, they use the mace in one hand and the knife in the other. The whip is used to discipline the populace.
Seven werepanthers are stationed in Rotwald and the same number in Habelnik. Fifteen werepanthers reside in the blockhouse at the base of Castle Pantara. Those stationed in the towns are grimly ominous sheriffs who roam the streets maintaining the baron’s will. Those at Castle Pantara keep an eye on the premises, capture escaping townspeople, and go among the towns enforcing monthly levies and the baron’s annual bridal lottery. If there is an outbreak of trouble, they reinforce the werepanthers assigned to each town.
The townspeople are not allowed to possess weapons other than a dagger or club, so the Black Leopards (as they are fearfully referred to by the populace) are practically invincible. When the last uprising occurred many years ago, the rebels were quickly overcome by the werepanthers and taken to the woods, where they suffered a lingering, painful end. To this day, people still whisper about what really happened to those who rebelled, and mothers discipline unruly children by threatening to turn them over to a Black Leopard.
The Black Leopards maintain a quiet, stern visage when patrolling the streets of the towns or operating outside Caste Pantara. They exude an aura of unapproachability that is not magical but a result of their body language. Everyone gives them a wide berth.
The werepanthers’ Achilles’ heel is the powerful nosferatu lord who created them. If von Kharkov should ever be destroyed, the werepanthers in Valachan will suddenly collapse and go into convulsions as the mystical bond to their creator is severed. When the convulsions end, they revert to being the persons they were before, but they suffer nightmares and flashbacks to their werepanther days for several years.
Originally appeared in Dungeon Magazine #50.
