Special Conversion Thread: Lycanthropes and their ilk

[Cleon]

Maybe we can base tactics on the werewolf?

Tactics: In dog form, a weredog can trip opponents like a trained riding dog. In hybrid form, a weredog can wield a weapon and use its bite as a secondary natural attack, though it will often attack only with claws.

I feel the weredog out to prefer more "civilized" combat tactics so I might leave out the "often" in the above.

How about:

In dog form, a weredog can trip opponents like a trained riding dog does. In hybrid form, a weredog will usually wield a weapon and use its bite as a secondary natural attack, though it can attack with its claws and bite.

 

[freyar]

That works for me!

For the background, do you want to stick with normal lycanthropy (ie, infected by a bite from another weredog), or do you want to follow the suggestion of the original text and say these are LG people who were so good that they became weredogs even after they were bitten by werewolves? I kind of like the latter case, and I think I would even drop the Curse of Lycanthropy SQ to distinguish them a bit more from normal lycanthropes.

 

[Cleon]

That works for me!

Updating Weredog Working Draft.

For the background, do you want to stick with normal lycanthropy (ie, infected by a bite from another weredog), or do you want to follow the suggestion of the original text and say these are LG people who were so good that they became weredogs even after they were bitten by werewolves? I kind of like the latter case, and I think I would even drop the Curse of Lycanthropy SQ to distinguish them a bit more from normal lycanthropes.

I'm inclined to leave the basic model with standard lycanthropy and add a "In Faerûn" or "Benevolent Weredog" subentry for the other variety.

Maybe even give them some special attack, such as smite evil (as a paladin or celestial creature?) or wolfbane (attacks against wolves and werewolves have the bane magic item property?).

 

[freyar]

Oh, ok, normal lycanthropes with an underbar (I guess I'd go with "In Faerun") for the variant is fine. I would drop the Curse of Lycanthropy, and I think I'd add wolfbane as you suggest:

Wolfbane (Ex): A weredog's natural weapons gain a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls against a wolf, werewolf, or other wolf-like creature (such as a dire wolf, winter wolf, or worg). On a successful hit, attacks against such creatures do an extra +2d6 hp of untyped damage.

I don't mind extending it to all attacks and don't have much opinion about the damage really.

 

[Cleon]

Oh, ok, normal lycanthropes with an underbar (I guess I'd go with "In Faerun") for the variant is fine.

Hmm… perhaps instead of Curse of Lycanthropy we could give them a special ability that can turn a willing subject into a Faerûn Weredog?

Something like this:

Blessing of Canethropy (Su): A natural Faerûn weredog can grant a willing humanoid the acquired template of a Faerûn weredog. The two parties must maintain physical contact for a minute under the light of the full moon, after which the recipient must succeed at a DC 15 Will save to acquire the template. If a recipient fails the Will save they must wait for another full moon before they can try again.

I would drop the Curse of Lycanthropy, and I think I'd add wolfbane as you suggest:

Wolfbane (Ex): A weredog's natural weapons gain a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls against a wolf, werewolf, or other wolf-like creature (such as a dire wolf, winter wolf, or worg). On a successful hit, attacks against such creatures do an extra +2d6 hp of untyped damage.

I don't mind extending it to all attacks and don't have much opinion about the damage really.

It's unnecessary to specify the damage as "untyped". The SRD entry for the bane property doesn't bother.

I'd rather the wolfbane was only effective against evil targets and would include wielded weapons in the ability.

Oh, and I'd make it (Su) rather than (Ex).

i.e.:

Wolfbane (Su): A Faerûn weredog's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, gain a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls against wolf-like or canine creatures that have an evil alignment (such as a werewolf, winter wolf, or worg). A successful hit also deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against the foe.

 

[freyar]

That's all fine with me, though I'd think it would be "Faerunian Weredog" rather than "Faerun Weredog."

With that, normal lycanthrope description/background for the base model, then some bit about overcoming the tendencies of a werewolf for the Faerunian ones?

 

[Cleon]

That's all fine with me, though I'd think it would be "Faerunian Weredog" rather than "Faerun Weredog."

With that, normal lycanthrope description/background for the base model, then some bit about overcoming the tendencies of a werewolf for the Faerunian ones?

Sounds good.

I'll add what we have so far to the Weredog Working Draft.

 

[Cleon]

With that, normal lycanthrope description/background for the base model, then some bit about overcoming the tendencies of a werewolf for the Faerunian ones?

As for the "overcoming the wolf" bit I would think most Faerûnian weredogs come about by being the offspring of weredogs or through the Blessing of Canethropy.

The "werewolves that stayed good" are likely rare cases who may be the founders of lineages of weredogs.

The flavour text of FR7's Lycanthropy section suggests freak magical events contributed to the appearance of some of these rare were-creatures, so maybe the original weredogs had to be strongly good AND exposed to an unusual arcane phenomenon?

 

[freyar]

As for the "overcoming the wolf" bit I would think most Faerûnian weredogs come about by being the offspring of weredogs or through the Blessing of Canethropy.

The "werewolves that stayed good" are likely rare cases who may be the founders of lineages of weredogs.

The flavour text of FR7's Lycanthropy section suggests freak magical events contributed to the appearance of some of these rare were-creatures, so maybe the original weredogs had to be strongly good AND exposed to an unusual arcane phenomenon?

Hmmm. What if we just say that there are two rare "origin" cases? Strongly good victims of werewolves and people who were exposed to some strange ritual? So... standard lycanthrope background for the normal ones, and something like the following In Faerun?
"Most weredogs in Faerun are natural lycanthropes from a relatively few family groups. A very few were afflicted as a result of a strange arcane ritual or were even powerfully good individuals afflicted by a werewolf's bite but remained good-aligned. These afflicted weredogs are often the founders of weredog families."
You can probably make that sound a lot better, but that was my idea.

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm. What if we just say that there are two rare "origin" cases? Strongly good victims of werewolves and people who were exposed to some strange ritual? So... standard lycanthrope background for the normal ones, and something like the following In Faerun?
"Most weredogs in Faerun are natural lycanthropes from a relatively few family groups. A very few were afflicted as a result of a strange arcane ritual or were even powerfully good individuals afflicted by a werewolf's bite but remained good-aligned. These afflicted weredogs are often the founders of weredog families."
You can probably make that sound a lot better, but that was my idea.

I'd rather not use the "arcane ritual" phrase since that's saying it was a deliberate act and FR7 appears to say it was a freak magical event.

Although we could say the "Blessing of Canethropy" allows a good-aligned Werewolf to become a Weredog. That is a magical ritual of sorts.

So how about:

In Faerûn
Some weredogs in Faerûn do not carry the curse of lycanthropy. These "blessed" weredogs have powers dedicated to fighting evil wolves. Most blessed werewolves are natural lycanthropes descended from a few secretive families. They are able to use a magical ritual to transform others into acquired template blessed weredogs, but are very particular about the candidates they are willing to let join their cause. The founders of the blessed weredog families were werewolves, or infected victims of werewolves, who somehow overcame the curse of lycanthropy. The exact cause of these founders' transformation into blessed weredog is unclear, but appears to be some combination of the freak supernatural forces released by the Crisis of the Gods and having a personality so strongly good it overcomes the evil nature of a werewolf's curse.

Blessing of Canethropy (Su): A natural Faerûnian weredog can grant a willing good-aligned humanoid the acquired template of a Faerûn weredog. If the recipient already has a lycanthrope template (i.e. werewolf), the weredog template replaces their existing lycanthrope template. The two parties must maintain physical contact for a minute under the light of the full moon, after which the recipient must succeed at a DC 15 Will save to acquire the template. If a recipient fails the Will save they must wait for another full moon before they can try again.

Wolfbane (Su): A Faerûnian weredog's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, gain a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls against wolf-like or canine creatures that have an evil alignment (such as a werewolf, winter wolf, or worg). A successful hit also deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against the foe.