Special Conversion Thread: Lycanthropes and their ilk

Cleon

Legend
As in FR7 Hall of Heroes? Give me a few minutes...

Wow, there's a whole bunch of Werecreatures in that AD&D Accessory - werebison, werecats, weredogs, weredolphins, weredragons (!), wereleopards, wereowls, werepanthers and werespiders.

Further to the above, it also mentions Weresharks and Wereseals. I remember Weresharks having stats in Faerûn, but don't recall Wereseals anywhere...

Hmm, according to Echohawk's index, Wereseals have BECMI stats in PC4 Night Howlers, the Rules Compendium and the Master D&D set.

EDIT: Looking through Echohawk's list there's also a bunch of other ones that might not have official 3E conversions, namely the Weresnake (anacondas, king cobras, spitting cobras), Werestirge, Werevulture, Were'possum, Weremole, Werehare ("Werelagomorph"), Weregannet (from White Dwarf magazine), Werefox, Werecrocodile, Weredeepbat and Werebaboon.
 
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freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
On the Ravenloft wereleopards: so these are just plain, non-shaping monsters? What about the 40% that are true lycanthropes? I didn't get that part. Do we just start with the hybrid form of the real wereleopards?

And should we change the name?
 

Cleon

Legend
On the Ravenloft wereleopards: so these are just plain, non-shaping monsters?

Yes, they're single-shape monsters.

What about the 40% that are true lycanthropes?

They used to be regular leopards, so I guess the "true lycanthrope" ones are those whose parents were also regular lycanthropes.

Do we just start with the hybrid form of the real wereleopards?

That'd be a decent start. They will probably have 5 levels of Monstrous Humanoid or Magical Beast rather than the standard Wereleopard's warrior 1 + leopard 3 hit dice.

And should we change the name?

We should certainly call them something different than "Wereleopard", but I'm wondering whether "Ravenloft Wereleopard" would be enough to distinguish them.

How about "Ravenloft Leopardwere", since they're animals-turned-humanoid-monster like a Wolfwere.
 

Shade

Monster Junkie
How about "Ravenloft Leopardwere", since they're animals-turned-humanoid-monster like a Wolfwere.

I prefer this. And unless there's already another leopardwere, I'd like to leave off the Ravenloft so we can genericize the main entry (and of course, have an "In Ravenloft" underbar).
 

Cleon

Legend
I prefer this. And unless there's already another leopardwere, I'd like to leave off the Ravenloft so we can genericize the main entry (and of course, have an "In Ravenloft" underbar).

Works for me!

Might as well start up a Working Draft then...
 

Cleon

Legend
Leopardwere Working Draft

Leopardwere
Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 5d10+15 (42 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), climb 20 ft.
Armor Class: 17 (+4 Dex, +3 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+9
Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d4+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +9 melee (1d4+4) and bite +7 melee (1d6+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Command cursed wereleopard, curse of therianthropy, hamstring, improved grab, pounce, rake
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/silver, fear of storms, low-light vision, scent, wereleopard empathy
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +3
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Balance +12, Climb +12, Handle Animal -2*, Hide +11*, Jump +16, Listen +8, Move Silently +11, Spot +8
Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Iron Will (B), Multiattack (B)
Environment: Warm plains and mountains
Organization: Solitary, pride (2-8) or tribe (2-8 and 1-10 wereleopards)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 6-9 HD (Medium) or by character class
Level Adjustment: +5

An athletic, muscular humanoid with the head, claws and tail of a great cat. Its skin is entirely covered by a thick spotted coat of fur.

Leopardweres are a race of ferocious pack hunters who roam stark mountains and hot deserts. Leopardweres were once normal leopards, but an unknown evil force transformed them into monsters. They may look like the hybrid form of a wereleopard, but they are not "proper" lycanthropes and possess no shapechanging ability. Their behavior is very catlike; a leopardwere spends most of its day grooming itself, sleeping, and lounging in tall trees. They enjoy lazing in the sun and rolling in the grass like a kitten, but their greatest pleasure is to hunt and kill.

The bite of a leopardwere transmits a supernatural contagion that can transform humanoids and giants into bestial, cursed wereleopards. Leopardweres can compel these bestial wereleopards to do their bidding.

A leopardwere is a strict carnivore who prefers its meat freshly killed. Their favorite food is the flesh of humanoids. A leopardwere pride usually eats any humanoid it catches, but some victims are "saved" for transformation into cursed wereleopard slaves. These wereleopards are used as laborers and cannon-fodder. Any wereleopard slave who tries to flee, or who become useless, is gleefully devoured by the pride.

A leopardwere is 5 to 6 feet tall and weighs 125 to 200 pounds. Female leopardweres usually have black fur with slightly lighter spots, males have orange fur with black spots.

Leopardweres speak their own language. They disdain the languages of humanoids and will not learn them. Leopardweres use their wereleopard empathy to order their cursed wereleopard slaves about.

COMBAT

Leopardweres normally try to hamstring opponents at the first opportunity, then pounce upon their hampered foes. They will attempt to split up enemy groups and kill them one at a time, only feasting when all their prey have been slain. Leopardweres love to cruelly toy with weak victims, and may chase fleeing prey for hours, to prolong the pleasure of the hunt. If they encounter a powerful enemy, they will force their wereleopard slaves to attack them rather than risk their own skin.

Command Cursed Wereleopard (Su): Wereleopards created by the curse of therianthropy must obey the orders of its leopardwere pride (the leopardwere that created it and all other leopardweres of its creator's pride). This functions like a command spell (no save).

Curse of Therianthropy (Su): Any humanoid, giant, or leopard hit by a leopardwere's bite attack must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract a form of lycanthropy.

Humanoids and giants transform into cursed wereleopards. The curse reduces their minds to little better than beasts and puts them in thrall to the leopardweres that created them. A cursed wereleopard has a -6 racial penalty to Intelligence, is unable to make Control Shape checks, and can be affected by a leopardwere's command cursed wereleopard ability (see above). It is otherwise identical to a standard afflicted wereleopard.

Leopards who contract the curse of therianthropy transform into leopardweres.

Fear of Storms (Ex): Leopardweres have a terrible fear of lightning. A leopardwere that is confronted by lightning must succeed at a Will save (DC 20 for natural lightning, DC of spell or supernatural attack for magical lightning) or become frightened for 1d6 rounds. A shocking grasp or other low-level electrical spell will not frighten a leopardwere, it takes at least a lightning bolt or call lighting spell to trigger its fear of lightning.

If a leopardwere hears thunder, it must succeed at a Will save (DC 20 for a natural thunderstorm, DC of spell or supernatural attack for magical thunder), or become shaken for 1d6 rounds. Loud noises that resemble thunder, such as a shout spell or a dragonne's roar, may also cause a leopardwere to become shaken for 1d6 rounds, but the leopardwere gains a +4 bonus on its Will save.

Hamstring (Ex): A leopardwere can damage the tendons in an opponent's legs if it makes a successful bite attack against an opponent it has flanked or flat-footed. Hamstring attacks cannot affect creatures with external skeletons, such as most vermin. Creatures with immunity to critical hits are immune to being hamstrung.

The opponent must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or be hamstrung. The target's speed drops by one-half and its Dexterity suffers a -4 circumstance penalty. A hamstrung creature can not take the Run action. The save DC is Dexterity-based.

A damaged hamstring normally takes 1d4+2 weeks to heal naturally (half that time if DC 15 Heal checks are used to provide long-term care), but can be instantly cured with a cure moderate wounds or higher-level healing spell.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a leopardwere must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can rake.

Pounce (Ex): If a leopardwere charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.

Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +9 melee, damage 1d4+2.

Wereleopard Empathy (Ex): Communicate with leopards and wereleopards, and +4 racial bonus on Charisma-based checks against leopards and wereleopards.

Skills: A leopardwere has a +8 racial bonus on Balance, Climb and Jump checks and a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. It can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.

*In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus of a leopardwere improves to +8.

In Ravenloft
Many leopardwere prides in Ravenloft serve a race of shapeshifting feline humanoids called the paka. Leopardweres native to Ravenloft speak the paka's language as well as their own.
 
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Cleon

Legend
Rereading the original entry, the "true wereleopard" was referring to what we're now calling a leopardwere, and the "cursed wereleopard" are humanoids cursed to become wereleopards.

In RA3, the cursed wereleopards regressed to animal intelligence - do we want to include that in the conversion (i.e. have their Int drop to 2), or just keep them standard cursed wereleopards?

I'd rather make them animal dumb, even in humanoid form.
 


freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Rereading the original entry, the "true wereleopard" was referring to what we're now calling a leopardwere, and the "cursed wereleopard" are humanoids cursed to become wereleopards.

In RA3, the cursed wereleopards regressed to animal intelligence - do we want to include that in the conversion (i.e. have their Int drop to 2), or just keep them standard cursed wereleopards?

I'd rather make them animal dumb, even in humanoid form.
They should also have a racial penalty to the Change Shape skill or whatever it's called, since they only change shape to humanoid at set times.
 

Cleon

Legend
They should also have a racial penalty to the Change Shape skill or whatever it's called, since they only change shape to humanoid at set times.

It's called Control Shape.

It would be easier to say Control Shape only works on normal afflicted wereleopards, not those created by the leopardwere's curse.
 

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