Wereravens. Wereravens Everywhere.

[Xombiemike]

I want to allow one of my players to be a Wereraven as they have an arch nemesis that is a Werewolf. I'm running the 5e Curse of Strahd. There are absolutely no repercussions to being a Wereraven other than not having your clothes shift with you. Easily made up by the ability to poop bomb.

There is nothing stopping the player from infecting the rest of the party (or all of Barovia) to help them in their fight.

I'm thinking to balance this you can only be born a Wereraven. The group in Curse of Strahd can bestow one raven cloak that can cause the curse while attuned.

What other measures can I take to make it a curse?

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[iserith]

Forevermore, you can only say the word "Nevermore."

 

[Saeviomagy]

I want to allow one of my players to be a Wereraven as they have an arch nemesis that is a Werewolf. I'm running the 5e Curse of Strahd. There are absolutely no repercussions to being a Wereraven other than not having your clothes shift with you. Easily made up by the ability to poop bomb.

There is nothing stopping the player from infecting the rest of the party (or all of Barovia) to help them in their fight.

I'm thinking to balance this you can only be born a Wereraven. The group in Curse of Strahd can bestow one raven cloak that can cause the curse while attuned.

What other measures can I take to make it a curse?

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Make an ever-escalating roll to change back from a raven to a person. For the first week, no problem. After that you need a DC 2 (something) check to change from a raven to a human, and the DC increases by 1 per day.

You probably also want to have the occasional shifting while asleep, so you can't just never turn into a raven once it would be dangerous to do so.

 

[Xombiemike]

Make an ever-escalating roll to change back from a raven to a person. For the first week, no problem. After that you need a DC 2 (something) check to change from a raven to a human, and the DC increases by 1 per day.

You probably also want to have the occasional shifting while asleep, so you can't just never turn into a raven once it would be dangerous to do so.

That us an excellent idea. I don't know if I'll even wait a week to make a DC to change back. I'll think of how many transformations are needed to having a chance of it getting more difficult.

Now... Would this be a willpower check? I think so.

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[Saeviomagy]

That us an excellent idea. I don't know if I'll even wait a week to make a DC to change back. I'll think of how many transformations are needed to having a chance of it getting more difficult.

Now... Would this be a willpower check? I think so.

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Yeah, counting up transformations would be a way to do it as well, although it does let you not transform in order to avoid the effects of the curse.

As for what stat? Charisma is force of self, wisdom is force of will, constitution could represent how much your body wants to remain itself... You could make it player's choice and it would work out fine. The steadily rising DC will eventually outstrip anything, so it sort of doesn't matter in the long run.

 

[Xombiemike]

Let's say they fail... How long again before a retry is possible?

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[Herobizkit]

Is he an infected Wereraven (ie. did he used to be people)? If so, house-rule that he can't pass on the disease and that only True Lycanthropes can do so.

(Made-up rule that has some basis in lore, some in past editions).

If he is a True Wereraven, tell him that only [specific family/faction of Wereravens] can pass it on.

If he's a member of said faction, tell him only worshipers of the Raven Queen can pass it on.

If he becomes a Raven Queen Warlock... okay then. ^_^

-----
how to make Lycanthropy more curse-y? Make 'em more like vampires.

* animals become enraged/panicked around them.
* they suffer from a 'blood hunger' requiring Will saves to avoid.
* A wereraven might get distracted by 'shinies' in the same way.
* ... except for silver. Are they still allergic to silver?
* the longer they stay in were-form, the harder is it to turn back.
* generally, NPC's are horrified of were-anything regardless of said were's intentions. Reputations spread quickly in small towns.

 

[Xombiemike]

Very good ideas about passing the curse on! I've been thinking more about the cloak version though and there's one thing that I really like about it. Because it's the cloak that bestows the power it solves the nudity problems and it factors into having magic atunement limits.

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[The Old Crow]

Crows hate them. The crows are convinced the Wereravens are going to destroy their eggs and eat all the food. They make warning calls, point towards Wereravens with their beaks so everyone in the area knows which direction to look, sneak up behind them and peck them on the back, and recruit all the nearby crows into a formidable murder to help in the campaign against the Wereravens.

(Ongoing crow vs raven war in my backyard)

 

[Xombiemike]

Crows hate them. The crows are convinced the Wereravens are going to destroy their eggs and eat all the food. They make warning calls, point towards Wereravens with their beaks so everyone in the area knows which direction to look, sneak up behind them and peck them on the back, and recruit all the nearby crows into a formidable murder to help in the campaign against the Wereravens.

(Ongoing crow vs raven war in my backyard)

This is brilliant! Certainly using this!

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