Seeking advice. I had a player get cursed with Lycanthropy, specifically werebearism after failing their saving throws. The next session I'm going to try to do something with them having to make a CON save to see if they are able to fight off controlling turning into a wearbear for the first time, but if they fail I'm not sure what to do next. I know the wearbears are the good ones, so I don't want to make him attack his party members, but I'm not sure what else they would do. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
Is this a situation you (and/or) the player wishes to have an impactful influence in the campaign? If so perhaps a slower progression would make for better story. Little moments sprinkled through several sessions culminating in a transformation during an interesting encounter/location. This would also give you time to really think of how to possibly resolve the "problem".
So the issue is we only play once a month, and the bite happened in August and I haven't done anything with it since then, so I want to do something. I don't want to just forget it happened. One idea I did think of was the player will most likely fail his saving throw and then he's turned I'm going to make him run away from the party and the party will need to try to get him back to the boat from the island they are on. This way I've done something and I can still think of other ideas at the same time.
Maybe a d6 roll with say 3 results possible so they feel less out of control. They could turn in their sleep and the party finds them in bear form chilling in camp, they could be rummaging around looking for food in camp, or have smelled something tasty off from the party and have to be tracked down.
The standard thing is to have them turn into a werebear under the dm control when they transform. If you're worried about taking away player agency or them feeling left out you can do a battle within in the mind where they solo fight a bear or werebear.
The reason control is taken away is because turning into a werebear is a very powerful ability and potentially abusable with the whole party potentially becoming bears. It also lets a curse be a curse.
Some other ideas
Were beasts are often used to represent internal struggles. So think dreams , battles in the mind, changes to personality, oaths etc... For example:
Battling a spiritual bear in the mind possibly a powerful boss that dream versions of their friends can help with
Having a taboo like not killing or not getting too angry that could have consequences for example turning permanently into a bear
Having a ritual like needing to meditate
having the bear do things in their sleep that they see glimpses of in dreams. Alternatively they may see another werebears actions to mix it up as part of a magical connection.
more extreme emotions or disinhibition
Another major aspect of were beasts is physical change. So think, rights of passage, bodily changes and etc... For example:
Needing to do some kind of ritual to find balance with the bear
Taking on bear like aspects to their appearance
Dealing with issues of body image like discrimination or losing and idealized self. Bears are big, fat and hairy.
The animal aspect also has a strong tie to nature and that might reflect in characters as well.
Feeling uncomfortable or unwanted in urban settings
Increased empathy for animals and desire to protect nature
a mental connection with other werebears
All of these elements can also be turned to horror as well. The mental aspects in horror become losing ones mind and the physical aspects become losing ones body. The connection to nature can become vindictive and cruel or the wild may attempt pursue and attempt to claim the character.
Losing control and committing violence
Hallucinations
Being pursued by a spirit of nature, a bear or the werebear that infected them
Painful bloody transformations
Unusual changes to ones body like permanent distortions to limbs
You can also come up with all kinds of weird mechanics for how a particular curse may work. Yyou don't need to stick with what you see in other stories
A specific witch may have conjured a single bear spirit that she can control and use to posses any of the infected at any time for her will
The original werebear and the new werebear may be linked some how so now they need to kill each other with either negative effects while they both remain or positive effects if they kill each other
The player may only transform on specific triggers for example the werebear may be made to hunt certain kinds of magic and transform only to attack spell casters.
The player may only gain some fairly minor bear aspects with more significant ones requiring some kind of training, mastery or ritual
The effects of being a werebear may only be temporary. It may be a side effect of some druidic ritual to temporarily become a bear.
Aspects like changes to personality and character appearance require some buy in from the player or at least some warning. Allot of mental things like battles in the mind, hallucinations or pursuing spirits are allot like monster encounters so those can be sprung on players.
Werebear have an Intelligence of 11 and are Neutral Good, and if we go by their lore text they are capable of choosing to live solitary lives in fear of passing on their curse to others; where possible (not to be confused with a Werepossible) they'll try to use weapons other than their bite so not to pass on the curse. And as bobberuchi above says, why does it have to be a curse? Werebears may choose to pass on this ablility to those willing to undergo the transformation.
There's very little danger to the party unless you choose to go against the established/suggested text on the monster page, or decide to attack without any rhyme or reason. Were I the DM I'd have the Werebear try to flee, and when cornered, scare off the party before engaging in a fight. If the party attacks, then we roll initiative.
Regarding resistance, a dice roll is a reasonable mercy, but if you don't want there to be any chance of the character turning on the group, don't allow a dice roll: they automatically succeed. Were I to do it this way I'd add increasing penalties as the agony is too much for them to concentrate, and who knows, they might succumb to the curse when their allies need them the most, and show just how useful this curse can be.
It's a wee bit too late to say now, and I apologise if this comes off as impolite, but if you don't want players to suffer the effects of lycanthropy, don't put monsters in the game which can pass it on to them. I appreciate in some adventures such as Curse of Strahd this is a far greater issue, but I would advise any DMs to add lycanthropy to consent forms during Session Zero.
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Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
Alternate take: use this next session to foreshadow the full moon. Make it about the drama, not the danger, and turn it into an urgent side quest to cure the PC before the full transformation begins.
Maybe the full moon is a couple days out, and the PC is starting to experience unusual physical urges ("You guys, can we get sushi for lunch? I'm really craving some raw salmon right now...") or emotional swings. Maybe you let him roll a WIS save versus getting aggressive against a monster the party is already battling. Medicine/nature/history checks aren't out of line to identify the cause. If the party rolls low, maybe there's a sage or a hermit or a ranger nearby that can provide answers. After that, maybe it turns into race against time through dangerous forest to gather the components for an antidote.
Lycanthropy played a huge role in my campaign. It was incurable (a direct gift of the gods) and was created to help defeat some ancient evils. Two of my players volunteered to be infected. At certain times, I had them roll wisdom saves against going berserk, but I always let them roll another save at the end of their turns. That way, if they did succumb to the bloodlust and randomly attack a fellow party member, they always had a chance to come to their senses. But I allowed occasional PvP if it suited the story - you don't have to. Maybe "going berserk" means "running off in search of some salmon to snack on". It's your game, and you are always in control of the consequences.
I think I'm gonna talk to the player and let him know my plans. After coming out from the Abbey of the Isle from Saltmarsh the moon is going to be full. He's going to start to get a weird feeling/urge to rage (he's a monk so I like the idea of having to learn to control the wereism), I'm going to make him roll a CON saving throw with disadvantage to control this urge since it's the first time he's dealing with the change and I'm gonna make the check pretty high. Chances are he'll fail and then I was gonna have him make an attack against a party member because of fear and then run off into the woods and hopefully the party will chase him down and try to wrangle him (but players being players I can also see them just say eff it and leave).
Once they're back to the town they left from and the player is back to being a human again, they've already been told about a bounty hunting side quest, which just happens to be dealing with someone who's dealing with werebearism and has been stealing potions trying to cure himself. I like the idea of maybe the player can bond with the bounty target and they can try to fix this together (or the players will just go murder hobo because...players).
I've got some other ideas in mind if the player wants to try to control this or gives in to the wereism.
Just got to lvl 6, but there's also no pally, cleric, warlock, or wizard in the party of 7. Got an artificer, bard, monk, barb, ranger, druid, and sorcerer. They might have to go to a temple to get this removed.
I think I'm gonna talk to the player and let him know my plans. After coming out from the Abbey of the Isle from Saltmarsh the moon is going to be full. He's going to start to get a weird feeling/urge to rage (he's a monk so I like the idea of having to learn to control the wereism), I'm going to make him roll a CON saving throw with disadvantage to control this urge since it's the first time he's dealing with the change and I'm gonna make the check pretty high. Chances are he'll fail and then I was gonna have him make an attack against a party member because of fear and then run off into the woods and hopefully the party will chase him down and try to wrangle him (but players being players I can also see them just say eff it and leave).
Once they're back to the town they left from and the player is back to being a human again, they've already been told about a bounty hunting side quest, which just happens to be dealing with someone who's dealing with werebearism and has been stealing potions trying to cure himself. I like the idea of maybe the player can bond with the bounty target and they can try to fix this together (or the players will just go murder hobo because...players).
I've got some other ideas in mind if the player wants to try to control this or gives in to the wereism.
There are also a ton of feats in the homebrew section you can use or adapt if you want to give your player a form of controllable lycanthropy as the payoff for this side quest, rather than simply making it something they need to cure
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I would talk to the player about his “bear” side, what his urges are and how strong they are if they fail the check to stay in control. (There might be a potion or some plant that would decrease the difficulty and helped them stay in control).
It is really annoying for player to lose control of their character, so if possible I let them role-play the curse. There might be some consequences if they go against the curse (for example they might suffer nightmares that would prevent them getting long rest).
According to the fluff in the Monster Manual, were bears can be evil. They are usually seen as good because they have an easier time controlling the curse and are less likely to go around spreading it. So I'd say players should have some issues with controlling their actions during the full moon, and for the worse.
It should be noted that the vast majority of the changes from lycanthropy are in place all the time, not just while transformed. In this case, it means str 19, damage immunity and a keen sense of smell.
A new werebear is likely to go on a rampage around the full moon for the first couple months, but once they have control over their abilities, being a lycanthrope is a completely overpowered buff to the character.
It should be noted that the vast majority of the changes from lycanthropy are in place all the time, not just while transformed. In this case, it means str 19, damage immunity and a keen sense of smell.
A new werebear is likely to go on a rampage around the full moon for the first couple months, but once they have control over their abilities, being a lycanthrope is a completely overpowered buff to the character.
There is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It should be noted that the vast majority of the changes from lycanthropy are in place all the time, not just while transformed. In this case, it means str 19, damage immunity and a keen sense of smell.
A new werebear is likely to go on a rampage around the full moon for the first couple months, but once they have control over their abilities, being a lycanthrope is a completely overpowered buff to the character.
There is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Aside from the rampage that I suggested as a sort of balancing factor, those are the rules as written for PC lycanthropy.
It should be noted that the vast majority of the changes from lycanthropy are in place all the time, not just while transformed. In this case, it means str 19, damage immunity and a keen sense of smell.
A new werebear is likely to go on a rampage around the full moon for the first couple months, but once they have control over their abilities, being a lycanthrope is a completely overpowered buff to the character.
There is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Aside from the rampage that I suggested as a sort of balancing factor, those are the rules as written for PC lycanthropy.
OK then, aside from an unthinking adherence to RAW at the expense of game balance, there is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
OK then, aside from an unthinking adherence to RAW at the expense of game balance, there is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Those aren't the rules for NPC lycanthropes, they're only the rules for PCs.
OK then, aside from an unthinking adherence to RAW at the expense of game balance, there is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Those aren't the rules for NPC lycanthropes, they're only the rules for PCs.
They literally just add on NPC lycanthrope features and abilities to a PC:
A character who becomes a lycanthrope retains his or her statistics except as specified by lycanthrope type. The character gains the lycanthrope’s speeds in nonhumanoid form, damage immunities, traits, and actions that don’t involve equipment.
Like, what are we arguing about here? We both agree it's a bad idea to give those things to a PC. I'm just saying, as a DM you don't have to
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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Seeking advice. I had a player get cursed with Lycanthropy, specifically werebearism after failing their saving throws. The next session I'm going to try to do something with them having to make a CON save to see if they are able to fight off controlling turning into a wearbear for the first time, but if they fail I'm not sure what to do next. I know the wearbears are the good ones, so I don't want to make him attack his party members, but I'm not sure what else they would do. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
Is this a situation you (and/or) the player wishes to have an impactful influence in the campaign? If so perhaps a slower progression would make for better story. Little moments sprinkled through several sessions culminating in a transformation during an interesting encounter/location. This would also give you time to really think of how to possibly resolve the "problem".
So the issue is we only play once a month, and the bite happened in August and I haven't done anything with it since then, so I want to do something. I don't want to just forget it happened. One idea I did think of was the player will most likely fail his saving throw and then he's turned I'm going to make him run away from the party and the party will need to try to get him back to the boat from the island they are on. This way I've done something and I can still think of other ideas at the same time.
Maybe a d6 roll with say 3 results possible so they feel less out of control. They could turn in their sleep and the party finds them in bear form chilling in camp, they could be rummaging around looking for food in camp, or have smelled something tasty off from the party and have to be tracked down.
Why is it a curse?
I had a DM do that to me once and he grew to regret it.
I infected the rest of the party as willing participants and we ran with it.
The standard thing is to have them turn into a werebear under the dm control when they transform. If you're worried about taking away player agency or them feeling left out you can do a battle within in the mind where they solo fight a bear or werebear.
The reason control is taken away is because turning into a werebear is a very powerful ability and potentially abusable with the whole party potentially becoming bears. It also lets a curse be a curse.
Some other ideas
Were beasts are often used to represent internal struggles. So think dreams , battles in the mind, changes to personality, oaths etc... For example:
Another major aspect of were beasts is physical change. So think, rights of passage, bodily changes and etc... For example:
The animal aspect also has a strong tie to nature and that might reflect in characters as well.
All of these elements can also be turned to horror as well. The mental aspects in horror become losing ones mind and the physical aspects become losing ones body. The connection to nature can become vindictive and cruel or the wild may attempt pursue and attempt to claim the character.
You can also come up with all kinds of weird mechanics for how a particular curse may work. Yyou don't need to stick with what you see in other stories
Aspects like changes to personality and character appearance require some buy in from the player or at least some warning. Allot of mental things like battles in the mind, hallucinations or pursuing spirits are allot like monster encounters so those can be sprung on players.
Werebear have an Intelligence of 11 and are Neutral Good, and if we go by their lore text they are capable of choosing to live solitary lives in fear of passing on their curse to others; where possible (not to be confused with a Werepossible) they'll try to use weapons other than their bite so not to pass on the curse. And as bobberuchi above says, why does it have to be a curse? Werebears may choose to pass on this ablility to those willing to undergo the transformation.
There's very little danger to the party unless you choose to go against the established/suggested text on the monster page, or decide to attack without any rhyme or reason. Were I the DM I'd have the Werebear try to flee, and when cornered, scare off the party before engaging in a fight. If the party attacks, then we roll initiative.
Regarding resistance, a dice roll is a reasonable mercy, but if you don't want there to be any chance of the character turning on the group, don't allow a dice roll: they automatically succeed. Were I to do it this way I'd add increasing penalties as the agony is too much for them to concentrate, and who knows, they might succumb to the curse when their allies need them the most, and show just how useful this curse can be.
It's a wee bit too late to say now, and I apologise if this comes off as impolite, but if you don't want players to suffer the effects of lycanthropy, don't put monsters in the game which can pass it on to them. I appreciate in some adventures such as Curse of Strahd this is a far greater issue, but I would advise any DMs to add lycanthropy to consent forms during Session Zero.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
Alternate take: use this next session to foreshadow the full moon. Make it about the drama, not the danger, and turn it into an urgent side quest to cure the PC before the full transformation begins.
Maybe the full moon is a couple days out, and the PC is starting to experience unusual physical urges ("You guys, can we get sushi for lunch? I'm really craving some raw salmon right now...") or emotional swings. Maybe you let him roll a WIS save versus getting aggressive against a monster the party is already battling. Medicine/nature/history checks aren't out of line to identify the cause. If the party rolls low, maybe there's a sage or a hermit or a ranger nearby that can provide answers. After that, maybe it turns into race against time through dangerous forest to gather the components for an antidote.
Lycanthropy played a huge role in my campaign. It was incurable (a direct gift of the gods) and was created to help defeat some ancient evils. Two of my players volunteered to be infected. At certain times, I had them roll wisdom saves against going berserk, but I always let them roll another save at the end of their turns. That way, if they did succumb to the bloodlust and randomly attack a fellow party member, they always had a chance to come to their senses. But I allowed occasional PvP if it suited the story - you don't have to. Maybe "going berserk" means "running off in search of some salmon to snack on". It's your game, and you are always in control of the consequences.
All great ideas.
I think I'm gonna talk to the player and let him know my plans. After coming out from the Abbey of the Isle from Saltmarsh the moon is going to be full. He's going to start to get a weird feeling/urge to rage (he's a monk so I like the idea of having to learn to control the wereism), I'm going to make him roll a CON saving throw with disadvantage to control this urge since it's the first time he's dealing with the change and I'm gonna make the check pretty high. Chances are he'll fail and then I was gonna have him make an attack against a party member because of fear and then run off into the woods and hopefully the party will chase him down and try to wrangle him (but players being players I can also see them just say eff it and leave).
Once they're back to the town they left from and the player is back to being a human again, they've already been told about a bounty hunting side quest, which just happens to be dealing with someone who's dealing with werebearism and has been stealing potions trying to cure himself. I like the idea of maybe the player can bond with the bounty target and they can try to fix this together (or the players will just go murder hobo because...players).
I've got some other ideas in mind if the player wants to try to control this or gives in to the wereism.
What level is the party? Remove curse is only a level 3 spell. It shouldn't be too hard if they want to get rid of it.
Just got to lvl 6, but there's also no pally, cleric, warlock, or wizard in the party of 7. Got an artificer, bard, monk, barb, ranger, druid, and sorcerer. They might have to go to a temple to get this removed.
There are also a ton of feats in the homebrew section you can use or adapt if you want to give your player a form of controllable lycanthropy as the payoff for this side quest, rather than simply making it something they need to cure
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I would talk to the player about his “bear” side, what his urges are and how strong they are if they fail the check to stay in control. (There might be a potion or some plant that would decrease the difficulty and helped them stay in control).
It is really annoying for player to lose control of their character, so if possible I let them role-play the curse. There might be some consequences if they go against the curse (for example they might suffer nightmares that would prevent them getting long rest).
According to the fluff in the Monster Manual, were bears can be evil. They are usually seen as good because they have an easier time controlling the curse and are less likely to go around spreading it. So I'd say players should have some issues with controlling their actions during the full moon, and for the worse.
It should be noted that the vast majority of the changes from lycanthropy are in place all the time, not just while transformed. In this case, it means str 19, damage immunity and a keen sense of smell.
A new werebear is likely to go on a rampage around the full moon for the first couple months, but once they have control over their abilities, being a lycanthrope is a completely overpowered buff to the character.
There is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Aside from the rampage that I suggested as a sort of balancing factor, those are the rules as written for PC lycanthropy.
OK then, aside from an unthinking adherence to RAW at the expense of game balance, there is absolutely no reason to treat PC lycanthropy exactly the same as NPC lycanthropy
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Those aren't the rules for NPC lycanthropes, they're only the rules for PCs.
They literally just add on NPC lycanthrope features and abilities to a PC:
Like, what are we arguing about here? We both agree it's a bad idea to give those things to a PC. I'm just saying, as a DM you don't have to
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)