I have a PC who carries the curse of lycanthropy.  To keep the game engaging, I've decided that there exists an Order of Lycanthrope hunters.  We are playing in Forgotten Realms, but the ideas has its roots in Eberron's purge of lycanthropes (and perhaps other shapeshifters).  So I'm looking for ideas and inspiration for what this order and their hunters might be like:

• What would an order of lycanthrope hunter's be like, and what would propel them?  Religious paladins (similar to the crusades) who see or fear lycanthropy overrunning civilization?  Or perhaps a loose affiliation of bounty hunters competing for the bounty put out by a vengful king? 
• How are they able to effectively combat lycanthropes without having to make up a much of new rules.  For example, Critical Role's Blood Hunter class comes to mind.  But beyond silvered weapons, how does one hunt were-creatures?  I can't imagine they are easy to track or fight.
• What magic items exist for dealing with were-creatures, or could exist?  For example, a gem or true seeing (quite rare), or manacles that prevent shapeshifting. 

My goal is to build tension, and a sense of being hunted with threats around every corner.  The PC may deal with one hunter, but there are always more. 

Thoughts and ideas welcome!

Hey, you're the DM. Do you want them to have anti-transformation Manacles? They've got them. Gem of True Seeing? Done! I will say... I'd prioritize mercenaries hired by a royal who hates lycanthropes is more interesting than paladins. With a paladin order you're kind of forced to make all hunters into paladins, maybe clerics... but with mercenaries then the hunters can be literally anything and anyone, and the party ends up with a clear and obvious enemy in the form of the vengeful king. That way they have one person they ultimately need to deal with... either to all out with regicide to get rid of him (if that's the kind of players you have), or someone they need to convince to drop his vendetta by proving themselves good people or something along those lines.

I actually have an order of werewolf/vampire/monster hunters in my current campaign: they're called the Huntsmen of Saint Perrault, and they're basically Witchers if the Brothers Grimm wrote them. Founded a hundred years ago, they've slowly faded into obscurity, keeping their headquarters in a ruined forest church. Now, they're just a small group, identified by red cloaks and led by Ervain Eagle-Eye, a tough guy with a vision (think fantasy Nick Fury), and their motivations range from religious zealotry to thrill-seeking. I know that's just one way you could do it, but hopefully it can give some inspiration.

They also (until it was stolen by a hag) had access to an arc of silver called the Knot, which could turn a lycanthrope back to its true form if the silver touched its throat. I don't believe there's an official item that does the same thing...but I'd consider giving members of your order access to the Moonbeam spell, which is extremely powerful against weres!

You could give them the UA ranger favored enemy benefits. +2 to damage and advantage to tracking them (there might be more, I can't remember off the top of my head). You could also just give them the ability to notice were-creatures. Like the paladin's ability where they can detect undead or fiends. As you noted silver weapons would abound. Maybe they also weave silver into their clothes and armor so if a were-creature tries to bite them, they get a mouthful of silver. I don't think that matters by RAW, but it could still be cool. You could go a step further and say that the higher ups even have silver in their skin, because of some magic ritual.

As Naivara said, moonbeam would be a great thematic choice.

I think your ideas for the lycanthrope hunters as a group can work really well. Either self motivated, or cash-motivated, or a combination. Or they could be a subset if you have any existing mercenary or bounty-hunter type organizations. People who have a special need can pay a premium price to use these particular services.

I think also there's a choice to make if the group is willing to study a given were-creature and decide what to do with it on a case-by-case basis, or if they just kill on sight, no questions asked. If you go with the kill on sight, you could always have the particular hunter charged with going for your PC question that orthodoxy (assuming your PC is good, let him witness your PC doing good things), and give him have a character arc where he decides to start helping some of were-creatures instead of just hunting them down; a recurring villain who becomes an ally is always fun.

Thank you all for the ideas and inspiration.  Below is a rough draft of some initial ideas.  Your comments, ideas, and feedback on it are more than welcome.

The Crimson Fist was started by a noble, Lord Clag Windsmere, whose family was killed by werewolves.  He swore he would hunt down lycanthropes until the end of his days, and placed a high bounty on the head of each killed.  The loose organization was originally composed of Lord Windsmere’s men, most of whom also lost loved ones, bounty hunters in it just for the gold, and huntsmen to track the beasts.  After Lord Windsmere’s disappearance, and apparent death, the order languished.  But infections of lycanthrope saw a sharp rise.

The granddaughter of Lord Clag, Miranda Windsmere, took up the silver sword again to protect her people.  She sought aid from the Church of Tyr in her fight against the Lycan.  And she managed to convince some within the Church that the curse of the lycanthropes was a threat to all civilization if it went unchecked and were allowed to exponentially spread through the bite of werecreatures.  With the blessing of the Church of Tyr, she reformed the Crimson Fist, but with a more rigid organization.  And she likewise attracted more holy warriors and priests who wished to rid the world of the evil caused by the lycan and the infestation they brought. 

Over decades, the Crimson First managed to wipe out a great many lycanthropes, and many remaining fled for safer lands.  With the success of her shadow campaign, the Crimson Fist took on the monecure of Order of the Crimson First, but it still retained many of the unconventional or unusual methods of operating.  Especially under the belief that the ends justifies the means, and anything should be done to prevent the spread of the disease.  After Lady Windsmere's apparently natural death, the order experimented with magic and even lycanthrope blood to enhance their own abilities to better combat their foes, from which the blood hunters were born.  By taking some of the beast's power into themselves, and suppressing the more primal urges, they were able to better track and slay them.  But the overt Order eventually forced lycanthropes to organize and strike back.  The Malar-worshipping lycanthropes quickly became known as the People of the Black Blood.  Many of them infiltrated human, elven, and dwarven settlements in order to keep tabs on the further threats, and aggressively attacked outposts linked to the Order.

The Order quickly realized that a more secretive approach was required.  Furthermore, the list of hunted and “evil” creatures expanded to include shapeshifters of all kinds, including doppelgangers who were feared as spies across the land.  Even kings would seek out the assistance of the Order to root out spies and infiltrators within their realms.  And so the order often had free reign to travel the continent in search of their prey. 

The order again went through a growth spurt.  But as more lycanthropes and shapeshifters began to disappear over the decades, or got better at hiding, the Order again began to languish.  However, it retained its secretive nature, darker arts, and zealous mercenary approach. 

As such, bounty hunters and warrior priests of the Order of the Crimson Fist are trained in all manner of ways to identify, track, and hunt shapeshifters.  It often is said that where there is one Crimson Fist, there are many.  

*moniker (Only because the rest of the write up was in such good shape)

But this is a great history to work with.  They are kind of what you hear of how the Freemasons are descended from the Knights Templar.

I guess the questions are: What do you want to do with his Lycanthropy?  Is it something he needs removed?  Something he’s hoping to keep until level 20?  How are you balancing this new power against non-lycan PCs? 

I can picture all sorts of good plotlines and interesting NPC hunters from an order like this, but they may be irrelevant depending on how you want to proceed.

As for your original questions about what tools such an order would have at their disposal, the druid spell Moonbeam specifically affects shapechangers differently than others.  Maybe in their dark experiments in the past, they stumbled on a bit of arcana whereby they tattoo their members with runes in a silver-based alchemical ink that activates with an eerie blue glow when a lycan is within 5 ft, giving them advantage on saving throws against bites, and disadvantage on bite attacks.  Along the silver-ward lines, maybe a more eccentric hunter has inoculated himself with colloidal silver so that his skin is the blueish grey that we’ve seen a few times in history. (Google Argyria).  I don’t think tracking them is going to be hard to explain, but making them worthy adversaries without giving them an outsized stock of very rare magic items might be. Maybe they are supplied with potions from HQ, scrolls for those who can read them.

They should all be individuals with their own methods. One might use traps, while another assassinates. Some look at it like a trophy hunt, others a personal crusade.  Those that employ traps may set up temporary lairs that they arm with traps to gain the advantage on quarry they draw in to hunt (and now you have a dungeon crawl).  Some might work in small groups.  Some like to torture and monologue before killing. Some don’t mind collateral damage. And some mind it very much and will parley in public places instead of attack.  Some seek to remove the curse instead of kill. Involuntarily, through terrifying and painful rituals if need be.

You have the whole world before you on this.  Have fun.

That story works very well. My "biggest" question would be WHAT do you think lycantrophy is in your world? In the "vanilla" they ARE evil, so they actually ARE the kind of monsters players usually hunt. Unless you play an "evil" campaign where turning into a blood hungry beast every full moon is "cool", I would have spent as much time on "creating" what lycantrophy actually are in your setting. Are they misunderstood beings? Can they be saved, but this order doesn't want to save them, they are only after revenge.

And if you manage to do that, I think this sounds like something that could be a very cool part of a campaign.

Good feedback and questions.  Let me provide some context.  I guess the next step is tying the Crimson Fist in with the PCs.  Here is also hoping my players don’t read this (and if they are, they should know better).

I’m running Rime of the Frostmaiden.  There is a minor spoiler here, but I’ll dance around it a bit.  Every character has a secret, usually one they don’t want exposed.  And every character need some reason to flee or go to Icewind Dale.  Otherwise why would anyone want to live in such a cold, remote place.  

Per my player, one character was cursed with lycanthropy and killed his family in an uncontrolled werewolf bloodlust.  Since RotF is more of a horror game, I’m playing Lycanthropy as a curse rather than a gift.  If you give into it, you become evil (and loose control of your character).  Though on the full moon, you have little choice.  The character is haunted by those he has killed in the past as a werewolf.  I want to keep the tension and struggle of his guilt (and against his primal self) going for a bit.  There are those who know he is cursed, and are hunting him.  Which gives him motive to flee north or hide.  Additionally, the rest of the party doesn’t know about the curse, and it should be some interesting RP when it comes out. I’d like to use the curse to temp the PC with power, but at a cost to his humanity.  I made up the Crimson Fist to keep the PC from feeling safe and drive him north.  Though, they could be used to help control the PC should he become a werewolf, and/or provide some information as needed.  Ultimately I’ll give the character an option to remove the curse, or if they really want, pursue ways of trying to control it (maybe the Blood Hunter path).  Note that none of this is part of the adventure book.  So how I’m going to do any of this is unknown to me.  And thus why I’m looking for ideas.  

Completely separately I have a PC who is a Changling of sorts, not common in Faerun.  He too is feared for his shapeshifting abilities, and has run away.  He is also a Druid.  Ironically he uses his shifting ability to mimic looking like a werewolf or shifting into an animal rather than be exposed as a Changling.  In this case, I thought to use the Fist to again drive the character north.  But I have less of a plan for how to deal with him as I’m still trying to understand his motivations.  

Anyway, thoughts welcome.  I guess next steps are to figure out an NPC or two that are chasing/tracking the characters.  And determine how they are being tracked.  And to setup an interesting encounter or interaction or two to build the tension.  One hunter I imagine won’t be too much of a challenge for the party.  But it might expose the character secrets.  Other hunters might follow, perhaps one that gives the party or PCs some information or outs.  Or drives them to seek other allies.  Anyway, ideas on how now to use the Crimson Fist are more than welcome.  Many thanks.