Lycanthrope was a fun twist in my campaign whenever i had some. You could always start with slow changes, such as the character getting acute smell, wild dreams and insatiable hunger etc to finally have it transform on the next full moon. The character could make some check every round to illustrate it is fighting for control and space them out over time to every 2 or 3 rounds up to once per full moon until it no longer need having full control if you want. Also DM is free to decide that a change in alignment places it under DM control until removed. Or not and roll with it. You can even decide that newly infected lycanthrope cannot transmit it until after a certain time has passed this to avoid having it spread to the entire party.
My personal approach is to have Lycanthropy be very much a curse, but with a few beneficial sides. Then I am building up some feats and levels which the characters can take to embrace the curse.
My reasoning being that, 99 times out of 100, the reason a player wants a Lycanthope character is to become more powerful. The reason players want to level up is to become more powerful. So, I am making rules for taking Lycanthrope as a class, with the caveat that the character needs to be infected first!
This makes it an actual decision, rather than a no-brainer: You want to embrace the curse? Spend a level-up doing so. Oterwise, it's a Curse. As in, a bad thing, that you have no control over.
Lycanthropy should definitely be a curse, not just a massive bonus to the player. I would make the character have to make a high wisdom check to see if they can control themselves whenever they transform. On a fail, the player loses control of the character and goes on a rampage, on a success, the character successfully transforms into a lycanthrope and is in control, but I would have them remake the saving throw every hour or so, or if they smell blood. If the player succumbs to the lycanthropy, then I would have them find themselves inside their mind and they might have to fight whatever beast they turn into. They won't be able to kill the beast but if they succeed in fighting it off, they might awaken in their normal form. Eventually, they might be able to tame or defeat the mind beast and gain control over it, but it would require a lot of training and be potentially deadly and so a big risk.
I would also set certain triggers, like night time or the full moon. I also think that the smell or taste of blood also works as a good trigger and makes the character hesitant to rush into battle.
I also wouldn't let remove curse just end the curse, it might subdue it for a while but it won't end it. I would say that almost nothing sort of wish can end it, (unless the players are absolutely abusing it, or if they really didn't want their player to be a lycanthrope) but the player has the chance to gain some control over it.
I might also send a hunter after them who would try to kill the player because they are a Lycanthrope, so the players have to escape a crazed hunter whose family was killed by a werewolf and now has sworn vengeance against all lycanthropes.
If a player came to me wanting to play a werewolf just for the power of it, I would probably say play a shifter or a Path of the Beast barbarian. But I would let them be a lycanthrope if I trusted them to use it well and not purposely abuse it.
I created a place that I would send a player to if they ever caught the curse. They would go there and spend a lot of time training and learning how to control the curse, but I would never make the threat go away completely because it should be a curse.
I wrote about the place I mentioned in the link down below, but as a warning, it is really long.
You can make the character go on a quest to find a rare cure to stop the Lycanthropy. This is often my favorite choice. I don't often thick of Lycanthropy as curse per say, but rather as an on and off going virus, kind of like getting bit by zombies in the movies. If I were to call it a curse however--same idea--the character should be sent into a quest to find NPCs who're willing to do a ritual to end the curse.
I also love d̶̡̼̥̻͙̣̼̿͂͐͘ę̴̢̨̛̼̙̤̻̞̠̗̳̝̦̹̹̦͍̉̏͛̽͠͠sţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏ru̸̮̭̪̠͆̑̍́̈́̑̾̒̑̂̕ͅc̶̢̜͓̮̩͎͕̄́͑̃̈͋̈͌̑̽͠ͅͅţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏io̵̪̭̞̗̝͙̝̬̥͕̒ͅn̸̨͖̳͓͍̜̬̗̪̜̪̗̺͆̏̆̊́̈́̿̎̅̈͠͝͝ in my campaigns! In other words, i'm an evil DM.
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Lycanthrope was a fun twist in my campaign whenever i had some. You could always start with slow changes, such as the character getting acute smell, wild dreams and insatiable hunger etc to finally have it transform on the next full moon. The character could make some check every round to illustrate it is fighting for control and space them out over time to every 2 or 3 rounds up to once per full moon until it no longer need having full control if you want. Also DM is free to decide that a change in alignment places it under DM control until removed. Or not and roll with it. You can even decide that newly infected lycanthrope cannot transmit it until after a certain time has passed this to avoid having it spread to the entire party.
My personal approach is to have Lycanthropy be very much a curse, but with a few beneficial sides. Then I am building up some feats and levels which the characters can take to embrace the curse.
My reasoning being that, 99 times out of 100, the reason a player wants a Lycanthope character is to become more powerful. The reason players want to level up is to become more powerful. So, I am making rules for taking Lycanthrope as a class, with the caveat that the character needs to be infected first!
This makes it an actual decision, rather than a no-brainer: You want to embrace the curse? Spend a level-up doing so. Oterwise, it's a Curse. As in, a bad thing, that you have no control over.
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Lycanthropy should definitely be a curse, not just a massive bonus to the player. I would make the character have to make a high wisdom check to see if they can control themselves whenever they transform. On a fail, the player loses control of the character and goes on a rampage, on a success, the character successfully transforms into a lycanthrope and is in control, but I would have them remake the saving throw every hour or so, or if they smell blood. If the player succumbs to the lycanthropy, then I would have them find themselves inside their mind and they might have to fight whatever beast they turn into. They won't be able to kill the beast but if they succeed in fighting it off, they might awaken in their normal form. Eventually, they might be able to tame or defeat the mind beast and gain control over it, but it would require a lot of training and be potentially deadly and so a big risk.
I would also set certain triggers, like night time or the full moon. I also think that the smell or taste of blood also works as a good trigger and makes the character hesitant to rush into battle.
I also wouldn't let remove curse just end the curse, it might subdue it for a while but it won't end it. I would say that almost nothing sort of wish can end it, (unless the players are absolutely abusing it, or if they really didn't want their player to be a lycanthrope) but the player has the chance to gain some control over it.
I might also send a hunter after them who would try to kill the player because they are a Lycanthrope, so the players have to escape a crazed hunter whose family was killed by a werewolf and now has sworn vengeance against all lycanthropes.
If a player came to me wanting to play a werewolf just for the power of it, I would probably say play a shifter or a Path of the Beast barbarian. But I would let them be a lycanthrope if I trusted them to use it well and not purposely abuse it.
I created a place that I would send a player to if they ever caught the curse. They would go there and spend a lot of time training and learning how to control the curse, but I would never make the threat go away completely because it should be a curse.
I wrote about the place I mentioned in the link down below, but as a warning, it is really long.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/13452-locations-locations-locations?page=2
You can make the character go on a quest to find a rare cure to stop the Lycanthropy. This is often my favorite choice. I don't often thick of Lycanthropy as curse per say, but rather as an on and off going virus, kind of like getting bit by zombies in the movies. If I were to call it a curse however--same idea--the character should be sent into a quest to find NPCs who're willing to do a ritual to end the curse.
Monsters: Brathkal
Weapons: Sword of Ni , Bow of Ni
Spells: Zone of Ni
I also love d̶̡̼̥̻͙̣̼̿͂͐͘ę̴̢̨̛̼̙̤̻̞̠̗̳̝̦̹̹̦͍̉̏͛̽͠͠sţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏ru̸̮̭̪̠͆̑̍́̈́̑̾̒̑̂̕ͅc̶̢̜͓̮̩͎͕̄́͑̃̈͋̈͌̑̽͠ͅͅţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏io̵̪̭̞̗̝͙̝̬̥͕̒ͅn̸̨͖̳͓͍̜̬̗̪̜̪̗̺͆̏̆̊́̈́̿̎̅̈͠͝͝ in my campaigns! In other words, i'm an evil DM.