So, I ran my PCs up against werewolves, and two of them wound up failing saves (I rolled secretly, the players don't know). They aren't high enough to cast Remove Curse, and this is in Curse of Strahd so there's not a lot of people both willing and able to cast it for them (Rictavio would, but they haven't met him).
This is CoS so obviously it should be played for horror value (they won't have any werewolf traits except when they transform at the full moon, during which time they will be NPCs), but what sounds like a good way to run it?
I would also give them a chance to transform if under great stress. If you feel like its a situation where they're under stress, you could have them roll a save. If they've failed enough times, they transform temporarily.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Instead of having to cast "remove curse" you could replace it with a special ritual the players must do to remove the curse
So they will need to
identify the curse as a werewolf curse (if they havent already)
find information about the "cure/ritual"
gather ingredients
perform the ritual
And it must be done before the next full moon. So its a "side quest" within the curse of Strahd story, you can integrate the things above with the locations and events in the book so you dont send the players completely off track.
When my players went through this they almost let it happen. If they did then on full moon they would go out and cause mayhem. The places they went would then actively be searching for them.
They chose not to do it though. Could be really fun depending on the group.
my personal strategy for this situation since I'm experiencing it now:
1. I gave the PC the sunlight sensitivity trait and made the player aware of it. Out of game I informed the player of this and allowed them to roleplay it as they see fit, telling them that sunlight is particularly bright/blinding for them. I take care to describe the weather every day, throwing in rain and cloudy days along with sun, allowing the PC some freedom to react however they want. If other PCs notice and ask to investigate, the most they can really tell is that he seems bothered by sunlight, as the curse isn't showing any other effects right now.
2. I take care to describe the moon at night, so the players have a sense of it getting to fullness. Nobody thinks anything of it right now, but when it happens everything should click into place for them.
3. Whenever the PC kills an enemy, I have him make a WIS save. On a failure, he makes his next attack on the nearest creature, including allies if that's the nearest creature. This kind of represents giving in to the bloodlust of the curse.
When the actual transformation hits, I'm actually planning on cutting straight to the next morning. Party wakes up and the PC is gone. PC wakes up in the wilderness covered in dirt and grime and maybe some blood. Then the party will encounter the aftermath of the werewolf's pillaging the night before. Maybe some dead livestock, possibly a dead villager. They should all clue in by then.
As for alignment, I don't view the switch to Chaotic Evil as immediate, more of a gradual change. So offline at that point I'll tell the player that his alignment has changed from it's current Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral, and trust him to play it as such. At this point the party will probably have an idea of what's going on and when they find their missing PC they'll probably fix it relatively quickly. I don't intend for this to be a major arc, more of a bump in the road.
Something I just came across that could be the inspiration for something that your players could discover/brew after some research and a quest to gather the ingredients:
Moonbane Elixer: Wolfsbane essence, werecreature cerebral fluid, and a colloidal silver tincture will suppress or possibly reverse any transformation in any person suffering from lycanthropy.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"
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So, I ran my PCs up against werewolves, and two of them wound up failing saves (I rolled secretly, the players don't know). They aren't high enough to cast Remove Curse, and this is in Curse of Strahd so there's not a lot of people both willing and able to cast it for them (Rictavio would, but they haven't met him).
This is CoS so obviously it should be played for horror value (they won't have any werewolf traits except when they transform at the full moon, during which time they will be NPCs), but what sounds like a good way to run it?
I would also give them a chance to transform if under great stress. If you feel like its a situation where they're under stress, you could have them roll a save. If they've failed enough times, they transform temporarily.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
i'd read this dragonmag article...its about rats but links to several other articles on lycanthropy
https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2020/02/28/dd-classics-rats/content.html
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Thank you for the link.
Dragon Magazine has some good resources, I’m glad Wizards makes it so accessible.
Instead of having to cast "remove curse" you could replace it with a special ritual the players must do to remove the curse
So they will need to
And it must be done before the next full moon. So its a "side quest" within the curse of Strahd story, you can integrate the things above with the locations and events in the book so you dont send the players completely off track.
I'd ask the players.
When my players went through this they almost let it happen. If they did then on full moon they would go out and cause mayhem. The places they went would then actively be searching for them.
They chose not to do it though. Could be really fun depending on the group.
useful thread that a few of us had about this recently:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/59135-contracting-lycanthropy#c17
my personal strategy for this situation since I'm experiencing it now:
1. I gave the PC the sunlight sensitivity trait and made the player aware of it. Out of game I informed the player of this and allowed them to roleplay it as they see fit, telling them that sunlight is particularly bright/blinding for them. I take care to describe the weather every day, throwing in rain and cloudy days along with sun, allowing the PC some freedom to react however they want. If other PCs notice and ask to investigate, the most they can really tell is that he seems bothered by sunlight, as the curse isn't showing any other effects right now.
2. I take care to describe the moon at night, so the players have a sense of it getting to fullness. Nobody thinks anything of it right now, but when it happens everything should click into place for them.
3. Whenever the PC kills an enemy, I have him make a WIS save. On a failure, he makes his next attack on the nearest creature, including allies if that's the nearest creature. This kind of represents giving in to the bloodlust of the curse.
When the actual transformation hits, I'm actually planning on cutting straight to the next morning. Party wakes up and the PC is gone. PC wakes up in the wilderness covered in dirt and grime and maybe some blood. Then the party will encounter the aftermath of the werewolf's pillaging the night before. Maybe some dead livestock, possibly a dead villager. They should all clue in by then.
As for alignment, I don't view the switch to Chaotic Evil as immediate, more of a gradual change. So offline at that point I'll tell the player that his alignment has changed from it's current Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral, and trust him to play it as such. At this point the party will probably have an idea of what's going on and when they find their missing PC they'll probably fix it relatively quickly. I don't intend for this to be a major arc, more of a bump in the road.
Something I just came across that could be the inspiration for something that your players could discover/brew after some research and a quest to gather the ingredients:
Moonbane Elixer: Wolfsbane essence, werecreature cerebral fluid, and a colloidal silver tincture will suppress or possibly reverse any transformation in any person suffering from lycanthropy.
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"