My DM does not want to use the rules as written (especially at low levels) but has greenlight me being a Ursathrope [Wearbear], so I have taken what I can find and hashed out a rough template.
Any advise would is welcome.
Currently at 4th Constantly - cannot willingly touch or hold Silver. - every 28 days during the full moon of Lunitari they take on the bear form that night. (set in Dragonlance, I am a wear there is no Therianthropy [beast/man]) - natural resists biting and passing on Ursathropy. - shapeshift: as an action polymorph into a Large bear, or back into its true form, which is humanoid. Its statistics, unless specified, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Bear form - become Large - has natural armour of 11. - has 40ft movement - has 19 STR. - has 3d8 temp hit points. (4/20 of 18d8 - 0.9 die per level) - has multi attack. - has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. - natural weapons; claws 1d8 slashing and bite 1d8 piercing. (Edit rule as written is 2d8 so halved it especially with 2 attacks)
At 5th Constantly - has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. - shapeshift: into a Large bear-humanoid hybrid as well.
Both forms - has 4d8 temp hit points. - has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. -natural weapons; claws 2d8 slashing and bite 2d8 piercing.
At 10th Constantly - has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms - has 9d8 temp hit points. - has immunity to non-magical / non-silver physical damage.
At 15th Constantly - has immediately to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms - has 13d8 temp hit points.
At 20th Hybrid and Bear form - has 18d8 temp hit points.
First, I would double-check with your DM that immunity to damage is included in that green light. Player characters having passive immunity to damage is nearly unheard of with the exception a high level Forge Cleric.
It's unclear if this is supposed to be a homebrew class/subclass or just a passive feature. If it's just a passive feature then it really needs to be toned down because the way it's written you'd effectively be gaining the benefits of two "classes" as you progress.
A DM in one of my games recently gifted another player with ursanthropy, but it's a very modest interpretation for balance reasons. The character basically just got all the Shifter racial features. The player is having a blast with it.
The shifting itself needs both a time limit and use/long rest limit. Temp HP probably needs to be toned down especially considering the passive resistance/immunity to damage.
Path of the Beast Barbarian is another place to look as to what kind of things would be considered balanced at certain levels.
My advice would be to just start with the initial features you think make sense at your level, make sure they're okay with your DM, then plan to revisit the concept again at a certain level agreed upon by you and the DM as to whether it can or should be improved.
Good as is Needs rewriting for clarity or cover additional cases Needs additional constraints such as time limit or number of uses Should be moved to a higher level Unbalanced, should be removed/replaced
Currently at 4th Constantly - cannot willingly touch or hold Silver. - every 28 days during the full moon of Lunitari they take on the bear form that night. (set in Dragonlance, I am a wear there is no Therianthropy [beast/man]) - natural resists biting and passing on Ursathropy. - shapeshift: as an action polymorph into a Large bear, or back into its true form, which is humanoid. Its statistics, unless specified, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Bear form - become Large - has natural armour of 11. - has 40ft movement - has 19 STR. - has 3d8 temp hit points. (4/20 of 18d8 - 0.9 die per level) - has multi attack. - has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. - natural weapons; claws 1d8 slashing and bite 1d6 piercing.
At 5th Constantly - has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. - shapeshift: into a Large bear-humanoid hybrid as well.
Both forms - has 4d8 temp hit points. - has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage. -natural weapons; claws 2d8 slashing and bite 2d6 piercing.
At 10th Constantly - has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms - has 9d8 temp hit points. - has immunity to non-magical / non-silver physical damage.
At 15th Constantly - has immediately to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms - has 13d8 temp hit points.
At 20th Hybrid and Bear form - has 18d8 temp hit points.
- Silver Weakness : You cannot willing touch of hold an item made of silver, if you are hit by an attack by a silver weapon you have disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn. - Shapeshift : Once per day, as a bonus action you can choose to transform into a bear, all items and equipment you were holding or wearing falls to the ground next to you unless your new form is capable of using them. While transformed your statistics stay the same except for those specified below. while transformed you can control your curse and avoid passing your curse on to other creatures. You gain 2d6 temporary hitpoints when you transform, these vanish when you revert to your human form. You remain in your form until you are reduced to 0 hitpoints, die, or choose to revert as a bonus action. - Every 28 days while the full moon of Lunitari is in the sky you unwillingly transform into your Bear form and must remain in that form until the moon sets.
Bear form Large beast Move: 40 ft HP: Your current HP AC: 12 Ability Scores STR = 19 DEX = 14 Damage Reduction Reduce all non-magical bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage you take by 3, except for damage from silvered weapons. Bestial : You cannot speak, hold weapons, wear armour, use items/equipment or cast spells. Natural Weapons: Claws: 5ft reach, +4+Proficiency Bonus th, 1d6+4 slashing Bite: 5ft reach, +4+Proficiency Bonus th, 1d8+4 slashing
5th Level
Hybrid Form : You can transform into a bear-humanoid hybrid instead of your bear form. While in Hybrid form gain the same benefits as your Bear form but the Bestial trait is replaced by : Monstrous: You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) and Charisma (Deception) checks, and advantage of Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
Rapid Strikes: While in your Bear or Hybrid form, if you take the Attack action using your natural weapons then you can make one Claw attack as a bonus action.
At 10th Damage Resistance: The Damage Reduction trait of your Bear and Hybrid form is replaced with: Damage Resistance: You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage, except for damage from silvered weapons.
Tougher When you transform, you gain 4d6 temporary hit points instead of 2d6.
At 15th
Sharpened Claws The damage dealt by your Natural weapons is increased by one damage die: Claws = 2d6+4, Bite = 2d8+4
Shapeshifter You can transform between your humanoid, hybrid, and bear forms at will.
Definitely not immunity at low levels before magic and +1/magic/silver weapons start becoming more common, hence the keeping it to the changed form early on and then building up. Stopping at resistance is a possible solution.
Rules as written it is an affliction that is additional to the race and class/subclass, so continuing with that.
Having just an amped up wildshape/polymorph would not be bad if that's how it ends up.
It's more a background aspect that can be worked into the story and is not intended for use but its better to balance it in case it is needed as this will be a challenging game. (3 players, 4 near deaths and 1 player run npc actual death before hitting L4) Firbolg stronghold of Wearbears decided to move to Frynn where neither Firbolgs or Wearbears exist to set up a new hold where they could live quietly far from most others, using their innate illusion magic to hide their presence and nurture their new forest.
I am not aware of why the rules as written have the inability to touch silver like a Doppelganger but forced over hurting, only left in for RP flavour.
Being vulnerable and having the opposite resistance is one way but my DMs issue was more how rare magic and silver is at low levels not being resistant, so reducing the amount and having more in shifted form to maintain the flavour without being too OP.
Rules as written do not limit transforming and it is not intended to be used -see reply above. Limiting it it once daily is a good balance and adding at 15th the unlimited version works too.
Adding reach is a nice addition and works with well being so big. Otherwise its assumed to be as core rules for unarmed strike.
Bestial- basically following wildshape so spells require Common or other "human" langue. -weapons and armour are assumed as unusable unless custom made or magically shape changing. Worth clarifying for others use.
Moving the second attack to 5th makes no real difference balance wise as Fighters and Wildshapes have similar already.(Wolf has 4d6 so 4-24 Atk) At 15th adding more damage is nice but I am more looking to deal with the rest of the affliction, either way biting is not an attack Wearbears make even when out of control.
Taking 1/4 less damage maybe more complicated then a flat reduction but it follows the trend towards plain resistance and then Immunity. Not gaining the resistance in normal form definitely nurfs the overall ability but leaves out the flavour of only being hurt/killed by normal weapons it is just hard to balance the two.
Monstrous- disadvantage on Charisma is a logical add but as a Druid it's already dump and having a -1 to intimidate while being just shy of large and giant kin I would not be trying to beyond persuading my party not to try and kill me.
Rules as written you get 18d8 heal in both shifted forms from the off if bitten not temp HP like wildshape, so it was just to bring them inline with the rule as written but less OP. The temp HP is .9 die per level dividing the 18d8 into 20 level increases either staged or grouped increases.
May have missed something but think that covers why reasoning and clarifies.
Campaign goes to L11 in book, just adding to show possible progression should we keep these going beyond or reuse. Plus its just to bring it basically in line with rules as written when its not as OP.
I'm not quite sure what you want to get out of it? If it is just supposed to be a background thing then why are you looking at incredibly powerful mechanical bonuses -> note that almost no monsters deal magical damage, so resistance & immunity to it is extremely powerful for a player, making tmpHP just doubling down on being utterly unkillable.
Re: comparing to Druid - you must take one specific class & subclass to do this as a druid which means giving up 2 levels of progressing in your normal class. You're almost asking for 2 free levels above what anyone else in your party has.
If it is meant to be more of an affliction that is dangerous or has costs to it, then I'd add in a Berserk feature where some of the time you lose control of the curse - either during the full moon, or if you take damage while in your werebear form. Regardless, you better be prepared for NPCs to totally reject you / turn on you if they find out your a werewolf if this is for thematic & narrative purposes.
Well the whole lose of control is inherent to the whole thing and out of my control RP wise so I just assume my DM would either gloss over it or have a plan. I can not really plan for it beyond writing out a good balancing of the rest of it.
We have done 4 levels in 4 in-game days one we stared at the ends of, at this rate we would hit the 28 day mark level 10 or so. I do expect there will be a dramatic slowing of progression (it is milestones).
I have nearly died and they did not pull a near death rage, was a tough fight our npc 4th died so maybe in the future.
Dragonlace (feat at 1st yet still only just surviving) has plenty of dragonkin so far at lest to partly get around the normal lack of non magic, elemental and alike still hold the normal affect (in fact it was a fire attack that nearly killed me).
Being affectively L6 at L4 is a jump, my druid magic has been more miss the hit (except summon beast, shame of was knocked out half way) and we have no plan to replace the npc. Maybe lacking one will be enough to weight out an exit strategy.
Re:Dragonlance setting - This is actually not an argument in your favour since even CR 20+ Ancient Dragons do not deal magical damage, other than their 1/3 turn breath weapons they only deal non-magical bludge/slash/pierc. Dragonlance is supposed to a particularly hard/dangerous setting, and low levels are the most dangerous of all so TBH would have expected you to be reduced to 0 HP at least once, b/c unless you're a WSing moon druid, druids are squishy. Most published modules it is normal to have at least one PC death during the level 1-4 portion of the game.
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My DM does not want to use the rules as written (especially at low levels) but has greenlight me being a Ursathrope [Wearbear], so I have taken what I can find and hashed out a rough template.
Any advise would is welcome.
Currently at 4th
Constantly
- cannot willingly touch or hold Silver.
- every 28 days during the full moon of Lunitari they take on the bear form that night. (set in Dragonlance, I am a wear there is no Therianthropy [beast/man])
- natural resists biting and passing on Ursathropy.
- shapeshift: as an action polymorph into a Large bear, or back into its true form, which is humanoid. Its statistics, unless specified, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Bear form
- become Large
- has natural armour of 11.
- has 40ft movement
- has 19 STR.
- has 3d8 temp hit points. (4/20 of 18d8 - 0.9 die per level)
- has multi attack.
- has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
- natural weapons; claws 1d8 slashing and bite 1d8 piercing. (Edit rule as written is 2d8 so halved it especially with 2 attacks)
At 5th
Constantly
- has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
- shapeshift: into a Large bear-humanoid hybrid as well.
Both forms
- has 4d8 temp hit points.
- has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
-natural weapons; claws 2d8 slashing and bite 2d8 piercing.
At 10th
Constantly
- has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms
- has 9d8 temp hit points.
- has immunity to non-magical / non-silver physical damage.
At 15th
Constantly
- has immediately to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms
- has 13d8 temp hit points.
At 20th
Hybrid and Bear form
- has 18d8 temp hit points.
This all seems good to me, but are you planning on getting them to level 20? Not something important, just a question.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
First, I would double-check with your DM that immunity to damage is included in that green light. Player characters having passive immunity to damage is nearly unheard of with the exception a high level Forge Cleric.
It's unclear if this is supposed to be a homebrew class/subclass or just a passive feature. If it's just a passive feature then it really needs to be toned down because the way it's written you'd effectively be gaining the benefits of two "classes" as you progress.
A DM in one of my games recently gifted another player with ursanthropy, but it's a very modest interpretation for balance reasons. The character basically just got all the Shifter racial features. The player is having a blast with it.
The shifting itself needs both a time limit and use/long rest limit. Temp HP probably needs to be toned down especially considering the passive resistance/immunity to damage.
Path of the Beast Barbarian is another place to look as to what kind of things would be considered balanced at certain levels.
My advice would be to just start with the initial features you think make sense at your level, make sure they're okay with your DM, then plan to revisit the concept again at a certain level agreed upon by you and the DM as to whether it can or should be improved.
Good as is
Needs rewriting for clarity or cover additional cases
Needs additional constraints such as time limit or number of uses
Should be moved to a higher level
Unbalanced, should be removed/replaced
Currently at 4th
Constantly
- cannot willingly touch or hold Silver.
- every 28 days during the full moon of Lunitari they take on the bear form that night. (set in Dragonlance, I am a wear there is no Therianthropy [beast/man])
- natural resists biting and passing on Ursathropy.
- shapeshift: as an action polymorph into a Large bear, or back into its true form, which is humanoid. Its statistics, unless specified, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Bear form
- become Large
- has natural armour of 11.
- has 40ft movement
- has 19 STR.
- has 3d8 temp hit points. (4/20 of 18d8 - 0.9 die per level)
- has multi attack.
- has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
- natural weapons; claws 1d8 slashing and bite 1d6 piercing.
At 5th
Constantly
- has half resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
- shapeshift: into a Large bear-humanoid hybrid as well.
Both forms
- has 4d8 temp hit points.
- has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
-natural weapons; claws 2d8 slashing and bite 2d6 piercing.
At 10th
Constantly
- has resistance to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms
- has 9d8 temp hit points.
- has immunity to non-magical / non-silver physical damage.
At 15th
Constantly
- has immediately to non-magical non-silver physical damage.
Both forms
- has 13d8 temp hit points.
At 20th
Hybrid and Bear form
- has 18d8 temp hit points.
My Rewrite:
Currently at 4th
- Silver Weakness : You cannot willing touch of hold an item made of silver, if you are hit by an attack by a silver weapon you have disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.
- Shapeshift : Once per day, as a bonus action you can choose to transform into a bear, all items and equipment you were holding or wearing falls to the ground next to you unless your new form is capable of using them. While transformed your statistics stay the same except for those specified below. while transformed you can control your curse and avoid passing your curse on to other creatures. You gain 2d6 temporary hitpoints when you transform, these vanish when you revert to your human form. You remain in your form until you are reduced to 0 hitpoints, die, or choose to revert as a bonus action.
- Every 28 days while the full moon of Lunitari is in the sky you unwillingly transform into your Bear form and must remain in that form until the moon sets.
Bear form
Large beast
Move: 40 ft
HP: Your current HP
AC: 12
Ability Scores
STR = 19
DEX = 14
Damage Reduction Reduce all non-magical bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage you take by 3, except for damage from silvered weapons.
Bestial : You cannot speak, hold weapons, wear armour, use items/equipment or cast spells.
Natural Weapons:
Claws: 5ft reach, +4+Proficiency Bonus th, 1d6+4 slashing
Bite: 5ft reach, +4+Proficiency Bonus th, 1d8+4 slashing
5th Level
Hybrid Form : You can transform into a bear-humanoid hybrid instead of your bear form. While in Hybrid form gain the same benefits as your Bear form but the Bestial trait is replaced by : Monstrous: You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) and Charisma (Deception) checks, and advantage of Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
Rapid Strikes: While in your Bear or Hybrid form, if you take the Attack action using your natural weapons then you can make one Claw attack as a bonus action.
At 10th
Damage Resistance: The Damage Reduction trait of your Bear and Hybrid form is replaced with: Damage Resistance: You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage, except for damage from silvered weapons.
Tougher When you transform, you gain 4d6 temporary hit points instead of 2d6.
At 15th
Sharpened Claws The damage dealt by your Natural weapons is increased by one damage die: Claws = 2d6+4, Bite = 2d8+4
Shapeshifter You can transform between your humanoid, hybrid, and bear forms at will.
Definitely not immunity at low levels before magic and +1/magic/silver weapons start becoming more common, hence the keeping it to the changed form early on and then building up. Stopping at resistance is a possible solution.
Rules as written it is an affliction that is additional to the race and class/subclass, so continuing with that.
Having just an amped up wildshape/polymorph would not be bad if that's how it ends up.
It's more a background aspect that can be worked into the story and is not intended for use but its better to balance it in case it is needed as this will be a challenging game. (3 players, 4 near deaths and 1 player run npc actual death before hitting L4) Firbolg stronghold of Wearbears decided to move to Frynn where neither Firbolgs or Wearbears exist to set up a new hold where they could live quietly far from most others, using their innate illusion magic to hide their presence and nurture their new forest.
Just seen you posted twice.
I am not aware of why the rules as written have the inability to touch silver like a Doppelganger but forced over hurting, only left in for RP flavour.
Being vulnerable and having the opposite resistance is one way but my DMs issue was more how rare magic and silver is at low levels not being resistant, so reducing the amount and having more in shifted form to maintain the flavour without being too OP.
Rules as written do not limit transforming and it is not intended to be used -see reply above. Limiting it it once daily is a good balance and adding at 15th the unlimited version works too.
Adding reach is a nice addition and works with well being so big. Otherwise its assumed to be as core rules for unarmed strike.
Bestial- basically following wildshape so spells require Common or other "human" langue. -weapons and armour are assumed as unusable unless custom made or magically shape changing. Worth clarifying for others use.
Moving the second attack to 5th makes no real difference balance wise as Fighters and Wildshapes have similar already.(Wolf has 4d6 so 4-24 Atk) At 15th adding more damage is nice but I am more looking to deal with the rest of the affliction, either way biting is not an attack Wearbears make even when out of control.
Taking 1/4 less damage maybe more complicated then a flat reduction but it follows the trend towards plain resistance and then Immunity. Not gaining the resistance in normal form definitely nurfs the overall ability but leaves out the flavour of only being hurt/killed by normal weapons it is just hard to balance the two.
Monstrous- disadvantage on Charisma is a logical add but as a Druid it's already dump and having a -1 to intimidate while being just shy of large and giant kin I would not be trying to beyond persuading my party not to try and kill me.
Rules as written you get 18d8 heal in both shifted forms from the off if bitten not temp HP like wildshape, so it was just to bring them inline with the rule as written but less OP. The temp HP is .9 die per level dividing the 18d8 into 20 level increases either staged or grouped increases.
May have missed something but think that covers why reasoning and clarifies.
Campaign goes to L11 in book, just adding to show possible progression should we keep these going beyond or reuse. Plus its just to bring it basically in line with rules as written when its not as OP.
I'm not quite sure what you want to get out of it? If it is just supposed to be a background thing then why are you looking at incredibly powerful mechanical bonuses -> note that almost no monsters deal magical damage, so resistance & immunity to it is extremely powerful for a player, making tmpHP just doubling down on being utterly unkillable.
Re: comparing to Druid - you must take one specific class & subclass to do this as a druid which means giving up 2 levels of progressing in your normal class. You're almost asking for 2 free levels above what anyone else in your party has.
If it is meant to be more of an affliction that is dangerous or has costs to it, then I'd add in a Berserk feature where some of the time you lose control of the curse - either during the full moon, or if you take damage while in your werebear form. Regardless, you better be prepared for NPCs to totally reject you / turn on you if they find out your a werewolf if this is for thematic & narrative purposes.
Well the whole lose of control is inherent to the whole thing and out of my control RP wise so I just assume my DM would either gloss over it or have a plan. I can not really plan for it beyond writing out a good balancing of the rest of it.
We have done 4 levels in 4 in-game days one we stared at the ends of, at this rate we would hit the 28 day mark level 10 or so. I do expect there will be a dramatic slowing of progression (it is milestones).
I have nearly died and they did not pull a near death rage, was a tough fight our npc 4th died so maybe in the future.
Dragonlace (feat at 1st yet still only just surviving) has plenty of dragonkin so far at lest to partly get around the normal lack of non magic, elemental and alike still hold the normal affect (in fact it was a fire attack that nearly killed me).
Being affectively L6 at L4 is a jump, my druid magic has been more miss the hit (except summon beast, shame of was knocked out half way) and we have no plan to replace the npc. Maybe lacking one will be enough to weight out an exit strategy.
Re:Dragonlance setting - This is actually not an argument in your favour since even CR 20+ Ancient Dragons do not deal magical damage, other than their 1/3 turn breath weapons they only deal non-magical bludge/slash/pierc. Dragonlance is supposed to a particularly hard/dangerous setting, and low levels are the most dangerous of all so TBH would have expected you to be reduced to 0 HP at least once, b/c unless you're a WSing moon druid, druids are squishy. Most published modules it is normal to have at least one PC death during the level 1-4 portion of the game.