I've had this concept for a while and I'm finally going to use it: I'm playing a dragonborn cleric who starts the campaign (level 3, I think) infected with lycanthropy. Is there any good, non-gamebreaking way to do this? I'm consulting with my DM soon and would like some suggestions on how to do it in a way that doesn't make me overpowered or a massive liability.

My standard campaign rules include a bit that says if you get lycanthropy, you have until the next full moon to remove the curse, or you become an npc.

Lycanthropy is a huge strength buff,  a wildshape buff, and a new attack that infects others. All that buff and no payment. Seems a little unbalanced.

Ive never had a player push for it, but if someone really wanted to be a lycanthrope, we'd have to come up with some downside to all these buffs. 

Example: every time you take damage, roll a con save same as a spell concentration save, if you fail,  you take on a were form, roll on the behavior table for the Confusion spell. If you have more than half your hit points, roll with advantage. If you are bloodied roll normal. If any party member is bloodied, apply disadvantage.

That might be too costly. Not sure. Just came up with it. But the idea is if you want a massive buff, it needz to come with some kind of downside to balanve it.

Not a terrible idea. I've also seen "you're tempted to transform into your wild, uncontrollable self in the presence of helpless creatures, even your allies, because the beast inside sees them as prey" but I really like your idea. Maybe there should be a threshold though, like 10+ damage triggers it.

You could play a shifter re-skinned to look like a dragonborn. 

I sort of want things to be less controlled than that. See, the original premise is that the cleric comes from an order of monster hunters (worshipping the god of civilization, sort of Oath of the Watchers-y) that doesn't know about lycanthropes. Maybe they're really rare around that territory. So he's having a sort of religious crisis because he's a monster hunter who's turning into a monster.

Quote from KyrneGnomeBarbarian >>

I sort of want things to be less controlled than that. See, the original premise is that the cleric comes from an order of monster hunters (worshipping the god of civilization, sort of Oath of the Watchers-y) that doesn't know about lycanthropes. Maybe they're really rare around that territory. So he's having a sort of religious crisis because he's a monster hunter who's turning into a monster.

 It’s a cool concept, but it just sounds like a lot of work for the DM to homebrew a (balanced) system to make it happen. 

The issue is that you can become a liability during combat.   encounters are generally balanced assuming each party member will be doing their best to fight the monsters.  But if you always have a chance of transforming during combat, then when you transfor. you probably arent fighting the monster and you might attack your friends.

It will make some work for your dm.

Im not sure how you can alleviate that.

The Grim Hollow Player guide has rules for (relatively) balanced Transformations, including Lycanthropy, which could be worth a look for you and/or your DM. However, even it has a disclaimer about the complications of including such transformations in a game; the need to ensure the entire group is comfortable with their inclusion, and the understanding of the impact that they could have on the story and inter-party dynamics.

Definitely worth a read if you're able. 

Oh, thank you very much! I'll check it out.

I found a weird copied, possibly pirated, Fandom page on it. ...Seems pretty unbalanced to me. You can get the Druid "cast spells in beast form" ability way earlier than the Druid gets it, for one.

You found the 2014 version, not the 2024. In the 2024 version, the ability to cast spells while in hybrid form is moved to the Stage/Level 4 of the transformation rather than level 2, and the transformations are better balanced all around. Although in 2014, that is only one of several options you can choose to get one of at stage 2.

Regardless, in either version, you don't necessarily get that ability before druids (which get it at level 18, besides Moon Druids [sort of]), because there is no set pacing at which you gain new levels/stages of your transformation. It's up to your DM and the story; you don't increase in transformation stages as your character levels up. Additionally, any of the transformations are available to any class, so the ability to cast spells again is intended to give classes like Wizard access to their, well, primary thing. However, even so that ability in the 2024 version has - as I said - been pushed back to Stage 4, which you shouldn't reasonably reach until high level regardless. 

Grim hollow is balanced against other grim hollow characters and monsters; they kind of turned everything up to 11. In a traditional game it will be very strong. 

Being a lycanthrope in any way shape or form will be strong. Grim Hollow at least puts in prominent flaws to help counter-balance the power gain. 

Quote from KyrneGnomeBarbarian >>

I sort of want things to be less controlled than that. See, the original premise is that the cleric comes from an order of monster hunters (worshipping the god of civilization, sort of Oath of the Watchers-y) that doesn't know about lycanthropes. Maybe they're really rare around that territory. So he's having a sort of religious crisis because he's a monster hunter who's turning into a monster.

 You need to not only talk to the DM, you also need to talk to the other players to figure out how to make it work. Because as soon as you add the potential for PvP i.e. attacking an ally. You have huge potential to make people angry. 

I would probably roleplay it out a bunch. Like, the first full moon starts coming around, and the sun sets and the cleric begins beseeching the rest of the party to manacle him to a tree or post, spray his face with perfume and run for it.