Homebrew Winter Wolf (Modified and Updated) Species Details

Physical Description

Winter Werewolves appear as a mix between a winter wolf and a human. It's body is that of a human, but it has clawed hands like those of a winter wolf, as well as wolf feet, tail and furry ears. They usually have glowing eyes in shades of blue, silver and rarely gold or red. They are a little taller and bulkier than the average human, due to their savage heritage.

History

Winter werewolves are not "real" lycanthropes, but they have lycanthrope blood in their veins. In the past there was a variation of the wolf lycantropy: the winter wolf lycantropy. These werewolves happened to be much less violent than the usual ones, they were less chaotic... This contributed for the curse to not spread fast enough among other people, as the cursed ones would travel to some cave during the full moon and stay there causing no harm to their families and communities.

These real winter werewolves still exist in some places but they are rare; the new generations are much more common and although not full lycanthropes, they are still quite powerfull.

Because of their hibrid natures they can't change between wolf, humanoid and hybrid form; instead they are permanently in a hybrid form that has mixed traits of humans and winter wolves.

These new generations of hybrids sometimes fail to control their natural violence, but in general they are not innately bad or evil and generally try to fit into society. Although they are treated with suspicion by many people because of their monstrous nature, those who have been brought up close to humans since their childhood often become dear to the nearby community and will both protect the people and be protected from prejudice from outsiders.

Society

Winter werewolves descend from a true lycanthrope, through their veins the curse of a diluted lycanthropy. They live among humans who have known their ancestors, so the community around a family of winter werewolves has grown accustomed to their presence and it is not uncommon to see human children playing with a winter werewolf or one of the adults in a tavern or working in some building in the city.

Winter Werewolf Names

Winter Werewolves generally use human names to avoid attracting more attention. Some of them, usually the ones raised amongst winter wolves, might choose names that hint at wolves, but these are very, very few.

Male: Furrick, Reggin, Francis, Markus, Garrick, etc.

Female: Maria, Anne, Maeryl, Juliet, etc.

Winter Wolf (Modified and Updated) Traits

Winter Werewolves appear as a mix between a winter wolf and a human. It's body is that of a human, but it has clawed hands like those of a winter wolf, as well as wolf feet, tail and furry ears. They usually have glowing eyes in shades of blue, silver and rarely gold or red. They are a little taller and bulkier than the average human, due to their savage heritage. 

Keen Senses

You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Claws and Fangs

The damage die for your unarmed strikes increases to a d4, and you can choose to deal slashing or piercing damage instead of bludgeoning damage.

Cold Resistance

You have Resistance to Cold Damage

Snow Camouflage

When you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check to hide in snowy terrain, you are considered proficient in the Stealth skill if you aren't already, and you add double your proficiency bonus to the roll instead of any proficiency bonus you would normally apply.

Winter Wolf Language

You can speak with winter wolves, wolves, dogs, and similar creatures of the Canis family as if you shared a language. You have advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks involving those creatures.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Winter Wolf. The winter wolf language consists mostly of growls and barks, and is difficult for more human-like folk to speak properly

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom scores each increase by 1.