Werehumans. That realy makes them scratch their heads. ^^ Also, whywolfes transform "Because!" am i right?

thank you, i am going to base a session off of this comment. ill let you know how it goes XD

Go full time travel with Whenwolves!

THERE-wolf! lol

Whowolves

The myths that D&D's lycanthropes were based on only specified wolves, because that's probably the apex predator in the area of the myths. Doesn't mean that TSR or Wizards of the Coast bastardized anything by expanding it to other creatures. Sure, it is looking less and less like the original myths, but guess what? with each book, TV series, and movie, the myth has been evolving on its own.

Yeah, but in the books lycanthropes are the term for all were-animals. We're talking about DnD, not mythology

The criticism was about linguistics, not mythology. Fair point that the DnD rulebooks group them all as lycanthropes, but given that "lycan" means "wolf" it is a little strange to ascribe that term to, say, a weretiger; that's the point they were trying to make.

If you're going to spit hairs on Latin and Greek roots of words in the English Language, you're going to have a bad time. There are many examples of words that no longer fit their Latin or Greek roots, either because the language had changed, or they found the original meaning to be too small.

Makes a good point, and the reply misses it completely.

That sounds awsome what kinda stats would you give them

I was thinking something similar for the Beasts of War part, though for removing it, I've thought of a few things, A Druid is able to "supress" Lycanthropy in a individual for up to a week with a ritual that lasts as for 1-7 hours, and a group of them can remove it with a ritual, however the Lycanthrope undergoes extreme pain that would kill someone without the curse, and it results in one person and a "regular" animal of the same kind that the Lycanthrope was, (the ritual is essentially ripping the animal out of a person) so a werewolf would be cured and there would be a new wolf in the world, and if said person was a caster, they'd be able to take the animal as a familiar without any real fuss, only thing is finding a group of Druids large enough to perform the ritual is the hard part and even then they would have to be convinced to go through with the ritual, but the method has a 100% cure rate. Another way would be to visit a priest, though this is dependent on a few things for instance a "true born" (born of at least 1 parent that is a Lycanthrope) Lycanthrope can't be cured this way, and depending on how the curse was placed on any other Lycanthrope things might get complicated for instance the followers of a God of War can't remove a curse placed by a God of Hunting, but those who follow a God of Magic or Life can, etc., but something like a Hag placing the curse is fair game for anyone, it's a lot less painful then the ritual druids can perform, a lot easier to get done since even a wandering cleric can do this method with the right equipment, but doesn't result in a animal being spontaneously created, though there are perks and downsides to being a lycanthrope aside from the obvious, since one civilization views them as nobility, with many of their leaders being Lycanthropes, while another views them simply as tools to be used, and other places still have wildly varying views, though there is a additional rule that Lycanthropes follow in that no Lycanthrope can willingly harm a Druid, the few exceptions are those who are brand new and thus have effectively 0 control over themselves, those being physically and mentally forced to, and condemned Druids, who have done something absolutely unforgivable, even if others don't know they did whatever deed made them condemned in the first place, if a Lycanthrope harms a druid then something is very wrong, just even then it's up in the air as to what it is, since Druids follow essentially the same rule just reversed.

I don't know about other systems, but Pathfinder came out with a system called "corruptions" that works a lot like that. Corruptions can give you boons and they can also make your life harder. The thing is, if you don't properly resist when you're most susceptible to the corruption, you eek closer to what the corruption is trying to make you in the first place, only becoming under the GM's control if you fail 3 times, and even then, GMs can let you keep the character if you hold true to it's text. There are corruptions for everything from lycanthropy to vampirism to lichdom to becoming more machine than man.

Lars Dahl no in werhouses its a common mistake

Do they wear underwer?

puntastish!

I see what you did there...

Nice

Under there...

Under-were?

effective, mildly less subtle.

Undaar Thorbran i treat it like a curse. If the pc's get it u start with the cursed without knowing because they did not know doing an certain action will cause you to become a wear wolf. The pc on night watch will have a fight with the cursed pc nor knowing it was a friend. Then later at night time when the cursed turned on the pc would go into a,city kill people and return to bace then a mage or a ranger would us a spell to find the beast or tracking it's foot prints. Then reveal one of the pc's are cursed. Then have them figure it out who it is with the forgotten typed clues.

That's ok when I transform into my were 🐻 shape l can only speak to bears don't use spells even though I'm a druid magic user .👁️ Lose that ability. but some times. I can look like a huge half 🐻 shape humanelf or a huge 🐻 with a bad temper

liam duczek Sounds batship crazy Well time to kill myself for that pun

Alcachaz F

Maybe something like the Borg collective?

RPG incorporated: If you're talking about a more SciFi/Horror setting, Lycanthropy is treated like a virus, maybe even an offshoot of rabies. The Borg don't use a virus in a biological sense. It's nanomachines that have a very specific programming that slowly changes the "infected" body to one that is compatible with the borg tech. Cybermen from older Dr Who shows forgo the nanomachines and everything is just added on or replaced.

Mike Winans: It depends on what stories you're talking about and the settings. Long before our understanding of virology, catching a virus could be seen as falling under some devil's curse that was slowly killing you. That's why most fantasy story settings, and even quite a few SciFi and Horror settings call Lycanthropy a curse. But, there are a fair amount of SciFi and Horror that do equate Lycanthropy to a disease like Rabies, except that you turn into an insane wolf instead of getting all foamy, biting those near you, and dying.

Jack Linde from a mechanical standpoint in 5E at least, spells like lesser restoration can be used to cure disease, but not to lift curses. Remove curse lifts curses, but doesn’t cure disease. Curses are generally considered to be magic, therefore the question of whether a lycanthrope could transform within an antimagic field comes up, where if it is a disease it is generally considered to be biological and that may affect that ruling. From a narrative standpoint I agree, it depends on the level of knowledge and research available in the campaign setting as to whether diseases in general are considered to be distinct from curses or not.

Mike Winans: Now you're going from a purely high level look at how lycanthropy is viewed to how it functions mechanically within a single gaming system. D&D has always asserted that Lycanthropy is a curse and not a disease. Since you're specifically asking about 5e, I had to go to the 5e Monster Manual (because, of course 5e PHB and 5e DMG wouldn't list it... sigh...) On Page 206 of the Monster Manual, under the entry for Lycantropes is a heading called "Curse of Lycanthropy". It states: "A Remove Curse spell can rid an affected lycanthrope of the curse, but a natural born lycanthrope can be freed of the curse only with a wish." It didn't say how antimagic zones would affect lycanthropy, but my guess would be it all depends on if the person was bitten or born with it. If we're talking a bite, I would treat it like an enchantment: the anti magic-zone does not remove the curse, but the curse doesn't manifest while the cursed individual is within the zone. But, it sounds like the material treats a natural born lycanthrope as if the curse is an innate creature ability. Since anti-magic zones don't apply to creature abilities, unless they're specifically stated as a spell, the afflicted individual would still be subject to the curse's effects while in the anti-magic zone. Then again, there's a whole debate on DnDBeyond.com about this. Still, if you're the DM, it's your game and your rules. You could rules that some god created the curse by changing the fabric of reality, so it's not affected by anti-magic zones. Or, you could rule it a magic based affliction and no one gets to shape shift or use their powers within anti-magic zones. Up to you.

a were-mosquito gnome would be the biggest pain in the world.

The WereMosquito is the provincial bird of Manitoba .

there was a module in the 1980's with a Rakshasa. Nobody survived when I ran it.

A Pack is a group of wolves, and a Gang is a group of elk. What you described as a group in a chain of authority (or command, if you prefer) is typically called a 'hierarchy', possibly a tribe (what primitive human groups are called). And a group of Bikers is, of course, is a Motorcycle Club. LEARNED!

TheAdarkerglow werewolves are also human-ish/humanoid. And that also taints the animal side.

But that's just it: Lycanthropic beings are most often a Human (or humanoid) who has been somehow cursed, infected, or otherwise infused with a beastly half. They are human, and yet they are some savage monster as well, and the person inside knows what other humans would do if they discovered there was a monster in their midst, and so a lycanthrope would either hide the fact that it was a were-creature, or attempt to gain distance from civilization, for fear of being hunted and put to death. And if it does stay near people, most attacks will be fatal, as not to introduce competition or to alert the society to the presence of were wolves by increasing the chances for a sighting. Of all the creatures I could think of being associated with lycanthropy, the were-rat is the only one I see commonly spreading into any kind of colonies, and that speaks more to the nature of rats. Of course, if you get into White Wolf or Vampire: The Masquerade, there are indeed societies of werewolves and various other creatures, and they tend towards tribes and clans, once again still not in packs or gangs. It can even be hereditary in certain lore. Oh. And I don't think the term 'animal side' is appropriate. Humans are animals. Where a bear has sharp teeth and claws, we have opposable thumbs and big brains. But we are still animals, part of the animal kingdom, and it is more fit to say that the violence of the beast is a manifestation of the primal animal which man has tried endlessly and futilely to suppress, and it is this attempt to distinguish between the man and the animal which causes such an explosive dichotomy. If the human animal and inner animal are in balance and at peace, the lycanthrope will be no different in regardless of the skin it wears.