Lycanthropy

When a person is bitten or scratched by a lycanthrope, they’ve most likely been infected with the lycan’s curse, thus becoming an infected lycanthrope—but while they harbor the lycan’s curse, these victims often don’t show symptoms until hours or days after the incident took place. Infected lycanthropes hold little power over their transformations and have been known to shift into their hybrid bestial forms under light from the full moon, as a natural response when undergoing trauma, or simply from an accelerated heart rate due to anger or stress. While infected lycanthropes aren’t usually as powerful as other lycans, their sudden transfigurations are a threat—and prove especially problematic if they occur in a large crowd of people. Infected lycanthropes can be cured—as long as it’s done quickly, before the subject undergoes their first transformation—by means of the remove curse spell or various herbal remedies. Naturally, however, the stress of realizing one has been infected is usually enough to induce the transfiguration itself, so it’s always wise to approach such a situation with a calm and cautious hand. A hunter can also kill the purestrain responsible for the infected lycanthrope, though tracking down such a source is often all but impossible—and convincing the unwitting victim to drink their sire’s blood can prove rather difficult as well. From my experience, it is best to cure those infected with other means, rather than leave them to fester while tracking down the original purestrain.        

Confronting the Curse

  Once infected with lycanthropy, a lycanthrope begins to share their soul with a dark entity known as the Beast Within. The Beast Within is the incarnation of instinctive animalistic selfishness and has its own alignment. Its foremost goals are satisfying its hunger for humanoid flesh and venting its rage upon others. Some resist the Beast, whereas others embrace it. As the lycanthrope approaches their first trigger (usually a Change trigger, described above, such as the full moon) they begin to feel troubled, nauseous, and agitated. Once its first bloodlust is triggered and ends, the lycanthrope must choose to embrace their curse or resist. Many a lycanthrope makes this decision in the heat of the moment and then suffers amnesia thereafter, forgetting that they were ever afflicted with the curse in the first place.    

Resisting the Curse

A lycanthrope that resists their curse cannot willingly transfigure into their beast or hybrid form. Whenever they transfigure, the lycanthrope enters a bloodlust, during which they act as wild predators driven by hate, hunger, and vengeance.   Alignment. A lycanthrope that resists their curse retains their alignment while in their true form. When they transfigure, however, they temporarily possess the alignment of their phenotype, as shown on the Phenotypical Alignment table.   Flaws. A lycanthrope that resists their curse gains the following flaws: “Only raw meat satisfies my hunger,” and “I can’t remember my dreams.” Additionally, they gain 1d4 flaws endemic to their phenotype, as described in appendix B.    

Embracing the Curse

A lycanthrope that embraces their curse also embraces the alignment of its Beast Within. The two effectively become one, with the host giving into its darker demands. These lycanthropes can command all their lycanthropic abilities and shapeshift at will. A lycanthrope that has embraced their curse has advantage on all Charisma saving throws made to resist a bloodlust, except for a hunger trigger.   Alignment. By embracing the curse, the lycanthrope’s alignment changes to that of the Beast Within’s. This is determined by the lycanthrope’s phenotype, as shown on the Phenotypical Alignment table.   Flaws. A lycanthrope gains the following flaw: “I crave the flesh of beasts and people.” They also gain1d4 + 2 flaws endemic to their phenotype, as described in appendix B.      

Controlling the Curse

The truly iron-willed can resist the Beast Within and still command its might. A lycanthrope that has not embraced the curse can use an action to make a Charisma saving throw with a DC equal to 10 + their character level (to a maximum of 25). On a success, they are temporarily able to shapeshift into their beast and hybrid forms at will without losing self-control. This benefit lasts until they suffer their next transfiguration trigger or until they finish a long rest. On a failed save, the lycanthrope loses its internal struggle and shapeshifts into its hybrid form, obeying the dark urges of the Beast Within. Their alignment temporarily changes to that of the Beast Within’s. The lycanthrope can repeat the saving throw again at the end of their turns, regaining control of themselves on a success. Upon regaining control, the lycanthrope immediately reverts to their true form (no action required).    

Mastering the Curse

A lycanthrope that manages to succeed on seven consecutive DC 20 Charisma saving throws (each made once a month) gains permanent control over the Beast Within. The saving throw is made at dawn following the night of the full moon. On a failed save, the lycanthrope enters a bloodlust and must begin this process anew. A lycanthrope that masters their curse can utilize their abilities at will, much like a lycanthrope that embraces the curse, but without suffering any phenotypical flaws or a change to their alignment. Only a wish spell can undo this mastery.    

Diet

A lycanthrope must consume fresh meat to survive. Whereas an ordinary person requires one pound of food per day (per the Player’s Handbook), a lycanthrope requires far more, as outlined in the Phenotypical Dietary Requirements table below. A lycanthrope only derives nourishment from meat harvested from beasts and humanoids. All other food (such as the flesh of giants or dragons) fails to nourish the lycanthrope. The meat must also be less than four days old (unless the lycanthrope is a wererat). Raw humanoid flesh is most nutritious and satisfying to lycanthropes. While they can also eat beasts, meat from a beast only counts for half its weight (rounded up) for purposes of meeting the lycanthrope’s daily meat requirement. If the meat is cooked, this also reduces its dietary impact by half (rounded up). So, for example, if a werebear typically needs 25 pounds of raw humanoid meat per day, they could also eat 50 pounds of cooked humanoid meat, 50 pounds of raw beast meat, or 100 pounds of cooked beast meat. If a lycanthrope goes more than four days without eating its fill of meat, it risks entering a hunger-induced bloodlust (see the “Bloodlust” section above)      

Phenotype	Daily Requirement of Meat
Werebat *	3lb
Werebear	25lb
Wereboar	7lb
Werecat	13lb
Werecrocodile	20lb
Werefox	3lb
Werehyena	10lb
Wererat **	3lb
Wereraven	1lb
Wereserpent	3lb
Wereshark	25lb
Werewalrus	10lb
Werewolf	15lb

   

Harvesting Meat

A lycanthrope often must slay beasts or people to sate their great hunger. For the sake of simplicity, assume that the process of harvesting and devouring meat takes 1d4 hours and that a corpse of a particular size yields the following amount of meat:

Racial Feats

• Bloodhound 
• Ferocious 
• Lycanthropic Resilience 
• Predator 
• Unbridled Fury