Lycanthropes and You
For those of you who don’t use lycanthropes in your games
often, Pathfinder takes from the old D&D rules and has two differing
forms of these emblematic shapechangers. There are those who much like in the
movies – One of my favorites being The Howling –
get bitten and are overcome by the curse of lycanthropy, and we call
these the afflicted. There are also those with the inborn ability to shift form
inherited from a parent, and these are known as natural lycanthropes. These two
types will become important as we look at how to use these creatures in our
games.
Part of using werewolves, and other were-creatures, in
our games is the primal terror created by the beasts. Things like zombies are
unthinking, vampires tend to be romanticized, but
werewolves are pure rage and brutality. This is contrasted by the fact that for
most of their lives they have human form and can blend in among the normal
populace if they so choose. The fact that there could be a beast among the
villagers or even the party and the group just doesn’t know, even the
lycanthrope may not know, can instill just the right amount of terror and
paranoia.
We learn in the very well written “Ecology of the
Lycanthrope” in the third book of the Carrion Crown adventure path called Broken Moon,
that for the most part afflicted lycnathropes may not even know they carry the
curse. They often have no memory of the nights the change. When an afflicted
werecreature learns of his curse, much like thewererats in book one of the Shattered Star Adventure
Path, they can try and change form outside of the full moon. Where the
afflicted will never try and change back to their human form during the forced
changes, natural lycanthropes can attempt to revert back with some difficulty.
Once we understand that the afflicted may not know about
their change we get a great means of throwing off our players. When the cursed
being is not under the throes of the beast within she retains the alignment she
had before the change. So a lawful good town sheriff will detect as being good
to magic even though a few nights a month he turns into a chaotic evil mass of
fur and claws. When confronted by the fact that the villain is actually a nice
honest man most of the time, how do our players work toward solving this issue?
This can lead to some great role play opportunities, especially if one of the
characters is Ulfen, because their people see lycanthropy as a gift not a
curse.
Although a common method of curing the afflicted lycanthrope
– such as our fictitious sheriff – is with the remove curse spell, this may not
always be available. If the party meets a werewolf before level six they won’t
have access to the spell at all. At level six they have about a fifty-fifty
chance of dispelling the afflicted’s curse. But the biggest issue is going to
be that to remove a curse you have to touch the creature, and in the case of
lycanthropes you can only cure them when they are in hybrid form. In the case
of an afflicted werecreature this means they are most likely trying to kill
you.
If they don’t have access to remove curse, a party can
always try and find another way to cure the poor soul. There are a lot of folk
remedies for curing a werewolf of this curse; which ones work in your game are
up to you. Crazy mystical cures might include blood of a unicorn or a cup of
moonlight. A common one from the movies is to kill the creature that turned
them afflicted in the first place. An interesting possible cure from Classic Horrors Revisited is to skin the werewolf in its hybrid or wolf form.
One of the other questions we have to ask ourselves is:
are all werewolves evil? Obviously there are other evil werecreatures as well,
like the werebat and wererat. But there are also good lycanthropes like the
bear. It is my understanding that being a werecreature does not actually change
your alignment at all. You just become that monster’s alignment when you lose
control on the full moon. Since natural lycanthropes can attempt to control
their change during the full moon, there is a chance they will never be tempted
by their own beast. Gods like Ashava use half-celestial werewolves as minions
so there is precedence even of goodness in these creatures.
In our games finding a werewolf – or other generally evil
werecreature – that is trying to stay the beast is another interesting story to
tell. How does a party of good characters try and reconcile these normally
ravening beasts being good? Does the party help the creature try and maintain
is goodly nature? Or do they kill it for the threat it might become? If the
killing starts will he get blamed? As a GM you could use that as the perfect
time for another killer to set up the werecreature holding on to its morality
as a patsy.
Werewolves can play a part in your game as barbaric
monster, unfortunate victim, or tragic outcast. How do you use werecreatures in
your games? What are some of your favorite folk cures for lycanthropy? How do
you handle good aligned werecreatures in your game? What happens to werewolves
on a planet with more than one moon?
The only thing the CRB looks to afflict you with in
interesting ideas for your next game. If you found today’s article sparks some
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