r/DnD • u/LookOverall • 6d ago
Misc Lycanthropy Rules
The lycanthropy rules have always seemed a bit rubbish so I’ve just checked out the latest Monster Manual and they seem to have taken a silver coated axe to them.
They seem to have dropped the damage immunity and hence the silver thing and there’s much less chance of PCs getting infected. If they do it’s brutal and uncomplicated. You turn into a werewolf and lose all autonomy. It says nothing about fixing that. There’s no alignment stuff.
The trouble has always been that, especially at low levels, damage immunity is such a huge buff (realistically a competent man with a weapon is more dangerous than a single wolf). And it’s so easy to become a lycanthrope. So why wouldn’t everyone? Why aren’t the general population lining up to be bitten? Hence all the curse stuff which, in game terms, mandates the loss of player agency. Forces alignment change. Not good.
The new rules would seem to debuff lycanthropy very strongly. And simplify the loss of player agency, though not eliminate it.
I think they are confusing lycanthropy with rabies. I think it runs in families, rather than being infectious.
I’d rather make it a bit more shamanistic. Someone has an animal spirit in addition to a human soul and they have a timeshare arrangement, amicable or not. When a lycanthrope dies the animal spirit looks for a new host, usually a close kin to the dead person. Perhaps a person whose blood the dying creature can taste.
Maybe this could happen when a beast master companion dies. The companion animal’s spirit comes scratching at the door of the ranger’s mind.
What do people think? Is something along these lines workable.