What is lycanthropy in 5e?
Lycanthropy is a curse that can affect humanoid player characters. A character inherits the curse of lycanthropy from their parents or becomes stricken with it after being bitten by a werewolf (or other werebeast) during gameplay. The character changes into a hybrid shapeshifter, temporarily loses control during their transformation, and must battle their ongoing bestial urges as long as the curse is active. A lycanthrope has three forms: a humanoid state, a hybrid state (when they have both humanoid and animal traits), and a pure animal form (fully transformed). The character retains their traits when in humanoid form. When they shift into their animal form, they gain powerful new traits, including speed, damage immunities, and non-equipment actions, depending on the type of werebeast that infected them. Lycanthropy caused by an injury can be dispelled by Remove Curse. A lycanthrope who genetically inherits the condition can only be cured via Wish.
Lycanthrope Types, Alignments, & Traits
Werebear: Half Humanoid/Half Bear (Neutral Good) The character gains a Strength of 19. In bear form and bear-hybrid form, you gain a +1 bonus to AC (from natural armor). You have a normal speed of 40 feet and a climb speed of 30 feet. Attack and damage rolls for natural weapons are based on Strength. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain one new trait: Keen Smell (grants advantage on Wisdom checks that rely on smell) You gain two new actions: Bite (Bear or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werebear lycanthropy. Claw (Bear or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Wereboar: Half Humanoid/Half Boar (Neutral Evil) The character gains a Strength score of 17. In boar form and boar-hybrid form, you gain a +1 bonus to AC (from natural armor). You have a normal speed of 40 feet Attack and damage rolls for the natural weapons are based on Strength. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain two new traits: Relentless (once per rest) and Charge. You gain two new actions: Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). The wereboar makes two attacks, only one of which can be with its tusks. Tusks (Boar or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (2d6 + STR) slashing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wereboar lycanthropy.
Wererat: Half Humanoid/Half Ratling (Lawful Evil)The character gains a Dexterity of 15. In your small rat form, you have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Attack and damage rolls for the bite are based on the character’s Strength and Dexterity (depending on whichever one is higher. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain one new trait: Keen Smell trait (grants advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell). You gain two new actions: Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). The wererat makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite. Bite (Rat or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR or DEX + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d4 + STR or DEX) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wererat lycanthropy.
Weretiger: Half Humanoid/Half Tiger (Neutral) The character gains a Strength of 1. In tiger form and tiger-hybrid form, you have a normal speed of 40 feet, and you get the Pounce trait, which knocks a creature prone on a failed DC (8 + Prof + STR). Attack and damage rolls for natural weapons are based on Strength. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain two new traits: Keen Hearing and Keen Smell (grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell) You gain two new actions: Bite (Tiger or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d10 + STR) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with weretiger lycanthropy. Claw (Tiger or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d8 + STR) piercing damage.
Werewolf: Half Humanoid/Half Wolf (Chaotic Evil)The character gains a Strength score of 15. In your wolf form and your wolf-hybrid form, you gain a +1 bonus to AC (from natural armor). In wolf form, you have a normal speed of 40 ft. Attack and damage rolls for the natural weapons are based on Strength. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered You gain two new traits: Keen Hearing and Keen Smell trait (grants advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell) You gain three new actions: Multiattack (Hybrid Form Only). The werewolf makes one attack with its bite and one with its claws. Bite (Wolf or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d8 + STR) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werewolf lycanthropy. Claw (Wolf or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (2d4 + STR) piercing damage.
Wereraven: Half Humanoid/Half Raven (any alignment)The character gains a Dexterity score of 15 and regains 10 hit points at the start of each turn as long as you haven’t taken damage from a silvered weapon or spell. In raven form and raven-hybrid form, you have a fly speed of 50 feet. You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain one trait: Mimicry (allows you to mimic simple sounds you have heard) You gain one new action: Beak (Raven or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR or DEX + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage in raven form, or (1d4 + STR) piercing damage in hybrid form. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wereraven lycanthropy.
Werebat: Half Humanoid/Half Bat (Neutral Evil)The character gains a Dexterity score of 17. In large bat form and bat-hybrid form, you gain Echolocation (blindsight out to a range of 60 feet as long as you aren’t deafened), have a climbing speed of 30 feet, and a fly speed of 60 feet. In humanoid form, you gain Nimble Escape (allows you to Disengage or Hide as a bonus action). You become immune to: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered. You gain two new traits: Sunlight Sensitivity and Keen Hearing. You gain one new action: Bite (Bat or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +(STR or DEX + Prof) to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d6 + STR or DEX) piercing damage and the werebat gains temporary hit points equal to damage dealt. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw. If the humanoid fails, they are stricken with werebat lycanthropy. Note: A werebat also needs to consume at least 1 pint of fresh blood each night or gain one level of rest-resistant exhaustion. One pint of blood removes one level of exhaustion.
Does lycanthropy make gameplay difficult or unfair?
Lycanthropy causes issues because it makes characters too strong. Lycanthropy is supposed to be a curse, but the “affliction” mostly just provides massive benefits that give the cursed character an unfair advantage. This kind of power imbalance can sour the whole campaign, especially for the rest of the group. The Monster Manual includes little detail about playing lycanthrope characters, so it’s up to the DM to enforce restrictions and rules that make gameplay fun, balanced, and fair for everyone. Suggestion for DMs: To create more balance, incorporate more drawbacks for lycanthrope characters and decrease the benefits. You can also simply choose to not allow lycanthropy in the campaign.
Developing & Playing a Lycanthrope Character
Take how you got the curse into account to help develop your character. Being born with the curse of lycanthropy is a totally different vibe than being infected with it through a traumatic injury. Some were-creatures may even give the “curse” of lycanthropy to a player character as a gift. Keep the circumstances in mind as your character reacts to the curse and copes with their new compulsions. Remember: Werebeasts as villains is mostly a fantasy trope. Your lycanthrope character doesn’t necessarily have to be evil or a villain.
Decide if your character will embrace or reject the curse. Embracing the curse means your character won't fight against their new nature; they may even seek to learn more about the curse, control it, and so on. Rejecting the curse means your character will struggle with and fight against their new nature. How you weave the curse into the plot is completely up to the DM and the player character, so decide early on how you feel about it.
Decide if you want the curse to be a temporary or permanent affliction. Curses are usually temporary problems, and the goal or solution is to find a cure and remove the curse. In this scenario, seeking a cure becomes a plot point for the story. The character could opt to make the curse permanent, however, and never seek out a cure. In this scenario, the DM needs to carefully control over how this plays out so the player isn’t overpowered. If you decide to go permanent, really flesh out your character’s different personalities and tendencies when in all three forms: humanoid, hybrid, and wereform.
Make sure the DM creates ground rules to limit the lycanthrope’s power. Having an overpowered player in the group can cause a lot of problems and suck the fun out of the campaign for the other players. The DM has total control to incorporate any rules they want, especially since the manuals provide very little detail to go on. Most DMs choose to increase the drawbacks and limit the benefits of the curse so everything stays balanced in the game.
Editor Advice
"Work closely with your DM to come up with clear rules for a lycanthrope character." "Since the manual is so vague about lycanthropy, be as intentional as possible when incorporating the curse into gameplay. Spend some time really thinking about how your character feels about it, how it affects your character, and even what your character looks like in their hybrid and full animal forms. Develop personalities for your character's different forms. Go all in! Then, work with your DM to ensure your choices affect the game in a fun and positive way." - Staff Writer Amber C.
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