Hi all,
One of the PCs in my Legacy of the Crystal Shard campaign is an aasimar monk who is a Chosen of Torm, the FR deity of duty and such. A few sessions ago, he was bitten by a wererat and failed his Con save to resist the curse. The PC will experience his first transformation into a wererat next session.
Do you think I should take control of the PC while he is a wererat, or should I let the player continue to play his character, even though he'll not be entirely himself (becoming neutral evil instead of lawful good). I'm not a big fan of PvP, as it quite often leads to hurt feelings and bruised egos and the like.
I also thought it would be cool to have his deity weigh in somehow. Since Torm discovered that his church was rife with corruption during the Time of Troubles, he now requires his followers to root out corruption wherever they find it. Rooting out the corruption in Bryn Shander was this PC's call to action for the adventure (and it looks very much like he's going to fail at that ~ which will make it very difficult for him to gain access to remove curse for various reasons), and here he is letting himself get corrupted by lycanthropy himself!
What do you reckon I should do as a consequence? I'm thought maybe Torm could send some kind of underling to confront the PC and insist that he agree to a one-on-one trial by combat. If the PC wins, the underling will cure him of the curse. If he fails, he will be stripped of his Chosen status and not be cured.
I'm not sure what sort of underling would be fair, though. The angels are all too powerful for a 4th level PC (the lowest is CR 10). Torm likes to ride a gold dragon into battle, so maybe the CR 3 wyrmling gold dragon would work.
Anyone got any better ideas?
Cheers,
Jonathan
I wrote a blog on The Monster Within to address how to work themes like this.
I think for sure I'd make this at least a 3 session story arc wherein the player has an agonizing transformation, wrestles with the destructive influence of the were-rat, and finally achieves some peace or solution to his problem.
The handy thing about stretching it a bit is that you can aim your ending at his approach to the problem. If your player turns to his Deity to relieve him, you handle it that way. If he stoops to necromancy for a cure, you move that way. Etc. Try to pay attention to his approach to the problem and adjust accordingly.
I think there are a number of questions you should answer before you decide.
1) Do you think it would ruin the campaign if the PC were to remain a wererat?
2) Do you think that the player wants to remain a wererat and lose his chosen of Torm status?
3) Do you think the player is capable of roleplaying a lawful evil wererat that would certainly have to hide his cursed form from adventurers and authorities?
Once you've answered these, you can then decide how difficult a champion to send.
What are the other PCs in the party? Perhaps they can experience the PC change into a wererat and then they can decide what to do with their companion.
If they have a cleric, let the cleric pray for help or find a church so that he/she can call in a favor.
I have a feeling that a CR 3 Wyrmling would kill one 4th level PC in a one on one fight.
If you are going to go the combat route, here's an idea, maybe have Torm send an emissary that looks like the god himself and make him a complete equal to the PC in question. This way at least there is a 50% chance that the PC will defeat the emmissary. Also, if you really want the PC to win, have the PC turn into a wererat once it gets bloodied by the emmisary. Then it will be immune to non-magical or silvered weapons. This would be ironic. The actual curse would be what made him triumph so that he could rid himself of the curse. (I guess you could use the same trick with the Wyrmling too).
bawylie wrote:
If the player would be really good at that, then you can let them. If you're iffy, or you have pertinent plot info, I'd snag the character for that session (letting them know ahead of time, obviously!)
just a question, is he evil when only transformed? Cause then you could just deal with his transformations as a group, and still have a their party memeber. now cue a journey to find remove curse
cowleymen wrote:
pukunui wrote:
I've been thinking actually that I'll talk to him ahead of the session and see what his expectations are. I'll also talk to the other player whose PC is aware of the curse to see what her plans are - will she go along with his request to chain him or will she let him run free?
Now that I've had more time to think about it, I reckon Torm would only confront him if he chose to embrace the curse - and therefore accept the corruption. If he continues to fight it - and seeks a way to cure it - then Torm probably wouldn't have any reason to confront him. I was just thinking it could be a fun little thing to work in the "anti-corruption" angle of his deity but I don't want to force it.
pukunui wrote:
Yes, I think the player is regarding it as a test of his PC's willpower and such. He has said that he doesn't want to embrace the curse.
He told the NPC cleric who could have cured him that he might have need of her services upon his return. Unfortunately, the actions that the PCs have taken since then may result in them being unable to access that cleric again. I'm thinking I'll give the player a head's up about that and give him the option of appealing to his deity for help (which could result in a trial by combat).
It sounds like the player wants to know what will happen to his character. I too would be curious.
This first time he changes, arrange for some NPCs to be along with the PC party. Have him change during a non-critical moment. He keeps his wits about him (at first). I also would remind the Fighter of that silver chain. If the player "falls under the curse", have the NPC wererat run away. Then give the player the ally to play "for the duration".
In a few days their Donkey2 - who had bolted in a previous combat and is now lost - wanders back into town carrying the (exhausted) PC over his back. 
He remembers nothing about what he did in the meantime. Maybe later he can piece things together? (Assume he just ran as a wild animal, for now - do not torment the PC with Jekyll-and-Hyde.)
I've asked the player how he's envisioning things playing out. Just waiting to hear back.
They are currently at a hot spring on the edge of a glacier. There are some NPC barbarian tribesmen with them.
Question: Do lycanthropes typically transform for the whole day of the full moon or just at night? Also, I read somewhere (possibly an older edition of D&D) that lycanthropes transform for "the three nights of the full moon". I presumed that actually meant the one night of the full moon and the two nights on either side when the moon is very nearly full.
The 3-night full moon thing was 3.x, and I think to "extend" a non-true lycan to experience their curse a little bit more than once a day. Perhaps they also saw "tie me down for THREE days" as less abusable than just a single one.
But yeah, go with your own lore, mingled with whatever you'd like (using 5th ed MM for inspiration/ideas, obviously!). I, myself, wouyld probably do one of those "start at night at a random time, last until sunrise" sorta deals. But the PC and player will never really know until it happens for the first time...
pukunui wrote:
Timborama wrote:
pukunui wrote:
pukunui wrote:
BRJN wrote:
I've been thinking about the silvered chain and whether it should have any effect. I don't think it should deal damage, as having the wererat be killed by a chain with which he's been bound seems a bit anticlimactic. I'm thinking maybe instead I'll say that it hurts but not enough to deal damage. Instead, if he ends up being bound all night, he won't be able to take a long rest and he'll suffer a level of exhaustion at the end of it.
I think that depends on presentation. For instance, I'd describe the chain as galling at first, then burning. Then about an hour into the confinement "...and you know, without a doubt, that if you remain bound by this silver chain, you'll be dead by morning."
Mostly id be interested to see where the player takes it and what the others do in response.
bawylie wrote:
pukunui wrote:
That's not a bad idea.
I don't think it would kill em. But I'm pretty sure they would FEEL like it would.
Fair enough. I think I'll run with that. Thanks!
EDIT: By the way, I've heard back from both players now. As I mentioned upthread, the one player whose PC is in on it says she is intending to comply with the cursed PC's wishes. The player of the cursed PC, meanwhile, has said that he does not intend to have the PC embrace the curse. Rather, his PC's motivation is "to find out what gives the wererats strength, agility and speed. Also, if he can control most of his urges within the City, he might be able to discover the wererat hideout in the city itself by infiltrating the other wererats, come full moon."
Unfortunately, I'm not sure he'll be able to make it back to town in time to pull that off, but it's nice to know he's got a plan just the same.
So where DO lycanthropes get their strength? You'll need an answer.
I favor a kind of sensualist relationship with the goddess of the moon. It's an irresistible passion that completely overwhelms them at the full moon and causes depression during the new moon. The goddess doesn't reciprocate though, so it's entirely unrequited. Anyway that extreme passion drives their behavior
Good question. I'll have to see if FR has anything specific about it. If not, I'll have to make something up quick, as we're playing again tomorrow night.
It's gonna be SUPER awkward after the PC is allowed to change and infiltrates the Wererat hideout and wakes up naked without any memory of what happened last night while also in a secret sewer hideout 
(or, at least as awkward as that run-on sentence!)
LOL. What's even more awkward is the fact that they've already cleared out the wererat hideout.
I don't think Bryn Shander has sewers, so the surviving wererats would just be scattered around town in various inns and safehouses.
EDIT: By the way, I'm planning on giving the PC two saving throws to fend off the curse: a Con save to resist the physical transformation and a Cha save to resist the personality shift from LG to NE. They'll both be hard saves (DC 20).
He gets three chances, on the night of the full moon and the two nights before and after when the moon is 97% full.
Listen, being good is a restriction one places on oneself. Given the choice between the virtuous and something else, a good person chooses virtue. I would be reluctant to remove the element of choice and hang it all on a die roll.
For instance, the lycanthrope in him has specific violent urges. Maybe a hunger that's only satiation is destruction. But whether or not he acts on that or not is IMO more interesting than rolling randomly to determine behavior. It seems too convenient and even trivial to hand wave (or die wave). And any good monster-within tale is about the struggle between the man and the monster. You lose that if you just throw dice at it. (If that's not where this story is going, then NVM. But if it IS, then there's rich development to explore here).
That said, I would have people treat him as though he were evil anyway.
It's a supernatural curse. I think it's supposed to remove the element of choice. In fact, the text (MM, pg 206) even says that "when the full moon rises, the curse becomes too strong to resist, transforming the individual into its beast form ... When the moon wanes, the beast within can be controlled once again. Especially if the creature is unaware of its condition, it might not remember the events of its transformation, though those memories often haunt a lycanthrope as bloody dreams."
Instead of just forcing the change on him, I'm actually giving him the chance to resist it. Besides, the player wants to roll some dice. (And yes, this is really only an aside to the main event, so I don't know that I want to get all that in-depth with the whole "monster within" thing.)
Gotcha
I appreciate your concern, though. If this was a Ravenloft game (or something similar), I'd probably go into more depth with it. I think a few dice rolls will suffice for our purposes in the context of Icewind Dale, though.
The other thing is that I honestly don't know where the PC will be when he transforms. The pre-full moon won't be until the following in-game night, and depending on the choices the group makes, they could be in a barbarian camp, on the tundra, or in a cave for the first night. If all goes well, he could potentially be back in Bryn Shander for the next two nights, though.
EDIT:
bawylie wrote:
Selune, goddess of the Moon, spent time and effort in 4e with those who resisted the curse of lycanthropy. (Including a merciful death in the worse case.) So if the PC is resisting, he feels an outside aid to his efforts, as if somebody WANTS him to succeed. But in his tormented state, he doesn't know who or how or from where this feeling comes. Later on you can introduce an NPC Silverstar (devotee of Selune) - or use an NPC who the character aided in the past, reverences Selune "on the side". Amazing how divine coincidece works, isn't it?
Not a bad idea. I'm not sure he'll be a wererat for long enough to catch Selûne's notice but it's something to keep in mind. Thanks.
I use points = to half the player's level plus constitution modfier . Every 3 turns while in beast form they must make a Con saving throw or lose 1 point. When the points go down to 0 i gain control.
They regain 1 point after a short rest and all of them after a long rest. They can also spend a point to transform at will.
So the player decided to reveal the curse to the rest of the party, which meant that when his transformation started, everyone was involved.
The druid cast hold person on him when he started to change so they could tie him up. He then switched to moonbeam, which was just nasty.
The PC's 'adopted' son took pity on him and released him from his chains, but not before setting up some bear traps.
The PC decided to make a run for it. The fighter knocked him down with her sword (which is silvered), so the son cast invisibility on him, enabling him to escape.
Everyone was pretty annoyed with the boy, but nothing untoward happened after that. And as soon as they got back to town, the PC went straight to the local cleric of Lathander and got her to remove the curse. So that's the end of that.
I like the wrinkle the experience put into your campaign, a very nice narrative excursion. Nice.
It wasn't the only wrinkle that occurred last night. The black ice caused some conflict as well. As much as I normally dislike PvP, it's been a lot of fun wreaking havoc on the party's cohesion during this campaign so far. Fortunately, the players have managed to keep it from getting too personal, although emotions have run high on a few occasions.
Good stuff!
You can read more about it in my recap: Welcome to Icewind Dale!
When you said the lycanthropy had been cured by a priest I thought "Well, that's fairly anticlimactic", but having read your recap it seems there was still a lot of fun had dealing with it in the short time he was cursed. Your campaign sounds like it's going to be a great one.
It was a wee bit anticlimactic.