Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 hahntsak7 Dec 24, 2009 2:53:04	other than the various things involved in these lycantropes as monsters controlled their changes, but as PCs or NPCs it IMO should be beyond their control at the whims of the moons or in the case of the game the whim of the die or dice per set period [beginning of encounter to end of said encounter] for any PC Lycantropes, roll 1d8. upon a 1,2,7, or 8 Beast form is forced upon you. you cannot weid weapons. Upon a 3,4,5, or 6 Human form is forced upon you. you cannot use personal beast form  powers linked to your lycantrope status. example: m   Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Disease +8 vs. AC; 1d4 + 2 damage, and the target takes ongoing 2 damage (save ends) and contracts various disease What do you think?
#2 Crimson_Concerto Dec 24, 2009 3:34:43	I think you need to develop this idea a lot further first. Right now, it's just not... I don't know... cool? It's really just a major annoyance more than anything else. Or is something completely undesireable what you were going for? To really push the idea that it's a disease and curse that you want to get rid of?
#3 Neutronium_Dragon Dec 24, 2009 11:56:53	There are two good reasons not to do this: Gameplay: This effectively removes the player's control over his own character. That's not in keeping with 4E's philosophy. Nor is there any good mechanical or balance reason to include an arbitrarily punitive element. Fluff: Open up the Monster Manuals and read the lycanthrope entries. What you will find there is not the same description and story that you will find in other game systems or other fiction that use the 'cursed/diseased humans who rage under the full moon' trope (which is actually a relatively modern idea even in the real world). 4E lycanthropes are a race of shapeshifters, independent of all other races. They have full control over their abilities and they don't turn others into lycanthropes. What you're proposing goes against that. Now, you can certainly decide to change that fluff to the curse/disease trope in your own games, but the writeups that are typically being presented on these boards are written to match the official 4E description, which is why they don't include loss-of-control mechanics, nor should they be inherently expected or required to.
#4 hahntsak7 Dec 24, 2009 19:24:51	well now it's fizzled out, sorry I brought it up.
#5 pigfiend Dec 26, 2009 13:59:45	I wouldn't present this as the base character, but it could be fun for a scenario, maybe even branching over two, to present this alternate play. Sometimes I like to present encounters that allow a PC to work in a different way, but it's got to be fresh yet as understandable as their general characters. Like... maybe I'd decide on one or two encounters with a compelling reason why the cursed PC would change. One is at night and has a special moon out. Another is against some werewolves who are trying to get you to join their pack, and so their howling is instigating your change. Then maybe a simple skill challenge at the start of the infected's first turn, where failure results in a change. Then you could hand over a stat block for a werewolf to the player (maybe tweaked in the monster editor), with the intent that their PCs capabilities are utterly replaced for the encounter (except maybe options to spend an action point and to second wind). Some players might find this interesting, but some might really really hate it. For what you're proposing, one could play a druid and just impose their curse on themselves, rolling for their own personal randomness to decide whether to only be in person or beast form for the encounter.
#6 ppiechocki Dec 29, 2009 20:26:40	my party encountered a deck of many things in our Revenloft adventure. my character Danya drew a card that turned her into a weretiger, but also drew a card granting her one favor from her diety, Pelor. we travelled back in time, and i asked for full control over my transformations and my actions during them, and also gained to levels. but now, i can travel in human, hybrid, or full form and can change forms in one round. but i hit a bit of a snag... is afflicting someone else with lycanthropy an evil act?
#7 Neutronium_Dragon Dec 30, 2009 14:36:34	If you're doing it for malicious reasons then yes - if it happens incidentally because you were fighting something you would have fought anyway, then no (though you might need to do some damage control).
#8 dannoe Jan 01, 2010 11:47:39	If a guy really wants to do this, have him play a Shifter Druid whose Wild Shape is a Wolf.  Then you can change the fluff to make him a Werewolf.  At a minimum, any character can effectively play a werewolf by taking the Druid multi-class feat, which gives you the Wild Shape feature as an At-Will power.  Of course, you still need Powers to make it effective, but you can at least play a character who turns into a Wolf that way.  FYI, I built an werewolf rogue NPC for one of my games using a Shifter base and the Druid Multi-Class feat.  The guy had Pounce as an Encounter Power, but he was much more effective fighting with his rapier.  Still, it was an interesting piece of the story for awhile, and he was mobile as all heck in combat (because you shift one square as a free action when you shape-change).