D&D 2024’s Werewolves Have Lost Their Bite

Last session, my players found a silvered sword. I looked it up and discovered D&D has completely lost the plot with lycanthropes!

Have you ever had one of those moments as a GM where some small event happens and it sends you down a huge rabbit hole?

That happened with me in my last session where the players found a silvered sword and I looked it up to see it has its own mechanics in this edition.

My first thought was "awesome, I'm glad to see some actual mechanics in the silver sword". And then I properly read the entry. 

An alchemical process has bonded silver to this magic weapon. When you score a Critical Hit with it against a creature that is shape-shifted, the weapon deals one additional die of damage.

So. . . not great 😬

Sure, we get mechanics in the sword now, but only getting to do something with the weapon 5% of the time is super underwhelming. And this prompted me to go and look up all the lycanthrope stat blocks in 2024 at which point "underwhelmed" became "enraged" 🤣

There's a strong argument to be made that the 2024 lycanthropes are the least lycanthrope-y lycanthropes in D&D's history, so let's take a look back at that history, and talk about why. 

Establishing the Fantasy 

Now before we dive into looking at the stats and mechanics for lycanthropes throughout the history of D&D, I think it's important to talk about the fantasy and folklore of lycanthropes so we understand what we expect from these creatures. 

There are three common aspects to lycanthropes throughout folklore: 

• First, is their connection to the moon. They transform under the light of the full moon, and when cursed their first transformation takes place during that full moon. 
• Second, speaking of curses, lycanthropy is a form of curse that can be passed from one person to another. This is one of the most interesting aspects of fighting lycanthropes in D&D because dying isn't the only threat when fighting them.
• And finally we have lycanthrope's relationship to silver. In classic folklore, silver is a foil to a lot of shape-changing creatures; it's powerful against lycanthropes, but it's also powerful against vampires and shape-changing demons. So having that relationship with silver is one of the core elements of lycanthropy. 

AD&D

All the way back in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons lycanthropes possessed all three of these key qualities. 

They could only be harmed by silver or +1 magic weapons or better.

They changed under the light of the full moon and had a 90% chance of changing during a full moon.

And any creature that suffered 50% or more of its hit points in damage risked being turned into a lycanthrope by being infected with the disease of lycanthropy. 

In advanced AD&D you could consume the Belladonna plant to give you a 25% chance to cure this disease within 1 hour, but there was also a 1% chance that consuming the Belladonna plant would kill you 😂

AD&D 2e

One of the things that I enjoy most about AD&D2e is that it really gives a lot of space and time over to creature's habitats, to their ecology, and to the ways in which they behave, which really helps you get a better sense of what that creature is beyond its stat block. 

This edition also acknowledged that "lycanthropy" is a misnomer! (shout out to my fellow etymology nerds)

In AD&D2e lycanthropy could be passed on through bites or other damage but there was also a spell called the Curse of Lycanthropy that could be cast to impart the curse onto another creature via magic. 

Lycanthropes in second edition were immune to damage unless it came from a silver or +1 magic weapon or better and they would still transform under the light of the full moon. 

The big difference in this edition was how the curse was transmitted. At the end of a combat you would calculate all of the damage done by a lycanthrope from its natural attacks and then that would represent the percentage chance for you to become infected.

So if a werewolf dealt 24 points of damage to you from all of its attacks during the course of a battle, at the end of that battle you would make your check and have a 24% chance to become infected with lycanthropy. 

Belladonna is still present as an option aside from magic to cure lycanthropy. You still have the 25% chance that it will cure the affliction if consumed within an hour and it incapacitates you for 1D4 days or longer depending on how much you consume. 

Otherwise, you needed to cast the Remove Curse spell to remove the lycanthropy from a character, but this wasn't guaranteed and was still a percentage chance.

D&D 3.5

In 3.5 Lycanthropes had a damage reduction instead of being immune to all damage other than the silver.

So a werewolf that was afflicted by lycanthropy had damage reduction 5, meaning it would reduce all sources of damage by 5 unless the weapon was silver. A natural born werewolf had damage reduction 10 unless it was attacked by silver. 

Like previous editions, in 3.5 lycanthropes transform under the full moon, at which point the character would shape shift into their animal form and become an NPC under the DM's control. 

To cure lycanthropy in 3.5, you could still consume belladonna within an hour of a lycanthrope's attack, although this time it was a dc20 fortitude save rather than a percentage chance to cure the affliction. 

And like in previous editions you could use a spell, this time the Remove Disease spell, to cure your lycanthropy but it still wasn't guaranteed.

D&D 4e

4th edition is where we really start to depart from a lot of the conventions already established for lycanthropy in D&D. 

In 4th edition, there is nothing tying lycanthropes to the full moon or having them change during the full moon. There is just an an off-hand mention that they are more active during the full moon. 

Lycanthropes in 4th edition keep their connection to silver, but this time it manifests as regeneration that is turned off if they are attacked by a silver weapon. 

And rather than having the curse of lycanthropy be a separate thing in this edition, each form of lycanthrope in 4e got their own disease which followed the mechanical formatting of 4th edition's diseases. 

Werewolves got the Moon Frenzy disease, which despite the name, had nothing to do with the moon, and initially gave you a penalty to will defences and then eventually made it so that someone inflicted with moon frenzy randomly attacks any creature that is close to them. 

Up until this point, this was the most different incarnation of lycanthropes we had seen, but it seems like the designers learned their lesson as the 5e version was a return to a lot of the classics. 

5e 2014

In 5e 2014, lycanthropy was once again its own distinct curse and only the Remove Curse spell could cure you. Unless you're a natural born lycanthrope, in which case only the Wish spell could cure you. 

Lycanthrope's in 2014 are immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks that are not made with silver weapons. 

And once cursed with lycanthropy, your character will change during the full moon in the 2014 version of the rules. 

5e 2024

Which brings us to the most recent version of lycanthropy in the 2024 version of the rules.

Lycanthropy no longer exists as a separate curse or affliction. Instead, now when a lycanthrope curses a creature, if the cursed target drops to zero hit points, it instead rises as a lycanthropy under the DM's control. 

There is no connection to the moon in the lycanthropes in 2024, and aside from doing slightly more damage on a critical hit, silver weapons have no interaction with lycanthropes. 

Meaning 2024 lycanthropes have lost all three of those core fantasy pillars we discussed earlier, their connection to the moon, their connection to silver, and imparting an interesting curse. 

Lycanthropes in 2024 are so far removed from how they've historically been portrayed in that its possible for a GM to run a werewolf, for example, and for the players to just assume they are fighting against a normal (albeit powerful) wolf. 

Even if the werewolf did curse a player, because of how the curse now works, it could be months or even longer before the player knew about it because they might not drop to 0 hit points for a long time. 

In my partner's current campaign, her warlock has never been on 0 hp and they've been playing for close to three years, so using the 2024 rules she could have been a werewolf this whole time and just not know 🙃

So after half a century of moonlit transformations and a silver connection, 2024’s lycanthropes feel like they’ve lost their soul. Which is why I decided to fix them.

Fixing the Problem

There was no way I could just accept the version of lycanthropes we got in 2024 without doing something about it, so for the last few weeks I have been working on a new product. 

Mooncursed will be a new supplement that is intended to "fix" the problems I have with were-creatures in 5e by redesigning the curse, changing how silver weapons interact with were-creatures, introducing some new magic items, and then remaking the SRD lycanthropes and introducing several new were-creatures. 

I'm still a couple weeks away from being finished, but Mooncursed will contain the following monsters: 

• Wererat (Reforged! SRD monster.)
• Werewolf (Reforged! SRD monster.)
• Wereboar (Reforged! SRD monster.)
• Werecat (Reforged! SRD monster.)
• Werebear (Reforged! SRD monster.)
• Werebird (New monster.)
• Sauriathrope (New monster, think werecrocodiles, lizards, or dinosaurs.)
• Thalassathrope (New monster, think weresharks, rays, and other ocean creatures.)
• Forvalaka (New Legendary monster. A werecreature/vampire hybrid.)
• The First Wolf (New Legendary monster. The OG progenitor of the mooncurse, and campaign-finale villain.)

Mooncursed will be available in the store when it's finished, or you can sign up to our newsletter at the bottom of the pge to get notified when it goes live! 

And let me know down in the comments which edition had your favourite incarnation of lycanthropes! 

Much love
Anto