Complete Guide to DnD Player Lycanthropy

Author: pandaniel

Lycanthropy and You

In Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, lycanthropy is a dangerous curse that can make you (temporarily) lose control of your character, but when contracted in the right way, can offer unique additions to your character’s capabilities. This guide will go over the ruleset outlined in the Monster Manual (MM) as well as the addendum found in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (VRGR).

Whether you’re a player looking to embrace lycanthropy mechanics for your character or a Dungeon Master aiming to introduce these rules to your campaign, this guide will provide you with practical insights about lycanthropy within the D&D 5e system. So, let’s dive straight into the mechanics and strategies that will unleash the power of lycanthropy in your D&D world.

How Does it Work?

Within the Monster Manual’s section on lycanthropes, there is a subsection detailing how humanoid player characters can become afflicted with a lycanthropic curse, as well as its effects on such a character. For the purposes of D&D 5e, lycanthropes are not limited to just werewolves, but include a whole list of were-creatures.

An interesting note to these rules is that after the Monster Manual’s release, eight non-humanoid player races/lineages/species were introduced to the system, which cannot be afflicted with the curse. These are the autognome, centaur, changeling, fairy, hexblood, plasmoid, satyr, and thri-kreen. Being unaffected by the curse can be seen as either an upside, or a downside as will become clear later. As part of not being humanoid, these races are either immune or actually susceptible to other effects, which we talk about in our DnD 5E Optimized Race and Lineage Guide.
For those that are susceptible to the curse, and want to rid themselves of its affliction, remove curse does the trick. If your character was somehow a lycanthrope from birth, you would need to cast wish, if you believe it is worth the risk of being unable to cast the spell in the future.

Is Being A Lycanthrope a Bad Thing?

Lycanthropy, at its worst, is a (temporary) loss of control of your character, which is clearly not great. However, at its best, it gives your character powerful benefits. These two situations are clear-cut: if your alignment coincides with the lycanthrope that cursed you, you are fine; if not, it is DM fiat what happens, which can lead to your character becoming an NPC under their control. The alignment of different lycanthropes used to be listed on their statblocks, but the revised wereraven statblock no longer lists its alignment, so it is now up to the DM. Getting cursed while you share the werecreature’s alignment is quite beneficial! Here is a summary of what the different lycanthropes have to offer:

All lycanthropes get a Shapechanger trait, which allows them to polymorph into an animal form, a true (humanoid) form, and a hybrid form. Any statistics besides size and natural armor remain the same in all three forms, but they gain the lycanthrope’s damage immunities, traits, and actions* that don’t involve equipment**. In addition, they gain the lycanthrope’s speeds in non-humanoid forms. Any equipment they wear or carry isn’t transformed when shapechanging, and they revert to their true form if they die. On top of this, all published lycanthropes increase one of your ability scores if it’s lower than the lycanthrope’s – typically Strength, but a few boost Dexterity instead. If taking advantage of lycanthropy, you should generally be in hybrid form when possible in combat, as this will allow you to speak (unlike the animal form) while retaining the speeds and natural attacks of the animal form.

*As part of these actions, all of the werecreatures include an attack that carries the curse of lycanthropy. The lycanthrope rules say that non-lycanthropes hit by these attacks need to succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + the lycanthrope’s proficiency bonus + the lycanthrope’s Constitution modifier) or be cursed. While slightly ambiguous, interpret this as changing the DC of the attacks, not adding another saving throw on top.

**It is ambiguous what this implies for Multiattack features. We have interpreted this as meaning that if equipment is mentioned as part of the Multiattack, even if only for one of the various lycanthrope forms, you do not get the Multiattack feature. If no equipment is mentioned, you do get the feature. Some lycanthropes allow you to just make two (weapon) attacks, sometimes with the limitation that only one can be with their specific natural weapon, which does not have to involve equipment by default, making us believe that they are kept. Note, that if you allow lycanthropy in your game, it is not unreasonable to allow the parts of the Multiattack features that don’t include equipment.

Werebear (NG)

The werebear was introduced in the Monster Manual. Your Strength score becomes 19 if it wasn’t higher already, you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, and you gain the Keen Smell trait, which grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. In your Large bear form and your bear-hybrid form: your natural armor AC is 1 higher; you have a normal speed of 40 ft., and a climb speed of 30 ft. 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 (NE)

The wereboar was introduced in the Monster Manual. Your Strength score becomes 17 if it wasn’t higher already, you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, and once per rest you can use the Relentless trait, which allows you to drop to 1 hit point instead if taking 14 damage or less would reduce you to 0 hit points. In your boar form and your boar-hybrid form: your natural armor AC is 1 higher (usually irrelevant, as this is overridden by armor or unarmored AC from mage armor or Unarmored Defense); you have a normal speed of 40 ft.; and you get the Charge trait which makes you do 2d6 extra slashing damage when moving 15 feet straight towards a target and hitting them with a tusk attack on the same turn. 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 (LE)

The wererat was introduced in the Monster Manual. Your Dexterity score becomes 15 if it wasn’t higher already, you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, and you gain the Keen Smell trait, which grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. In your Small rat form you have darkvision with a range of 60 ft. 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 (N)

The weretiger was introduced in the Monster Manual. Your Strength score becomes 17 if it wasn’t higher already, you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, and you gain the Keen Hearing and Smell trait, which grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell. In your tiger form and your tiger-hybrid form, you have a normal speed of 40 ft., and you get the Pounce trait, which knocks a creature prone on a failed DC (8 + Prof + STR) Strength saving throw when moving 15 feet straight towards the target and hitting them with a claw attack on the same turn. If they are prone, you then get to make a bite attack against the same target as a bonus action. 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 (CE)

The werewolf was introduced in the Monster Manual. Your Strength score becomes 15 if it wasn’t higher already; you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered; and you gain the Keen Hearing and Smell trait, which grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell. In your wolf form and your wolf-hybrid form, and your natural armor AC is 1 higher. In your wolf form you have a normal speed of 40 ft. 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 (any/unknown)

The wereraven was first introduced in Curse of Strahd, and later revised in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Your Dexterity score becomes 15 if it wasn’t higher already, you regain 10 hit points at the start of each of your turns if you haven’t taken damage from a silvered weapon or spell, and you gain the Mimicry trait, allowing you to mimic simple sounds you have heard, which observers can identify as imitations with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check. In your raven form and your raven-hybrid form, you have a fly speed of 50 ft. 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 (NE)

The werebat was introduced in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Your Dexterity score becomes 17 if it wasn’t higher already, you become immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, you gain the Sunlight Sensitivity trait, making you roll attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight with disadvantage while in Sunlight, and you gain the Keen Hearing trait, which grants you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. In your Large bat form and your bat-hybrid form: you gain Echolocation, which means you have blindsight out to a range of 60 feet as long as you aren’t deafened; you have a climbing speed of 30 ft., and a fly speed of 60 ft. In your humanoid form: you gain Nimble Escape, which allows you to Disengage or Hide as a bonus action. 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 the damage dealt. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC (8 + CON + Prof) Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werebat lycanthropy.

Additionally, a werebat must consume at least 1 pint of fresh blood each night or gain one level of exhaustion which cannot be removed using rests. One pint of blood removes one level of exhaustion gained due to a lack of blood.

Optimization Recommendations and Thoughts

Without taking alignment into account, werebats are definitely the strongest werecreature in this list, with their slightly limited bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage immunity, flight, blindsight, and Nimble Escape feature. Of course, as they are Neutral Evil, have Sunlight Sensitivity, and require you to drink a fresh pint of blood to avoid gaining levels of exhaustion, its use case depends heavily on your party and its dynamics. If the party is fine with everything but the blood, you can remind them that it doesn’t have to be blood from humanoids, so you could repeatedly buy new chickens or mules, if you are so inclined. Mules, notably, have enough blood in real life that you can harvest a little bit from a different mule each day, like a blood draw. Napkin math suggests three to five mules are likely enough for this, but backups are ideal in case one of your generous donor mules dies.
Alternatively, you could consider wereravens due to their flight, or one of the options with the non-silvered bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage immunity. Flight is likely better without any information on a given fight, but the latter can be more potent in others. It also helps that wereravens can be any alignment, making it usable by creatures of more than just one alignment, but it can also potentially be a gamble. It may be possible to “load the dice”, so to speak, for this gamble, but the rules are ambiguous. We will get into this later.
Out of the options that have non-silvered bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage immunity, werewolves will likely be most common. However, wereboars and wererats have an incredible Multiattack option, allowing even non-martials to attack twice. Who needs martials anyway? Alternatively, if you are a martial and wish to improve your power, you can opt for the werebear, which allows you to become Large in your hybrid form, opening up oversized weapons without disadvantage. To learn more about oversized weapons check out our article here or check out a cool build using them here.

What your Alignment Says about You

You may desire to “optimize” your alignment to be able to gain the benefits of your favorite lycanthrope without losing access to your character. Besides roleplay, there are not many ways alignment affects the game mechanically. The ways it does tend to be niche, with some notable ones being through magic items that are only accessible when you have a certain alignment, including the various robes of the archmagi; some monster abilities that affect you less or more depending on alignment; the damage type of spirit guardians; and the trigger for glyph of warding. All in all, it is unlikely to matter all too much in your game besides your specific character concept. That said, most of the archmages you’re likely to fight in a campaign are evil, and werebats are likely the most powerful type of lycanthrope overall… Of course, alignment is deeply personal to your character, and most characters’ alignments will be determined by who they are, not by fringe optimization on the off chance you find particular magic items or lycanthropes.

How to Become a Lycanthrope

As mentioned earlier, a non-lycanthrope humanoid hit by an attack that carries the curse of lycanthropy becomes cursed on a failed Constitution saving throw. If a lycanthrope comes along your path with a matching alignment, it may be of interest to allow or persuade it to share its curse with you. Obviously, this is completely DM fiat. A way to get around this DM fiat is through conjure celestial, though this is but one of many ways. Conjure celestial allows you to summon a celestial of challenge rating 4 or lower. One option for this is the couatl, which is able to Change Shape to become any type of lycanthrope and inflict characters with the curse. One may argue that the couatl will not comply, as they will only obey commands that do not violate its alignment, but depending on your alignment and that of the lycanthrope***, being “cursed” may not be such a curse after all, especially in the context of the biggest D&D setting, the Forgotten Realms, where Selûne, a Chaotic Good goddess, is the one that controls the powers of lycanthropes. Alternatively, you can use planar binding as well to force it to obey.

***Using Change Shape, the couatl retains its Lawful Good alignment. However, the rules are ambiguous in whether your alignment becomes that of the default lycanthrope statblock, or that of the one that inflicts the curse upon you. “If the character embraces the curse, his or her alignment becomes the one defined for the lycanthrope.” The revised wereravens, which do not even include a default alignment anymore, seemingly point to the idea that a creature cursed by a Lawful Good couatl would end up Lawful Good too.

Should a DM Allow Player Lycanthropes in their Game?

Our opinion is that it is not a good idea to allow player characters to gain a massive amount of power for basically no cost when they share their alignment with the lycanthrope inflicting the curse. Potential exceptions could be made to allow more power for martial characters struggling to keep up. Augmenting the defensive abilities of casters who are already sturdier than martials could lead to issues. This is obviously a decision up to the DM, and limiting Change Shape abilities may keep players in check regardless, bringing lycanthropy back to just DM fiat. Think carefully before introducing this powerful set of abilities to your player characters. If you made a mistake in giving lycanthropy to your PCs and this is making your or your group’s experience worse, it may be worth talking with them and retroactively removing or nerfing this ability as a group for the sake of everyone’s fun.

Conclusion

Player lycanthropy is a mechanic which is either overly powerful or heavily limits your ability to play your own character. If your character does not have to change alignment due to being cursed, becoming a werebat or a wereraven depending on your party dynamics is likely your best option, with their at-will flight, blindsight and immunities, and regenerative capabilities respectively. However, any form of lycanthrope that leaves you with control of your character is very useful. As a DM, it is important to take into account the impact of introducing lycanthropes in your game, as well conjure celestial‘s influence once available. Hopefully this article allows players and DMs alike to learn something new about D&D 5e, or works as a reference for those interested in lycanthropy.