Creating the Werewolf

Werewolves. They are an iconic part of the gothic horror mythos. They have been both feared and loved. They have been depicted as savage monsters with no claim to humanity, and normal people dealing with a terrible curse.

And yet, despite how iconic they are, there are no official statistics to create a playable character in Dungeons and Dragons. There have been many attempts online to create a homebrew version of them, but I'm not happy with any of them.

I have a player that really wants to play a werewolf character, and I am a big advocate for letting people play what they want. So this is going to be my stab at a homebrew Werewolf race.

May the gods of luck and fortune have pity on my soul for even trying.

But before I even begin jumping into statistics, we should look at the source material we do have. In the Monster Manual, there are some official rules for what happens when you get cursed with Lycanthropy.

The Curse of Lycanthropy

The Curse of Lycanthropy is contracted by being wounded by a lycanthrope. It can also be contracted if one (or both) of your parents are lycanthropes.

The actual statistics of the curse change depending on the type of lycanthropy a person contracts. For our purposes we'll be discussing werewolves, which gain the following:

• ·         A Strength score of 15 if their score isn't already higher.
• ·         The ability to use an action to polymorph into a wolf, or wolf-human hybrid.
• ·         A +1 bonus to AC while in wolf or hybrid form.
• ·         40 ft movement speed in wolf form
• ·         Damage Immunity to: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered.
• ·         Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
• ·         A 1d8 Bite Attack in wolf or hybrid form.
• ·         A 2d4 Claw Attack in wolf or hybrid form.

That's a crazy amount of power. It's no wonder that the Monster Manual says that, "The DM is free to decide that a change in alignment places the character under DM control until the curse of lycanthropy is removed. (207)"

But in addition to providing insane amounts of power, the Werewolf (and other lycanthropy) stat blocks from the Monster Manual also miss out on one of the most iconic abilities that werewolves have in almost every piece of fiction I've ever seen. The ability to heal quickly from wounds. The concept of a werewolf that doesn't have regeneration is ridiculous to me.

However, regeneration is another of those powers that are insanely over powered.

What is a werewolf?

Let's take a step back from statistics for a moment. Instead, let's take a second and think about what a werewolf actually is.

I was going to quote something from dictionary.com here. But their description of a werewolf is woefully unhelpful. So instead, let's make a list of things that I think are iconic to the werewolf mythos:

·         The change. Changing into a werewolf isn't an easy prospect. And there are two types of stories told about the change.

•           A person who doesn't care about the implications of the change, and what it means. They are monsters, willing to go out and spread the curse.
•            A person who sees the change as a curse, and does everything they can to prevent the wolf from wreaking havoc in the world. These stories often end in tragedy, with people they love getting infected with the curse.

Either way, the change always happens. It's an inevitable monthly change that can't be fought, only endured or embraced.

• ·         The Moon. The full moon is the cause of the change. Sometimes just a single night, or sometimes each night for a full three day period.
• ·         Spreading the curse. Werewolves might tear people to shreds and go on bloody rampages. But the true horror of the werewolf story is that anyone can become one. All that's required is to survive a werewolf attack.
• ·         Weakness to silver. Enough said.
• ·         Fast Healing. Werewolves almost always heal from wounds with the efficiency of Wolverine unless they are attacked by a silver bullet.

Those are a lot of abilities, and just like the ones from the monster manual, they are going to be both very powerful abilities, and very punishing abilities. Balanced werewolves are not.

So, where does that leave us? In previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons, I would have either created a monster class or slapped on a level adjustment. I actually think that a monster class is still the way to go.

But my player is interested in playing a Werewolf Blood Hunter. So slapping on a monster class doesn't allow my player to play what they want. And as I said, I'm a big advocate for letting people play what they want if it can be made to work.

So that leaves us with the last (and hardest) option. Creating a homebrew werewolf race that both reflects the concept of the creature, but maintains balance with the other race options available.

Let's take a deep breath, cross our fingers, and jump right in.

The Process

The first thing we need to do is make a decision about the change. Is it voluntary? Can a character hold off the change with a Constitution check? Can the character change while it isn't a full moon?

My first instinct is to say that a character must change during a full moon, and that during the full moon they hand their sheet over to the Dungeon Master. Being a werewolf is a curse above all else, and no Constitution or Wisdom save can hold it off when the moon calls.

But playing a werewolf is only fun if you do get to change while it isn't a full moon, and to have a modicum of control over that change. Still, in almost all werewolf stories, even changing when it isn't a full moon can end in disaster. Werewolves are fueled by rage more than anything else.

My first instinct here is to require a wisdom save while attempting to change into wolf or hybrid form outside the full moon. On a failed save, the character would hand their character over to the Dungeon Master. But having an ally that is constantly losing control and turning on the party is fun exactly one time. After that it gets punishing.

That idea isn't going to work. So, for now let's put the rage concept on the back burner. We'll simply add the following to the race:

• ·         A werewolf looses itself to the curse once a month during the full moon. During this period they have no control over their character, and hand it to the Dungeon Master.
• ·         A werewolf can spend an action to polymorph into either a wolf or wolf hybrid form.

The wolf and wolf hybrid forms are going to need some natural attacks. Elves get weapon training in Longswords, Shortswords, Shortbows, and Longbows. Let's use those weapons as damage guides and say that:

• ·         While in hybrid or wolf form, a werewolf gains a melee claw attack that deals 1d6 damage. Claw attacks count as light weapons.
• ·         While in hybrid of wolf form, a werewolf gains a melee bite attack that deals 1d8 damage. Bite attacks take a full attack action. If you have more than one attack per action, you can replace one (but not all) attack with a bite.

Having a claw attack does imply having light weapons in both hands, which leads to two weapon fighting. That might be fine, or it might be too powerful. We'll just keep that in mind for now.

The natural weapons do need to spread lycanthropy though. That's part of the mythos. So let's also add:

• ·         When a creature is hit by a werewolf's claw or bite attack, it must make a DC 12 constitution check, or be infected by the Curse of Lycanthropy.

That about covers the details of the change and the natural attacks. At least for now. Next we need to tackle how to deal with silver weapons, and how to deal with fast healing.

The obvious way to deal with silver weapons would to just add silver vulnerability to the statistics. But that is a very punishing mechanic. Instead, let's take another existing mechanic, and rework it a little bit.

Concentration checks are required when a spell caster takes damage while concentrating on a spell. The DC equals the higher of either 10, or half the damage the character takes. If we modify that just a bit we get:

• ·         Silver Weakness. If a werewolf is hit by a silvered weapon, they must make a constitution save equal to 10, or half the damage dealt by the weapon, whichever number is higher. If the werewolf fails this save, they have the poisoned condition until the end of their next turn.

So now we get to quick healing. Again, the solution seems logical. Let's just slap on some quick healing. Maybe the ability to heal 1 hit point at the beginning of each turn. After all, 1 hp isn't going to make or break a combat.

And that's somewhat true. But it does mean that a character jumps to full health between combats. And that's a major advantage. It means that they never have to spend hit dice to heal up during short rests. And hit dice should be a resource that gets worn down after time.

So instead let's play with the hit dice mechanic a bit. We could allow a werewolf to reroll ones when they use hit dice to regain hit points. That feels just a bit too weak though.

My other idea is to adopt the second level fighter ability, second wind. It allows a fighter to spend a bonus action to regain 1d10 + fighter level hit points each short rest.

We can't just throw a second level ability into racial stats though. So instead, what if we allow a werewolf to use a bonus action to restore 1d4 + their constitution modifier hit points as a bonus action once per short rest?

That feels like it might be okay. At least for now. So, let's put together all of these statistics, add a strength increase, and see where we are at.

The Werewolf

The werewolf has a variety of natural abilities.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2.

Speed: Your base speed is 30 ft. It increases to 40 ft. if you assume a full wolf form.

The Transformation: A werewolf is a humanoid cursed with lycanthropy. Once a month, when the full moon rises, they are forced into their wolf form. During this period they have no control over their characters, and hand them over to the Dungeon Master.

Controlling the Change: Some werewolves spend time learning to control the change when there is no full moon in the sky. Your character can take an action to polymorph into either a wolf, or wolf hybrid form.

Darkvision: A werewolf's eyes have been enhanced by their monstrous curse. While in wolf or wolf hybrid form you can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in Darkness, only shades of red.

Enhanced Smell: You have advantage on Perception checks that rely on scent.

Natural Attacks: When a werewolf is in its wolf, or wolf hybrid form it gains both claw attacks, and a bite attack. The claw attacks deal 1d6 damage and count as light weapons. The bite attack deals 1d8 damage. Bite attacks require a full attack action. If you have more than one attack per action, you can replace one (but not all) attack with a bite.

Lycanthrope's Curse: When a creature is hit by a werewolf's claw or bite attack, it must make a DC 12 constitution check, or be infected by the Curse of Lycanthropy.

Accelerated Healing: On a werewolf's turn, you can spend a bonus action and regain hit points equal to 1d4 + your constitution modifier. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Silver Weakness: A werewolf is especially susceptible to damage from silvered weapons. If a werewolf is hit by a silvered weapon, they must make a constitution save equal to 10, or half the damage dealt by the weapon, whichever number is higher. If they fail, they have the poisoned condition until the end of their next turn.