[PF] Is there any reason to be cured of lycanthropy?

[Petrukio]

I have a character that I'm playing in a Play By E-mail game, a human barbarian. Recently (as in, in the current combat we are currently playing out), he was bitten by a natural lycanthrope, a werewolf specifically. He failed the Fortitude save, which means he's infected (though, of course, he doesn't know this yet).

Now, I've been playing 3E since it came out at GenCon 2000. I knew that lycanthropy (particularly becoming a Chaotic Evil werewolf) was Bad News in D&D. But I'm not as familiar with Pathfinder, so I went and looked at the SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/lycanthrope). That only confused me even more. So I went and looked directly at Bestiary I (page 196), and that only confirmed it.

The mandatory alignment change after the first voluntary form change? It's gone.
The forced change when suffering damage? That's gone too.

Heck, armor/clothing remains the same if you shift from humanoid form to hybrid form and melds (like Wild Shape) if you shift to animal form.

So I have to be missing something. What is the disadvantage to my character being a lycanthrope? He has access to healing for it, but as the group's primary front-line combatant, it seems almost like a GOOD thing. About the worst I can see is that the animal-based forms should act more like the animal proper... but wolves, like most animals, are true neutral in alignment. Not only that, but they are pack animals, and who else would be an adventurer's pack than the other party members (if he gets along with them).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[andromax]

It's certainly quite a bit more appealing than in 3.5 where you gain 2 animal hit die and a +2LA for essentially a boatload of garbage.

[Gray Mage]

If I remember correctly, in pf the template's LA is the CR increase, right (my knowledge of pf is spoty at best, so someone crrect me if I'm wrong, please)? So it's +1 LA (as far as I've understood). Not the worst, but after a while you'd be one level behind the rest of the party.

[Slipperychicken]

I would use this sentence to give the PC a strong chance to flip out and kill people he doesn't want to kill (i.e. he temporarily loses control of his PC and the DM makes him act like a monster, attacking friendlies and innocents), and generally not act how he wanted whenever he entered his alternate form.


Lycanthropes have enhanced senses but are not fully in control of their emotions and animalistic urges.

Lycanthrope should come at the price of losing control and being a horrible dangerous monster whenever so horribly transfigured. This should override attempts to revert to normal form, and will allow it to be a curse instead of a blessing.

[Deathkeeper]

Because most G/DM's take control of the character when shifted, and he will NOT necessarily remember who his friends are.
Two, normally I'd say that he's at risk of transforming and killing someone on the full moon night, but it's a Fort save in Pathfinder, which might be doable for a Barbarian, even with his current track record.
Lastly, while not in PF's rules necessarily, some books (I believe Carrion Crown brings it up) mention that GM's have the option to force an infected lycanthrope to take one step towards the alignment of the one who bit him. And for some strange reason, while wolves are neutral, werewolves are usually evil. Not sure where, but I'm positive I read this somewhere.

[Slipperychicken]

And for some strange reason, while wolves are neutral, werewolves are usually evil. Not sure where, but I'm positive I read this somewhere.

Animals are unintelligent, and therefore incapable of moral action. IIRC, all creatures with Int below 3 are neutral for this reason. Lycanthropes, on the other hand, are intelligent, allowing their destructive rampages to result in alignment shift.