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View Full Version : DM Help Lycanthropy in an RPG, unforseen issues



eru001
2016-04-18, 01:44 AM
so one of the players in a game I'm running is a werewolf. As of a recent plot, he is now also romantically involved with a woman who's village he helped save from an orc warband.

the woman is aware of the lycanthropy (it played a role in the rescue) an has (due to a nat 20 on a die role) decided that she is ok with it, and a serious relationship has developed.

in and out of game a number of questions have arisen that I had not anticipated. (mostly due to not expecting the werewolf to get into a romance) and I wanted to put the questions to the forum to see if anyone had some good ideas/answers as I am, well, stumped on some of them.

Questions: Is there a risk of infection with lycanthropy to the woman from intimate relations?

Will any potential children risk infection

What standard safety precautions would/could a peasant woman take given that she now shares a home and bed with a werewolf. (most of the ones that come to mind are things that kill the werewolf, and there are some pretty compelling reasons why this individual might want to look for a non-lethal solution.)

JohanOfKitten
2016-04-18, 03:25 AM
Personally, I won't put risk of infection for the woman from the intimate relations.
I dislike the idea of a magical curse being some sort of STD. But I would give some flavor to the cycle of the moon in their romance : around full moon, the werewolf might be a bit more horny, but easily more rough and it could cause some trouble in the relationship.

About a potential baby, I would play the mystery all the way through. If she get pregnant, they will wonder what happened to the child. If the player don't worry much, having him or the girl having a nightmare about it (Alien-like nightmare :smallwink:). A sign ? Or just inconsciant fear ?
That sort of relationship is rare and poorly known and documented.
This could push the adventurer to follow some quest, to find an oracle who can answer his questions, or to seek the legend-like Arash tribe, some barbarian werewolf-clan in the wilderness that is reputed to grow their number by stealing women in villages, or to find a missing erudit/ermit who might have knowledge about it.
You don't have to decide now if the baby is special or just human and you can push in the way that seems better at that time for the game.
(If it was me and I have to decide now, I would go for human baby but with some light lupin traits. The birth would be complicated and painful and fearsome).


About the precautious the woman can take, there are few things interesting :
- Lock him in during full moon : A cell with steel bars would be the best, but it's not cheap. If they can have some handcuffs with chains hung to a rock wall, it could be good (and nice for some bed roleplay:smallbiggrin:) . At least, a cellar with a doorbar on the door or the trapdoor. It's not so expensive and could be good for emergency.
- Wolf's bane : It depends in which game you play, but I remember that at least in D&D3.5, there is something about the use of aconite, aka Wolf's Bane, to try and avoid becoming werewolf after being bitten. It's a dangerous way (you poisonned yourself), but it can work. So she can search some in forest or buy some to an herborist, just in case. Maybe it need to be fresh, so she has to do it regularly. In that case, the herborist could beginning to be expensive for her and she can try to cultive some in a garden.
- Be discreet : she might be ok with the Lycanthropy of her companion, but it's not sure that's the case of other people. Her family and the inhabitants of her village might be afraid or hostile if they knew. So she has to be discreet, find wolf's bane without people noticing too much, maybe be sure that her guy is not in the village around full moon to avoid people hearing howlings at night in their area etc...
The last thing she wants it's an hateful crowd with torches and forks in front of her home (and they could want to her with her mate because it's safer and she's dangerous by inviting evil in their village)

Recherché
2016-04-18, 03:55 AM
At least in Pathfinder and 3.5 Lycanthropy is only transmitted while in hybrid or animal, other natural attacks don't carry the infection and a person in full human form doesn't carry the infection. I'd say as long as he stays fully human while being intimate the woman is fine. If he starts to turn then anything intimate should probably be off the table.

Once again at least in 3.5 and PF, there are two types of lycanthropes, afflicted and natural. Afflicted lycanthropes are created via bites. Natural lycanthropes are what happen when afflicted lycanthropes have children. 3.5 doesn't have much info about natural lycanthropes that I can find easily, however in PF natural lycanthropes can control when they shift and the condition has no effect on their alignment. So yes the kid would be a werewolf but it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Thrudd
2016-04-18, 08:40 AM
so one of the players in a game I'm running is a werewolf. As of a recent plot, he is now also romantically involved with a woman who's village he helped save from an orc warband.

the woman is aware of the lycanthropy (it played a role in the rescue) an has (due to a nat 20 on a die role) decided that she is ok with it, and a serious relationship has developed.

in and out of game a number of questions have arisen that I had not anticipated. (mostly due to not expecting the werewolf to get into a romance) and I wanted to put the questions to the forum to see if anyone had some good ideas/answers as I am, well, stumped on some of them.

Questions: Is there a risk of infection with lycanthropy to the woman from intimate relations?

Will any potential children risk infection

What standard safety precautions would/could a peasant woman take given that she now shares a home and bed with a werewolf. (most of the ones that come to mind are things that kill the werewolf, and there are some pretty compelling reasons why this individual might want to look for a non-lethal solution.)

I would guess the big risk would be if she was around when he transforms, and the beast tears her to shreds. He'd probably make sure he was far away when it was that time of the month, or else chained up securely so he can't accidentally kill anyone. Oh, and any kids they have will be werewolves.

Prime32
2016-04-18, 10:16 AM
Oh, and any kids they have will be werewolves.Would they be born as puppies? :smalltongue:

The quasilycanthrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) template is an option.

goto124
2016-04-18, 10:16 AM
He'd probably make sure he was far away when it was that time of the month,

Har har... sorry, immature joke, carry on :smalltongue:

Reboot
2016-04-18, 07:47 PM
I would guess the big risk would be if she was around when he transforms, and the beast tears her to shreds. He'd probably make sure he was far away when it was that time of the month, or else chained up securely so he can't accidentally kill anyone.

Probably best to be locked/chained up - one might suspect that the beast could end up making a beeline for her otherwise, and there would be at least some chance it would make it - although of course the bonds would have to be strong enough to hold it (repeatedly at that - if you have a wooden door holding it in, for instance, it might damage the door month after month, requiring repairs or risking breakthrough).

Malimar
2016-04-18, 08:07 PM
I've played in games where lycanthropy is transmissible through any exchange of bodily fluids (though kissing only has a tiny chance of transmission). So unless you're playing a game where there are established rules for it as mentioned upthread, lycanthropy as STD is a perfectly plausible option, depending on what sounds fun to you.


The quasilycanthrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) template is an option.

Also the Shifter race, from Eberron, though like quasilycanthrope they're more with the "distant ancestors are lycanthropes" business.

Thrudd
2016-04-18, 08:40 PM
Would they be born as puppies? :smalltongue:

The quasilycanthrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) template is an option.


According to the documentary "Teen Wolf", child werewolves don't turn for the first time until sometime during puberty. At that point, they tend to focus more on basketball and being popular at school for a period of time before turning into evil bloodthirsty monsters.

Vitruviansquid
2016-04-18, 10:59 PM
Something came up that isn't defined by the game?

Great! Make it whatever you want!

Knaight
2016-04-18, 11:20 PM
I'd recommend that the spreading be kept to conventional methods (biting). The whole point of the curse is that it makes one indisposed to mindless violence, and spreads by mindless violence. For similar reasons, I'd avoid having any kids end up as werewolves, though them having some sort of (were)wolf related abilities could make sense. Maybe they're humans with unusual toughness and an aversion to silver, maybe their vision is a bit bad but their hearing and scent are top notch, maybe they are predisposed to ending up in pack like social orders among people, etc.

eru001
2016-04-18, 11:31 PM
Something came up that isn't defined by the game?

Great! Make it whatever you want!

What I want is for it to be fun for the player, and thus I am polling the forum for peoples opinion of what might provide the best probability of good roleplay/ fun within the game

veti
2016-04-18, 11:52 PM
Where I come from, lycanthropy is considered to be a disease rather than a curse. I should think that, even if it can't be transmitted by sex, the characters wouldn't necessarily know that, and the woman should be spending a significant amount of time worrying about it. (Or possibly fantasising about it. Who knows what she's into.)

If you buy into the SRD's weird distinction between "natural" (born) and "afflicted" (bitten) lycanthropes (which personally I don't, because I think it makes zero sense, but it's there in the rules) - then it depends which kind your PC is. If "afflicted", then by the SRD rules he can't pass it on. (Although, again, he may not be aware of this, or not sure of it.) If the former, then he can pass it on, and it's explicitly described as hereditary.

eru001
2016-04-19, 12:42 AM
Where I come from, lycanthropy is considered to be a disease rather than a curse. I should think that, even if it can't be transmitted by sex, the characters wouldn't necessarily know that, and the woman should be spending a significant amount of time worrying about it. (Or possibly fantasising about it. Who knows what she's into.)

If you buy into the SRD's weird distinction between "natural" (born) and "afflicted" (bitten) lycanthropes (which personally I don't, because I think it makes zero sense, but it's there in the rules) - then it depends which kind your PC is. If "afflicted", then by the SRD rules he can't pass it on. (Although, again, he may not be aware of this, or not sure of it.) If the former, then he can pass it on, and it's explicitly described as hereditary.

This game is not D&D per say. It's sort of 3.5 but with a mountain of homebrew and rules alterations that the group has built up over time (we've been gaming together in various campaigns for about ten years now, and all of us like to tinker with mechanics). I'm not sure how recognizable it is to the original 3.5 we started with. I'm sure we're not the only gaming group to have done this sort of thing.

So far what we've established as canon and some mechanics for Werewolves in game is this:

Lycanthropy is a combination of a disease and a curse, It spreads like a disease (yes I know that that is incredibly vague and that there are many wide and varied ways that diseases can spread) most famously through bites (though spreading through other methods has not been explicitly confirmed or denied in or out of game), but involves the spirit of a dead wolf taking residence in the infected individual's head (which is much more curse like in my opinion, sort of like a possession I guess) resulting in a constant battle for control.

An infected individual gains some minor buffs to STR and CON, as well as to perception checks, when in human form. Minor health regen is attainable with training. There are other benefits as well mostly wilderness survival and animal instinct related (We ended up letting him speak dog mostly for comic value (Yes we are Dr. Who fans, why do you ask)).
Silvered weapons hurt a lot regardless of what form the infected individual is in (doubled damage)
Wolfsbane and Quicksilver act as deadly poisons regardless of form. (Save or die)
When in wolf form, the infected individual assumes the form of a (significantly) larger than average wolf, with stats to match and minor health regen.
While in human form, when the moon is full or close to full (but it's day not night in the case of full) has a random chance of taking a rage effect and becomes more aggressive generally. (no mechanic for that second part, that's just how he roleplays it)

Infected individuals can change into wolves for the following reasons
There is a full moon in the sky, triggering an involuntary change automatically
They have been knocked unconscious, triggering an involuntary change automatically
They have been put into a magical sleep or similar, triggering an involuntary change automatically
They have been severely wounded, triggering a will save to not have an involuntary change
they choose to surrender temporarily to the beast spirit, triggering a voluntary change

when the change occurs, regardless of cause, the wolf begins at full HP

while in wolf form (with some exceptions) they will violently try to tear apart the nearest living (or undead) target, the player can make will saves to attempt to direct this attack to more specific targets, (or with a particularly good roll stop attacking all together). The player can change back after passing a high will save, or after a certain length of time has passed.

Basically what i'm looking for from this thread is suggestions on what (if any) risks of non-bite related infection there should be.

Also what are reasonable actions for the romanced NPC woman to take (given that it's already established that she isn't scared off by the whole werewolf thing I guess this could be justified as he did save her life, and the lives of just about everyone she knew, from a roving pack of orcs, while in wolf form.)

at this point in the game most of the woman's home village is aware (pardon the pun) of the situation, with varying levels of approval/disapproval (on the one hand he saved our lives, on the other hand he's a bloodthirsty monster at least two nights a month)

The PC in question, is somewhat unapologetic about being a werewolf, he was bitten some time ago, and has, after much consideration, decided not to seek out a cure and instead to use the lycanthropy thing to his advantage, as some of it's features are beneficial to a Ranger (his class) and the raw power of the wolf form has often come in handy in a fight.

LibraryOgre
2016-04-19, 03:01 PM
Questions: Is there a risk of infection with lycanthropy to the woman from intimate relations?

Will any potential children risk infection

What standard safety precautions would/could a peasant woman take given that she now shares a home and bed with a werewolf. (most of the ones that come to mind are things that kill the werewolf, and there are some pretty compelling reasons why this individual might want to look for a non-lethal solution.)

Somewhat depends on the specifics of lycanthropy in your game. In D&D, I would say there's minimal risk of lycanthropy, since the determinant in that system is usually HPs of damage. The children, however, would have the potential to be born lycanthropes, which would allow them to control their changes (IMC, they'd be able to control it as they got older... kids can't control their bowels, they're not going to be able to control massive bodily change).

For me, the question becomes "What's an interesting option?" Me, if lycanthropy exists, and especially if there is no alignment change, there's probably some reasonably common folk wisdoms about how to avoid contracting it from someone you love and how to avoid passing it on to your children. Me, I'd involve an amulet made of Belladona.

Vinyadan
2016-04-19, 05:48 PM
I would have the woman be safe. Maybe she can do something unusual while bathing with some wolf related item or ingredient, or just some animal's gallbladder, and call it a ritual.
As for the child, I'd have her deliver a wolf. Not a magical animal, a true wolf. I think it would make for an interesting story, if the players can take it. And how would the locals react?

KillianHawkeye
2016-04-20, 01:22 PM
As for the child, I'd have her deliver a wolf. Not a magical animal, a true wolf. I think it would make for an interesting story, if the players can take it. And how would the locals react?

Ooh, that's interesting! Better yet, make it be twins: one wolf cub and one human child. And then the parents have to figure out what to do with this wolf cub while wondering if it will ever turn into a human, while ALSO wondering if the other child will ever turn into a wolf!

SirBellias
2016-04-20, 04:51 PM
In the Discworld series, due to Werewolves being fairly unstable as it is (morphogenic fields and what not), dilutions of the blood lines lead to some interesting consequences. Even with relatively pure pedigrees, there sometimes emerges kids/pups which can't change from one form to the other. They're still werewolves, they just can't change form. Then there's the irregular ones, that just have to shave twice a day around full moon, or get a bit bigger when angry. There was also one that was wolf shaped for most of the month and then turned sapiens at the full moon. You could really do anything here, is what I'm trying to say.
The possibility of wolfish kids should be fear enough, I'd think, so unless you want to stress that relationship even more I'd just keep the transmission to the traditional ways.

denthor
2016-04-20, 04:56 PM
Watch the movie Ladyhawke

Lord Torath
2016-04-21, 01:13 PM
In Patricia Briggs's world, a werewolf has to nearly kill you to turn you. So intimate relations wouldn't cut it. Also, female werewolves can't give birth; the monthly (full moon) forced change kills the fetus. Human women with werewolf mates will either miscarry or give birth to human children. So no baby werewolves without some magic to hold off the monthly change (only one so far in her books).

PrincessCupcake
2016-04-21, 03:51 PM
Pathfinder's got an interesting option to explain what happens in regards to the kids:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/standard-races-1-10-rp/skinwalkers-10-rp

as far as the wife, that depends on how you want to view lycanthropy. If it's more of a curse, she might be fine but the kids would likely either be skinwalkers/shifters or natural lycanthropes. If it's more of a disease, it's likely she will turn as well.

Her precautions should include:
-some kind of cage to put on the property that he can enter when he is near the full moon and still at home.

-hubby should get her some kind of magical amulet that makes the werewolf recognize her as "friend" whether he is in control or not. (charm animal based?) That way she could be safe.

Slipperychicken
2016-04-22, 01:30 PM
What standard safety precautions would/could a peasant woman take given that she now shares a home and bed with a werewolf. (most of the ones that come to mind are things that kill the werewolf, and there are some pretty compelling reasons why this individual might want to look for a non-lethal solution.)

Chain him down on full moons so he's less likely to murder her when he turns.