When your PCs try to become lycanthropes...

[ChampionWiggles]

So I'm DMing a campaign and recently the party was marooned on an island that they discovered had a weretiger. This encounter showed just how neutral the party was, since they didn't bother her and she didn't bother them, despite the indigenous people asking for help since they claimed she was terrorizing them. That's kind of just backstory.

The party has been rescued by a ship, along with the weretiger and the party, captain, and high ranking officers are aware she's a lycanthrope but since she minds her own business and doesn't cause trouble, the captain doesn't see a reason to get rid of her.

My barbarian went to the weretiger and asked her if she'd consider passing on her lycanthropy to him, since being a Goliath barbarian, he is inclined to seek more strength, whatever the form it comes in. Going off the MM, she wasn't inclined to pass it on, since that'd create more competition, but the Barbarian was able to make a miraculous CHA roll and convince her they were going separate ways, so no competition would really happen, along with him being able to pay for it.

I'm wondering how to go about this in terms of gameplay, because lycanthropy IS a curse and should be treated as such and have drawbacks to it, rather than seeming like a gift. The part where I'm conflicted is alignment. I know that a lot of DMs will have their PCs turn into NPCs and take control of those characters if they embrace the curse, but I don't feel inclined to do that since the barbarian is already neutral and that's the Weretiger's alignment. So there wouldn't be a shift in alignment and the personality of a Weretiger as described in the MM seems to have traits that would fit well with a barbarian.

Were this a case of a Wereboar, Wererat, or Werewolf, the decision would be a lot easier, since there's an OBVIOUS shift in alignment. Since it's been discussed on Sage Advice that you can't willingly fail a CON save against the lycanthropy curse (unless you house rule it as DM), I'm fairly confident the Barbarian will just naturally fight the curse and it won't be an issue. BUT, I wanted to have a plan on how the curse would affect gameplay SHOULD he fail the save and become a Weretiger. So I thought I'd ask for input from the boards.

As of right now, my thoughts are to have him be forced to transform during every night of the full moon and then perform a WIS save to see if he can resist the urge to attack the rest of the party. The condition of auto transforming during every full moon presents its own problems in civilization and having to become a possible threat to the party creates another problems that I feel would accurately describe being a weretiger, but what do you guys think?

[MrFahrenheit]

1. What level is the barbarian? This is important for

2. There shouldn't be an urge to attack the party - weretigers are one of the two "nicer" lycanthropes. But perhaps there should be an urge to go off alone, given their solitary nature. The curse is always with the PC, even if transformations only occur on full moons.

3. Relax. It's not wild shape. Yeah weretiger is powerful, but your barbarian doesn't get an additional pool of hp each time he transforms. In fact, the full tiger form is effectively useless for the PC unless your campaign takes place in the beasts' natural habitat (and even then, that'd be primarily for OOC reasons).

[StoicLeaf]

keep in mind that because he wasn't born a weretiger, a simple "remove curse" will end his weretiger shennanigans.

Also, I'd suggest making it a horrific experience.
This isn't a case of sitting down and having some tea, it's pulling the weretiger's tail hard enough to coax it into savagely mauling you to near death.
Let him roll death saves, let him have his constitution check, but let the dice fall where they may.

[Contrast]

This encounter showed just how neutral the party was, since they didn't bother her and she didn't bother them, despite the indigenous people asking for help since they claimed she was terrorizing them.


...but since she minds her own business and doesn't cause trouble, the captain doesn't see a reason to get rid of her.

Not really sure how it makes them neutral not to kill someone if it seems she really was just minding her own business.


From the weretiger description, it honestly doesn't seem like this would necessarily be that big of a deal. Of course polite society may not react so favourably as they don't get to read the weretiger description and instead have to rely on stories of werewolves and the like. Seems to me thats where the issue would arise rather than the murderous rampages normally associated with lychanthropy. Depending on how the weretiger views her own curse my suggestion would be to have the weretiger challenge the barbarian to single combat to see if he is 'worthy'.

It seems likely it's going to be quite a minor buff as well. Pounce attack is good but you could simply rule that theres no hybrid form which means he needs to choose to either be a tiger (with no weapons or weapon related feats and dropping all its equipment which someone else has to carry) or a human. Maybe have a hybrid form unlock as he levels up (or as a feat?).



Edit -



Also, I'd suggest making it a horrific experience.
This isn't a case of sitting down and having some tea, it's pulling the weretiger's tail hard enough to coax it into savagely mauling you to near death.
Let him roll death saves, let him have his constitution check, but let the dice fall where they may.

Play it how you want but I note that per the DMG you could get the curse from a single bite attack followed by a failed save - no need to be near death. I got the impression from OPs post that the party was on relatively friendly terms with the weretiger and the barbarian was trying to convince them to impart the curse willingly rather than simply goading them into attacking them and hoping it sticks.

[Logosloki]

It really depends on the level of the party. If the party is already level 5 or more, aside from the immunities, Weretiger is only making the barbarian slightly more barbariany. If you cut out the immunities then there isn't much of an issue overall with the package. Maybe adjust the CR slightly (like 1/2 to 1 at most).

As for handling a roleplaying aspect of a Weretiger Barbarian, My opinion would be that when the Barbarian Rages they have a choice between suppressing the beast within (roll the con save that would be rolled to resist the curse) or embrace the curse and go into hybrid form. Maybe introduce NPCs to the narrative who have views on lycanthropy (some positive, some negative) so that the player has decisions to make on which NPCs they want on their side and whether having someone know that they are a lycanthrope is a burden or an opportunity.

[vincegetorix]

Reading the MM description, I dont see what he would gain from becoming a weretiger as per the monster's descrition unless you let him keep the damage immunities (I would not). If all he wants is the rp perspective, just allow him to become a weretiger and use it to create new hooks for this PC. Maybe the tribe the original weretiger attacked send a hunting party against the PC, maybe he enters the territory of another weretiger etc. For his ''tiger powers'', the SCAG has a new Tiger totem for the Totemist Barbarian, which would fit his ''growing lyncanthrope powers''.

[JellyPooga]

Assuming the players are above about level 6 or 7ish, the mechanical benefits of being a Weretiger shouldn't be too much of an issue. Below that, be careful, but with some careful planning it still shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Having said that, this is an excellent roleplaying opportunity! The Were-Tigress should absolutely be reluctant to pass on the Curse; it's not normally something someone would seek out and I think you probably need to have a good sit-down with the player to hash out that conversation; perhaps even make another Persuasion check (or two!) to get her to agree; he's convinced her to consider the notion, but it's going to take some more fast-talking to get her to agree to it...not every scenario need be resolved after one die roll! You should also come up with a cool "bestowing the curse and first transformation" scene (if you've played Skyrim, taking a leaf from The Companions, but doing it better, gives you an idea of what I'm talking about).

Then we need to consider the roleplaying implications;

- Any "public" transformation or hint/rumour that this guy is a were-tiger should send the peasant-folk into panic-mode; torches and pitchforks should probably become a recurring theme if he becomes complacent about hiding his secret, because it should be a secret. Common folk don't normally distinguish between one ravening man-beast and another, regardless of the facts! He may have to discover this the hard way.

- "Controlling the Beast". It's not explicitly spelled out in the Monster Manual, but there should definitely be a period of...adjustment. Neutral alignments or no, this guy has suddenly gained the ability to turn into an apex predator, a large and powerful carnivore that enjoys the best of both worlds; the primal ferocity of the animal kingdom and the cunning of man. That has got to be a hell of a rush. Add a sense of immortality from suddenly becoming flat out immune to non-magical damage and the god-complex should be complete! The problem with things that get those endorphins flowing freely like that is...they tend to be addictive.

Controlling the urge to morph into animal or hybrid form should be a constant struggle, at least early on after his "infection". During the course of adventuring, this isn't a problem; "hulking out" is somewhat expected and among his friends who understand, it's ok, even to be encouraged. Unfortunately, unless our Barbarian here decides to spend a bit of time learning to control himself, these "safe" encounters will only reinforce the notion that it's an appropriate response to threat or danger, as well as feeding that "addiction" and god-complex I mentioned.

It's when the party get back to civilisation that it may become a problem. Having a few bevvies down Ye Olde Taverne and someone spills your drink? Some loutish brute jostles you in the street? A gaudy street-performer makes mock of you? A merchant fleeces you in a deal? He might have let these little nettlings to his ego slide before, but now...now he's got a literal beast whispering in the back of his mind and a proud and noble one at that. Combined with the possible addictive nature of his transformations it may cause him to slip, revealing himself in subtle ways (letting his eyes change or claws grow, for example), forcing him to take control of himself again...if he can.

Now, I'm not saying you need to take control of his character or force him to attack people or anything like that; that's not cool. It's his characters, not yours. However, as GM you have leeway to manipulate circumstances to encourage this player to roleplay this to the hilt. YOU need to be the beast whispering in the back of his mind and the involuntary minor transformations; really emphasise to this player how every insult stings like fresh paper cuts, how NPC's suddenly blanch white in fear at the sight of his eyes changing (perhaps giving other players Perception checks to notice themselves). Even in human form, he's going to be...unusual; if he gets into a bar-fight, for example, coming out without a scratch, that's going to raise some eyebrows (seen X-Men? When Wolverine's in that cage fight? "No-one takes a beating like that and comes away without a mark...I know what you are, Freak!"). Really encourage him to make those transformations and force those awkward moments and then punish him for doing so with mistrust, fear and hatred. Make him come to realise just how much of a Curse it really is to be more than merely an outsider, but an outcast, a pariah.

Create an air of struggle for this character, because that's what he should be going through; trying to balance his former life as a mere mortal with his new one as a supernatural being.

As I said; it's a great opportunity for some really interesting roleplaying if both you and this player are willing to go elbow-deep in it. It's worth talking to the player to see how far he wants to go; if he's just in it for the combat buffs I'd be tempted to just say "no"...that's not what this should be. If he's willing to really explore the nature of this Curse, then I say go for it! It should be fun.