More/Alternative lycanthropes

[TigerT20]

Hey! So I've been mulling over this for a while now, but the other thread on lycanthropes sort of pushed me to actually make this.

So, what are some ways to represent more animals through lycanthropy? You can obviously do big cats as weretigers and different species of canine as werewolf, possibly swapping the animal's statblock and a few features where appropriate, but what are some less obvious swaps? Or are there even good homebrew for other lycanthropes floating around?

I'm planning a Central/South American game so the animals that inhabit there will be the most useful to me, but don't feel restricted - I'm more than happy for this thread to be used to help other people in their hunt for other animals.

[Amnestic]

Werecapybara - Extremely rare and usually infected accidentally because they're mega chill. Gives a cha boost, bite attack, an AC boost, and advantage on Persuasion checks.

[TigerT20]

Through some research, I managed to find one thing:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/274025/The-Lycanomicon-Additional-Lycanthropes-for-5e

Unfortunately, it doesn't really help me but as I'm still putting it here in case anyone else is interested.

[Grim Portent]

Were-boars have an obvious analogue in the new world pigs like the peccary, but were-tapir would work pretty well, though the tusk attack would make more sense as a slam for tapir. Simple enough to change it from slashing to bludgeoning.

Were-bears do have the Spectacled Bear to draw on for the central/southern americas, but it might feel more thematic to alter the statblock to a were-caiman, swapping out the climb speed for a swim speed and Keen Smell for advantage on stealth checks while submerged in water.

Were-rats already fit with the large number of rodents native to the continent, but I'd also say the statblock is decent for some kinds of were-lizard, particularly the small nimble lizards.

Bigger were-lizards like the tegu for example, might be better represented by the werewolf statblock.

Were-sea lions could be fun, but I'm not sure what the best way to stat them would be, but I would lean towards a modified were-boar or were-bear as the base because sea lions are relatively beefy creatures.

[rlc]

I found this recently, which could probably help you out a bit: https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-by-type/humanoids/lycanthropes/

Also, lizardfolk/tabaxi/leonin npcs would probably get you some decent mileage, and I don't think adding a were curse would affect cr all that much

[Greywander]

Apparently, and I only learned this recently, but Curse of Strahd has wereravens. Oddly enough, they can't talk in raven form, even though they have the mimicry trait, and even though IRL ravens are every bit as good as parrots at mimicking human speech.

[Tvtyrant]

So I think the big question is: How do other animals fit into the idea of werewolves? You can make weregiant squids and werewhales (I used a colony of werewhales in 3.5 once as a DM,) but what do they actually do mythos wise?

Weregoat: Pretty easy, ravening hunger over taking the person. They don't hunt humans, they just eat until they are sick and then vomit it back up or get food poisoning when they turn back. The curse is less spooky and more generally awful as they might die from eating poison, or just get sick from eating garbage.

Weregoose: They migrate when transformed, and then wake up hundreds of miles away. Wander lust and freedom with the lack of shelter that comes with it.

Weremole: You bury yourself alive each month. Really awful. Also wake up with a belly full of worms.

Wereferret: You steal valuables and hide them in your house, with your neighbors becoming increasingly suspicious of the strange creature and you becoming wealthier or more secretive to hide the loot.

Werehuman: You become bogged down with existential dread and a menial job once a month. Awful stuff.

[Greywander]

Werehuman: You become bogged down with existential dread and a menial job once a month. Awful stuff.
This reminds me of a character concept I had. Think maximum edgelord, complete with tragic backstory and dark and brooding demeanor. Dude thinks he's a werewolf, and every month he turns into a raging murder beast and slaughters innocents. When the time for his transformation comes, he does the typical thing of warning the rest of the party to "stay away" or "hold him back" or whatever, and then he turns into... a golden retriever. Slightly confused, but happy to make new friends. The party spends the night babying the sweet doggo, and in the morning edgelord changes back and does the emo thing of moping over all the people he thinks he killed during the night.

So here's the thing. He's not a werewolf, or even a weredog: he's a dogwere. A particular mad scientist was researching lycanthropy, with the end goal of turning animals into people. Edgelord was actually a normal dog and the experiment went a bit awry. Every month, he turns back into his true form, but spends the rest of the time in human form, with no memory of his time as a dog. He still has his memories back from when he was a normal dog, but they're muddled and he remembers himself and his parents/siblings as being human during that time. His character arc would end with either (a) the mad scientist changes him back into a normal dog, or (b) the mad scientist completes the experiment, properly this time, so that he not only retains memories from when he's a dog, but his dog personality actually replaces/overrides/merges with his human personality. If (b), it would essentially be a new character.

[micahaphone]

I'm not the biggest Elder Scrolls fan, but I remember learning that Khajiit (analogous to tabaxi) shift in response to the movement of that world's 2 moons. So depending on moon phases, your good friend could be a small quadraped akin to a housecat, or a large bipedal cat-man, or even look 90% human, like a feline yuan-ti pureblood. And I believe they're of the same intelligence/sentience throughout all these changes.

Imagine meeting up with your friends after a busy few weeks, and for some reason Jeff isn't at the bar. But then a cat jumps onto your table, starts drinking your beer, and asks what you think about the playoffs.

[Glorthindel]

AD&D Ravenloft had rules for a ton of varient Werebeasts. Beyond the more common Wolf, Boar, Bear, Rat, they also had Werepanthers (there was a Darklord who was one of these), Werecrocodiles, Weresharks, Loup-Garou (a sort of Greater Werewof with different weaknesses), Wereravens (which were good-aligned), Werebadgers (a Dwarf-only subtype), Werefoxes (a Female-only subtype that made Human sufferers gain Elven looks in their 'Human' form), and even a Wereray (although that was an NPC in a book, there wasn't a generic statblock). And then their was the 'reverse' breeds (Wolfwere, Jackalwere) which were infected beasts that could assume a Human form.

And I am fairly sure I've forgotten as many types as I've remembered there.

[Monster Manuel]

In 3/3.5E, it was pretty trivial to create new lycanthropes, since it was a template based on the stats of the base animal. Harder in 5E without re-skinning an existing creature, as has been suggested up-thread. I'd love to see a 5E attempt at a lycanthropic template that works the same way, but honestly, I wouldn't have an idea of how to go about making that work.

A weresnake with stats based off of the appropriate flavor of Yuan'ti would be fun for a jungle adventure.

I once played a druid, who noticed that the attitudes of were creatures were not consistent with the actual nature of the beast, but colored by peoples' perception of the beast. Wolves are social, supportive of their communities, and clever, but WEREwolves are savage monsters because that's how the human sees them. So, he developed a high-level con; he devised a new strain of lycanthropy (high level spell research), and convinced a local band of thugs and highwaymen that what they really wanted was to become WERELIONS. Think about the power they could wield...they would be unstoppable! What he didn't tell them was that, with the cultural perception of lions as noble, proud kings-among-beasts, that this transformation would turn them lawful good and make them into champions of the people. Good times (and a permissive DM).

[Tvtyrant]

This reminds me of a character concept I had. Think maximum edgelord, complete with tragic backstory and dark and brooding demeanor. Dude thinks he's a werewolf, and every month he turns into a raging murder beast and slaughters innocents. When the time for his transformation comes, he does the typical thing of warning the rest of the party to "stay away" or "hold him back" or whatever, and then he turns into... a golden retriever. Slightly confused, but happy to make new friends. The party spends the night babying the sweet doggo, and in the morning edgelord changes back and does the emo thing of moping over all the people he thinks he killed during the night.

So here's the thing. He's not a werewolf, or even a weredog: he's a dogwere. A particular mad scientist was researching lycanthropy, with the end goal of turning animals into people. Edgelord was actually a normal dog and the experiment went a bit awry. Every month, he turns back into his true form, but spends the rest of the time in human form, with no memory of his time as a dog. He still has his memories back from when he was a normal dog, but they're muddled and he remembers himself and his parents/siblings as being human during that time. His character arc would end with either (a) the mad scientist changes him back into a normal dog, or (b) the mad scientist completes the experiment, properly this time, so that he not only retains memories from when he's a dog, but his dog personality actually replaces/overrides/merges with his human personality. If (b), it would essentially be a new character.

That is beautiful! I love him and will probably play him once my current character, a ninja turtle named Brunelleschi Archibald, dies.

[TigerT20]

Were-boars have an obvious analogue in the new world pigs like the peccary, but were-tapir would work pretty well, though the tusk attack would make more sense as a slam for tapir. Simple enough to change it from slashing to bludgeoning.

Were-bears do have the Spectacled Bear to draw on for the central/southern americas, but it might feel more thematic to alter the statblock to a were-caiman, swapping out the climb speed for a swim speed and Keen Smell for advantage on stealth checks while submerged in water.

Were-rats already fit with the large number of rodents native to the continent, but I'd also say the statblock is decent for some kinds of were-lizard, particularly the small nimble lizards.

Bigger were-lizards like the tegu for example, might be better represented by the werewolf statblock.

Were-sea lions could be fun, but I'm not sure what the best way to stat them would be, but I would lean towards a modified were-boar or were-bear as the base because sea lions are relatively beefy creatures.

Thanks to everyone on this post but this person especially

[GlenSmash!]

For a central/south america campaign I'd expect to see a Werecrocodile. Something with a grapple on the bite attempt, scaly hide for extra AC, a swim speed etc.

[Pex]

Werehuman - a joke to call half-orcs and half-elves. Can be on the level as a "Reverse Fiona" of Shrek. An ogre or orc can be so cursed. To add confusion people may think the human they know is "cursed" to be an ogre or orc.

[Imbalance]

Were-tardigrades