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View Full Version : [4e spec] What about werewolves?



Mewtarthio
2007-12-18, 09:48 PM
Here's a question that I've been pondering: If races are pseudo-gestalt classes now, how will templated races be handled? They can't just be cut altogether, because Vecna knows people really want to play werewolves and the like. I suppose it's possible that what we'd currently consider "templated races" will be full-on races themselves (eg half-vampires and the like), but where does that leave afflicted lycanthropes? Surely they don't get their entire racial abilities obliterated: That'd just be unfair, not to mention a bookkeeping nightmare.

A fix I've thought up is this (and bear in mind, I'll be using werewolves as an example because they're afflicted): What if certain templates had their own racial progressions, and you could choose to "multiclass" into, say, werewolf on your own time. Here's a rough idea of what I'm talking about:
{table=head]Level|Feature
1|Retain control
2|Scent
3|DR 5/silver
4|Hybrid form
5|Curse of lycanthropy
6|Lycanthropic empathy
7|Perfect Control
8|DR 10/silver
9|
10|Capstone[/table]
NB level elements are made without the slightest clue of 4e mechanics, based solely off 3e lycanthropes, and solely as an example

Anyone who falls victim to the lycanthrope's bite suffers an attack against Will from his curse on the full moon or after becoming bloodied in combat: Failure turns him into a wolf, and he loses control of himself until he reverts to normal the next morning. Victims who wish to embrace their new nature, or who have given up hope in finding a cure, can opt to, on their next level-up, take racial levels in "werewolf" instead of whatever species they were before. The first level allows them to retain control of their faculties in wolf form, and further levels advance them as shown above.

So-called "natural" lycanthropes--the children of werewolves, who carry the curse from their birth--are no different from regular "afflicted" lycanthropes, except that they can take levels in lycanthrope right from the start, and so tend to be more advanced. A fifth-level "natural" lycanthrope who has fully embraced his animal nature (read: has not taken levels in his "proper" race, but rather has taken everything in lycanthrope) can spread the curse, while a third-level human he infects will have to wait until eighth level for that power, and a sixth-level (or higher) human will never attain that ability (barring the introduction of a plot device to rectify the situation, such as a ritual that can replace levels).

Note that nobody is under any compulsion to take lycanthrope levels--indeed, that can make the curse harder to remove in the long run if a cure is found. A character may only choose to take one level so as not to lose control in the middle of combat, or he may choose to simply live with the curse as it is and seek a cure. Lycanthropes may "multiclass" freely between their original racial levels and lycantrhope racial levels.

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Comments? Does anyone with the Races & Classes book want to come along and shatter my hopes and dreams?

Blasterfire
2007-12-18, 10:12 PM
I like this a lot. I had the same concern, but this looks like a good way to go about solving it.

TimeWizard
2007-12-18, 10:12 PM
I don't have the Races or Classes book, but I shatter your dreams as an automatic reaction akin to the Greater Unified Sandcastle Theory.

ALOR
2007-12-19, 09:02 AM
was that a 4e houserule I saw, even before the game is out? :smallwink:

Eldmor
2007-12-19, 09:38 AM
Monster classes aren't a new concept. They were introduced in Savage Species and were borked as all hell. Was then reintroduced in Libris Mortis which was made of undead-winwinwin.

kamikasei
2007-12-19, 10:00 AM
Monster classes aren't a new concept. They were introduced in Savage Species and were borked as all hell. Was then reintroduced in Libris Mortis which was made of undead-winwinwin.

Yes, but those were classes that took up your class levels. These would take up your racial class features, so that being a Human Fighter afflicted with lycanthropy wouldn't set back your Fighter development, but would take you further from being Human.

Fax Celestis
2007-12-19, 12:30 PM
Yes, but those were classes that took up your class levels. These would take up your racial class features, so that being a Human Fighter afflicted with lycanthropy wouldn't set back your Fighter development, but would take you further from being Human.

The Varag racial progression in MM-IV comingles racial features and class features. I get the feeling it'll be a bit like that.