Were-wars. There is even a were-paladin by RAW!

[taltamir]

Select an alignment you wish them to be. Select a were creature of said alignment. Get one to infect you, then go around and infect entire kingdoms.
Make a big ceremony about it.

Why would you do that?
You can shift forms willingly or be forced to shift on full moons. Whenever you shift you must make a will save, if you fail you are forced to act out the alignment of the were form. If you fail enough times you permanently switch alignment and stop making checks...

This is a problem for chaotic evil weres like were wolves.
But then you have things like the werebear, which I prefer to call "werepaladin"... who turn into lawful good when transformed.

An evil murderer you say? no problem, let our paladin werebear friend here bite him, he will be a lawful good guy in no time!

[KillianHawkeye]

Because if the were-bears tried to pull something like that, all the rest of them would do the same and you really would end up with a were-war. And there's a lot more evil lycanthropes than good ones.

Also, going around infecting people with lycanthropy against their will doesn't really scream "lawful" or "good" to me.

[Draxar]

Werebears amuse me.

I have this image of an evil crimelord that gets bitten by a werebear, contracts lycantropy, then at the next full moon, involuntarily shifts and is forced to act in a Lawful Good fashion. Whilst being a bear.

And the people will be asking "Who was that mysterious bear, helping old ladies across the street and bringing muggers to the proper authorities?"

Slightly more seriously, if you're willing to be open about the Werebear thing, you wouldn't neccessarily need to infect people agains their will – there are gains to it, and it doesn't make you evil.

Also, I can see it coming under the self-righteous zealotry that Lawful Good sometimes goes for – it *makes* people good.

[erikun]

Well, contracted wereism forces you to "violently attack those you are most emotionally attached to, whether love or hate," if I recall correctly. So an infected werebear goes insane and starts killing everyone, just like an infected werewolf. That's probably why werebears don't generally use their teeth.

On the other hand, locking someone into a vault until their alignment switched and then curing them (somehow) might work. I'd think a Helm of Opposite Alignment would be better, though...

It still does take away the awesome "Mob Boss by day, Superhero Bear by night" image, though.

[Vizzerdrix]

I dislike the were alignment system. Their is nothing good about bears. Zilch, nadda, zip. They are quite ruthless in nature and have been known to do some cunning things.

[chiasaur11]

I dislike the were alignment system. Their is nothing good about bears. Zilch, nadda, zip. They are quite ruthless in nature and have been known to do some cunning things.

Yeah. I mean, we all know bears are PURE EVIL.

It's a basic fact of nature.

[KnightDisciple]

Yeah. I mean, we all know bears are PURE EVIL.

It's a basic fact of nature.

They're godless killing machines!

[Thajocoth]

Werebears are Care Bears?

They're lawful good, and have an ability that makes people act lawfully good. Sounds a lot like the Care Bear Stare to me...

(I'm joking, but I do see some resemblance there...)

[Roderick_BR]

Also, you are pushing the moral dillema by doing a pseudo mind raeping.
Also also, if said criminial just happens to have a strong will, you'll be giving superpowers to a bad man for at least a good time. Bad idea.

Could be used to build a strong willing army, though. And yeah, werebears are good for paladins.

[Schylerwalker]

I also dislike the alignment system with werecreatures. I think they should either all be evil, or just be the base creature's alignment. Simple.

And yes...bears are, indeed, godless killing machines. ::eyeroll::

[averagejoe]

I dislike the were alignment system. Their is nothing good about bears. Zilch, nadda, zip. They are quite ruthless in nature and have been known to do some cunning things.

Um, hello? Smokey the Bear? Baloo? Iorek Byrnison? Beorn? The Berestain Bears? The Three Bulgy Bears? Winnie the Pooh?

What sort of depraved person would think bears are evil? OH THE HUMANITY!

[erikun]

Baloo?

Anyone who runs around naked singing about "bare necessities" is evil in my book.

[DragoonWraith]

They're godless killing machines!

I was waiting for this. Was gonna do it if no one else had, but I would have been disappointed if no one had. Heh.

[Lycanthromancer]

As a druid, I have the right to bear arms, the right to arm bears, and I've killed men with my bear hands.

Also, we're waiting partly on Aghihoti, Mr. D.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Um, hello? Smokey the Bear?

Actually a Blighter, attempting to stop the natural burn cycle of the forests to turn them into a massive firestorm.

Baloo?

Took a child away from his family and indoctrinated him in a subversive philosophy, while preventing him from recieving the basic requirements of life, such as medical care and human contact.

Iorek Byrnison? Beorn? The Three Bulgy Bears?

Don't recognize them.

The Berestain Bears?

Received massive profits from the sale of their tell-all books documenting their borderline criminal acts.

Winnie the Pooh?

Spent his life attempting to rob hardworking bees of the honey they needed to survive, not once did he do an honest day's work. Aided and abetted the notorious vandal known as 'Tigger' in his successful attempt to ruin a local farmer.

What sort of depraved person would think bears are evil? OH THE HUMANITY!

What sort of depraved person wouldn't? I'm watching you.

[Bibliomancer]

There's an Eberron solution to this, which is "Who cares, 99% of them were killed by the LG Church of the Silver Flame 200 years ago and the rest are hiding." Yes, even the were-bears. There were were-wars in Eberronian history, and the lycanthropes lost.

[Lycanthromancer]

There's an Eberron solution to this, which is "Who cares, 99% of them were killed by the LG Church of the Silver Flame 200 years ago and the rest are hiding." Yes, even the were-bears. There were were-wars in Eberronian history, and the lycanthropes lost.

It wasn't the Silver Flame! It's those evil bears again! EBEARron! It's a conspiracy!

[BobVosh]

It wasn't the Silver Flame! It's those evil bears again! EBEARron! It's a conspiracy!

You seem kinda...shifty. Hmm Lycan in the name....BugBEAR in the playground...Advanced knowledge of the bear phenomenon... WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!

[Alleine]

As odd as it is, being infected with lycanthropy doesn't stop you from being infected with lycanthropy. As soon as any evil were-creatures realized what was going on they would just start biting everyone as well(assuming they didn't think of this first). Then you have a bunch of Evil were-bear were-wolf high powered baddies running around. As interesting as a campaign setting like this would be, it would become extremely dangerous extremely fast as people gain more and more strains of lycanthropy in an effort to convert, counter convert, counter-counter convert, etc.

[Serpentine]

I also am not terribly thrilled by the lycanthrope alignment shift. I think it should just make the person insane when shifted, which they either get control of or gradually seeps into their non-shifted psyche.
OR, when in animal form they're overwhelmed by the basic brute instincts of the animals, and they have to work to get control over it, a la Animorphs.

For the actual topic... ionno.

[chiasaur11]

As odd as it is, being infected with lycanthropy doesn't stop you from being infected with lycanthropy. As soon as any evil were-creatures realized what was going on they would just start biting everyone as well(assuming they didn't think of this first). Then you have a bunch of Evil were-bear were-wolf high powered baddies running around. As interesting as a campaign setting like this would be, it would become extremely dangerous extremely fast as people gain more and more strains of lycanthropy in an effort to convert, counter convert, counter-counter convert, etc.

And the shiny silver warforged shall inherit the earth.

[Jothki]

Iorek Byrnison? Beorn? The Three Bulgy Bears

Beorn was in The Hobbit, and is probably the most direct reason why werebears are Lawful Good.

Iorek Byrnison was in The Golden Compass and its sequels, and is probably the most direct reason why everyone knows that armored bears are awesome.

I dunno who the Three Bulgy Bears are.

[Beelzebub1111]

There's a major problem with your theory:
Only natural lycanthropes can spread the lycanthropy. Infected ones can not. Also, I rule that the alignment of the werecreatures only applies to the natural variates as well.

[chiasaur11]

Beorn was in The Hobbit, and is probably the most direct reason why werebears are Lawful Good.

Iorek Byrnison was in The Golden Compass and its sequels, and is probably the most direct reason why everyone knows that armored bears are awesome.

I dunno who the Three Bulgy Bears are.

Narnia, Prince Caspian to be more specific.

People tend to forget them because they were introduced at the same time as Reepicheep. Who is awesome.

[sofawall]

Narnia, Prince Caspian to be more specific.

People tend to forget them because they were introduced at the same time as Reepicheep. Who is awesome.

That would be why I never remembered them. I was distracted by the awesome.

[taltamir]

There's a major problem with your theory:
Only natural lycanthropes can spread the lycanthropy. Infected ones can not. Also, I rule that the alignment of the werecreatures only applies to the natural variates as well.

what is a natural lycanthrope and how does one become one?

As odd as it is, being infected with lycanthropy doesn't stop you from being infected with lycanthropy. As soon as any evil were-creatures realized what was going on they would just start biting everyone as well(assuming they didn't think of this first). Then you have a bunch of Evil were-bear were-wolf high powered baddies running around. As interesting as a campaign setting like this would be, it would become extremely dangerous extremely fast as people gain more and more strains of lycanthropy in an effort to convert, counter convert, counter-counter convert, etc.

EPIC!
Ok, you shift into your were-bear-wolf-boar-tiger-rat form. Roll 5 a will check to not be lawful good, a will check to not be chaotic evil, a will check not to be neutral, a will check not to be lawful evil and a second will check not to be chaotic evil. If you fail multiple checks roll to choose which alignment you are today.

[taltamir]

The notion that evil lycanthropes will only try to infect people if good lycans do doesn't make sense, they are evil, they will be infecting people anyways.
They are also being hunted by organized and powerful groups...
But those groups should not be able to stop them... for some reason they do (for some reason humans are not all demon/illithid/dragon/whatever cattle either)

the advantage of the were-bear suggestion is that you could get the "Good people" behind it... and the lawful ones too...

The disadvantage is that the only conceivable reason why evil lycans don't overwhelm humanity is divine intervention, and I can see evil gods divinely interveneing to prevent your were-carebear utopia.

[Zaq]

As odd as it is, being infected with lycanthropy doesn't stop you from being infected with lycanthropy.

Yo dawg, I heard you like were-things...

[Alleine]

what is a natural lycanthrope and how does one become one?

Natural lycan is when a mommy lycan and a daddy lycan love each other very much. AKA, they're born into it. Afflicted means you got bit and cursed. So an afflicted would give birth to a natural.

And since only naturals can spread it(how did I never notice that?) the whole scheme might take awhile longer to unfold then, as you have to wait for the next generation to come along before widespread infecting can begin.

[Eldariel]

Bears are majestic and awesome. Also, kings of the forest and incarnations of Tapio and so on. You don't wanna claim Bears are evil!