Containing an ally?

[Tyger]

OK, one of our party members recently contracted lycanthropy, and underwent his first change so we can't heal him (not sure if he'd want to be healed anyway!).

However, as he is running rampant when he changes, we need a way to contain him until he gets control back, or at least long enough for us to get out of his effective range. Our party consists of an elven scout, the scout's knight cohort, a psychic warrior, the ranger (afflicted with lycanthropy) and me, the party wizard.

My wizard just cracked 8th level and I am in the process of taking my two free spells. Looking for suggestions on spells that would have a reasonable chance of containing or incapacitiating a level 8 werewolf without hurting him. The first one that comes to mind is Resilient Sphere. If he doesn't make his reflex save, that will hold him for 8 minutes. Which would either give us time to run like hades (though I'll have to stay close I think, or the sphere will go away) or him to make a will save to get control. The problem is, of course, that I am tagging his best save! With his 20ish dex, I thnk his saving throw is in the +10-12 range, vs my paltry 19DC. So he's saving easily half the time.

Any other suggestions?

[Stagger Lee]

What kind of Lycanthrope? I recommend casting sleep spells before he changes, with him voluntarily failing the save. Then make sure he doesn't wake up.

[Tyger]

As noted above, he's a werewolf.

And its not so much about hitting him before he changes, as after. We didn't get a lot of notice the first time he changed. And at 8th level, he's immune to the Sleep spell. Though I suppose not to the Deep Slumber version... that's worth thinking about.

And I should have mentioned earlier, spells available are pretty much anything in the PHB, DMG, PHBII and SC.

[PinkysBrain]

Unless you are using houserules or you are for some reason not telling the guy he has lycanthropy you are playing it "wrong".

"A character with awareness of his condition retains his identity and does not lose control of his actions if he changes. However, each time he changes to his animal form, he must make a Will save (DC 15 + number of times he has been in animal form) or permanently assume the alignment of his animal form in all shapes."

PS. polymorph will strip him of the lycanthropy template temporarily. I wouldn't recommend using the spell though, better to pretend it doesn't exist ... it's completely broken.

[Tyger]

Well, not sure if the DM is houseruling or not, but this was the first change for the character, so its still within the rules. And of course, the rest of the characters don't know if he'll gain control (made a Knowledge Aracana check on the topic, but no one has specialized knowledge on monsters), so for now we're proceeding as though he needs to be contained.

[Quietus]

You could try Charm Monster - at the very least, that'll make your wild friend view you as his best friend. Duration : One day/level. Have him willingly fail the save before the moon on the first day, and you're good. It's kind of unfortunate that it isn't a dismissable spell, but if you guys are already good friends in-game, then it won't make any change in his normal behavior, only his transformed behavior.

[Driderman]

I suggest hog-tying him with silver shackles the next he goes to sleep and then bring him to some sort of expert. If he can't help, the best thing you can do is put the poor bloke out of his misery. I mean, he'd rather be dead than a werewolf murdering innocents, right? And if that's not the case, you might want to skip the 'consult an expert' part and just cut his head off right away. Unless of course you're all evil characters in which case: Hey neat, we got a werewolf!

[Citizen Joe]

Wolves are pack animals and you can exploit that. If you convince the 'wolf' that the rest of the party is his 'pack' then there should be less problems. However, a pack needs a leader. The rest of the pack can be submissive and accept the 'wolf' as leader, or one person needs to clearly dominate the 'wolf' and never show weakness.

[goat]

Get some knowledge, and get some Manacles. Rope will do, but really requires a player with a decent use rope skill. If you can get one, a cage is good, go into town away from a full moon, buy a strong animal cage, put him in it when he's likely to change.

[Gralamin]

I suggest hog-tying him with silver shackles the next he goes to sleep and then bring him to some sort of expert. If he can't help, the best thing you can do is put the poor bloke out of his misery. I mean, he'd rather be dead than a werewolf murdering innocents, right? And if that's not the case, you might want to skip the 'consult an expert' part and just cut his head off right away. Unless of course you're all evil characters in which case: Hey neat, we got a werewolf!

Quoted for Truth.

[kpenguin]

How close is the nearest cleric? If you make in time (within three days) to a high level cleric (at least lvl 12), then you can heal him of the curse. Otherwise... if he doesn't mind losing level, you can search for the nearest druid of seventh level or higher and have your friend... die (ritual suicide, a bit poison in his drink, it's all the same). Get the druid to cast reincarnate. Since it changes the character's race (and thus, also its subtype) it should work on removing lycanthropy.

[Tyger]

Well, something tells me that the DM isn't sticking with the "wolves are by nature CE" alignment bit. We're a good party, the character is a CG ranger, and the DMs been really pretty adamant throughout that this game is and will remain good aligned.

That said, anyone have any answers to the original question? How to contain him if he goes wolfy and evil on us again? We have neither the time nor the gold to cure him.

And I am not looking for answers that include "kill him" or "manacle him before he changes" or anything like that. Assume that he's already changed, is out of his mind, and is trying to kill the entire party. We want to be able to take him out of the fight without hurting him.

The Charm Person and pack ideas are good ones though. Have to look into using those ideas.

[ghost_warlock]

Countermoon is a 2nd-level druid spell in Spell Complendium that forces a lycanthrope back into their humanoid form. Maybe your DM would let you research a variant of it (at 3rd or 4th spell level?), considering the circumstances. If nothing else, it could help contain him during those three difficult days of the month.

As soon as he can, make sure your buddy takes as many ranks as possible in the Control Shape skill (it automatically becomes a class skill for him).

[goat]

If you just want to avoid him: get out of his way, cast rope trick, and hide.

Otherwise, I think Remove Curse can cure him, as long as you cast it while he's in wolf-form.

[Green Bean]

Mind-affecting spells are a good option. My suggestion is Suggestion. Looking at the template, INT doesn't change, so language isn't a problem. If it starts coming after you, give it suggestions along the lines of tying itself up, or going to sleep, or something that keeps it busy for the spell's duration ("You're really hungry. You should hunt down <insert rare animal that isn't in region>")

[Citizen Joe]

Note that werewolves aren't all THAT badass. They get a little stronger and a bit tougher, plus that damage resistance. But they don't have that chain busting unstoppable strength that they had in 2nd edition. They don't have particularly good will saves either, so attack the mind. You may need to fashion a silver choke collar for him to remind him who is boss. Assuming its too late to cure, slap a MoJ on him and word it in such a way that you can control him. But you still need to let him hunt on occassion. So, that means around the full moons, you need to find evil creatures to let him destroy. Eventually, try to find a helm of opposite alignment. Or make a collar with that enchantment (only like 4000 gold). Its a will save so you just need to restrain him one time in hybrid form and slap on the collar... poof Lawful good werewolf. Of course then you have a wolf that is overly self righteous and complains about how erratic and hedonistic his human self is. From a roleplaying point of view, I'd say the 'wolf' considers the party and more likely the local area people his 'Pack' and is selflessly devoted to their protection. Knowing the posibility of passing on the curse, he would likely relentlessly behead and burn the corpse of anyone that MAY have been afflicted by him for their own good.

[Seffbasilisk]

Mind-affecting spells are a good option. My suggestion is Suggestion. Looking at the template, INT doesn't change, so language isn't a problem. If it starts coming after you, give it suggestions along the lines of tying itself up, or going to sleep, or something that keeps it busy for the spell's duration ("You're really hungry. You should hunt down <insert rare animal that isn't in region>")

Decent idea there, but one issue. You're making a werewolf hungry, then telling it that it should hunt a creature it can't reach? Either A: He runs too far away to rejoin the party or B: He eats the party.

Mind affecting would work though, the Deep Slumber one is probably best.

[Citizen Joe]

Suggestion: "We are your pack and I am the leader. HEEL!"

[Fizban]

Keep in mind that lycanthropy gives +2 wisdom, so his will save will go up by 1. Not as bad as his reflex save sure, but it will be higher than before.

[DracoDei]

Well, depending on how far into the wilderness you are and how long you intend to stay out there, getting the rest of the party infected is one counter-intuitive solution... if there aren't any innocent victems around normally, and you time your next trip into town right, and you aren't using horses, you might do fine that way.

[Jack_Simth]

Step 1: Stay *far* away from civilization.
Step 2: Cast Resilient Sphere - not on him, on you (and the rest of the party; this is designed to buy you a few minutes to get everyone into the next step)
Step 3: Cast an (Extended) Rope Trick on a 5-foot piece of rope.
Step 4: Climb into Rope Trick, pull Rope up behind.
Step 5: Next day, once everything's done, try to find him.

[Yechezkiel]

I was the PC sibling of a werewolf character in a game not too long ago... we came from a community where it wasn't so uncommon (to be a lycanthrope) and an Alchemy recipe existed that subdued the change for the nights of the full moon.

I don't remember the DC of the Craft: Alchemy, but I remember it being pretty hard to keep making as we traveled (I was a Druid and, at first, we were trying to keep it secret from the party). It was a really fun aspect of the story, especially when it eventually got out.

Maybe your DM would allow something similar? Hell, if he likes this idea enough I'll write up a paragraph background about where it came from in that world/game.

[Sutremaine]

Unless you are using houserules or you are for some reason not telling the guy he has lycanthropy you are playing it "wrong".

"A character with awareness of his condition retains his identity and does not lose control of his actions if he changes. However, each time he changes to his animal form, he must make a Will save (DC 15 + number of times he has been in animal form) or permanently assume the alignment of his animal form in all shapes."

But before that can happen, a DC 15 Wisdom check is required for the character to remember the time spent transformed and become aware of his affliction. I don't see anything in the thread that says whether or not the character is aware of his rampages.

It seems that alignment change doesn't happen until the afflicted character realises he's a werewolf. If your DM weren't adamant about keeping a Good-aligned campaign, it might be better to keep the guy in the dark until you can get a Helm of Opposing Alignment and restrain him (just in case he changes his mind about the whole idea after turning CE).

[Diggorian]

I'd recommend Bestow Curse, with the -4 to attack and saves. Then the Charm Monster to get him on everyone's side, the Curse will weaken his weakest save:Will. If the Charm doesnt take, Deep Slumber (Will too). If both those fail, then try Inevitable Defeat from PHB2. While he's taking 3d6 nonlethal per round do total defense.

[Tyger]

Nice! Like the Helm of Opposite Alignment idea... I'll just make it a collar. :)

And the druid spell is also good to go, I'll look at researching that asap.

Suggestion though, don't know why I didn't think of that.

Thanks all for the ideas. The RP is probably going to take care of itself really soon, but in the meantime, need to formulate some other ideas. And these ones will go a long way.

[lord_khaine]

i would really just tie him up on the night of the full moon, and let that be it until you find a more permanent solution.

[Koji]

Nonlethal attacks with silver weapons. Beat him into unconsciousness and don't let him get back up.

Animate rope with the wizard to improve his use rope check. Lycanthropes have a tendency to burst out of ropes when they change due to the fact that their size/shape changes, but if he's good enough, he can account or that.

Failing that, make him sleep in a circus wagon-type cage.

[ZeroNumerous]

I'm still not understanding the problem. He should definitely be able to control his change once he realizes he's a lycanthrope. Just boost his Will save to the point where he constantly makes the easy save versus gaining the creature's alignment.

[Driderman]

I'm still not understanding the problem. He should definitely be able to control his change once he realizes he's a lycanthrope. Just boost his Will save to the point where he constantly makes the easy save versus gaining the creature's alignment.

Until he fails it and tries to rip apart the party?
No, I believe the best thing would be to cure him...

[Accersitus]

If he's an elf, or half-elf, you could say he became a Lyrathi(CG elven werewolf from Races of Faerun, but otherwise not any different from the normal werewolf)
This will make sure the Ranger won't go on random killing sprees, but he would still have some wolfish traits.

Or you could ask the DM to give you a ritual type spell, and use the Dragonball method:

Spoiler

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Blow up the moon