SlavesOfTheMoon_Fina.. - Marcia Schoonover's web page

By Mike Mearls 

PCI 1107

Cover: Todd Lockwood 

Artists: Ken Burles, Paul Carrick, Paul (Prof) Herbert, Pawel Kopotowski, 

Raven J Mimura, Joel Talakco, J.P. Targete, Roel Wielinga 

Editor: Brian Schoner 

Layout: Victor Choy Designs, Inc. 

Art Direction: Nelson Rodriguez 

Writers: Mike Mearls 

Additional Material: Eric Wiener 

Team Paradigm: Henry Lopez, Nelson Rodriguez, Eric Wiener, 

Peter Barrenechea, Jim Beck 

Table of Contents 

Introduction ........................................................................................3 

Werebears Culture................................................................................4 

WereBoars Culture ............................................................................10 

WereRats Culture ..............................................................................17 

WereTiger Culture..............................................................................23 

Werewolf Culture ..............................................................................30 

Lycanthrope Characters......................................................................36 

a. Werebears ................................................................................39 

b. Wereboars ..............................................................................40 

c. Wererats ..................................................................................41 

d. Weretigers ..............................................................................43 

e. Werewolves..............................................................................44 

Prestige Classes ..................................................................................45 

a. Bestial War master ..................................................................46 

b. Emerald Claw..........................................................................47 

c. Herald of Decay ......................................................................49 

d. Knight of Glade and Glen ......................................................51 

e. Master of the Hunt ..................................................................52 

f. Master of Fang and Blade ........................................................54 

g. Midnight Justicar ....................................................................55 

h. Lunar Adept ............................................................................57 

i. Night Howler ..........................................................................59 

j. Pack Lord ................................................................................60 

k. Relentless Charger ..................................................................62 

l. Shadow Prowler ......................................................................63 

m. Wolf Slayer ............................................................................65 

Lycanthrope Feats ..............................................................................67 

Lycanthropes and Magic ....................................................................72 

a. New Spells ..............................................................................73 

Lycanthrope Magic Items....................................................................79 

Lycanthropes in the Campaign ..........................................................83 

a. Lycanthropes in your Campaign ..............................................86 

The Moon and Lycanthropes..............................................................94 

Designation of Open Content 

Chapter Two is hereby released as open content. 

Chapter One and Chapter Three as well as all 

illustrations, regardless of placement in this 

publication are considered closed content. 

Except as otherwise identified, all portions of this 

publication are © 2004 Paradigm Concepts, Inc. All 

Rights Reserved. The mention of, use of, or 

reference to any company, trademark or product in 

this publication is not a challenge to the trademark 

or copyright in question. The D20 System, D20 

System logo Dungeons & Dragons ®, D&D ®, D20 

and Wizards of the Coast ®, are registered 

trademarks of Wizards of the Coast and are used 

with permission. The D20 System and D20 System 

logo trademarks are used under the terms of the 

D20 System Trademark License. The D20 System 

Trademark License version 6.0 can be found at 

http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/d20stlv6.rtf 

ISBN 1-931374-21-X 

This product is web enhanced 

www.Paradigmconcepts.com 

www.LivingArcanis.com

2 

OPEN GAME LICENSE 

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 

2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved. 

1. Definitions: (a) "Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners 

who have contributed Open Game Content; (b) "Derivative Material" means 

copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including 

into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, 

extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in 

which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" 

means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, 

transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) "Open Game Content" means the game 

mechanic and includes the 

methods, procedures, processes 

and routines to the extent such 

content does not embody the 

Product Identity and is an 

enhancement over the prior art 

and any additional content clearly 

identified as Open Game Content 

by the Contributor, and means any 

work covered by this License, 

including translations and 

derivative works under copyright 

law, but specifically excludes 

Product Identity. (e) "Product 

Identity" means product and 

product line names, logos and 

identifying marks including trade 

dress; artifacts; creatures, 

characters; stories, storylines, 

plots, thematic elements, dialogue, 

incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, 

poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio 

representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, 

personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, 

environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or 

effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or 

registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the 

Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) 

"Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used 

by a Contributor to identify itself 

or its products or the associated 

products contributed to the Open 

Game License by the Contributor 

(g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" 

means to use, Distribute, copy, 

edit, format, modify, translate and 

otherwise create Derivative 

Material of Open Game Content. 

(h) "You" or "Your" means the 

licensee in terms of this 

agreement. 

2. The License: This License applies 

to any Open Game Content that 

contains a notice indicating that 

the Open Game Content may only 

be Used under and in terms of this 

License. You must affix such a 

notice to any Open Game Content 

that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except 

as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied 

to any Open Game Content distributed using this License. 

3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your 

acceptance of the terms of this License. 

4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the 

Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive 

license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content. 

5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original 

material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are 

Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights 

conveyed by this License. 

Open Game License 

6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE 

portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE 

of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and 

You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to 

the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute. 

7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including 

as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, 

independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product 

Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any 

Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except 

as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of 

such Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does 

not constitute a challenge to the 

ownership of that Product 

Identity. The owner of any 

Product Identity used in Open 

Game Content shall retain all 

rights, title and interest in and to 

that Product Identity. 

8. Identification: If you 

distribute Open Game 

Content You must clearly 

indicate which portions of the 

work that you are distributing 

are Open Game Content. 

9. Updating the License: Wizards 

or its designated Agents may 

publish updated versions of this 

License. You may use any 

authorized version of this 

License to copy, modify and 

distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of 

this License. 

10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every 

copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute. 

11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game 

Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written 

permission from the Contributor to do so. 

12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms 

of this License with respect to 

some or all of the Open Game 

Content due to statute, judicial 

order, or governmental 

regulation then You may not Use 

any Open Game Material so 

affected. 

13. Termination: This License 

will terminate automatically 

if You fail to comply with all 

terms herein and fail to cure 

such breach within 30 days 

of becoming aware of the 

breach. All sublicenses shall 

survive the termination of 

this License. 

14. Reformation: If any provision 

of this License is held to be 

unenforceable, such 

provision shall be reformed 

only to the extent necessary 

to make it enforceable. 

15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE 

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 

System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; 

Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, 

David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, 

James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. 

Slaves to the Moon, Copyright 2004, Paradigm Concepts, Inc.; Author: Mike 

Mearls 

Slaves Of The Moon: The Essential Guide To Lycanthropes

Introduction 

This book makes assumptions about the reader’s knowledge of 

lycanthropes as foes in the context of a fantasy roleplaying 

game. But beyond that, in the annals of human folklore, men 

that can transform into beasts are commonplace legends. 

Typically, the most feared or most respected animals are 

featured in these tales. The very term lycanthrope refers 

directly to werewolves and would not apply to other beasts in 

a historical context, but we will restrict ourselves the standard 

D20 System term of Lycanthrope. 

Werewolf is the common creature of choice for the various 

Roman inspired cultures of Southern and Eastern Europe. 

Ancient Roman legend provided that a man could wear the skin 

of a wolf and become a powerful fusion of man and beast. If not 

properly disposed of after death (beheading) these persons 

would rise as blood-sucking fiends akin to vampires. The 

Lithuanians called these creatures Vilkacis and they sometimes 

brought treasure or were otherwise helpful. In ancient Greece, 

kynanthropy was a common legend, weredogs rather than 

werewolves. In Northern Europe, the werebear (berserk) was 

preeminent and did not have the ominous stigma of werewolves. 

Wereharts (deer men) were also found in Celtic myth. 

Polynesian myth is notable in that the shark is favored as the 

only non-mammalian example. 

In Africa, the Hyena, Lion and Leopard were the animals most 

associated with myths of lycanthropy. Since blacksmiths were 

often associated with magical powers, many of the African 

beasts were skilled in the working of iron and clay. The 

werelion was often portrayed as a noble lord over beasts, 

whereas the Leopard and Hyena varieties were of fell and 

fearsome disposition. 

The most complex myths of this type are found among the 

Indonesian peoples of Java and Celebes where nearly any type 

of mammal could be represented as a werecreature. These 

creatures would hunt men and tear them apart, taking their 

livers. These victims would be put back together and upon 

waking, would have no knowledge of what has befallen them. 

Several days later they would fall ill and slowly die. 

Indian legend holds the weretiger as the wrathful incarnation 

of evil. Such a wicked soul would terrorize the countryside in 

service to evil spirits. Similar beasts were evil spirits 

themselves that took children and stole the souls of the weak. 

The Khonds, an aboriginal Indian culture, believe that the tiger 

is just and reserves its wrath for their enemies. Men that take 

its form are set upon acts of a just vengeance. 

In South America, the jaguar is the beast of legend and is 

linked to retribution, using poisons to carry out acts of blood 

vengeance. Also, jaguar-men are often depicted as the familiars 

of cannibalistic sorcerers. Legends of European settlers in 

Brazil hold that the seventh child of the same sex in unbroken 

succession becomes a were-man or woman, and takes the form 

of a horse, goat, jaguar or pig. In Central America, Mayan 

magicians would guard the fields of Maize in animal 

form.Lycanthropes have long held a special place in folklore 

Introduction 

Slaves Of The Moon: The Essential Guide To Lycanthropes 3

4 

and superstition. Combining a human's cunning and intellect 

with a beast's strength and ferocity, they straddle the line 

between man and animal, civilization and savagery. From the 

earliest days of fantasy gaming, werebears and other good 

lycanthropes have been mentioned as an alternative to the 

typical array of elves, dwarves, and halflings. On a visceral 

level, the ability to transform into a huge bear and rend orcs 

limb from limb is too appealing for many gamers to pass up. 

In the classics of fantasy literature, shapechangers serve as 

tricksters, overpowering forces of nature, and wise caretakers 

of nature. Who doesn't want to take on those roles? 

On the other hand, werewolves have been a classic foe for 

adventuring parties. As monsters, they offer a variety of tricks 

and abilities to confound the players. They can adopt a human 

guise to spy on heroes and take them by surprise. In their bestial 

humanoid form, they can fight with a perfect combination of a 

human's cunning and a beast's strength. When they adopt an 

animal guise, they bring to life the lurking fears that wait just 

beyond the darkened borders of an ancient forest. 

This book presents rules, background ideas, and options for 

introducing lycanthropes as player characters in your 

campaign. Even if you would rather not have shapechanger 

PCs, you can use the rules and information in this book to add 

depth and detail to the lycanthrope friends and enemies the 

party meets. Tossing an unexpected element into a roleplaying 

game is one of the best ways you can inject excitement 

and uncertainty into you game. With the prestige classes, 

rules, and magic items found in this book, you can ensure that 

no two werecreatures are alike. 

WEREBEARS 

Werebear Culture 

'Would you wander into a person's home and set his floor 

aflame? I did not think so. Now put out the camp fire, collect 

your belongings, and never return to this place lest you wish 

to die a violent death.' 

- Werebear justicar, speaking to a band of dwarf adventurers 

Chapter One: Lycanthropic Races 

The werebears are celebrated as defenders of the forest, valiant 

champions of good who seek out and destroy evil wherever it 

takes root in their verdant realms. Like bears, they are seen as 

powerful but gentle beings that use wisdom and forethought 

to guide their actions. A bear may move slowly and carefully, 

but when he is aroused to act he is as implacable as an 

avalanche of stone thundering down a mountain's slope. To 

his enemies, he is an unstoppable force of nature best left to 

his own devices. Even the fearsome orcs are known to trace 

circuitous routes in their raids on civilization to avoid 

trespassing on a werebear's territory. 

Yet, by the same token, werebears are mysterious and 

terrifying. The same strength that can defeat a marauding ogre 

can crush a keep's wooden gate and slaughter the folk who 

dwell within. Werebears present two radically different sides of 

the same coin. Their might frequently strikes at evil, but 

sometimes their definition of evil leaves civilized folk terrified 

and confused. A simple traveler who plucks an apple from a 

tree could risk a werebear's wrath, in much the same manner 

that a band of hobgoblin berserkers would draw an attack 

from him. In the first case the bear may simply threaten the 

transgressor, while in the second he resorts to deadly violence 

without a second thought. Yet, the threat of force adds a tinge 

of fear to any interaction with werebears. Even the wood elves 

warn their young rangers and trackers to tread cautiously 

when dealing with werebears. Their minds are stern and 

resolute, and those who cross the rules they have established 

risk dire punishments. As the laws of the wild are left 

unspoken by the beasts of the wood, so too are the werebears' 

codes of conduct and standards left for others to interpret until 

they run afoul of the forest's protectors. 

Werebears occupy a strange position in the eternal struggle 

between good and evil. Taught to revere the forest above all, 

they see trees, simple animals, and even rivers as just as 

valuable as humans, elves, and other living creatures. These 

standards pull them into conflicts with both sides of the 

struggle, without a thoughtless or ignorant paladin just as 

likely to draw their rage as a marauding hill giant. 

The Noble Savages 

In their humanoid guises werebears are distant but 

approachable, willing to converse with those who have the 

courage and stern resolution necessary to choke back their fear 

and stand before them. Like the forest realms they inhabit, they 

are difficult to understand at first but in time a dedicated 


student can learn their ways. Just as an experienced woodsman 

can treat the forest as a comfortable home while a city dweller 

sees the place as a deadly wilderness, those who work to 

understand werebears can transform them into important, 

helpful allies. The key to understanding werebears is to know 

that they place their duty above all else. Friendships, alliances, 

and other social connections with non-werebears are time and 

again trumped by the werebears' dedication to the wilderlands 

and the ironclad oath they took to protect the wilderness. This 

oath ties into their origin and plays a major role in their society 

and personal actions to this day. 

The Ancient Days 

In the ancient days when the first 

men, orcs, and goblins, 

walked the earth, the bears 

were the kings of the 

forest. They were the 

strongest, smartest, and 

wisest of the animals. 

For many years, they 

dwelled in peace within 

the woods. The outside 

world rarely intruded 

into their realms, and 

when it did its 

actions were small, 

easily overlooked, 

and had little effect 

on the 

environment as a 

whole. The elves 

had always lived in 

the forest, and 

their care and love 

of the woods made 

them fit into the realm 

with the same gentle symbiosis 

as the deer, birds, and other animals. 


In time, though, both the civilized and barbaric races of the 

world began to enter the forests in numbers. Orcs chopped 

down hundreds of trees to build their war machines. Dwarves 

used them to fuel their machines and warm their mountain 

homes in the winter. Humans felled hundreds of acres of 

woodland, used the timbers to construct villages, and sowed 

the cleared space with wheat, corn, and other crops. 

The bears were enraged. How could such crimes go 

unpunished? Their strength and wisdom were enough to 

sustain them in the wilds, but in the face of torches, axes, and 

metal armor, their fangs and claws were useless. For years, 

they retreated back into the forest's deeper regions. The gods 

of nature and their druid allies did what they could to staunch 

the loss of woodlands, and in many areas their efforts proved 

fruitful. Other times, settlers and explorers awakened ancient, 

primal monsters such as hydras, gorgons, and others that 

threw back civilization's progress and slowed the 

establishment of stable borderlands. 

Still, the bears fumed. For all their majesty and might, they were 

powerless in the face of men, dwarves, and goblins. In time, 

some among them grew jealous of the humanoid species. They 

saw the warm houses they built, the clothes they wore, and the 

weapons they carried and grew to long for them. Worst of all, at 

this time the weretigers entered the world to begin their great 

quest for enlightenment. The cats, always eager to learn what 

they could and rarely daunted by anything as fearsome as a 

growling, fanged bear, showed the bears that the magic of the 

world allowed some animals to take on human form. 

In time, the bears formed a plan. They wished to once again 

claim power where they had once ruled. Their motives 

were not selfish, as they truly felt 

that the forest was better 

when they warded 

over it. Still, their 

hopes and concerns 

did reflect the envy 

they felt towards the 

humanoids. Their 

god, Urthar, the Lord 

of Tooth and Claw, 

looked upon them and 

was moved with pity. 

He found his subjects' 

willingness to turn their 

backs on their ways 

shortsighted. After all, 

he saw into the hearts 

of civilized men and 

saw the fears, concerns, 

and weighty matters they 

bore. The bears, despite 

their complaints, enjoyed 

peaceable, carefree 

existences. 

Urthar pondered long and 

hard to find a solution. Following in the footsteps of several 

gods before him, he decided to grant his followers the curse 

of lycanthropy, though with an added price to forever end the 

bears' discontent. Each bear was given a choice: accept the 

burden of lycanthropy or live forever more as a simple 

animal. To Urthar's relief, the vast majority of his followers 

accepted the burden of living as a true animal. Their minds 

became concerned only with the matters of the forest: 

hunting, surviving, raising their cubs, and enjoying nature's 

simple bounty. 

To the werebears who accepted lycanthropy, Urthar gave an added 

burden. To test their resolve and ensure that they wanted to 

change their natures for only the noblest of reasons, he compelled 

them to take an oath known as the Caretaker's Promise. 

The Caretaker's Promise 

Urthar presented to his people the following code of conduct. 

Before gaining the abilities of a werebear, they had to pledge 

on their immortal souls that they and their descendants 

would uphold it to the best of their abilities. The Promise is 


6 


simple yet demanding, and its rules set forth a code of 

conduct that most werebears follow to this day. The code's 

rules are as follows: 

• Protect the natural world at all costs. Hunt for enough food 

to eat, till and plant in fields that are free of trees, and gather 

nature's bounty so sustain yourself, but avoid the temptation 

to take more than you need. Nature provides for all so long 

as each person takes only what he requires and leaves the 

rest untouched. 

• Those who would despoil the wilderness may do so out of 

malice or ignorance. When encountering a marauder, use 

your words to warn him and leave him alone to ponder your 

message. If he is ignorant, he will be enlightened and will 

return to the path of nature. If he is malicious, he will ignore 

your counsel. Like a farmer must purge a sickly plant to 

preserve his crops, so too must you slay such folk to 

eliminate malice from the world. 

• The needs of nature as a whole always outweigh an 

individual's wants or requirements. A single soul may fall, 

but the forest as a whole continues. What a man sees as an 

ending the flowers see as a beginning. The dead return to the 

earth and in their demise breed the opportunity for more 

life. The worm devours the flesh, but is in turn eaten by the 

bird, who in his time feeds men. 

• While you may walk as bear or man, you are both and 

neither. Remain separate from the men and animals, and in 

so doing you may remain able to judge them without 

emotion clouding your reason. Remain among your own 

folk, take their counsel, and remain suspicious of outside 

voices that seek to sway you to their needs. 

The Caretaker's Promise is a powerful cultural tool in werebear 

society, one that helps to keep them attached to their duties 

and sworn to their path as guardians and protectors. Yet it can 

at times prove to be a burden, particularly when the bears 

must deal with outsiders. Elves, humans, halflings, and other 

good folk expect the werebears to be undaunted champions of 

good. While it is true that they fight to protect and preserve 

their forest homes, they are by no means active champions of 

justice in the same sense as paladins, clerics, and other 

crusaders. Only rarely do they take an active role in the world, 

preferring to use passive or static measures to maintain their 

realms. Werebears can be frustratingly difficult to move to 

action when their neighbors are in peril. An orc warlord could 

descend upon a forested valley, besiege a paladin's castle, and 

burn a halfling town to the ground. However, as long as the 

orcs refused to intrude upon the werebears' realms and 

directly attack them, these lycanthropes would typically refuse 

to enter the conflict. It matters not to the forest if the folk who 

dwell in the villages and castles are orcs of humans, good or 

evil, as long as they respect the environment and allow the 

forest to prosper as it always has. 

Werebears can also be shortsighted in their dealings with 

humanoids. Often, they are too concerned with their own 

realms to note events and troubles outside of it that could 

eventually spell their doom. In the example above, the 

werebears may do nothing while the orcs drive away the men 

and halflings. In time, the orcs may grow in numbers and 

eventually gather the strength needed to conquer the 

lycanthropes. With their shortsighted concern for the forest, 

the werebears may fail to see the logical turn of events that can 

lead to their defeat. 

Other times, the werebears' problems can be more difficult for 

them to pin down. A distant colony of gnomes could build a 

dam that chokes off water to the bears' realm. The werebears, 

possibly ignorant of the realms beyond the forest, might 

spend weeks or months fruitlessly searching for some local 

cause to their problem. Only when the situation reaches a 

critical mass do they travel far enough from home to discover 

the gnomes' dam. At that point, they may simply besiege their 

tormentors, unable to realize that the gnomes committed their 

transgression solely out of ignorance. Even if the bears choose 

to parlay, they may simply make demands backed with dire 

threats of violence. The gnomes, not about to surrender their 

settlement to what strikes them as a band of bullies, could dig 

in for a long fight. 

Werebear Organization 

Within the forest realms, werebears organize themselves into a 

strict hierarchy of groups, each with a specific region it 

oversees and defends. The smallest of these groups are known 

as lodges. A lodge may consist of anything from a lone 

werebear to several dozen who work together. Lodges typically 

draw their names and symbols from the area they watch over. 

The Whisper River Lodge would operate near its namesake 

river, and might feature a stylized stream flowing towards a 

rising sun on the horizon as its symbol. Each lodge maintains 

records, usually in the form of oral stories passed down from 

generation to generation. Their history plays a major role in 

their relationships and attitudes towards neighboring realms 

and races. For example, the Red Peaks Lodge might have a 

long history of hunting down drow raiding parties that come 

to the surface using tunnels near their mountain home. 

Werebears tend to draw heavily on history and tradition when 

dealing with outsiders, and a lodge's records are usually the 

first place they look to for advice and counsel. 

Lodges normally build wooden cabins to serve as their 

headquarters and living space, though some make use of caves 

and other natural formations. Even werebears that prefer to 

spend as much time as possible in animal form erect 

accommodations they can use while they assume humanoid 

shape. Old lodges with a long history of service can develop 

homes that resemble country estates, with the original, wooden 

structure expanding to include a barn or guesthouse, and the 

craftsmanship of the original building improved over 

successive generations. Werebears who are friendly with 

neighboring humans, dwarves, or elves sometimes recruit their 

allies to improve upon their dwellings. A mountain lodge may 

dwell within a network of expertly crafted, subterranean 

galleries carved by expert dwarf workers, while a forest lodge's 

main hall could feature beautifully carved wooden pillars, bas 

relief frescoes, and other fine craftsmanship that makes it the 

rival of a king's royal court. 



Those werebears that prefer to remain in their animal form 

usually use these structures as meeting places. All but the most 

feral werebears recognize the utility in having a sheltered place 

to meet with visitors from other lodges and conduct business 

with druids, forest sorcerers, elves, and other humanoid allies. 

Of all the lycanthrope races, the werebears have perhaps the 

most careful balance between their humanoid and animal 

halves. Aside from werebears who are orphaned at a young age 

and must live in the wilds to survive, only in rare cases do 

these folk ever stray too far in one direction or the other. 

Within the lodge, a ruling council makes decisions concerning 

dealings with other creatures, defense of the realm, and other 

matters. This council is elected by popular, open vote among 

all werebears of adult age. At any time the adults may, through 

a majority vote, call for new elections. The council holds 

absolute authority in most areas, though any grave actions 

such as attacking a neighbor are decided by a vote of all adults. 

Usually, the oldest, most experienced and respected werebears 

rise to this council, making it a good barometer of how the 

werebears of a lodge feel about an issue as a whole. Any 

adventurers or diplomats who wish to make peace with a band 

of werebears or earn 

their alliance must start 

by impressing the 

council with their good 

intentions and 

honorable behavior. 

Between lodges there 

exists no standing body 

of governance. Usually, if 

two of these groups 

come into conflict over a 

matter, a temporary 

council forms to resolve 

the matter. A slight 

minority of this group 

consists of werebears 

from the lodges involved 

in the dispute, while the 

majority comes from 

lodges outside of the area. This system ensures that any 

decision the council reaches is fair and equitable while relevant 

to the issue at hand. Sometimes, though, this method can 

cause unintended consequences and poses a potential for 

abuse or subversion. Since most of the werebears must be 

drawn from distant areas, these newcomers can be easily 

subverted with magic or replaced by imposters. Since the 

locals are unfamiliar with these visitors, any strange behavior 

or uncharacteristic statements they make pass unnoticed. 

Worst of all, sometimes the outsiders force a solution upon a 

local dispute that does little to improve the situation. Two 

lodges may argue over whether a human lord is a threat to the 

forest or if his recent actions are excusable given his ongoing 

war with an orc horde. By the time a council is called and their 

decision rendered, the lord may have already been defeated. 

The council could simply order the werebears to destroy all the 

logging operations, never mind that both lodges had already 

given their blessings to limited harvests in portions of the 

forest. Sometimes, the relationship between a human realm 

and their werebear neighbors can take a radical, unintended 

change when a council forces a lodge to change its policies. 

Lodges are private almost to the point of secrecy. They may 

offer food and shelter to truly desperate travelers who 

obviously mean no harm, but otherwise they tolerate few 

visitors. Werebears are notorious for falling silent when 

strangers are among them, preferring to wait until they are 

gone to speak their minds. Werebears rely on their 

ambassadors and leaders to handle outsiders. A werebear who 

stumbles upon outsiders in the forest may simply watch them 

to determine their intentions, never making himself known. 

Honor, Glory, and Duty 

As lawful creatures, werebears place a strong emphasis on 

order, rules, and responsibilities. All werebears are expected to 

place the Caretaker's Promise above all other concerns in life. 

An individual's life is nothing if he betrays the sacred vow that 

forms the basis for his existence. While the Promise forms the 

most basic werebear ideal of proper conduct, other 

philosophies and ideas 

of how a werebear 

should behave have 

evolved over time. 

These various ideals 

have spawned a 

number of codes, from 

rigorous standards of 

duty that a lodge's 

council should obey to 

the proper actions of a 

werebear warrior. In a 

culture steeped in 

history, tradition, and 

duty, these codes have 

evolved to take on a 

life of their own. Most 

werebears choose and 

follow what they refer 

to as pacts: clear, rigorous ideas on duty, conduct, and 

philosophy that guide a werebear in his daily life. The pacts are 

a cornerstone of werebear society. While not all werebears 

choose and follow one, most of them find the pacts important 

guideposts in helping them fulfill the duties conferred upon 

them by the Caretaker's promise. 

Pacts exist for most of the common roles in werebear society, 

from sorcery and archery to swordplay and religious callings. 

Each pact includes a basic outlook on life, a code of conduct, 

and several traditions relating to its practice. 

The Pact of Blades: The bear is slow to anger, but when 

aroused his rage knows no bounds. Concerned with the 

proper use and application of force, the pact of blades is 

favored by werebear fighters, warriors, and others who study 

the art of combat. The pact of blades has a simple message: 

deadly force is a weapon of last resort, but when used it must 

be applied with stern resolution. Warriors who follow this pact 

prefer to use diplomacy and reason to solve problems, but in 


8 


battle they are terrible foes. They believe that every opponent 

has a chance to prove himself innocent of any wrongdoing, 

except for obviously evil intruders, but once engaged in 

combat they do everything they can to slay their foes. The 

pact's ethos can be summarized as follows: 

• Your enemies' actions must dictate your response. A lone 

ogre wandering the forest has not yet earned your blade's 

judgment, but should you come across a person engaging in 

a crime or the wanton destruction of the forest, his fate has 

been sealed. 

• The greatest victories come when your weapons remain 

sheathed. Words can turn a foe into an ally. Your weapons 

can only end his life, and in so doing perhaps slay a friend 

who only temporarily walked in the guise of a foe. 

• When your blade has been freed of its sheath, it must taste 

blood. If you find that you have readied your weapon 

without good cause, then feed it your own blood and let the 

scars remind you to practice patience in the future. 

The pact of blades is most commonly followed by fighters, 

paladins, rangers, and other werebears who rely on their skill 

with weapons to survive. The warriors of this pact commonly 

tie a length of string or thin rope around their weapons to bind 

them to their sheaths and belts. While this trinket does 

nothing to inhibit a weapon's use, it does serve to remind a 

werebear that violence should not be his first option. Of all the 

pacts, this one is easily the least common. Most werebears 

would rather risk attacking a potential friend than allow 

destruction of the forest to continue. However, many of the 

werebears who journey into human lands and beyond the 

forest follow this pact. Their even-tempered natures and skill 

at arms allow them to mingle with outsiders with much greater 

ease than their kin. 

The Pact of Fury: The bear's chief weapon is his anger. While 

slow and docile at times, in battle he becomes a growling, 

unstoppable force of destruction. All too often, his foes 

mistake his gentle demeanor for weakness. Once they incite 

his anger, they learn the error of their ways, though they rarely 

survive to use that lesson. The pact of fury is concerned with 

the inner anger that dwells within all werebears. As part of 

their animal nature, they have a tremendous capacity for using 

their emotions to feed their physical actions. Yet, the 

werebears' lawful, strict nature normally stultifies that ability. 

The pact of fury seeks to reverse that trend. 

A popular ethos with young, aggressive werebears, this 

philosophy supports preemptive attacks and overwhelming 

strength that can crush enemies. To these werebears, the forest 

is continually beset by hordes of enemies. Civilization claws at 

the forest's edges, while orcs, ogres, and trolls engage in 

rampant destruction. Only a decisive, committed campaign 

against those who violate werebear domains can turn the tide 

and reverse this trend. The pact of fury's ethos is as follows: 

• Anger is power. Allow it to run fast and hot, to overwhelm 

your foes before they can react. The strength that stems from 

your heritage is enough to defeat your opponents. Attack 

and destroy the enemy without remorse or hesitation. 

• Your enemies are all who wish to harm the forest and your 

people. Judge them swiftly, and unleash your fury upon them. 

Orcs, ogres, goblins, and other humanoids are naturally evil. 

They know no other ways and must always be destroyed. Even 

those who proceed peacefully seek only to fool you. Men, elves, 

and dwarves can be trusted at times, but watch them closely. 

• Never forget an insult or injury. Only blood can wash away 

these stains against your honor. 

• Once an enemy, always an enemy. Those who would destroy 

the forest cannot be redeemed. They may assume a friendly 

guise for a while, but keep close watch on them. In time, 

their deception will fall to the wayside. 

Barbarians and other chaotic werebears form the vast majority 

of this pact's adherents. Most of them are young radicals who 

believe that the woodland realms stand on the edge of oblivion. 

Their aggressive actions have at times touched off conflicts 

between lodges and against previously friendly neighbors. For 

this reason, its growth is tightly controlled and monitored by 

the eldest, wisest werebears. While the pact's emphasis on 

martial skills keeps its members ready for battle, its overly 

aggressive stance exacerbates diplomatic tensions and can lead 

a werebear lodge to wear itself out with endless battles. Those 

who follow the pact of fury adorn themselves with talismans 

crafted from fallen enemies, such as skull masks or cloaks made 

from skins and fur. In their humanoid form, they display 

elaborate, ceremonial scars that form images of war and victory. 

The Pact of Magic: While most outsiders see werebears as 

rustics and naturalists who rely on divine magic and their skill 

at arms, some among them are talented spellcasters. A few 

lodges keep and maintain libraries of spellbooks. While rare, 

these groups are fertile breeding grounds for werebear wizards. 

In other lodges, a few werebears in each generation are born 

with a natural talent for sorcery. Thus, the werebears maintain 

a small but vibrant tradition of arcane study. 

The pact of magic encompasses the werebears' most common 

beliefs and attitudes towards magic. It emphasizes a practical 

approach to spellcasting, focusing on learning spells and 

mastering talents that serve the lodge to the greatest degree. In 

the unforgiving wilds, magic is a tool rather than an art form. 

What it can do is far more important than how it does it. The 

pact of magic teaches that it is a werebear mage's duty to use 

his spells to support and aid his lodge. While other spellcasters 

may become self-absorbed and consumed by their studies, 

these casters must maintain strong ties to the mundane world 

and employ their magic with wisdom and care. The pact of 

magic's ethos can be summarized as follows: 

• Magic is a precious resource which must be shepherded and 

controlled. When faced with a situation, your mind should 

first move to consider a mundane solution. Your spells are 

powerful but limited. If you grow too dependent on them, 

soon you will find a moment in which your mightiest 

incantation fails to serve you. 

• A spell is like a seed planted in the ground. Those that grow 

slowly but bloom for a season are more easily appreciated 

than those that grow, bloom, and die in a moment. The spells 



that remain within the world for the longest time are more 

useful than those that solve your problems for but a moment. 

• A spell is a tool – one that has its genesis in mystic forces, but 

a tool nonetheless. Study magic to produce more useful tools; 

aim your studies to find how best to solve problems the lodge 

faces, and defeat enemies that threaten it. 

Sorcerers and wizards form the vast majority of this pact's 

followers, though a few clerics and druids who emphasize their 

magical talents over their other skills also follow it. Not all 

spellcasters embrace this pact; in particular, those who prefer 

flashy, destructive spells such as fireball often find other pacts 

more to their liking. Some wizards prefer the pact of fury, as it 

better encompasses their belief that superior firepower is the 

key to overcoming any obstacle. However, as werebear 

spellcasters age and mellow, they tend to come around to this 

pact's views. Members of this pact wear robes scribed with 

short commentaries on the uses of their spells. These garments 

remind their wearers that how they use their magic today will 

echo throughout the lodge's history and one day will determine 

the legacy they leave behind in this world. 

The Pact of Tree and Glade: The favored ethos of werebear 

druids and rangers and perhaps the most popular pact of them 

all, this philosophy holds that the defense of the forest realms is 

the highest calling a werebear can answer. Magic, skill at arms, 

and diplomacy are all useful talents, but they orbit the central 

concern of werebear culture: the woodlands' health and 

prosperity. Unless they can serve their central mission, these 

studies are useless. Werebears must dwell within the forest, learn 

its ways, and give their lives to preserving it. 

The pact of tree and glade casts werebears as not only the 

guardians of the forest, but as its caretakers and shepherds as 

well. Defending the forest requires an active hand in sculpting 

its development and preparing it to stand against attackers. For 

example, followers of this pact may plant and tend to thorny 

bushes at the outer edges of the forest to help dissuade 

intruders. They might plant poisonous herbs and roots amidst 

stands of leafy ferns and other edible flora with an aim towards 

punishing those who exploit nature without care for preserving 

it. In their view, a skilled woodsman would easily avoid 

poisonous roots or evade thorny plants. Anyone fool enough to 

fall victim to these ruses should not have been in the forest in 

the first place. The pact's beliefs can be summed up as: 

• The forest is our home and our fortress. Too many of us are 

content to leave the woods alone while trying to defend 

them. Instead we must treat our realm as a verdant fortress, 

one that can repel attackers and defeat our foes if only we 

tend to it and direct its growth. Nature is a slumbering giant 

who, with our guiding, benevolent influence, can awaken to 

become a mighty force. 

• All actions we take must be measured in terms of the forest's 

continuing health and prosperity. If we fight our enemies, we 

must consider if this act extends our realm's life or merely 

satisfies our battle lust. If we do business with men and 

elves, we must determine if they share our goals or merely 

seek to use us as convenient tools. 

• All folk we meet must be judged in terms of the forest's 

future and its health. We cannot allow personal feelings of 

fellowship or a person's actions beyond the borders of our 

realms to affect how we weigh their actions. The world 

beyond our realm is not our concern. Only when and where 

it interacts with our concerns should we pay it any mind. 

As this pact is common among werebears, its emphasis on 

isolation, absolute standards, and active defense frequently 

brings the werebears into conflict with their neighbors. The 

rangers, druids, and others who follow it are stern and 

judgmental, prone to scorn the folk of the outside world and 

enforce their stringent plans for the wilderness's health and 

defense on sprites, elves, and other creatures that share the 

woods with them. In their mind, most objections to their ideas 

are based on shortsighted cowardice; those with the moral 

vision necessary to understand the underlying issues can see 

their inherent wisdom. This inflexible attitude causes many 

conflicts within the wilderness, and the werebears often learn 

the hard way that diplomacy is a handier tool than blind faith. 

The Pact of Words: While werebears are most concerned 

with the health and future of their woodland homes, this duty 

requires them to frequently make contact and negotiate with 

their neighbors. The elves that live in a forest do not simply 

accede to the werebears' wishes, while the humans, dwarves, 

gnomes, and halflings who dwell within or near the forest 

may seek to use it without unnecessarily exploiting it. Not 

every problem can be solved with a battleaxe or spell, 

requiring the werebears to learn how to negotiate with their 

neighbors and live peacefully with them. While some lodges 

are isolated from civilization and only rarely worry about 

diplomacy, most need to balance their duty with their 

neighbors' plans and desires. Since werebears are good 

aligned, they only resort to deadly violence against other good 

creatures as a last resort. They may use threats and non-deadly 

attacks to handle such creatures, but in general they first try 

to employ diplomacy to resolve conflicts with them. 

Werebears who serve as spokesmen and diplomats follow the 

pact of words. This pact holds that violence is the last resort in 

any situation, save when peaceful overtures are met with an 

attack. Furthermore, its members take a dim view of what the 

werebears see as inherently evil races, such as goblins, orcs, 

trolls, and other marauding humanoids. The werebears' 

fanaticism and resolution trump their desire for peace when 

dealing with such foul creatures. 

The pact of words holds its members up to the following 

standards of behavior: 

• Words are more potent than weapons, though they must be 

used with care. Enemies can be rendered impotent with a 

few carefully chosen overtures of peace, but by the same 

token you will meet those who will turn your words against 

you. Speak carefully, and if confused or suspicious, seal your 

mouth until those doubts pass. 


10 


• Only a fool debates with a rainstorm; only a madman argues 

with a wall. Some creatures you meet are irredeemably evil. 

Do not waste words with the goblin folk and their kin, or 

with those who lay waste to our homes. Let the warriors' 

axes and swords speak in your stead. 

• Your word is your honor. Do not promise that which you 

cannot deliver; do not accept that which you cannot take. 

When you speak for the lodge, you lose your individual 

identity and become a mouthpiece for the sentiment of 

the group. 

Few werebears follow this pact, but those who do tend to be 

bards, rogues, or paladins. While most werebears have too 

little patience to handle the fine art of diplomacy, at least a few 

members of each lodge study this pact's teachings. 

Sometimes, older werebears from all pacts and classes drift 

onto this path as they age. With the wisdom of their many 

years, they see that the simple, violent solution is not always 

the best one in the long term. 

Werebear Religion 

Religion dominates the werebears' lives. Urthar's ancient 

agreement with the bears founded their race, and to this day 

he continues to guide them in their actions and plans. 

Werebears stand out as the only monotheistic race of 

lycanthropes, though some werebears, particularly those who 

have been corrupted to evil or who have turned their backs on 

society, worship other deities. The evil folk among these 

outcasts pray to gods of slaughter, warfare, and destruction, 

while the good and neutral ones revere deities of strength, 

combat, and nature. 

Urthar, The Lord of Tooth and Claw 

(Lawful Good) 

The great lord of bears, Urthar is an odd combination of a god 

of war and one of nature. While his primary concern is the 

health and prosperity of his woodland realms, he believes that 

a powerful, active defense is the best weapon against the 

depredations of civilization, beasts, dragons, and other threats. 

His followers are fighters, rangers, paladins, and druids who 

seek to track down and defeat evil before it can pose a threat 

to the natural world. Often, they engage in hunts to track 

down hydras, trolls, and similar creatures that engage in 

wanton slaughter and destruction. 

Urthar is depicted in several different forms. His war aspect is 

shown as a towering bear with steel claws and massive, 

gleaming fangs. He is as tall as a mountain and is said to be 

strong enough to crush three fire giants in his mighty grip at 

once. In his role as defender of the natural world, he is shown 

as a green bear with vines and flowers sprouting throughout 

his fur. Finally, in his part as a caretaker of the woods, he is a 

brown bear with thick fur usually accompanied by many 

smaller, defenseless forest creatures. Urthar's worshippers see 

in these aspects the different roles they must master to serve as 

effective caretakers and defenders of the forest. 

Ethos: Defend the forest with sword, bow, and spell. Nature is 

a precious object that is a frequent target of the forces of evil. 

Orcs, trolls, ogres, and other evil creatures are aberrations that 

must be destroyed. Otherwise, they would gladly lay waste to 

the wilderness and twist it to their evil goals. 

Followers: The vast majority of werebears worship Urthar, as 

do a number of elf, human, gnome, and dwarf rangers and 

druids. Typically, his non-werebear adherents are every bit as 

militaristic and aggressive as Urthar's children in defending the 

wilderness regions they call home. Sometimes werebear lodges 

accept such individuals as honorary members, especially if 

they have proven themselves in battle. 

Symbol: A clawed bear paw. 

Favored Weapon: Battleaxe 

Domains: Animal, Plant, Strength, War 

WEREBOARS 

Wereboar Culture 

'When encountering wereboars in the forest, it is best to remain 

out of sight and wait for them to pass along. They are quick to 

anger and exult in battle. Even worse, you may have to endure 

a conversation with them.' 

- Common wood elf advice concerning wereboars 

Of all the lycanthrope races, wereboars stand out as the 

crudest, simplest, densest, and rowdiest of the lot. Werewolves 

may be more savage, werebears stronger, but none can match 

wereboars for their obstinacy, loutish behavior, and propensity 

for drunkenness. While they are frequently the subject of 

amusing stories and crude jokes concerning their stupidity, 

when aroused they are terrible, implacable foes. Wereboars 

dwell at the edges of civilization, subsisting in the wilderness 

that forms the border zone between human kingdoms and the 

broken wastelands controlled by orcs, ogres, and other evil 

humanoids. In these unforgiving lands the wereboars flourish, 

indulging their appetites for food, drink, and battle as 

frequently as possible. 

Wereboar settlements can be frustrating for humans to handle. 

Werewolves present a simple challenge: exterminate or drive 

them away, or risk continual attacks. Wererats leech 

civilization's crafts and goods, and their motives and plans 

make them easily classified as enemies. Wereboars present a 

murkier situation. A family of these beasts might wander into 

town with a sack full of gold taken from a defeated ogre. At 

first, the merchants and innkeepers welcome them with open 

arms. The dense lycanthropes waste their cash on amusing 

toys, shoddy goods, cheap whores, and the worst ale the 

taverns have to offer. 



After a few days, though, things take a turn for the worse. A 

barbarian's simple insult triggers a near riot as the wereboars 

savagely trounce every last brawler in a tavern thanks to their 

immunity to most normal attacks. The next day, they 

accidentally knock over a wooden watchtower while 

drunkenly chasing each around town in boar form. A few days 

later, more wereboars show up to take part in the fun. After all, 

their kin could not possibly have run off with a sack of gold 

and no intention of sharing it. Soon, the clan has taken over a 

poor innkeeper's business. Where once the wereboars gladly 

handed over coins for food and drink, they now growl 

menacingly and loudly ask their kin how many tankards they 

think they can break over their head before passing out. After 

a week or so, the ale dries up, the best food is eaten, and the 

cheap hookers run so low on rouge that even the wereboars 

lose interest in them. Once again, the clan heads back out to 

the hills and life in their simple, crude settlements. A visitor to 

town shortly after would swear that an orc horde invaded, 

looted the place, and moved on to greener pastures. 

Wereboars take after their animal kin not only in terms of 

strength and temper, but also in their social dealings. Simply 

put, a wereboar fails to see anything wrong with jumping headfirst 

from a tavern's rafter into the bar to see which is stronger, 

the bar or his skull. Wereboars often resemble hyperactive 

children with poor impulse control and the strength and 

endurance of professional wrestlers. They usually mean no 

harm. A wereboar may head-butt someone as an odd form of 

saying hello, and may be genuinely alarmed when his friend 

falls over unconscious. Sometimes, though, the wereboar's 

anger and love of conflict can put them at odds with their 

civilized neighbors. A perceived insult is enough to send these 

creatures into a frenzy of destruction, with the poor objects of 

this anger likely baffled as to why a family of wereboars has 

decided to spend their mornings flinging offal at the town walls. 

Again, these challenges rarely descend into deadly violence, but 

to the wereboars a few broken bones are no more than a 

temporary inconvenience. 

To wereboars, life is about fun, conflict, and satisfying their 

hungers. With their low intelligence, they typically fail to 

understand that humanoids such as humans or orcs could 

look at the world in a different way. 

Too Tough to Die 

'Now, remember that if you wanna take a big run at someone 

and gore 'em with your tusks, you gotta make sure you is in the 

right shape. Pick yer snout with your left hand. If you kin do it 

'cause you got fingers, you're in softie shape and gotta change. 

If you can't, ya got your tusks in order. And if ya runnin' at a 

male human, gouge 'em right between the legs. They hate that.' 

- Erdlag Frothmouth, wereboar elder, offers advice to his 

grandchildren 

Wereboar culture is simple. Strength is a fine tool for proving 

one's toughness and prowess, but a stiff back and an iron will 

are what make a wereboar admirable. Unlike werewolves, who 

use their prowess to assert dominance over the rest of the 


12 


pack, wereboars live an egalitarian existence. Disputes among 

these creatures typically splinter them into smaller factions, as 

the wereboars' legendary stubbornness prevents them from 

reaching a consensus or forming a clear, stable hierarchy of 

power. Wereboars do what they want as individuals. They 

tread their own path rather than do what some self-important 

bully tells them to. The wereboars' attitudes can be summed 

up in a few, simple tendencies: 

• If it feels good, go ahead and do it. Life is too short to sit 

around worrying about consequences. 

• Never back down from a challenge. All the strength in the 

world is wasted if you don't have the spine to use it. 

• Keep your own counsel. Only a fool lets others tell him what 

to do, and only a slave allows them to force him into anything. 

Wereboars are self-centered, self-absorbed, and stubborn to the 

extreme. They focus on their own immediate wants and needs 

and rarely stop to consider the consequences of their actions, 

particularly in terms of how they affect other creatures. They 

tend to focus in on a single goal, trait, or idea and pursue it with 

focused, tunnel vision. Like a wild boar charging towards a 

target, once a wereboar puts his mind to something, few means 

short of physical restraint can stop him in his pursuit of it. 

The Curse of Hands 

and Feet 

Wereboars can trace their genesis to the ancient days before the 

rise of the kingdoms of men, elves, and dwarves. In those times, 

humanoids huddled in caves, relied on simple spears and stone 

axes for defense, and knew little of the arts of magic or metal 

craft. The gods walked the land, surveying their creations and 

molding the world to their whims. The first animals ran wild 

and free, as the forests, swamps, and mountains stood 

unfettered by the cities, towers, and villages of civilization. 

One day, the god of magic rode through the forest upon a great 

horse of steel and steam he had forged with his magic. A great 

boar, acknowledged as the ruler of the forest by the animals 

that dwelled there, was napping peacefully when the clank, 

wheeze, and whistle of the mechanical horse awakened him. At 

first, the great boar tried to go back to sleep. Each time his eyes 

finally settled shut, the metal horse unleashed a great creak, 

bang, or crack. Slowly, the boar's blood boiled. He paced back 

and forth, obstinate in his desire to sleep. Finally, his rage 

spilled over. God or not, no one was going to disturb his rest. 

With a great snarl, he bowled through the forest and bore down 

upon his tormenter. He leapt from the brush, thundered into 

the metal contraption, tore through its metal belly, and sent the 

god of magic tumbling feet over head on to the ground. 

The boar bellowed in triumph, pausing between roars to kick 

the now shattered machine's crumpled form. The god of magic 

stood up and glared at the boar. What punishment could 

possibly be harsh enough for this impudent beast? Merely 

smiting him with a spell would prove to be less than 

satisfactory, as the god of magic was a wily soul who delighted 

in demonstrating his clever mastery of magic. As he watched 

the foul boar caper in triumph, his plan came together. With a 

few simple gestures, he called upon his power and placed a 

tremendous curse upon his attacker. Calling upon the 

formulae used to curse the wererats and the weretigers, he 

transformed the boar into a lycanthropic creature that would 

turn into a human. As part of the curse, the boar immediately 

turned into its human form. The god of magic laughed at the 

boar, telling it that could no longer run through the forest and 

wreak havoc with its tusks. 

The boar, now in human form, hopped about in anger. This 

change was wholly unacceptable. With a blistering stream of 

curses, he swore to prove the god of magic wrong. In his new 

form, he cried, he could cause even more damage. Gritting his 

teeth, he lined himself up with a great oak tree, dropped into 

a crouch, and sprinted towards it head first. With a dull thud, 

he hit the tree, stumbled backwards two steps, and fell to the 

ground knocked clear of his senses. 

The god of magic chuckled, reflected on how the boar's words 

were all too true, and continued on his way. Ever since, the 

wereboars have plagued the world with their stubborn, 

reckless anger. 

The wereboars call their peculiar form of lycanthropy the curse 

of hands and feet, a reference to the transformation from their 

hoofed, boar form to their humanoid one. Wereboars consider 

their human form weak but useful. They typically spend their 

time in animal form, but even they recognize that hands can 

be useful. In their native realms, they build simple, ramshackle 

huts and sometimes gather the energy and dedication to tend 

small gardens and keep herds of sheep and cattle. Wereboars 

master Common for use among themselves, as they lack the 

intelligence and talent to create a language of their own. Some 

wereboars spend so much of their youth in animal form that 

they never learn to speak. Even in human form, they grunt and 

howl to communicate. Wood elf hunters tell stories of tricking 

a wereboar into thinking it is in human form while it is in its 

animal guise simply by speaking to it and treating it as a 

humanoid. The elves claim they can confuse a wereboar to the 

point it changes into humanoid form and attempts to charge 

and gore them, though they never repeat such stories within 

earshot of those lycanthropes. 

Beast, Man, Bestial Man 

Of all the lycanthropes, wereboars exhibit the greatest blurring 

between their human and animal sides. Wererats, werebears, 

and other creatures see their ability to transform as an asset or 

a mark of their special status and recognize that their different 

shapes have different strengths and weaknesses. Even 

Clawrunner werewolves grudgingly acknowledge that 

changing into human form is sometimes a useful stratagem in 

stalking prey. Though they hate their human side, they would 

not prance about the wilds in human form or try to rend and 

tear a foe with their humanoid teeth. In contrast, wereboars 

make no distinction between actions they make as humans or 

animals. Obviously, they are seldom so dense that they forget 

they can talk as humans or make similar blunders, but they 

carry themselves in social situations and arrange their 

humanoid dwellings with their boar nature in mind. A 



wereboar may think nothing of relieving himself while 

speaking with a band of travelers, dropping to all fours and 

eating a hunk of food discarded on the ground, or going 

months without bathing. To these lycanthropes, what works 

for them in animal form is usually just as well in human shape. 

This attitude makes it difficult for wereboars to associate with 

humanoids that are not of their kind. They have tremendous 

difficulty picking up subtle hints or obeying social conventions. 

Wereboars have little sense of what is expected from them in a 

human settlement, and do not care enough about social mores 

to obey them. Most of the time, they simply follow the cues of 

those around them if it suits them. If a wereboar walked into a 

riot, he would likely join in the fighting, destruction, and 

looting. He would do this not out of any sense of malevolence, 

but merely because he saw that as the proper thing to do and 

wanted to have some fun indulging in what strikes him as one 

of society's few enjoyable pursuits. After all, if it was wrong to 

riot, would the townsfolk be doing it? This tendency does not 

mean a wereboar betrays its inner moral compass at the drop 

of a hat. In the case of a riot, the theft and destruction of 

property is so widespread that it seems like what passes as 

normal behavior. A wereboar would not mindlessly follow the 

example set by an evil cleric just to fit in with the priest's gang 

of robbers, unless he saw the alliance as useful or beneficial. 

Wereboars behave in this manner for two basic reasons. The 

nature of their origin squarely casts them as animals that can 

achieve human form. Their boar nature shines through in all 

their forms, and most wereboars feel most comfortable when 

living as an animal. More importantly, wereboars are 

notoriously stubborn. They behave in this manner because 

they refuse to surrender their natural tendencies to society's 

demands. True, a wereboar may endure society in small doses 

and he can pick up actions and attitudes that strike his fancy, 

but at his core he cannot bear to relinquish the animal core of 

his being. According to wereboar tradition, this steadfast 

refusal to compromise is what allows them to hang on to their 

animal nature despite the curse of hands and feet. Without 

their stubborn natures, they believe, wereboars long ago 

would have become mere men. Thus, they cling to their roots 

and refuse to wholly turn their backs on their heritage simply 

to better fit in with society. 

Wereboar Organization 

Wereboars form family groups, known as clans, centered on a 

simple matriarchal system. Each clan is led by the eldest female 

in its family line, with her daughters dwelling with or near her 

along with their husbands and children. The men are expected 

to build homes for the entire extended family, though given the 

wereboars' simple nature and lack of sophistication anything 

more than a teetering shack is beyond their capacity. Otherwise, 

the wereboars split most chores equally. Female wereboars are 

every bit as strong, tough, and hardheaded as their male 

counterparts. In addition, the wereboars' sense of cleanliness 

and decorum crosses the gender line, with both male and 

female wereboars engaging in equally obnoxious behavior. 

Children hold a peculiar place in wereboar society. While these 

lycanthropes are typically disorganized, undisciplined, and 

self-centered, in matters involving their children they display 


14 


radically different behaviors. Wereboars take great pride and 

joy in their young and defend them with the exuberant, wild 

energy of a howling fanatic. Wereboars measure their prestige 

and accomplishments not in terms of their homes, the foes 

they defeat, or the goods they own, but the health, strength, 

and accomplishments of their children. 

Wereboar men spend much of their youth preparing to 

demonstrate their worthiness as a husband or mate, hoping to 

find a suitable wife from a clan that holds lands and resources 

conducive to raising children and with a long tradition of 

producing tough, respected heirs. Usually, they engage in 

adventures to prove their strength and toughness over their 

fellows and acquire treasure and other valuables. This drive 

often leads young wereboars to interact with civilization, as 

they seek to test themselves and prove their worthiness. Many 

of the wereboars adventurers encounter are engaged in such a 

quest, and once a wereboar marries and settles down he rarely 

leaves home unless a compelling opportunity or daunting 

threat forces him away from it. 

The wereboars' emphasis on raising and protecting their 

children can lead to tension and conflicts with their neighbors. 

Since a wereboar is measured by the health, well being, and 

accomplishments of his young, anything that may paint him as 

a poor parent is a crippling shame. Given that wereboars have 

short tempers and are inflexible once they make a decision or 

seize a belief, this creates a potentially explosive situation. If a 

young wereboar goes missing, his parents or relatives might 

blame a nearby town based on flimsy evidence at best. The 

youngster could have slipped into town on his own to explore 

the place. The wereboars, enraged at the perceived crime once 

they decide that the humans are to blame, march upon the 

town and demand their youngster's return, threatening to 

attack the settlement if their demands are not meant. The 

townsfolk can truthfully claim ignorance, but unless a great 

orator lives among them, chances are good that the wereboars 

will ignore even the most compelling arguments. In this 

manner, many of the conflicts between wereboars and civilized 

folk have been incited by simple misunderstandings, the 

wereboars' ignorance of civilization, and their resistance to 

even the most reasonable arguments. 

The wereboars' weakness is easily exploited by evil warlords 

and other ambitious villains. By taking a few wereboar children 

hostage, a would-be conqueror can force a lycanthrope 

community to obey his commands. Even the wereboars' 

renowned stubbornness collapses when their children are at 

risk. A group of wereboars that suddenly becomes aggressive 

towards travelers may be under a villain's thumb, but their 

legendary pride and obstinacy typically prevent them from 

admitting their crisis and seeking help. 

Within wereboar society, children are coddled, spoiled, and 

catered to at every turn. Those few sages who have studied 

wereboars conclude that they exist under a tyranny of the 

young. A child's every demand is treated like the dictate of an 

absolute monarch, though luckily wereboar children are 

usually too dense and rambunctious to take note of their 

status. Oddly enough, wereboars tend to view children other 

than their own as annoying pests. These attitudes lead to a 

strange situation where a wereboar youngster is spoiled by his 

parents but sharply disciplined by the other boars in the 

community. A group of adventurers who seek to negotiate with 

a group of wereboars may be put into the odd position of 

indirectly answering to the clan's children, who make 

demands of the travelers that their parents then support. 

This love of children changes as a youngster grows older. 

While coddled in their youth, young adult wereboars are 

expected to make something of themselves and prove their 

value not only to their parents, but to the clan as a whole. 

Since the elder wereboars count on their children to make 

something of themselves, there is tremendous pressure to 

adventure, uncover a fortune, or find a worthy mate and 

produce many children. Ideally, a young wereboar will meet all 

three of these goals. This cultural pressure pushes wereboars 

to explore the world and interact with civilization, to the 

frequent chagrin of the folk they visit. 

Wereboar Settlements 

The typical wereboar settlement is a collection of rude, 

tumbling shacks crafted from logs, cast off lumber, and 

wreckage scavenged from ruins. The wereboars usually find a 

spot near a lake, river, or spring, knock over enough trees to 

make a usable clearing, and then set to work building their 

huts. Their dwellings are clustered around a single, central 

lodge that houses the clan's matriarch and her immediate 

family, along with a shrine to the settlement's chosen deity or 

deities. Wereboar homes are designed to accommodate both 

humanoids and animals. The doors are covered with flaps of 

cured leather or cloth, allowing a wereboar in any form access 

to the interior. Unskilled in carpentry and too lazy to spend the 

time needed to produce enduring work, wereboars build 

homes that lack foundations, windows, and even properly 

thatched roofs. The wereboars burrow into the dirt floor inside 

the hut, creating cozy, warm nests they can rest in while in 

either human or boar form. This arrangement is why wereboars 

are typically covered in dirt and filth. Due to their minimal 

building skills, their huts and shacks serve more to screen their 

privacy rather than offer protection from the elements. 

The elder wereboars usually erect or claim shacks closer to the 

central, main building. Those among the clan who have earned 

the matriarch's favor are also granted the right to dwell closer to 

her home. The youngest adult wereboars, and those who have 

fallen out of the matriarch's favor, are forced to pick dwellings at 

the edge of the village. The reason for this arrangement is simple: 

The wereboars, being rather lazy and unsanitary, dump their 

garbage and waste just outside of their settlement. Those who 

live closest to the village's edge are forced to endure daily, fresh 

deliveries of offal and garbage just beyond their shack. Even the 

crude, simple wereboars can sometimes be overwhelmed by the 

sheer stench of their waste. While repellent to most civilized 

creatures, this practice does serve a few important tasks. It helps 

keep predators and other dangerous creatures away from the 

wereboar settlement, as they can scent the lycanthropes from a 

great distance and skirt the edge of their dwellings. It also serves 

to warn intelligent creatures that they approach a wereboar 

village. Elf rangers are known to counsel their apprentices to 



always skirt around the edges of any clearing or region of forest 

that smells like an open sewer. While forest dwellers may not 

like the odor, they reason that it serves to keep them from 

blundering into a wereboar camp and forced into dealing with 

those creatures' crude personalities and hot tempers. 

While wereboars are omnivores, they tend to prefer roots, 

tubers, and plants while in boar form and meat and grains 

while in humanoid guise. In the wilderness, they rely on their 

scent ability to uncover roots, mushrooms, and tubers that are 

located beneath the soil or in dark, shadowy areas of the 

woods. Some wereboars track down rare or exotic foods to sell 

in nearby towns, using the coins they earn to buy roasted 

meat, ale, and other human fare that, to the rustic wereboars, 

seem like rare delicacies. Usually, merchants who deal with 

wereboars try to steer them to other settlements to spend their 

earnings, lest his neighbors turn their anger at the wereboars' 

boorish behavior against the merchant. 

Since wereboars have a much easier time uncovering food that 

appeals to their animal form, they usually attend feasts and 

dinners in their boar shape. A starving traveler could be taken 

into a boar camp only to find that the victuals they have on 

hand are unsuitable to him. This tradition can sometimes lead 

to comic misunderstandings, as a rustic wereboar arrives at a 

feast held in a local town in boar form. 

The one exception to the wereboars' tendency towards roots 

and tubers in the wild is their love of moonshine. Every 

wereboar settlement has a large, crudely built still that produces 

potent, though nearly unpalatable, moonshine. In some cases, 

individual wereboars construct their own hidden stills in the 

woods to build up a personal stash of booze. Even the stoutest 

dwarf has to choke back tears the first time he downs a shot of 

this rotgut. No wereboar gathering, from a community council 

to a simple meeting between friends, is complete without a jug 

of moonshine. Visitors, especially humans and elves, are 

expected to drink along with the boars. Failure to do so is a dire 

insult that can only be answered with a fistfight. 

Within the settlement, the matriarch holds as much authority 

as is possible over a bunch of rowdy, willful hillbillies. In 

general, wereboar women hold most of the authority in their 

settlements. The men claim that this is because they don't care 

enough to make decisions. The women can run things because 

it makes them happy and keeps them out of their hair. The 

situation is simpler but more embarrassing than that. Wereboar 

women have been known to withhold sex from their mates to 

get their way in an argument. Just as wereboars love to indulge 

in food and drink, their men folk maintain an almost constant 

state of lust. The matriarchy's power insures that any attempt at 

rape is met with a swift, brutal lynching. More importantly, 

wereboar cultural tradition holds that the children produced by 

such a union are invariably sickly, weak, and twisted in body 

and mind. Owing to their deep attachment to their children 

and the honor found in siring prosperous heirs, none but the 

most black-hearted villain among wereboars would commit 

rape. Thus, it should come as no surprise that wereboars are 

such crude, lascivious drunkards. Many of them who visit 

civilization are driven there for a few days by wives who freeze 

them out of their shared burrow. After a few days of pouting 

and a couple of brawls to work out his anger, a male wereboar 

returns to his settlement, usually clutching a few half-dead 

flowers, to beg forgiveness. 

During times of war or any other direct threat to the settlement, 

the wereboars equally shoulder the responsibility of defending 

their homes. From the eldest female to the youngest adult male, 

the wereboars either fight in their animal forms or build crude 

shields and clubs to defend themselves. Wereboars are fearless 

in battle, at least in part due to their ability to shrug off damage 

inflict by most weapons. The appearance of a silvered blade or 

powerful spellcaster can put a twinge of fear into any wereboar, 

though few are willing to admit it. The settlement's greatest 

concern is the health and well-being of its young. Wereboars 

have been known to set aside their crude manners and fragile 

tempers to negotiate with a nearby city or town in the face of 

grave danger. In return for protecting their children by 

sheltering them in a castle or keep, the wereboars offer their 

services as allies in battle. With their impressive strength and 

lycanthropic abilities, they make valued soldiers. 

Wereboar Religion 

Given that wereboar civilization is simple and crude, it follows 

that their religious practices should be similarly basic. However, 

in truth wereboars practice a lively, vibrant religion with a rich 

cultural tradition. Much of their daily lives are ruled by the 

cultural and religious dictates that shape their culture, though the 

casual eye fails to note their influence. Their religion forms many 

of the unstated tendencies and prejudices that wereboars operate 

under. They refuse to back down from their beliefs, engage in 

what others see as crude, uncivilized behavior, and obey the 

dictates of their matriarchs primarily because of a religious 

tradition that serves to bring order and calm to a society 

inhabited by emotional, angry, and temperamental creatures. 

The core of wereboar religion is centered on a simple, druidic 

code of conduct. Their pantheon teaches that as a result of the 

magic that created them, the wereboars must walk the fine line 

between descending utterly into savagery and turning their 

backs on their animal nature. While their settlements and 

actions strike civilized folk as crude and repellent, to 

wereboars their attitudes and actions merely reflect faithful 

adherence to their boar roots. This effort to maintain their 

heritage extends to their possessive concern for their offspring. 

Wereboars worry that each successive generation will wander 

further from its roots until one day the wereboars are 

indistinguishable from the humanoid species or the boars of 

the natural world. Much of the prestige placed on raising 

successful children is attached to how closely they maintain 

themselves in accordance with wereboar tradition. 

Wereboar religion is also underscored by a continual strain 

between personal freedom and duty to one's parents, traditions, 

and the clan. When humanoids deal individually with 

wereboars, they can be maddeningly impulsive. Yet, taken as a 


16 


group they are tradition-minded, predictable, and prone to 

cleave closely to their established ways. The druids, who are 

typically charged as caretakers of the old ways, tend to be a 

force for law and neutrality. Other wereboar deities push for 

personal glory, strength, and battle. Most wereboar settlements 

revere Grootala, the wereboar goddess of fertility and nature. 

However, many also pray to a second god, one whose array of 

powers and personal ethos more closely match the characters 

and tendencies present in the community. Of all the lycanthrope 

pantheons, the wereboars' has the greatest number and diversity 

of gods. While other werecreatures tend to follow the same, 

narrow range of gods within their pantheon, wereboar deities 

come from a much broader range of alignments, philosophies, 

and goals. A religiously charged wereboar settlement could be 

anything from an armed encampment of would-be conquerors 

to a commune of peaceful druids who tend to the forest and 

offer food and healing to travelers. 

Wereboar Pantheon 

Wereboars worship their own range of gods, but those among 

them who seek their fates outside of their crude encampments 

have been known to pray to the gods of men, dwarves, orcs, and 

other races. Typically, wereboars are drawn to gods of strength, 

toughness, nature, and debauchery. 

Within a wereboar settlement, the largest building serves as a 

shrine to the gods the lycanthropes pray to. Normally, this 

building is of higher quality and more careful construction 

than the shacks that surround it. It is divided into two halves, 

one portion serving as the living quarters for the settlement's 

matriarch and her family and the other as a series of shrines to 

the wereboar gods. The vast majority of villages have a single, 

large shrine to Grootala which serves as a communal meeting 

hall and a place to pray to the goddess. If the wereboars 

worship additional gods, they build smaller shrines to them 

that ring Grootala's temple. 

Grootala the Mother (Neutral) 

The most powerful and commonly worshipped goddess of the 

wereboars, Grootala is depicted in her humanoid form as a 

towering giant with blunt, long tusks, stringy dark hair, and 

glowering eyes. She wears a simple peasant's dress and usually 

has several young wereboars cradled in her arms and gathered 

at her feet. In her boar form, she is a titanic beast the size of a 

mountain, with razor sharp mithral tusks. Grootala is the great 

mother, a goddess of fertility, nature, and childcare. Her 

teachings from the basis of much of wereboar culture, as she 

commands her followers to preserve nature and their bestial 

side while using their lycanthropic abilities to defend their 

settlements and care for their children. 

Ethos: Tend to your children, for they are the future and must 

be prepared to take your place on day. Remember your roots. 

Never allow the demands of civilization to overwhelm the 

animal that dwells within you. Hold on to your beliefs and 

views, especially the traditions of the faith. 

Followers: Most wereboars who dwell with their clans worship 

Grootala. Pariahs, wanderers, and other outsiders may stray 

from her path for a time, but only wereboars who follow the 

path of evil do not offer her at least the most basic prayers. 

Symbol: A stylized boar with long, curved tusks, usually 

carved in a wooden disk. 

Favored Weapon: Club. 

Domains: Animal, Plant, and Protection. 

Korthorax the Smasher (Neutral Evil) 

Normally depicted as a black, demonic boar with hissing snakes 

in place of his tusks, Korthorax is a demon lord who represents 

the pure, unbridled rage and destructive impulses that course 

through all wereboars. While most of these lycanthropes indulge 

in these tendencies only when provoked, Korthorax eternally 

howls and boils with anger. He urges his followers to surrender to 

their tempers and react with violence to the merest provocation. 

Wereboars who follow him are usually evil berserkers, fearsome 

marauders who have developed a taste for wanton slaughter and 

destruction. Usually, these wereboar settlements set their sights on 

the nearest human settlement, descending to slaughter the 

civilized folk and carry off their goods. Korthorax's faith has a 

strong racist core, as he and his clerics teach that wereboars are 

the true masters of the forest realms. 

Korthorax's berserkers reserve a particular hatred for werebears. 

Their destructive aims bring them into direct conflict with those 

ursine guardians of the land. If a werebear is active in a region, 

Korthorax's clerics gather minor demons and their wereboar 

followers together to exterminate him before he can pose a 

threat. For their part, werebears take great joy on crushing this 

demon's followers in their powerful arms. 

Ethos: Strength is the all, and he who can apply his strength has 

the right to rule. Take what you want, regardless of the 

consequences. If your victims were strong enough to resist your 

attacks, they would be worthy of their lives and possessions. 

Followers: Small bands of wereboars fall into Korthorax's worship 

when their relationships with civilized folk take a turn for the 

worse. Sometimes, this is a reaction to aggressive settlement or 

even attacks by humans, orcs, and other races. Other times, a 

cleric of this foul god places himself within a community or 

converts a few younger wereboars who lack the wisdom to see 

beyond the gifts their strength and toughness offer them. 

Symbol: A human skull with two serpents emerging from its 

eye sockets. 

Favored Weapon: Greataxe. 

Domains: Destruction, Evil, Strength. 

Morgog Moonsinger (Neutral Good) 

Whenever wereboars gather to hoist a few drinks and indulge 

their legendary appetite for alcohol, Morgog Moonsinger 

smiles in satisfaction. In ages past, he introduced the joys of 

strong drink to the first wereboars and taught them the secrets 

of constructing their own stills and producing their 

notoriously strong moonshine. Since that time, the wereboars 


have used their noxious brew to mark special events, celebrate 

victories and harvests, and greet visitors to their camps. All but 

the cruelest wereboars offer prayers to Morgog, though few 

pursue his worship as clerics. 

Morgog Moonsinger is depicted as a large, fat boar, usually with 

his snout buried in a foaming mug of ale or a large barrel of 

moonshine. In his humanoid form, he is a short, fat human with 

a balding head, stringy goatee, and large, blue eyes. He wears a 

green jacket, white shirt, and loose green pants. All his clothes 

are invariably stained with gravy and drink, and he carries a clean 

fork and knife in his breast pocket. Morgog is a great prankster 

and epicure, his appetite for drink matched only by his 

boundless gullet. Legends tell of his great binges in which he ate 

every last meat pie in a great human empire, or the time he drank 

an entire sea dry. While Morgog loves to eat and drink, he is by 

no means a glutton. He believes in sharing food and wealth with 

all. Typically, such tales are attached to great pranks he pulled or 

challenges issued to him by foolhardy mortals or rival gods. 

Morgog urges his followers to spread joy and fellowship to the 

world, usually by sharing a fresh jug of wine or a bucket of 

moonshine. His clerics organize great parties in the forest. 

Sprites, satyrs, and other faerie folk join the wereboars in 

guzzling liquor, devouring food, and establishing ties between 

them that bring them together in fellowship during difficult 

times. To Morgog, every difference between reasonable 

creatures can be resolved after a few pints of ale. 

Ethos: Find joy in life, not only for yourself but also for others. 

Share your good fortune with friends and strangers, and in 

doing so spread happiness to all. 

Followers: Most wereboars pay homage to this deity, especially 

youths who have not yet married and are free to play and 

cavort as they wish. All wereboars who maintain a still and 

brew moonshine offer a prayer to Morgog as they prepare their 

latest batch of liquor. He gave the gift of alcohol to the 

wereboars, and for that reason alone he commands respect and 

prayers. Morgog has few clerics. Instead, many brewers and 

bards among the wereboars pay homage to him. 

Symbol: A laughing pig dancing a lively jig. 

Favored Weapon: Club. 

Domains: Luck, Travel, and Trickery. 


WERERATS 

Wererat Culture 

'Do not do today that which someone else can do for you 

tomorrow.' 

- Wererat proverb 

Wererat culture is a study in contrasts. On one hand, they are 

highly organized and drilled into strictly defined roles. On the 

other, they continually strive to undo their rivals, and they do 

more damage to their cause through infighting and jealousy 

than any foe has dealt. They love fine wine, good food, and 

beautiful art, but wholly lack the inspiration, talent, and 

patience to produce any on their own. They are ambitious and 

driven, but lack the bravery and determination to see any long, 

arduous plans through to their conclusion. In short, wererats 

are dangerous, scheming, predatory creatures who are liable to 

render themselves weak, docile, and afraid through their 

inherent weaknesses. That's not to say that all wererats are 

inept weaklings. On the contrary, a cunning rat can forge his 

people into a potent force, but all too often the same 

characteristics that lead wererats to plot against humanity 

push them towards defeat. 

The overriding concern of all wererats is simple: How much 

can I get for as little effort as possible? 

The Luxury of Vermin 

'Dear diary, 

A most splendid feast tonight, the likes of which should finally 

trump the fumbling efforts made by Contessa Verra to displace 

me as the queen of the underworld. Fruit pies filched from 

Ramune the Master's own kitchen, steaks stolen hot off the plate 

from the Silver Dragon Inn, a cask of the duke's finest ale, and 

two bottles of Dorwinth wine. Ah, the humans make such fine 

workers. This should put down any talk of open warfare. Slaves 

toil best when they know not that they work for a master.' 

Wererat culture is guided by a simple ethos known as the 

luxury of vermin. Its teachings can be summarized in a few 

short proverbs: 

• Do not do today that which someone else can do for you 

tomorrow. 

• Human work is best fit for humans. Never debase yourself 

by doing it. 

• Human work includes anything that requires toil, exertion, 

an unnecessary flushing of the cheeks, or sweat of any sort. 

• Humans work hardest when they do not realize they work 

for us. 

In the wererats' view of the world, they are the true masters of 

humanity. Beneath human cities, they dwell in fabulous, 

hidden mansions decorated with the finest stolen goods. If a 

nobleman's mansion is broken into and nothing but a rare 

painting, three bottles of the finest brandy, and a fine couch 

crafted from mahogany, silk, and plush stuffing are stolen, you 

can be sure that wererats are about. The creatures are sybarites 

of the first order, seeking pleasure in all things yet avoiding 

work with the same sterling, relentless dedication that a 

paladin uses to pursue evil. Naturally, as creatures of leisure 

they face a daunting task. They want the finest things in life, 

but refuse to work for them. Thus, the natural, symbiotic 

relationship between wererats and humans developed. While 

wererats are unwilling to participate in honest work, they 

consider thievery an acceptable method of acquiring objects. 

In their estimation theft provides the best returns on their 

investment of effort, making it truly the only worthwhile 


18 


method of stocking their homes with silk hangings, paintings, 

sculpture, and fine furnishings. 

This propensity for fine things, and the wererats' disdain for 

work, draws them to cities. There they can hide within the 

shadows, reaping the fruits of humanity's efforts. The popular 

wererat adage that humans are their best slaves, even if they 

don't know it, arises from this situation. Humans work to 

acquire goods, and the wererats take them. To these 

lycanthropes, wars of conquest are foolish wastes of time and 

energy. After all, the humans have already been conquered in 

the best possible manner. Not a sword has been raised or a 

drop of blood spilled, yet the wererats have all they could want. 

The Curse of Luxury 

At first glance, the wererat drive for rich, expensive goods seems 

to spring from greed, laziness, and the ambition that dwells in 

the hearts of all evil creatures. However, in this case the situation 

is more complex than that. Wererats are a fusion of humanoid 

and rat qualities. From their humanoid side, they gain 

intelligence, strength, and a taste for civilization. Their rat side 

grants them cunning, speed, and ingenuity. Yet, these gifts come 

with a steep price. Rats are vermin, incapable of doing more than 

subsisting off the trash tossed aside by civilization. They are 

wholly incapable of producing beautiful objects or new 

inventions. These traits also extend to wererats. They cobble 

together whatever castoffs they can find in an effort to squeeze 

out a living, crafting pale imitations of human goods that meet 

their base needs and nothing more. While they can survive on 

the barest necessities, such as polluted water and moldering 

food, they cannot truly advance themselves above a subsistence 

level. A wererat asked to paint a picture can do no more than 

dab a few paints on to a canvass. He may be able to appreciate 

fine art, but he could not conceive of creating it himself. Yet, 

wererats have a fundamental desire to surround themselves in 

luxury and beauty. This trait is known as the curse of luxury. 

According to legend, the curse of luxury was forced upon 

wererats in the mists of time when the world was young. In 

this era, the first wererats hid themselves in the gods' mansions 

in the outer planes at the behest of the wererat pantheon. 

There, they burrowed into the walls and sought out untended 

baubles, magical items, and artifacts. Working on behalf of 

their gods, the first wererats hoped to learn the secrets of the 

gods' magic, perhaps to unseat them and seize their position, 

perhaps simply out of curiosity. The legends do not say. What 

they do reveal is that one day the wererats were caught. The 

gods were enraged that these tiny, simple creatures had dared 

to violate the sanctity of their realm. Yet, the wererats' gods 

stood by their followers. They begged and pleaded for their 

subjects' lives, by turns promising to respect the gods' homes 

and threatening to commit total war against them. 

While the wererat gods blustered, the rest of the pantheon 

plotted. The gods cast the wererats from the outer planes and 

placed a curse upon them that their transformation into rat 

form would be ruled by the moon. Furthermore, wererats 



would be made more like rats, becoming small and stealthy 

enough to thrive in the cities of man. At first their judgment 

seemed more than fair, but time would show that the wererats 

were placed under a burdensome curse. The wererats could no 

longer create objects of beauty, yet they lusted after them with 

all their hearts. They craved the arts, wondrous objects, and 

masterwork craftsmanship, but they could create none of these 

things themselves. Thus, while the wererats consider 

humanity their unwitting slaves, the rats are in turn slaves to 

the goods and materials humanity produces. This paradox is 

known as the curse of luxury. The wererats never speak of it 

openly, yet it hangs over their culture like a black storm cloud. 

From this springs the hatred of humanity that sometimes 

pushes them to openly war against and enslave humanoids. 

Wererat Organization 

As lawful creatures, wererats typically develop complex, rigid 

codes of conduct. Their evil natures drive them to create laws 

with loopholes or interpretations that leave murder, robbery, 

and trickery open as legitimate options in society. For 

example, a wererat warren may, by tradition, hold that murder 

is illegal only if the murderer leaves behind evidence. Public 

assaults meet with harsh punishments, but stealthy executions 

or assassinations are accepted, traditional methods of handling 

rivals. So long as an assassin has the cunning and talent to 

murder his victim without leaving behind obvious evidence, 

he can escape any charges or accusations. On the other hand, 

a clumsy, artless execution is met with disdain, and the 

criminal is rounded up and slain for his blundering efforts. 

The same standards apply to almost any crime, from robbery 

to assault. Wererats are not lawful in the traditional sense that 

they desire safety or stability in their society. Rather, they use 

the law as a tool to hone the talents and skills of their assassins, 

thieves, and ruffians. Only experienced, talented wererats are 

allowed to commit crimes in human cities. 

The main force of these laws is applied to the youngest wererats 

in a city. Youngsters are confined to the warrens, forced to 

prove themselves worthy of access to the world above by 

respecting the law and committing their crimes in a thoughtful, 

devious manner. Only when a young wererat can survive for a 

year or more without being charged with a crime can he earn 

the right to prey on humanity. Many times, a wererat on the 

edge of this honor finds himself falsely accused of a crime, 

particularly by rivals of his family or even relatives jealous of 

his talents. In this way, the wererat elders maintain their hold 

on power. They usually claim that this measure is intended to 

prevent the wererats from drawing too much attention to their 

activities in a city. After all if every rat committed robberies and 

assaults on humans as he wished, soon the city would be forced 

to turn the full might of its armies against them. Only by 

carefully controlling access to the surface can the wererats 

maintain their grip on their unwitting slaves. 

The divide between young and old extends throughout wererat 

society and underscores many of the tensions within it. While 

the older rats indulge their lust for fine things and luxuries, the 

youngsters are forced to fight over the scraps. Some young 

wererats flee the oppressive confines of the warren, working as 

freelance thieves or gathering brigands and thugs to them. These 

bandit kings grudgingly accept work and toil as short-term evils 

in their quest for money, luxuries, and other comforts. Typically, 

these young wererats are seen as brutes and barbarians by their 

more cultured fellows. Other young wererats seek out alliances 

with thieves' guilds, cults, and other evil organizations. In return 

for spying on these groups' enemies, a clutch of wererats receives 

military and magical support in a bid to unseat the elders and 

seize their treasures. Most adventurers encounter young wererats 

who follow these unconventional paths to power, mistaking 

their actions as representative of wererats as a whole. 

Within wererat society, status is measured by two basic 

measures: wealth and age. Within the fiercely competitive 

wererat communities, murder is a favored method of improving 

one's position by eliminating one's enemies. Thus, a wererat who 

can survive to a ripe, old age must be nothing short of a 

Machiavellian expert in politics, a brilliant strategist, and a fierce 

warrior. Thus, to wererats there is a direct connection between 

talent and age. Sometimes, this connection can cause problems 

for younger wererats who are ignorant in the ways of humanity. 

These ambitious creatures might fall in with an elderly human in 

the mistaken belief that such an old creature must be talented 

and useful. Sometimes, a particularly old wererat may flee his 

warren to live out the rest of his years in relative safety. These 

elders, wily and talented but now too old to physically defend 

themselves, find solace in human form within isolated villages 

and small towns. Sometimes, these refugees might be driven by 

bitterness and anger to direct humanoid adventuring parties 

against their former homes. Using tales of great, unguarded 

wealth and conveniently planted maps pointing to their former 

homes, these vengeful wererats unleash an invading flood of 

treasure seekers and adventurers against their former enemies. 

Wealth is judged more by creature comforts, objects of art, and 

other rare, collectible items than coins and gems. Wererats 

seek to carve out splendid lairs lined with rare tapestries, 

thick, luxurious rugs, and expertly crafted furnishings. 

Competing wererats host parties and festivals to display their 

accumulated wealth, flaunting their ill-gotten gains as a 

testament to their skill and cunning in stealing from the city 

above. Wererats tend to value luxuries over gold and gems. 

One gold coin is no different from the next, and wealth is best 

used to secure beautiful objects and comfortable furnishings. 

A wererat who comes into possession of a rare, valuable 

painting is admired more than one who steals tens of 

thousands of gold pieces. 

Wererat Warrens 

Wererats form colonies known as warrens. These settlements 

are dug from tunnels, passages, and galleries beneath cities 

built by humans, dwarves, and other intelligent races. 

Typically, wererats pick cities where they can walk openly in 

their humanoid form. Wererats who can take the form of 

gnolls, for example, naturally gravitate to settlements of evil 

humanoids, as they obviously could not casually stroll through 

a human city without drawing unwanted attention. 

Once a colony of these lycanthropes has found a suitable place 

to settle down, they go to work finding hidden, secure places 


20 


where they can establish strongholds. A city's sewers typically 

make an ideal spot to hide, but sometimes wererats use more 

open methods. A clan of the creatures may purchase a block of 

buildings and buy enough influence with politicians to police 

the area with their own guards. Sometimes, wererats form 

alliances with guilds, temples, and other organizations, though 

they rarely, if ever, reveal their true natures to their partners. In 

return for protection and secure lodging, the rats secretly use 

their talents to perform robberies, spy missions, and other 

discreet actions for their sponsors. Wererats rarely let this state 

of affairs persist for long. They either move on to a more secure 

location or subvert their "ally" from within, overthrowing the 

existing order and turning it into a front company for their 

activities. A thieves' guild overrun by wererats purges 

humanoids from its ranks and replaces them with lycanthropes. 

Important figures that cannot be easily replaced are infected 

with lycanthropy and brought over to the wererats' cause. 

With the guild successfully conquered, the wererats can use its 

resources and clout to cover their true nature and goals behind 

a veneer of human civilization. For all intents and purposes, 

the guild continues along its normal routine. If it was 

profitable, its proceeds now simply pile up in the wererats' 

pockets. Conflicts and struggles within the guild may become 

more common as the wererats bicker and feud among 

themselves, but if the guild was largely an organization of evil 

men to begin with, the wererats' conflicts can be easily 

overlooked as normal activity. The patterns of robberies may 

change as the rats focus on luxury goods and fine art, but 

otherwise the guild continues as normal. 

The basic unit within wererat society is the clan. Usually, each 

clan focuses on one specialized role that makes it a valuable 

member of the settlement. A clan may be troublesome and 

prone to break alliances, but if its members are the only 

wizards in the warren they are likely to escape any plans that 

call for their wholesale termination. For this reason, the clans 

tend to deep, passionate hatreds towards each other. Almost 

every clan has at one time or another been pushed to the verge 

of destruction by its enemies. Thus, rivalries among the clans 

flare up on an almost continual basis. The strange state of 

wererat law makes murder and other crimes common between 

the families, with only the promise of great profits to be made 

by working together, or the need for unity in the face of 

humans and other enemies, keeping the clans together. 

Furthermore, the natural wererat aversion to hard work helps 

prevent widespread fighting and open warfare. To many 

wererats, a comfortable life outweighs the any feelings of 

satisfaction vengeance would bring them. 

Within wererat society, the richest and most influential 

wererats form a council of elders. Usually, each major family 

within a warren names one member to represent it at this 

council. The council sets policy, serves as a board of judges in 

the occasional criminal court, and oversees the warren's 

activities towards humans and other outsiders. A wererat is not 

officially recognized as an adult until he goes one year without 

being successfully accused of a crime. Thus, the council must 

constantly hear charges arrayed against youngsters. The 

youngest wererats, lacking the skill to cover their crimes, are 

usually guilty, but older ones face trumped-up charges to 

prevent them from becoming adults and winning the right to 

interact with outsiders. Since theft and murder count as 

interactions, each clan strives to shepherd as many of its young 

to adulthood as possible. 

Most of the time, the council helps balance the clans by 

regulating the progression to adulthood and meting out severe 

punishments, including executions, against clans that threaten 

to overshadow their fellows. Most wererat civil wars can be 

traced back to an imbalance of power in the council of elders, 

as one group is forced to either strike against the clans that 

allied against it or flex its military muscle to enforce its will. 

Wererat Barbarians 

Though cultured and covetous of the fine things in life, 

wererats sometimes devolve into savagery. Sometimes, a small 

band of upstart youngsters flees the warren to strike out on 

their own. These pioneers scorn their forebears' traditions and 

exult in living off the land, mingling with humans and other 

races, and making their own destiny free from the elders' 

influence. These are the wererats that adventurers most 

commonly encounter, outcasts and rebels that flee the grip of 

wererat civilization and openly meddle in humanoid affairs. 

Some work as mercenaries, allying with bandit chiefs and 

thieves' guilds to line their pockets with gold. Others use their 

abilities to bully simple thugs and form their own gangs. A few 

wererats go truly feral, living most of their lives as rats in the 

sewers and alleys of cities, scrounging what they can from 

garbage piles and ambushing and killing prey that blunders 

into their grasp. 

These barbarians are both an asset and a hindrance to an 

established wererat warren. First of all, outcast wererats 

generally seek out areas far from an established warren. 

Sometimes, civilized wererats see outsiders as a threat that 

must be eliminated. Other times, a warren led by crafty elders 

may use outcasts as a convenient diversion. By planting false 

clues and manipulating their enemies, these elders can direct 

their followers to commit open attacks and spectacular crimes 

against the city above. Rather than draw adventurers to the 

warren, these actions turn them against the freelance wererats 

in the city above. In one fell swoop, the elders eliminate a 

potential source of trouble while lining their coffers with gold, 

jewels, and other treasures. 

In any case, wererat barbarians are generally the creatures 

humans think of when they consider wererats. The warrens 

take care to enforce this belief, lulling humanity into 

overlooking the true threat wererats present. All too often, a 

successful foray against a wererat threat unwittingly plays into 

the elders' hands. 

Wererat Religion 

The wererat pantheon mirrors its followers' attitudes and 

actions in many ways. Ever since these gods' original plan to use 

their followers to steal secrets and objects from their rivals, the 

wererat deities have plotted and schemed to advance themselves 

at the expense of their enemies. Like their followers, these gods 

are crippled with an inability to engage in many creative 



pursuits. While powerful in magic and martial ability, they are 

wholly incapable of crafting new races, building artifacts, and 

inventing genuinely new methods of doing things. Just as rats 

are scavengers who pick through civilization's garbage, so too 

do the wererat gods mimic other deities' abilities and spy on 

them to expand and improve their power. 

Of all the lycanthrope deities, the wererat pantheon is the least 

likely to rise to power and dictate how society should work. 

Wererat clerics occupy a strange niche in society. They speak with 

the voice of the gods, and are thus respected, but their demands 

to action fall on deaf, lazy ears. Wererats focus so much on 

material needs and comforts that spiritual matters play little role 

in their daily lives. A wererat may scorn weekly services in the 

temples and avoid contact with the wererat clerics 

at all costs, but in the heat of a dangerous 

moment, he eagerly calls out to the 

gods for help and pledges himself to 

a life of piety. Once the danger 

passes, the wererat 

conveniently forgets his 

pledge and returns to his life 

of material comforts and 

spiritual indolence. Such is 

the state of wererat religion 

that the number of 

penitents offering sacrifices 

at a temple can be directly 

related to imminent 

dangers, food shortages, 

and other problems that 

can face a warren. Wererats 

are greedy, pragmatic, and 

self-centered, making 

them unlikely to follow a 

religious life unless they 

can get something out of it. 

The few wererat clerics 

usually rely on their 

divine magic to preserve 

them against rivals and carve out 

a place in society. Threats of divine 

retribution do little to sway their followers, requiring them to 

rely more on physical and magical threats to get anything 

done. Typically, an important family or group may maintain a 

minor shrine and keep a cleric as a retainer, usually as a 

counter against any bad luck or tragedies that could be viewed 

as the ill favor of the gods. 

In some wererat warrens, the clerics use their blend of martial 

and magical talents to seize power, but in such cases religious 

duty plays only a small factor in the cleric's success. When a 

cleric does rise to the top of the pecking order, wererat society 

can undergo a radical change. Driven by religious fervor, the 

clerics gather young fanatics who are eager to seize power and 

use them to exert an iron grip over wererat society. Forced to 

obey the clerics' dictates, the rank and file wererats can be 

molded into a potent fighting force. With the gods' dictates now 

driving society, the wererats may declare open war against the 

city above them or engage in highly organized raids designed to 

spread fear, disease, and chaos in the gods' enemies. Temples 

come under direct attack, while the wererats focus on acquiring 

money and treasure to hire orc and goblin mercenaries. In time, 

a skillfully led horde of wererat religious fanatics could conquer 

an entire city and rule it with an iron fist. 

The divide between young and old in wererat society puts a 

unique spin on matters of religion. Young wererats, hungry for 

power but facing significant obstacles to their ambitions, often 

turn to religion to fulfill their needs. The clerics typically exert 

enough influence by virtue of their magical talents that they 

can accept young wererats as acolytes and give them many of 

the rights normally reserved for adults, specifically those 

relating to the right to stage raids on the surface world. Most 

of the time, truly talented wererats who show a 

desire to enter the clergy are quickly snapped 

up by one faction or another and given an 

adult's status. Sometimes, though, 

infighting and bickering lead to a 

steady swell in the clergy's ranks. 

With unprecedented power in 

their hands and a ready excuse to 

pit themselves against the 

powers that be, the youngsters 

step up their recruiting efforts 

and work to topple the 

established leaders of the 

warren. In time, even the 

church elders may be 

deposed. These upstart 

regimes, driven by the two 

motors of religious fervor and 

unbridled ambition, usually 

enjoy short but spectacular 

reigns. Focused and 

sharpened by religion, the 

young wererats' ambition 

drives them to wage war on 

humanoids while ruling their 

subjects with an unmatched 

tyranny. The wererats' natural 

love of comfort and deeply seated laziness 

evaporate in the face of an uncompromising, brutal ruler. 

The Wererat Pantheon 

The wererats worship a small number of gods compared to 

humanity. Their six deities each embody particular traits or 

ideals that represent the best the wererats have to offer. The 

wererat gods have at best informal ties between them. They are 

too prone to scheme against each other for any enduring 

alliances or beneficial relationships to form among them. For 

this reason, pantheon is perhaps too strong a word to describe 

the wererat gods. Instead, they are merely a collection of divine 

figures that happen to draw their followers from the same race. 

In any given wererat warren, one deity may be revered as the 

only god worth praying to. The others might be acknowledged, 

but the rivalries between the gods are intense enough that two 

churches cannot exist side by side for long before violence 

erupts between them. 


22 


Beltheer of the Golden 

Vault (Lawful Evil) 

Depicted as a beautiful wererat female with long, flowing 

golden hair and gleaming, pure white eyes, Beltheer is the 

patron goddess of wealth, theft, and avarice. Her mythical 

home, the Golden Vault, contains a vast range of wondrous 

treasure. According to myth Beltheer is the greatest thief of all, 

capable of stealing a golden amulet from a noble's neck or an 

entire castle from beneath its owner's feet. Beltheer exhorts the 

wererats to steal and rob at will, yet she tempers her message 

with warnings that the best thief commits his crimes without 

drawing any suspicion from her victims. 

A favored goddess of the elders and other established, prosperous 

wererats, Beltheer's faith is seen as a useful bulwark against the 

ambitions of the young. Since many wererat faiths provide an alltoo-convenient 

path to power for the younger generation, 

Beltheer's faith is seen as a moderating force that helps hold other 

religions in check. In many warrens, the displacement of 

Beltheer's worship with a different god is the first step towards 

revolution. Yet, sometimes her clerics overstep their bounds and 

become too directly involved in politics and power struggles, 

leading to their downfall. Usually, Beltheer's clerics can carve out 

a stable platform of power but lack the pull to become major 

players. Their value is defensive and static, not aggressive or 

vibrant. So long as they fulfill their duty, they stand little chance 

to gain more power. Yet as soon as they falter in their mission 

they face a swift doom. 

Ethos: Beltheer's litanies preach greed, stealth, and cunning as 

the three main characteristics necessary for prosperity. Greed is 

the lynchpin of her religion. Followers are measured by the 

treasures they accumulate, and those who can commit the most 

daring and profitable robberies are given the greatest respect 

and the blessings. Her clerics are expected to sacrifice stolen 

treasures to her to keep her Golden Vault properly appointed 

for a wererat goddess. In return, she gives them spells and 

abilities that improve their abilities and grant them a better 

chance of moving through society's ranks. 

Stealth and cunning combine to serve as useful tools in 

fulfilling a wererat's greed. Only a fool needlessly risks his life 

or uses violence to meet his goals. Slaying a person to take his 

goods is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. 

Better to secretly make off with someone's treasure, wait a time 

for him to get back on his feet, and then rob him again. The 

easiest targets are best allowed to slowly recover their treasure 

and then carefully harvested. Like a farmer, the talented thief 

is careful to manage his crops so that he can look forward to 

successive years of prosperity. 

Followers: Beltheer's followers are typically ambitious thieves 

who seek any advantage possible, even kowtowing to a goddess, 

to improve their abilities. So long as a wererat offers the proper 

sacrifices to Beltheer, she willingly dispenses divine magic. Her 

followers are generally drawn from older, established wererats 

that place a premium on subtle, stealthy plans. Younger 

wererats pose a possible threat to the riches and power the 

clerics could gain, as they rarely agree with such plans. 

Symbol: A furry, clawed hand grasping a gleaming gem. 

Favored Weapon: Dagger. 

Domains: Evil, Law, and Trickery. 

Verthix the Plague Lord 

(Chaotic Evil) 

While wererats rarely acknowledge it, disease and filth are 

continual problems they must cope with. A wererat might own 

a subterranean vault arrayed with thick rugs, expertly crafted 

tapestries, and beautifully appointed furnishings, yet beneath 

this veneer of civilization lurks filth, refuse, and festering 

garbage. Rats are far from the cleanest creatures in the world, 

and wererats sometimes take after their cousins in terms of 

cleanliness. The wererat emphasis on constructing an opulent 

home to impress visitors usually overrides their natural 

tendency to pay little mind to managing waste and garbage. 

Sometimes young, feral wererats that grow up in the wild 

exhibit a strange mixture of luxury and filth. Such a wererat 

may keep a lair with velvet couches smeared with feces, rugs 

that reek of urine and rotting food, and art objects that show 

teeth marks from gnawing rats. These wererats give in to the 

debased drive to live in filth and squalor, a drive that is 

normally held in check by the wererats' drive to collect and 

maintain beautiful, luxurious objects. 

Those wererats that give into their base impulses typically 

follow Verthix the Plague Lord, a festering, horrid wererat 

inflicted with a dozens of plagues and contagions. His eyes are 

milky white with cataracts, his fur falls in clumps at his feat, and 

festering sores cover his body. He wears a torn, soiled robe and 

leans upon a twisted, wooden staff. Verthix represents the 

animal side of all wererats. He preaches that the wererats are 

destined to rule the world, and by spreading horrific diseases to 

all civilized species they can ensure their ascent to a dominant 

position. Disease strikes down and kills creatures, and while it 

physically scars Verthix and his followers it leaves their spirits, 

and their magic, strengthened beyond mortal limits. 

Ethos: Verthix's ethos is simple: spread disease to as many 

enemies and allies as possible. A wererat's true friends will 

survive if Verthix favors them, while the weak and unworthy 

will die as the plague ravages their bodies and shreds their 

souls. Wererats should mimic their mundane, vermin kin as 

closely as possible. The wererats' humanoid forms are merely 

tools to be used against their enemies. It is natural instead to 

spend as much time as possible in rat form. Most wererats have 

forgotten this truth and ape humans, elves, and other lesser 

species. These traitors should be exposed to disease to either 

die as heretics or survive and embrace their true lord, Verthix. 

Followers: Verthix's followers spring up in wererat warrens 

across the world. Some of them suffer from a mild form of 

insanity that pushes them to embrace their rat nature to a 

greater degree than normal. Others are merely so ambitious 

that they are willing to risk any cost, including enduring 

terrible diseases, in order to gain the power they need to 

establish a foothold in wererat society. In any case, Verthix's 

followers are relentlessly hunted by clerics of Beltheer who see 


this foul god's minions as an affront to wererat civilization. 

Inquisitors make casual inspections of wererat lairs to seek out 

evidence of Verthix worship. Usually, secretive followers of the 

Plague Lord hide festering garbage within their lairs. Visitors 

may not notice anything amiss, but soon after they leave the 

cultist's home, they develop the symptoms of whatever disease 

he wishes to spread. The air of a wererat cleric's home and the 

area around it is infused with disease that quickly spreads 

throughout the warren. After an initial die-off, the cultists 

swoop in to topple the now diminished elders. Once victory is 

at hand, the cultists prepare to spread their diseases across the 

city and beyond. 

Symbol: A skull with rotting strips of flesh hanging from it, 

with a rotten eyeball dangling from one socket. 

Favored Weapon: Short sword. 

Domains: Death, Disease, and Evil. 


Whisperdark (Neutral Evil) 

In the shadowy, forgotten corners of a wererat warren, the 

clerics and acolytes of Whisperdark meet and plot the downfall 

of the elders. Comprised almost entirely of young wererats, this 

cult thrives on mystery, secrecy, and sudden, lethal attacks from 

the shadows. Whisperdark is depicted as a jet black creature. 

In all his forms, he is utterly hairless. His eyes glow with a deep 

red luster, and he typically wears a thick cloak that conceals 

weapons, wands, and other useful items. While his form is 

distinctive, he rarely appears in the same guise twice. His talent 

with illusions and disguise allows him to conceal himself as 

anything from a puny kobold to a towering hill giant. The 

myths and stories surrounding Whisperdark speak of the great 

lengths he goes to in order to trick his foes and utterly defeat 

them. In the most popular legend, he disguised himself as a 

wererat whelp charged with cleaning the warren's privies. He 

went about his foul task in such a pathetic, spineless manner 

that soon the warren's elders paid him little mind when he was 

about. Finally after years of toil, he picked off the elders one by 

one when they visited the latrines. Despite that fact that each 

murder was committed in the same place, the elders never 

suspected that the pathetic, puny child that worked there could 

be to blame. Soon, the warren's ruling order toppled and the 

young wererats seized power. 

Wererats who struggle against daunting odds, or whose thirst 

for power and wealth subsumes their ties to clan or warren, are 

drawn to Whisperdark. He is the ultimate expression of a 

wererat's self-centered nature, killing those who oppose him 

and ruthlessly exploiting the few who prove helpful. The 

wererat saying "walking with Whisperdark" is used to describe 

anyone who puts too much trust in an obvious rival or enemy 

or blindly puts himself into a dangerous position. The legends 

speak of how this god always betrays his followers in the end, 

as he cannot allow a single gold piece to slip through his paws 

and into a supposed ally's hands. In the end, only Whisperdark 

profits from his plans. 

Ethos: Secrecy above all. Maintain a cloak of mystery while 

learning all you can about your enemies. When they have 

revealed their weakness, strike them down. Whisperdark is 

ruthless in exhorting his clerics and followers to place 

themselves above all else. All other creatures, even fellow 

members of this cult, are potential enemies. An ally is a foe 

who finds advantage in a temporary alliance. Attend to your 

own needs above those of all others, else you will suffer 

betrayal and death at the hands of your supposed friends. 

Followers: Within the warren, wererats who seek to work outside 

the social order or who defy the elders' rules are drawn to 

Whisperdark. While he is known as an untrustworthy, greedy 

deity, many young wererats are drawn to him. The legends 

invariably focus on his self-sufficiency, incredible skill in magic 

and combat, and mighty spells. Ambitious young wererats admire 

these traits and seek to emulate them. Most followers of 

Whisperdark operate alone. They keep their clerical abilities 

secret from their fellows and engage in clandestine robberies and 

assaults to fatten their purses and eliminate rivals. Usually, a 

young wererat first learns of Whisperdark from the stories told of 

him by lone, wandering clerics of this god. These missionaries 

infiltrate warrens, spread word of Whisperdark's legends, and 

leave holy books and icons that allow a few converts to become 

clerics. Of course, as worshippers of a neutral evil god of trickery 

and greed, these clerics hope to cause instability and chaos within 

a warren. Once the seeds of Whisperdark's faith help turn young 

against old, the missionary returns to pick off the survivors and 

keep what treasures he wants. His task complete, he turns his 

attention to the next warren. Understandably, Whisperdark's faith 

is persecuted and his clerics killed whenever they are discovered. 

Symbol: A black circle with two feral, red eyes painted within 

it as if a creature peered out from a shadow. 

Favored Weapon: Kukri. 

Domains: Evil, Trickery, and War. 

WERETIGERS 

Weretiger Culture 

'Curiosity killed the cat.' 

The weretigers are perhaps the most commonly encountered 

lycanthrope species, though few who meet them suspect their 

true nature. Driven by an ancient quest that fuels an insatiable 

curiosity, weretigers scale mountains, delve deep into 

dungeons, spend months investigating stacks of ancient 

tomes, and give their lives over to finding out what lies over 

the horizon. They are by turns brave, studious, and inventive, 

but can also be indulgent, lazy, and hedonistic. Every 

weretiger must define the quest he wishes to pursue, and this 

definition cuts to the core of his existence. Regardless of their 

personal natures, weretigers pursue their goals with a fanatic's 

drive and a conqueror's ambition. Few can deny their energy 

and drive, though their goals determine how and why they 

apply themselves. Weretigers rarely form communities of their 

own, preferring instead to seek their destinies alone. Their 

ability to freely mingle with other races makes them likely to 

adopt the dress, culture, and attitudes of those around them. 


24 


Of all the lycanthropes, weretigers are the least likely to band 

together in societies of their own or pursue large-scale goals as 

a unified force. 

While weretigers are the most common sort of lycanthrope 

that can assume feline form, many different types of werecats 

exist. Throughout this section, weretiger and werecat are used 

interchangeably. For all intents and purposes, the various 

werecat races share the same origins and tendencies. 

The Endless Quest 

The weretigers' story can be traced back to their creation. 

Unlike other lycanthropes, the weretigers were not given their 

abilities as a curse, blessing, or mere accident. Their creator, 

the goddess Lyssra, looked upon the other werecreatures and 

decided to create a servitor race of her own in a similar 

fashion. Flighty, chaotic, and prone to pranks, Lyssra found the 

idea of a race that could transform from a helpless humanoid 

to a fierce tiger ripe with potential. The first weretigers were 

her guardians, servants, and companions. Yet, her creations 

did not at first satisfy her needs. All too often, they were left 

harried and exhausted by her endless planning, intricate 

schemes, and propensity to hop from one plan to the next. 

Lyssra forgot that mortal creatures could not match a goddess's 

intellect or energy. Her weretiger servants forgot the dozens of 

plans and tricks she played, were unable to run for days at a 

time when she tried to out-race the sun, and grew frustrated 

when she leapt from one topic to the next in her studies. 

The goddess thought long and hard over this problem. The 

other deities found her changing moods and endless schemes 

too much to handle, and in the past many of her pranks and 

spells had victimized them, making them a poor choice as 

friends. Committed to forming the perfect companion race, 

she finally hit upon the solution. Dismissing the first 

generation of weretigers from her service, she used her divine 

power to form a new group of the creatures. This time, she 

granted them a shard of her burning, endless curiosity, the 

source of her boundless energy and the cause of her 

scattershot, flighty manner. Whenever Lyssra found something 

new, she was driven to study it, use it, break it, and learn 

everything possible about its nature. Yet, invariably in the 

course of her studies she found some new aspect, object, or 

person that displaced the object of her curiosity. Time and 

again, this pattern repeated. Lyssra jumped from place to 

place, subject to subject, person to person, her curiosity 

dragging her along like a runaway boulder thundering down 

an endless slope. 

Her experiment worked. With this spark of divine curiosity 

infused into them, her weretigers matched her shifting passions 

time and again. Her servants gladly followed the example she 

set, assisting her in her tasks and never once complaining when 

she casually set aside a month's worth of work to pursue some 

new interest. After all, the weretigers were driven by the same 

impulses. When she found something new and interesting to 

pursue, they naturally fell into line right behind her. 

For many years, this pattern continued. Lyssra and her weretiger 

companions left in their wake half-completed research into 

hundreds of questions, from studies into the nature of the 

universe to a comprehensive search for the world's heaviest rock. 

The other gods were happy that she was finally out of their hair, 

though she and her companions did at times raise trouble. Still, 

the universe existed in a happy, steady equilibrium, offering 

Lyssra enough new pursuits to keep her busy. 

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. In time, Lyssra 

grew bored with mere material or mortal concerns. Once 

again, she turned her eyes back to her fellow gods. For 

centuries, she had left them alone, too caught up in the 

excitement of exploring the universe with her beloved 

weretigers by her side. Now a new deity, one known only as 

the Silent One, intrigued her to the edge of obsession. This 

deity, a newly arisen patron of the magical arts, kept a 

featureless tower that drifted within astral space. There he 

remained, deep in meditation. None had ever entered his 

tower, though many were willing to guess as to the nature of 

its contents and the reason behind the Silent One's 

meditations. Some said he was the source of all arcane energy, 

and his ruminations generated the power needed for spells. 

Others took the opposite view, claiming that his focused will 

was all that prevented arcane energy from running rampant 

and consuming the universe. Lyssra needed to know the 

answer. She plotted, planned, and pondered. The mysteries 

within the Silent One's tower drove her to distraction, 

bringing the rest of her plans to a grinding halt. The 

weretigers' discontent grew. They were used to their 

mistress's energy and enthusiasm, not the quiet, steady 

contemplation she displayed now. 



Finally, Lyssra drew up a plan. She summoned her weretiger 

followers to her side and gathered up some of her most prized 

possessions in a great satchel. These artifacts and icons 

represented the greatest successes she and her followers had 

achieved, from a powerful magical stone that weighed more 

than a planet to the bottled essence of a maiden's laughter. 

With her followers in tow, the goddess journeyed across astral 

space to the Silent One's tower. There, she marched before the 

single door that broke up the edifice's plain, otherwise 

featureless face. First with spells, then with artifacts, and finally 

with howled curses and beating fists, Lyssra battered the door 

with every ounce of her energy. Her days and weeks of study 

had yielded nothing of the place's contents. Her curiosity 

seethed and boiled, demanding that she somehow penetrate 

the tower's stony, silent walls. For three days her tantrum 

continued. Finally, her fists bloodied by her blows and her 

voice hoarse from her cursing, the door finally opened. 

The weretigers peered forward in unison, leaning towards the 

door to catch a glimpse of what was within. All they saw, 

though, was the swirl of Lyssra's silken skirts as she leapt 

through the portal with a shout of triumph. The door slammed 

shut behind her, leaving the weretigers alone and annoyed that 

their curiosity had not yet been satisfied. Resigned to waiting 

for their mistress to report back to them, they lounged about 

the tower and kept themselves busy with games of chance, 

competitions, and other diversions. 

The Silent One Speaks 

Days passed, and still no word issued from the tower. The 

weretigers grew restless. A few dared to knock upon the door 

and call out to their mistress, but their pleas went 

unanswered. Several more tried to climb the tower's walls, but 

even after ascending for hours, the tower seemed to soar to an 

endless height through the astral plane. Finally, when the 

weretigers' curiosity had reached a fever pitch, the door 

opened. Out of it strode a figure clad in gray robes. His sleeves 

were long enough to conceal his arms, his skirts dropped low 

enough to hide his feet, and his thick cowl leaned so far 

forward that it covered his face. The Silent One, god of magic, 

contemplator of hidden truths, and speaker of forgotten 

mysteries, had arrived. The weretigers froze in place, terrified 

at what the deity might visit upon them but driven by their 

curiosity to learn the fate of their goddess. 

After pausing to clear his throat, the Silent One (contrary to his 

moniker) spoke a few short words that would dictate the 

weretigers' fate for eons. 

"Your mistress is safe and content," he began, to a rousing cheer 

from the weretigers. After all, their mistress had been kind 

enough to give them a steady stream of fascinating goals to 

pursue. Though they were servants, they loved her dearly. "She 

has asked me to convey to you a message, a challenge of sorts to 

test how well you have learned from her example. Each of you 

is charged to discover the secret of the universe. When you have 

found it, she will return to you and usher in a new era of 

prosperity, happiness, and freedom for you all. For now, you 

must journey into the world and live as other mortal creatures 

do. Too long, you have dwelled among the gods." 

The Silent One paused, unrolled a scroll he had kept hidden 

in his robes, and read from it. 

"To aid you in your task, Lyssra bids me to deliver this first 

clue. The ultimate knowledge she seeks may be found 

anywhere, from the notes of an expertly crafted song to the 

inner mysteries of an archmage's spells. Start your search in," 

and with that, his voice was drowned out as he coughed, 

shuffled his scroll, and adjusted his cowl. The weretigers froze 

in place, their faces crinkled in grimaces as they tried to puzzle 

out what the Silent One had said, as the god rolled up his 

scroll, turned his back to them, entered his tower, and 

slammed the door shut. 

The werecats were stunned. For several long minutes, they 

remained silent. A few mumbled here and there about the utter 

rudeness of gods, particularly those with poor fashion sense and 

dreary, boring homes. Those weretigers who prided themselves 

on sharp hearing were mobbed by their friends, all of whom 

demanded to know that the Silent One had said. A few among 

these sharp-eared felines offered different theories. One 

declared he had clearly said that the search should begin in a 

sewer. Another one replied that no, in fact the Silent One said 

that it started with mathematics. A few more claimed that magic 

was the obvious source. After all, since the Silent One was a god 

of magic he probably just assumed that the weretigers would 

put the clues together and didn't bother repeating himself. One 

ambitious weretiger declared that the Silent One had named 

him, and that he had clearly heard him say that only the rightful 

lord of all werecats would hear his declaration. Soon, the entire 

collected assembly of weretigers was in an uproar. Competing 

claims forged the weretigers into factions. Some dashed off to 

begin their search, believing that whoever uncovered the secret 

would gain some special boon. Others, bored by the Silent 

One's speech and the endless days of waiting, had already left. 

Finally, the weretigers dispersed. Many of them supported one 

or another of the competing theories that explained what the 

Silent One had said, while a few rogue individuals clung to their 

personal views of the test the goddess set before them. 

Whatever their beliefs, the weretigers now threw themselves 

into their appointed task with the energy and curiosity that had 

served them so well in Lyssra's service. 

Today, the Great Task, as the weretigers call it, still has a 

tremendous effect on their society, culture, and actions. For 

countless years, they have pursued their goddess' order but 

with little result that they can see. Only the weretigers' 

boundless curiosity and energy have sustained their pursuit of 

the goal. Competing factions formed on that fateful day still 

seek to outdo each other, their rivalries and in some cases 

hatred fueled by the accumulated grievances that have built up 

over the past millennia. 

Weretiger Organization 

Weretigers are the most scattered, disorganized, and solitary of 

the lycanthrope races. Their very heritage helps to drive wedges 

between them, as the Great Task serves to divide them into a 

wide variety of groups with competing goals and radically 

different methods. Even within these groups, the weretigers 

rarely form large, cohesive organizations. Rather, the weretigers 


26 


within a given group simply share a common goal and remain in 

touch with each other when it proves convenient. Known as 

prides, these groups are much closer in nature and form to 

conspiracies or guilds than separate cultures. 

As noted above, weretigers tend to adopt the dress, attitudes, 

and traditions of a humanoid culture that they are able to live 

within. An elvish weretiger may dwell among the tree villages 

of a forest, while a human one might open a shop in a city. 

Weretigers have a well-developed talent for blending into their 

surroundings. Their innate curiosity allows them to pick out 

minor details in their neighbors' daily lives that other 

newcomers may miss. A weretiger might live in town for only 

a month or so before he has blended into the background and 

become accepted as part of the community. 

The individual prides have different methods of 

communication, hierarchies of organization, and goals. Some 

of them are merely loose confederations of 

like-minded individuals, while 

others are highly organized 

groups that feature 

f r e q u e n t 

communication from 

the uppermost 

leadership to 

individual agents. 

Since weretiger 

culture is so 

splintered and these 

creatures are liable to 

simply adopt the 

modes of living 

around them, it is best 

to approach these 

lycanthropes in terms 

of the prides they form. 

Each pride is organized, at least nominally, to aid in the 

resolution of the Great Task. In some cases other concerns 

have long since overcome that ancient mission, but in most 

instances the prides continue on towards their ultimate goal. 

Not all weretigers join a pride or even see the Great Task as a 

relevant part of their lives. Over time, more and more of these 

lycanthropes break ranks and pursue whatever subjects and 

arts catch their fancy. These weretigers fulfill their curiosity 

with an eye towards improving their skills and making 

themselves happy, rather than chasing what they perceive as an 

ancient superstition. 

The Prides 

Several prides are described below, each with an overview of 

its goals, methods, and organization. Most prides rely on their 

members to instruct and induct their offspring into the ranks. 

In some cases, a pride may actively seek out new members 

among weretigers its members encounter. This evangelical 

bent among some weretigers causes most of the conflicts 

between prides. The vast majority of these groups are neutrally 

aligned, caring more for their esoteric goals than in interfering 

with the lives and ambitions of other creatures. In some cases, 

though, a pride takes direct steps to aid or conquer the world. 

Some evil weretigers believe it is their task to subjugate all 

thinking creatures, in order to present their goddess with a 

world she can command as she wills. Others see their destiny 

as tied to other creatures, with the goddess Lyssra emerging 

from hiding to reward them once they commit enough good 

deeds. In either case, time, and the tendency for stories and 

words to warp and change as they pass from one generation to 

the next, have given weretigers virtual carte blanche to 

interpret the Silent One's words as they wish. 

The Book Seekers: Bound together by their love of 

knowledge, the Book Seekers believe that the Great Task 

commands them to find and catalog every last bit of 

knowledge available to mortal creatures. These weretigers 

take on a variety of roles, from common laborers to sages. 

After all, every trade has 

its knowledge. Even 

a simple laborer 

must learn how 

to use a saw or 

which hours of 

the day are best 

for resting and 

which are best for 

working. The Book 

Seekers catalog their 

knowledge and 

collect it in a great 

library on a high 

mountain plateau 

isolated from the world 

of man. This library, 

known as the Cradle of 

Knowledge, holds 

thousands of tomes. Many of 

these books are rare or unique, 

and as a whole they cover almost 

every imaginable subject. Within the Cradle's carefully 

organized shelves are books of spells, chapbooks covering the 

methods and practices of different trades, and thick tomes 

discussing the nature of the planes. 

The Book Seekers believe that if they can gather all of the 

world's knowledge in a single place, they will complete the 

Great Task and receive their reward from the goddess Lyssra. 

While normally peaceful and scholarly, these werecats have 

time and again been victimized by agents of evil or fanatical 

champions of good. As the Cradle of Knowledge holds books 

on every topic known to man, its collection includes tomes on 

demonology, lost artifacts, evil practices, and sacrificial rites. 

Time and again, ambitious spellcasters or desperate seekers 

have attempted to raid the Cradle and carry off some of the 

powerful volumes of forbidden knowledge it holds. The Book 

Seekers have long been aware of this threat, and their library is 

warded with powerful spells and watched by werecat archmagi. 

Of all the prides, the Book Seekers are the most likely to work 

with non-werecats in pursuing their goals. They are known to 

contact adventuring parties and hire them to track down lost 

books or study and report back on lost civilizations, distant 



planes, and ancient ruins. Normally, this payment is made in 

gold and magic items, but sometimes the weretigers grant 

limited access to their collections of ancient spellbooks and 

other tomes of long lost knowledge. 

Night Haunters: Civilized weretigers are loath to discuss this 

pride, and some among this race refuse to admit that it exists. 

Yet, the Night Haunters' actions cannot be denied. This small 

but active pride is hated and feared by all good and neutral 

weretigers. Its secretive members maintain that the Great Task 

compels them to hunt and kill all intelligent life on the planet. 

Starting with humans and other relatively easy targets, the 

Night Haunters hope to one day wipe all non-weretiger 

humanoids from the world. Night Haunters use a variety of 

tactics to meet this horrid goal, from isolated murders to mass 

poisonings. Their primary method is to incite wars between 

nations, usually by committing kidnappings, assassinations, 

and other foul deeds while pinning the blame on one faction 

or the other. In this way, simmering resentment or even 

friendship can be subverted into open warfare. Using these 

methods, the Night Haunters hope to slowly drain away 

civilization's vitality and eventually usher in its collapse. 

Night Haunters are perhaps the most rigidly organized of the 

prides. They use a variety of means, from mighty spells to 

mundane couriers, to stay in touch with each other. A Night 

Haunter typically attempts to infiltrate an assassin's guild, a 

criminal cartel, or perhaps even a government's service in 

order to gain access to the tools necessary to incite open 

conflict. Many of them work with kuo-toa, drow, and other 

subterranean creatures that harbor long-standing grudges 

against the surface dwellers. By drawing on such allies for 

monetary and material support, the Night Haunters can put 

into motion complex, devastating schemes to spread instability 

and war. Night Haunters who can assume the form of barbaric 

humanoids, such as orcs, goblins, gnolls, and other races, go 

among such tribes and use their lycanthropic abilities to seize 

power. By using brute strength and magic, a lone Night 

Haunter can become the grand chieftain of several orc tribes in 

a matter of months. With a word, he can unleash a horde of 

bloodthirsty warriors against the nearest kingdom. 

Normally, a Night Haunter acts alone. An agent of this pride relies 

on mercenaries, bribes, and his own talents to see his plans 

through. Only when the stakes are high enough to demand the 

entire pride's attention do two or more agents work together. The 

Night Haunters' upper leadership maintains a small castle on the 

astral plane. There, they collect reports from their minions and 

form plans to further destabilize and unseat the world's 

governments, all while dreaming of one day ruling the world 

from their isolated abode. 

Sect of Thersus: Among the weretiger prides, the Sect of 

Thersus is perhaps the strangest group. Founded by an 

egomaniacal werecat sorcerer named Thersus, the sect 

worships its founder like a god. According to their holy 

scriptures, Thersus is the true god of all weretigers. The Great 

Task was a mere ruse designed to throw the werecats off the 

proper trail of worship and study. By distracting them with this 

so-called Great Task, the lying "goddess" Lyssra could derail the 

growing worship of Thersus and undermine any ability to 

recognize him as the true god of the weretigers. To help 

establish their lord as a god in weretigers' eyes, members of this 

pride seek out their fellow lycanthropes and attempt to convert 

them to the cause. They offer fellowship, monetary support, 

and other means to lure weretigers to their cause. In most 

cases, their relentless evangelism repels the very folk they wish 

to convert, but in some cases a lonely or confused weretiger 

embraces the sect's overtures. Strangest of all, the sect actively 

recruits humans, elves, and other humanoids into its ranks. So 

long as a person is willing to acknowledge and pray to Thersus 

as a god, the sect care little for his race, ethos, or intentions. 

The starry-eyed acolytes of Thersus teach that Thersus is the one 

true god. In most cases, they are harmless fanatics, but 

sometimes their ardent beliefs spur them to take more direct, 

violent actions to promote their deity. Traveling incognito, the 

sect's spies infiltrate other churches and seek to destabilize and 

destroy them. Unfortunately, as the sect is splintered into a 

variety of arms with different goals and methods and lacks a 

centralized authority, coping with its incursions proves difficult. 

A band of Thersian pilgrims might have no knowledge of the 

cult assassins that murder clerics from other faiths, giving the 

killers a convenient group to hide among. The upper priesthood 

of this faith is muddled and confused, with a wide range of 

prophets and visionaries claiming different levels of 

responsibility, pushing a variety of goals, and conspiring against 

one another. Given that this church attracts the downtrodden, 

lonely, and weak-willed, its members are prime targets for 

demonic cults, scam artists, and other social predators. Over 

time, some of these con artists have worked their way up to the 

church's highest levels. 

The sect's confusion, wretched organization, and competing 

agendas make it the most varied and unpredictable pride. In 

some regions, it may pursue its original goals. In others, 

ambitious local priests and schemers have subverted its loose 

network to their own ends, engaging in robbery, extortion, and 

other plans that line its leaders' pockets while treating cult 

members as easy marks or exploitable labor. 

The Silver Claws: Formed primarily of werecats with a talent 

for magic, this pride insists that the Great Task can only be 

solved through the rigorous study and mastery of the magical 

arts. Its founders reasoned that since the Silent One delivered 

the message to the assembled folk of weretigerkind, the test set 

before them must be somehow connected to magic. Lyssra 

always had a special place in her heart for mages, and many of 

her most involved quests were connected to the study of magic. 

The Silver Claws are perhaps the largest of the prides that consist 

of nothing more than an informal, social network. No rigid 

hierarchy of leadership exists within this organization. Instead, 

members share magical knowledge that they unearth in hopes of 

piecing together a grand theory of the cosmos. The exact nature 

of this theory is open to debate, as some Silver Claws believe that 

it will explain the inner workings of the cosmos and others hold 

that it will spell out the meaning of life. The Claws are divided 

into a multitude of smaller groups based on the interpretation of 

their final goal, and sometimes these splinters break off to form 

prides of their own. However, most of the time the Silver Claws 

operate as a social club that promotes and facilitates the sharing 


28 


of arcane knowledge. Only rarely does an argument over matters 

of theory grow to the point that its members form a new group. 

After all, the true value in the Silver Claws is the wide array of 

information and the connections that it offers to its members. 

Weretiger mages who cut themselves off from this network have 

more to lose than to gain. 

Independents: The independents perhaps outnumber all the 

prides put together, but their fractured, solitary nature prevents 

them from becoming a force to be reckoned with. These 

werecats care little for the Great Task, or prefer to chase after it 

in seclusion. They may live alone or form small family units 

consisting of a mated pair and their young children. The 

werecats' natural curiosity is too strong to keep them in one 

place for long, leading most of these lycanthropes to leave home 

shortly after reaching adulthood. Most independents are 

travelers, wandering from one place to another to experience 

the world and satisfy their desire to see what lies over the 

horizon. They prefer to work as merchants, caravan guards, 

ambassadors, or explorers, but any job that features frequent 

travel and independence from an overwhelming structure of 

managers and subordinates works fine for them. 

Werecats tend to maintain ties to their families, but these are 

much less rigid than those found in other creatures. Even 

within cultures known for strong clan or family bounds, 

werecats stand out for their independence. For that reason, 

they rarely mix with creatures or in societies where folk are 

expected to maintain strong ties to their kin. The weretigers' 

natural curiosity and impulse to travel pushes their families 

apart. Even mated pairs rarely remain together for longer than 

the time necessary to raise a youngster to adulthood. 

Independent werecats pursue a wide range of interests, in 

contrast to their kin in the prides who normally take up a single 

vocation and stick to it for their entire lives. A weretiger takes 

up a trade that strikes his fancy, learning all he can about it and 

either sticking with it for his entire life, should it prove 

consistently interesting and enjoyable, or discarding it in favor 

of a new line of work or research. They make good jacks of all 

trades, as elder weretigers tend to have experience in a vast 

range of areas. By the time a weretiger reaches a venerable age, 

he may have worked as a blacksmith, crafted furniture for a 

king, served as a navigator aboard a pirate ship, owned and run 

an inn in a distant port, and bred horses for an order of knights. 

Over the years, he may have been married several times, with 

his human and weretiger children scattered across the 

continent, and befriended everyone from a dreaded pirate lord 

to a peaceful bishop. 

Regarding the Great Task, independent weretigers hold a 

variety of opinions. Some regard it as little more than an 

amusing legend told to young cubs. Others believe the story, 

but cannot see how their simple actions could be connected to 

it. Still others pursue the Great Task but see the prides as closeminded, 

obsessive, and counterproductive. These weretigers 

commonly follow a loose ideology known as the Path of 

Reason. They believe that the Great Task is an individual 

journey, one that has a different destination for each and every 

weretiger. When they die, they stand before the goddess Lyssra 

and give her an account of their deeds. Those who followed 

their curiosity and used their talents are rewarded, while those 

who failed to live fully are reincarnated and must try again. In 

some ways, those weretigers who follow this philosophy 

constitute an informal pride, but they lack any sort of 

structure, shared goals, or the other traits that make the prides 

distinctive factions. 

Other Prides 

The weretiger prides take on a wide array of missions. The 

examples given above are just a few of these ambitious, 

sometimes secretive groups. To help inspire your imagination, 

listed here are capsule overviews of several different prides you 

can use in your campaign. 

Blood Howlers: Committed to revelation through barbarism, 

the Blood Howlers are berserkers who believe that by giving in 

to their inner, animal impulses they can truly merge their 

feline and humanoid natures. These weretigers typically travel 

alone in areas where violence and crime are commonplace. 

They seek out combat to test their battle skills and indulge in 

their berserker furies. In battle, the Blood Howlers are 

terrifying foes. They prefer to remain in hybrid form, cleaving 

through their enemies with axe, blade, or claw and fang. Most 

Blood Howlers are neutral. They care only for battle, giving 

little thought to the origins of a conflict or which side may be 

innocent, just, or righteous. A Blood Howler is liable to join in 

with whichever group is the most likely to frequently place 

him in a combat situation. 

Diamond Cats: Similar to the Blood Howlers, the Diamond 

Cats seek to answer the Great Task by exploring their inner, 



emotional lives and spiritual energy. Unlike the Howlers, they 

find enlightenment in quiet meditation and careful study of 

their inner, ki energy. The Diamond Cats are monks, feline 

martial artists who emphasize meditation and contemplation. 

They see their combat abilities more as an extension of their 

understanding of their bodies' workings rather than a tool to 

subjugate or destroy their enemies. Diamond Cats gather in 

monasteries across the world. Most of these places are small, 

featureless homes that host no more than three or four monks. 

Usually, a single master attracts a few students and hosts the 

occasional traveling monk who visits. In other cases the 

Diamond Cats study with humanoid orders, mingling with 

monks of different races to study their methods and 

incorporate them into their own styles. Diamond Cats travel 

extensively, primarily to experience the world and incorporate 

what they have seen into their meditations. As youngsters, 

they spend several years studying with a master. In turn, a 

Diamond Cat who survives to an old age shares what he has 

learned with younger students of the martial arts. 

Gourmands: While other weretigers travel the world and 

seek knowledge in a variety of places, the Gourmands prefer 

to remain close to home. These indulgent, gluttonous 

lycanthropes believe that the key to the Great Task lies in food. 

After all, food is the key to all life. Without sustenance, a 

creature is condemned to wither and die. Even plants and 

other simple forms of life need sunlight, water, and soil. The 

Gourmands seek knowledge and enlightenment by eating and 

preparing a wide variety of food. Many of them work as master 

chefs in humanoid cities, constantly experimenting with new 

dishes and improved methods of preparing meals. All 

Gourmands are enthusiastic eaters, as enlightenment comes 

not only in creating meals but consuming them. These 

werecats dedicate themselves to sampling the dishes and 

cuisine of as many cultures as possible. While some of them 

tend towards obesity, many of them remain slim and fit. 

Overindulgence is not necessarily a key component of 

appreciating food, though some Gourmands happily indulge 

in it nonetheless. 

Long Striders: Dedicated to traveling across the world and 

experiencing every possible sight and sound, the Long Striders 

pride believes that the answer to the Great Task lies in direct, 

personal experiences. Some of these weretigers are travelers 

who wish to visit every realm and region of the world over the 

course of their lifetimes, but others are ardent sybarites who 

engage in a vast array of decadent pleasures. Physical 

experience in any form, whether it is a beautiful sight or a 

uniquely flavored wine, is the key to expanding one's 

understanding of the world and fulfilling the Great Task. The 

Long Striders are perhaps the most fractured pride, as its 

individual members interpret their methods and goals in such 

different ways. Some of these weretigers are experienced 

travelers and explorers who voyage to the edge of the world, 

while others engage in more personal journeys into narcotics, 

rich food, and other decadent pursuits. Long Striders tend 

towards neutrality, though some that seek out the more 

extreme forms of pleasure descend into evil. 

Weretiger Religion 

While the Great Task dominates many werecats' lives, 

organized religion is rare among them. Aside from the Sect of 

Thersus, the prides pay homage to Lyssra and seek to fulfill the 

Great Task but do not necessarily pray to her. Those weretigers 

who become clerics usually do so out of a desire to better 

know the goddess's mind and find some insight into the Great 

Task. Some weretigers worship the Silent One, usually for 

much the same reasons that Lyssra's worship continues. 

The Weretiger Pantheon 

In addition to the two gods listed here, weretigers commonly 

pray to gods that relate to their interpretation of the Great 

Task. For example, members of the Silver Claws pray to gods 

of magic and knowledge. Gods of travel, trickery, and nature 

are also popular with these lycanthropes. 

Lyssra (Chaotic Neutral) 

A goddess of travel and curiosity, Lyssra is pictured as a young, 

human woman with long brown hair and wide, brown eyes that 

sparkle with curiosity and barely restrained energy. Known as an 

explorer, researcher, and prankster among the gods, she is 

renowned for her propensity to ardently pursue a single subject 

for a time before dropping it in favor of a new one. 

Lyssra's churches are disorganized and highly personal in 

nature. Most of them consist of a private room in a tavern 

where her followers meet to make plans and share their 

discoveries, or similar accommodations. Other holy sites 

include crossroads, paths and bridges to important sites, and 

other places that allow travel to the wonders of the world. 

Ethos: Learn all you can about the world, leaving no stone 

unturned and refusing to consider anything impossible or beyond 

reach. Curiosity is the driving engine of many of the world's 

important discoveries. Follow its pull in your personal life. 

Followers: While the vast majority of Lyssra's worshippers are 

weretigers, explorers, inventors, and others who push the 

bounds of knowledge or rely on curiosity to spur their work 

pray to her as well. 

Symbol: An open book. 

Favored Weapon: Staff. 

Domains: Curiosity, Travel, and Trickery. 

The Silent One (Neutral) 

Known as the Keeper of Magic, the Silent One is an imposing, 

mysterious figure who is said to have played some important 

but unknown role in the creation and maintenance of the 

world's arcane energies. The Silent One is commonly depicted 

as a murky cloud of wispy, arcane energy or a tall, humanoid 

figure clad in voluminous robes that hide his features. 

The Silent One's worshippers rarely erect full-blown temples 

and similar edifices. Most of them use tiny shrines in their 

libraries and laboratories that consist of a small statue of the 


30 

Silent One, a holy symbol, and candles. This god's worship is 

highly personal in nature, with an emphasis on the individual 

relationship and revelations a single spellcaster experiences 

while in prayer or meditation. 

Ethos: Study and understand the principles of magic. Using a 

spell demonstrates the most basic levels of magical talent, but 

a deeper knowledge of the theories behind how a spell works 

is the ultimate expression of true talent and ability. 

Followers: Wizards, sages, researchers, and weretigers with an 

arcane bent all commonly pray to the Silent One. As a passive, 

secretive god, he has relatively few worshippers. Most 

spellcasters favor better known, flashier gods of magic. 

Symbol: A silver triangle scribed with a four-pointed star in its 

middle. 

Favored Weapon: Dagger. 

Domains: Knowledge, Magic, and Travel. 


WEREWOLVES 

Werewolf Culture 

'Life is the hunt. To stalk, to chase, to overtake, to spray the 

blood of our prey upon the cold, white snow. This is the 

meaning of life, this is the order of the world.' 

- Werewolf religious chant 

Clustered at the edge of civilization, the werewolves nip and 

bite at all that humanity and other civilized races have built. 

Like patient hunters they wait, lurking in hiding from the eyes 

of their prey. A single stumble, a momentary lapse of alertness, 

and the wolves are upon their target. A borderland keep could 

flourish for decades, lured into a false sense of security by the 

lack of attackers, bandits, and other threats. Aside from the 

occasional disappearance, life is peaceful. Settlers filter into the 

keep, establishing businesses and building homes. With the 

sedating weight of years tugging at the keep's defenses, soon 

the town cuts the pay to its soldiers, dismisses mercenary 

warriors, and sells off some of its weapons. Once these changes 

are put into motion, the wolves strike. They appear one night 

like shadows gliding from the forest, slipping through secret 

passages or overwhelming guards before they can raise an 

alarm. Throughout the night, the keening howl of the wolves 

sounds throughout the region. Those few settlers who escape to 

the gate are allowed to run free, a grim gift to the feral 

werewolves that refuse to enter a city of man. In the morning, 

the sun rises upon a blood-spattered ruin. In time, scouts arrive 

to inspect the slaughter. They approach the ruin with swords 

drawn, bows readied. Slowly, more settlers return to the keep. 

Once again, they are alert and vigilant to all dangers. Yet in the 

forest around them, the werewolf packs wait, confident in the 

knowledge that the process has started once again. 

Culture is perhaps too formal a term to use for the lifestyle of 

these barbaric hunters. While vicious and savage in battle, their 


customs and organization are plain and simple compared to the 

constant infighting and complex relations that mark wererat 

society. Werewolves exist for one simple purpose: to engage in 

the hunting and killing of intelligent creatures. To these 

lycanthropes, life is defined in terms of the hunt. The mighty 

are the pursuers, the chasers, the stalkers. The weak are mere 

prey meant to be reaped at the hunters' leisure. Yet, while 

werewolves are individually talented in fighting, they are too 

fractured, headstrong, and independent to combine their 

talents into a dangerous force. They may unite for a time to 

destroy a settlement or run down a particularly appealing 

target, but such alliances are fleeting. 

To werewolves, life is simple. Those with power use it to destroy 

and devour those without it. Nothing could be clearer to them. 

Hunters in the Night 

'The hunter must be patient, yet savage. His weapons are more 

than his claws and fangs. The softlings cannot run far or fast. 

Chase them for a time, wear down their strength, and take 

them when they are weak. They trust in each other, as they are 

too weak to survive on their own. Go about them in your 

human guise. Like a master hunter, watch them from within 

and pick off the choicest prey at your leisure.' 

Werewolf culture is guided by a loose collection of sayings, 

wisdom, expectations, and prejudices. As chaotic creatures, 

werewolves avoid codified teachings and comprehensive 

guides of conduct. Still, their ethos can be summarized in a 

few simple rules. 

• The strong fight and live. The weak run and die. 


• He who has strength must use it to destroy the weak. Power 

left unused is power wasted. 

• Strength lies in isolation. He who requires others to sustain 

his life dies alone. 

• The softlings include all creatures so weak that they must use 

weapons and armor of iron to survive. They are intruders in 

the wilderness and must be slain. 

Werewolves consider themselves the most powerful force in the 

wilderness. In their eyes all other creatures, from field mice to 

humans, are potential prey once they move into their realms. 

While humans may be strong in arms and magic, they are simply 

more challenging prey meant to challenge the werewolves' skills 

in the hunt. After all, great hunters require daunting prey to test 

their abilities. Of all the lycanthropes, the werewolves cling closest 

to their animal natures. Many of these beasts spend the bulk of 

their time in wolf form, assuming their humanoid shape only 

when necessity demands it. A werewolf prides himself on the 

number and quality of his kills. It matters not how or why a wolf 

overcomes his prey. All that matters is that his lair is decorated 

with the skulls and bones of those who fell to his fangs and claws. 

The werewolves' scorn of civilization and deep-rooted desire to 

engage in the hunt keeps them at the edges of settled lands. 

Most great forests, towering peaks, and trackless wastelands 

host werewolf packs. Usually, the wolves spend most of their 

time alone. They care little for the company of their fellows, and 

most are too arrogant to believe they could ever benefit from aid 

in the hunt. Only large, appealing targets such as castles, towns, 

and large caravans can draw werewolves together. While these 

creatures are seen as simpleminded brutes, they can be 

relentless and patient when on the trail of their prey. A werewolf 

might spend weeks in humanoid form to scout out a potential 

target, learning his tendencies and memorizing his schedule. 

Once the time is right, he strikes like a lightning bolt, running 

down and slaying his target in the space of a moment. While an 

observer may see a seemingly random attack, the werewolf may 

have spent weeks preparing himself for that one, single 

moment. While werewolves usually lack the patience and 

willpower to commit themselves to anything, their enthusiasm 

for the hunt and boundless determination to conquer their prey 

drives them to almost maniacal levels of focus. 

The Curse of the Hunt 

Werewolves did not always range across the wilderness. In an 

ancient era long before the rise of the great kingdoms of man, 

werewolves were utterly unknown. In an isolated region where 

man first learned to craft spears from stone and wood, the 

earliest hunters exulted in their newfound power. Whereas 

before they had to hide away in caves by night and cower in fear 

when a predator drew near, they could now use arrows, spears, 

stone knives, and fire to defend themselves. In time, they grew 

bored with their safety and sought excitement in new ways. 

Rather than wait for a wolf pack to descend upon their camps, 

these huntsmen gathered together in small bands and tracked 

down the creatures that once menaced them. Soon they grew to 

love the joy of the hunt. Tracking down deer and caribou for 

meat was not enough. Only while hunting dangerous prey did 

they draw pleasure from the kill. 

Chief among these first huntsmen was Hurar the Pursuer. This 

mighty warrior stood a head taller than the second largest man 

in his village. Some whispered that he had taken to hunting 

humans, and it was said that he kept the skull of four men he 

had killed in combat buried in the dirt of his cave. Time and 

time again, he gathered those men who were blinded to his 

cruelty and sadism by his great skill and might for nocturnal 

hunts. By the moon's light, they chased down and killed wolves, 

bears, and all other creatures that crossed their paths. 

In due time, the gods grew angry at Hurar. He and his followers 

hunted many species to the edge of oblivion. The wolves 

dwindled to no more than a few packs, as Hurar paid special 

attention to stalking and killing those animals. He saw them as 

his closest rivals in ferocity and hunting talent. Three times the 

gods warned Hurar of his folly with clear omens, yet each time 

he ignored their signs and refused to change his ways. One 

night, while he stalked one of the last remaining wolf packs, 

the gods struck him and his followers with a terrible curse. 

Hurar and his men transformed into wolves, undergoing a 

hideous, painful metamorphosis into the animals they hated 

most. Driven by his blood lust and rage at his ill fortune, Hurar 

and his surviving followers took to stalking humans. Blinded to 

his transgression against the gods, he mistakenly believed that 

the shaman in his village had laid the curse against him. Soon, 


32 


though, he learned all too dearly that a wolf's fangs were no 

match for a mighty bow or an oaken spear. In time, his pack 

dwindled in numbers. 

Desperate for any salvation, Hurar called out to the dark ones, 

evil gods who demanded a mortal's soul in return for the 

power they offered. The dark ones looked upon the man in 

wolf's form and saw great potential within him. Reaching out 

with their power, they rendered him virtually proof against the 

simple spears and arrows of the villagers and granted him the 

gift to take a form of a man. In that guise, he could more easily 

stalk his prey, learn its weakness, and strike at the right 

moment. With his newfound powers, Hurar and his followers 

descended upon the nearest village and massacred all within it. 

The werewolves had been unleashed upon the world. 

To this day, werewolves revere Hurar as their founding lord 

and the epitome of cunning, strength, and skill. Though they 

encompass aspects of both man and animal, they are forever 

driven by their feral instincts to hunt and kill humanoid 

creatures. All werewolves have an unquenchable desire to 

consume the flesh of humans, elves, orcs, and other thinking 

creatures. This hunger can be sated and controlled, but it can 

never be extinguished. 

Softlings and Other Prey 

Werewolves have an odd relationship with their humanoid 

roots. On one hand, they see their ability to mask their true 

nature as a major boon. By shifting into humanoid form, a 

werewolf can mingle with his prey to a much greater degree 

than any other predator. Some werewolves specialize in 

infiltrating society and working within it. These lycanthropes 

are much closer to their humanoid roots in temperament and 

attitude. They see themselves as humanoids that can assume 

wolf form. On the other hand, other werewolves take the exact 

opposite view. They are wolves first, humanoids second. These 

creatures are the ones that dominate werewolf society, and 

their views hold sway over most packs. 

In the wilds, the wolf form is much more useful. Fur wards off 

cold weather, fangs and claws remain sharp and ready while 

swords and axes rust, and the wolf's thick hide wards away 

blows with same ability as cured leather armor. For this 

reason, in their natural habitat werewolves develop a disdain 

for all civilized creatures. They see them as weaklings who 

must rely on tools and other handicaps to survive. Werewolves 

consider anything that strikes at their self-sufficiency as a 

serious hindrance. In the wilderness, hunters can rely only on 

themselves. Tools break, allies fail, and a simple bit of bad luck 

can prove lethal to a hunter whose skills are rusty or hindered. 

Independence, cunning, and pure physical power combine to 

form a hunter's tools. Anything that takes away from these 

traits is anathema. 

For these reasons, werewolves that dwell in the wilds call 

humans, dwarves, orcs, and other humanoids "softlings." 

They see them as prey creatures that cheat their fates by 

resorting to shortcuts and crippling dependencies on armor, 

weapons, and other tools. The term softling is a reference to 

the civilized creatures' reliance on armor. To most 

werewolves, placing a skin of leather and steel over one's body 

is the ultimate admission that one cannot defend oneself in 

combat. A true warrior learns to use his natural abilities and 

does not need such obvious crutches to survive. Among some 

werewolf tribes, captured humans are stripped of their 

weapons, armor, and clothing and forced to run through the 

wilds. After giving their victims a head start, the werewolves 

run down and kill them. 

Werewolf Organization 

Werewolves spend much of their time alone, stalking prey and 

preparing themselves for the chase. As chaotic creatures, they 

care little for organization, rules, and appeals to authority. 

Instead, they seek to make their own ways in the world. Part of 

a werewolf's pride and renown stems from his ability to survive 

for long periods of time without the support of others. A 

werewolf who can spend months in the wilderness, stalking and 

killing many victims, earns the respect and fear of his brethren. 

Among werewolves, there are two basic groups or factions. 

The first are known as the Footwalkers. These werewolves 

prefer to spend time in their humanoid or hybrid forms, 

mingling with humans and living in villages and towns at the 

edge of civilization. The Footwalkers are solitary among their 

kind even by werewolf standards, usually scorning the 

company of other werewolves and actively hunting and killing 

any other lycanthropes that enter the settlements that are their 

hunting grounds. Yet, these werewolves see value in working 

with humanoid creatures. They may hire themselves as scouts 



and assassins to criminal cartels, while the more ambitious 

among them use their strength and personal magnetism to 

gather thugs, orcs, goblins, and other creatures around them as 

a sort of pack. Werewolves that attract followers see them as 

disposable resources. Truly powerful opponents are much 

easier to defeat if they can be worn down with successive 

attacks by weakling followers before the lycanthrope launches 

his attack. Just as a hunter may track his prey for days through 

the forest, so too do these werewolves dispatch their minions 

one after another to sap their enemy's strength. 

In contrast to the Footwalkers, the Clawrunners are 

werewolves who spend much of their time in wolf form. Some 

of these beasts never transform into humans and find even 

their hybrid humanoid/wolf form repellent. In the wilderness, 

these werewolves organize themselves into packs. Each pack 

claims dominion over a stretch of hunting ground. Intruders 

are ruthlessly hunted down and slain, particularly other 

lycanthropes who could pose a threat to the pack's dominance. 

Sometimes, a single, powerful werewolf can rise to the top of 

a pack by stalking and killing the mightiest werewolf in a 

region. In the wilds, combat skill and the ability to subjugate 

other werewolves are the two talents necessary to gain respect 

and obedience. Werewolves chafe under authority, but they are 

wise enough to pay respect to a great hunter who could turn 

them into prey. For this reason, any werewolf new to a region 

quickly draws the attention of the area's strongest hunter. The 

newcomer can either accept the alpha wolf's dominance or die. 

Footwalkers and Clawrunners hate each other with a deep 

passion. The two groups claim that they represent the mantle 

of true werewolfhood. Footwalkers believe that a hunter must 

use stealth and trickery to overcome his prey. While tools, 

weapons, and armor are for the weak, they can be used to as a 

convenient disguise to hide among the softlings. In their eyes, 

the Clawrunners are too ignorant and stupid to take advantage 

of the true range of their gifts. For their part, the Clawrunners 

see the Footwalkers as cowards who ape the worst of humanity 

because they lack a true werewolf's strength and power. Open 

warfare between them is rare, but each side has plenty of 

reason to fight the other. A Footwalker may venture into the 

forest outside of town to kill the Clawrunners that are driving 

folk away from the area with their wanton destruction. To the 

Footwalkers, overeager Clawrunners are a potential threat to 

their carefully controlled hunting grounds. Clawrunners attack 

Footwalkers more out of aggression or an attempt to prove 

their might. A daring Clawrunner might slip into a human city, 

uncover a Footwalker, and kill him, proving his bravery, 

cunning, and skill to the rest of the pack. To these 

lycanthropes, such a kill is a noteworthy deed that can propel 

a young werewolf to the top of the pack's pecking order. 

Footwalker Colonies 

Footwalkers typically live alone, but by no means do they 

dwell in isolation. When establishing homes in humanoid 

cities, they usually attempt to insulate themselves from 

suspicion or attack by building up a convincing cover story or 

working within the criminal underworld. Some of these 

werewolves learn a trade, such as blacksmithing or brewing, to 

give them a steady source of income and a ready cover story to 

deflect away any unwanted attention that may focus on them. 

Footwalker tradesmen take care to keep their works mediocre. 

After all, they want their work to allow them to fade into the 

background, not draw them further into the spotlight. Instead, 

they work within guilds and other organizations to find the 

political connections they need to remain safe. Sometimes, a 

Footwalker's business may seem oddly slow. A werewolf who 

murders and steals from the rich folk in a city may allow his 

front operation to wither. Few Footwalkers follow a trade 

because they enjoy it, and when they can afford to allow 

mundane business to slide many do so. The sudden halt of 

work at a shop could be a sign that a disguised werewolf has 

found more enjoyable tasks to handle than his business. 

As mentioned above, Footwalkers are fiercely territorial. 

Aside from mated pairs, these lycanthropes only rarely allow 

each other to survive unmolested. In small towns or villages, 

the resident Footwalker keeps an eye out for potential rivals. 

Werewolves, be they Footwalkers or Clawrunners, are an 

unwelcome menace. Should the townsfolk notice the 

newcomer's depredations, they could bring an uncomfortable 

amount of attention down upon the resident Footwalker. In 

keeping with the traditional werewolf ferocity and 

territoriality, a newcomer may seek out and kill a werewolf 

who claims an area to seize control of his domain. 

Sometimes, a seemingly random murder points to the arrival 

of a younger, more aggressive Footwalker. A murder spree 

that starts with the death of a little-known craftsman (in truth 

the previous Footwalker) could be the work of an aggressive 

new werewolf in town. 

The one exception to this trend is a large city. In such an area, 

the Footwalkers may form a loose pattern of dominance, with 

a single alpha wolf claiming the choicest area in town. The best 

parts of town from a werewolf's point of view do not always 

neatly align with how humans see things. Werewolves prefer 

areas that are free of the interfering presence of guards, clerics 

of good deities, and other active agents of law and order. 

Usually, the werewolves present in a city break it down into 

several different hunting grounds, with each wolf given one 

area to stalk and kill prey. In some rare instances, a single, 

powerful wolf may gather an extended family of lycanthropes 

to him. These groups feature a small core of werewolves and 

possibly a larger body of human followers. 

These urban werewolves stalk and kill prey as it suits them, 

usually in the roughest areas of town, where murders and 

disappearances are unremarkable news. They work together or 

under the strict supervision of the alpha wolf, picking off only 

those targets that have been approved for elimination. In these 

instances, the cult's leader exercises an iron-fisted rule. The 

smallest deviation from his plans can bring the wrath of the city 

down upon the werewolves. While the great mass of 

humanoids makes it easier for the lycanthropes to hide, by the 

same token cities attract powerful clerics, wizards, and warriors 

who could easily hunt down and destroy the pack. Usually, 

urban werewolf packs form cults around their members. By 

recruiting humans to their ranks and granting them protection, 

the pack gains a number of guards, watchers, and allies who 

can help shield it from outside interference. In a rundown 


34 


neighborhood, the pack may have access to several bolt holes, 

passages to the sewers useful in evading pursuit, and dozens of 

commoners ready to testify that they have seen nothing out of 

the ordinary. Usually, the pack recruits the folk of a specific 

neighborhood or area. In return for their silence and aid, the 

wolves protect them from outside threats and aid them against 

their rivals. Normally, the wolves work with smugglers, thieves' 

guilds, and other criminal organizations. Sometimes, they use 

coercion, blackmail, and extortion schemes to browbeat 

cooperation from otherwise defenseless people. 

Clawrunner Packs 

Compared to the varied forms and methods employed by 

Footwalker colonies, the Clawrunner packs are simple in both 

their goals and their organization. Each pack stakes out a 

territory that it claims as its hunting ground. The wilderness, 

towns, villages, and roads 

within this area all nominally 

belong to the pack. 

Werewolves consider 

ownership more as a question 

of who has the right to hunt 

in an area. Thus, they jealousy 

guard the territories they 

claim from all interlopers. 

Any creature that enters a 

region is a potential target. To 

the werewolves, a newcomer 

is either a potential meal or a 

possible rival. In the first case, 

the wolves bide their time and 

pursue their new target based 

when the mood strikes them. 

A group of prospectors could 

live in werewolf-controlled 

hills for months before 

coming under attack, while a 

merchant caravan might 

come under attack the 

moment it enters the area. As 

chaotic monsters, werewolves frequently attack without rhyme 

or reason. Typically, they simply strike whatever target is closest 

when they feel hungry or bored. 

If a newcomer could be a rival, the pack takes immediate steps 

to eliminate him. Anything from another werewolf to a dragon 

counts as a potential rival, as the pack applies this label to any 

creature or humanoid that could possibly defeat a werewolf in 

single combat. When faced with such a threat, the pack either 

attacks at the earliest opportunity, usually making the assault 

as a group, or flees to safer territory. A werebear might be 

stalked and killed, while a red dragon is usually deemed too 

dangerous to disturb. 

Within the pack, prestige is based on combat prowess and 

experience. Fights between werewolves are common, helping 

to establish a clear order of dominance within the pack while 

simultaneously keeping the werewolf population to 

manageable levels. In the wilds, these lycanthropes have no 

natural enemies. Their ability to shrug off most wounds leaves 

them capable of defeating even the mightiest wild animals. The 

alpha wolf, the pack's leader, demands tribute and absolute 

obedience. Usually, the pack stays too spread out over their 

realm for the alpha wolf to directly manage his subordinates' 

affairs. Normally, he simply expects that the other werewolves 

show him respect and obey the few orders he issues without 

question. In the aftermath of an alpha wolf's death, the 

surviving pack members descend into civil war, with the 

situation remaining unstable until one, powerful werewolf 

slays his rivals. During such a conflict, werewolf raids drop to 

almost nothing as the lycanthropes turn against each other and 

focus their energies on seizing control of the area. 

Clawrunners reserve a special hatred for cities and villages. 

They see these nests of civilization as blights on the land, 

troubling signs of the steady outward march of the realms of 

man. When the first foundations of a settlement are built, the 

wolves mass to attack. 

Sometimes, they 

succeed in 

annihilating the 

outpost and drive all 

humans away. Other 

times, their attack 

merely alerts higher 

authorities of trouble 

in the region. Despite 

their skill in combat, 

werewolves are no 

match for a battleready 

infantry 

formation supported 

by arcane spellcasters. 

Sometimes, 

Clawrunners 

grudgingly use their 

human forms to pose 

as rustic woodsmen or 

primitive tribe folk. 

They favor this tactic 

only if a powerful kingdom or a spellcaster whose abilities they 

cannot match is active in the area. In this case, the tribe risks 

annihilation if it attempts to run wild in the woods and hunt 

as it wishes. Since werewolves are chaotic by nature and the 

Clawrunners detest their human form, only extreme 

circumstances can push them to accept such a plan. Unless the 

alpha wolf is cunning or experienced, it is usually far too late 

for the pack to adopt this plan in the face of determined 

opposition. 

Werewolf Religion 

Werewolf religion is typically primitive and simple. In the 

wilds, the Clawrunners lack the capacity to erect temples, keep 

records, and engage in what humanoid races would consider 

religious practices. Their hatred for civilization extends to the 

trappings of organized religion, from temples, altars, and an 

organized priesthood to written records and carefully 



maintained religious manuals. In contrast, the Footwalkers 

typically steep their actions and relations in religious terms. 

These radically different takes on worship create another 

irreparable rift between these two factions. 

The Clawrunners rely on a simple, shamanistic system of oral 

tradition and trial by combat to meet their spiritual needs. 

Each pack features one shaman who works as a wise man and 

counselor to the current alpha wolf. Usually, this shaman is an 

old, grizzled veteran of duels, hunts, and raids. While time 

robs him of his strength and vitality, his close connection to the 

gods allows him to augment his diminishing physical abilities 

with divine spells. The borderland settlers have learned to 

unleash their arrows and spells upon the old, scarred wolves 

that run with lycanthrope packs for good reason. The 

shamans' combination of magical and martial ability makes 

them daunting foes. 

Shamans operate in a different stratum within the pack. At an 

early age, werewolves with a talent for divine magic are 

marked by omens, signs, specific deformities, and other 

unique traits. Such a cub is set aside from the rest of pack and 

given to the shaman to raise and watch. Some cubs prove 

unsuitable for training. These unfortunates are killed and 

eaten. Others show the resilience, piety, and natural affinity for 

magic necessary to become a shaman. Once a year, these 

shamans in training are taken aside and set upon a great hunt. 

For one night, the forest echoes with howls, snarls, and the 

keening cries of dying wolves as the apprentice shamans hunt 

each other down. By morning, only one youngster survives the 

ordeal, proving his strength and cunning to the gods. The 

shaman continues the youngster's training, with additional 

students judged, trained, and set against the survivor each 

year. After several years, the youngster either falls victim to a 

more talented rival or grows strong enough to challenge his 

teacher. At this point, the two fight a duel to the death. If the 

shaman wins, the search continues for a suitable heir to his 

position. If the upstart claims victory, he devours the shaman's 

corpse and claims his possessions as his own. 

By tradition, werewolf shamans are prohibited from dealing too 

closely with their pack mates. As messengers of the gods, they 

read the portents to advise the alpha wolf and use their spells to 

maintain a proper level of bloodthirsty battle hunger among the 

wolves. Shamans are considered outsiders. Most werewolves 

value their shamans' magic, but see them as something other 

than an equal, a strange mix of a more powerful figure who can 

call on the gods and a weaker one whose combat skills fall short 

of the alpha wolf's talents. For this reason, shamans maintain 

their hold on power behind the scenes, using their counsel and 

spells to manipulate the alpha wolf and the pack members to 

the shaman's ends. Usually, he pushes them to launch ever more 

daring raids on human settlements or fulfill whatever goals and 

ideals his gods endorse. 

Not only do the Clawrunner shamans possess skill in battle, 

they are also valued advisors and wise men. The shamans are 

the only werewolves who can weather the effects of old age 

without falling to a rival's fangs. With their tremendous skill 

and their place outside of the standard power structure, an 

alpha wolf can go to them for advice and counsel without fear 

of betrayal. Sometimes, a shaman may choose to help depose an 

alpha wolf who fails to lead the tribe with skill, competence, 

and savage bravery. However, so long as the pack maintains an 

aggressive rate of attacks against civilized targets and keeps its 

members' gullets filled with man flesh, the shaman is usually 

content to allow the alpha wolf his position. 

The Footwalkers practice a much more complex, codified 

religion. Usually, the most powerful werewolf in a city claims 

the title of patriarch. Even if he is not a cleric, he claims divine 

right to set policy in the city and command the werewolves 

beneath him. Usually, this divine mandate is supported with 

threats and violence, but some of the most powerful 

werewolves are clerics and druids who use their spells to 

compel obedience. Spells such as silence and wind walk are 

important tools that allow werewolves to operate in civilized 

areas without fear of discovery. A clever werewolf cleric can 

quickly overwhelm his rivals or set the town guard against 

them with a few carefully chosen spells. 

The most important aspect of Footwalker religion is its use in 

forming werewolf cults. Usually, a lone werewolf or a small 

group within a city gathers ignorant or ambitious humans to 

them as servants under the guise of religion. The werewolves 

gather these cultists in secret, displaying the gifts of 

lycanthropy and promising to infect those followers who show 

obedience or render useful services. Blinded to the threat the 

werewolves pose, these poor dupes gladly surrender their free 

will and act as lookouts, guards, and co-conspirators. In truth, 

few of these folk receive the "blessing" of lycanthropy. The 

werewolves know that newly infected humans are much more 

difficult to control, as they can now treat the lycanthropes as 

equals, and the presence of too many wolves in a city can draw 

unwanted attention from the forces of law and order. Most of 

the time, these fanatics are used up and discarded when they 

hold no more value. A cultist may be framed for a murder 

committed by a werewolf, then conveniently killed before he 

can betray his masters. Others are sacrificed on suicidal attacks 

against the wolves' rivals and enemies, or are sent on doomed 

missions to distract the city's defenders and allow the 

embattled werewolves to escape. 

Werewolf Pantheon 

Of all the lycanthropes, werewolves are the most likely to branch 

out into pantheons beyond their own. Many of them pray to 

gods of murder, death, war, and destruction. There are but two 

gods commonly acknowledged as gods of the werewolves, Hurar 

the Pursuer and Maram of the Mask. Both of these gods are 

revered by vastly different factions of werewolves, with Hurar 

earning prayers from the Clawrunners and Maram receiving the 

Footwalkers' reverence. 

Hurar the Pursuer 

(Chaotic Evil) 

The first werewolf not only founded his species but went on to 

ascend to godhood through the auspices of the dark lords that 

granted him the curse of lycanthropy. Hurar embodies all that 

is savage and feral in werewolves. He is depicted as a massive, 


36 

black furred wolf with bloodstained fangs and long, rotting 

tatters of his victims' flesh, bone, and organs rotting in his fur. 

He stands 40 feet high at his shoulders, and his great jaws are 

large enough to allow him to devour a small building in a single 

bite. Never has he been shown in human form. 

According to werewolf legend, Hurar prowls the deepest 

reaches of the Abyss, hunting down powerful demons, 

demigods, and other creatures to slake his boundless hunger 

for the flesh and blood of thinking creatures. At times, he 

journeys to the material plane to test his followers' mettle. 

On a cold, starless night, he descends from the sky to stalk a 

pack of his choosing, killing each member in turn and 

allowing only those who live through the night to survive. In 

this manner, Hurar culls the weak and impotent from the 

ranks of his followers. 

Ethos: Hunt and kill all who are not werewolves. This ethos is 

simple and direct, as befits a savage, primitive race. Hurar 

holds no pity in his black heart, bidding his servants to ravage 

and destroy all they encounter. Werewolves who fail to show a 

fiery temper and a lust for killing are forced to run on their 

own through the forest to be hunted down by Hurar's faithful. 

All Footwalkers are lesser beings to Hurar, an anathema upon 

the werewolf race that must be exterminated at all costs. At 

times, packs of his followers sweep into cities to run down and 

kill werewolves they discover hiding within them. 

Followers: Hurar is worshipped by the vast majority of 

Clawrunners. They respect him as the first and mightiest of 

their kind, acknowledging his rule over all of the wilderness 

and paying their tribute to him with the slaughter of their 

enemies and an ironclad grip on their territory. The 

Clawrunners know no other gods. The practices and traditions 

ascribed to them earlier in this section are unique to their 

worship of Hurar. Fanatical in the extreme, werewolf shamans 

order any pack member that professes to worship any other 

god, especially Maram, to be put to death. 

Symbol: A snarling wolf's head, usually scribed in blood on a 

stone talisman worn attached to a necklace or collar. 

Favored Weapon: Fangs. 

Domains: Destruction, Evil, Pursuit. 

Chapter Two: Lycanthrope Characters 

Maram of the Mask 

(Lawful Evil) 

Where the Clawrunners value savagery in battle and the 

destruction of their enemies, the Footwalkers are more subtle, 

controlled, and patient in their hunts. Maram of the Mask is 

said to be the renegade son of Hurar, the first natural born 

werewolf and the original Footwalker. In the ancient days, the 

werewolves were beset on all sides by their enemies. While 

Hurar and a few of his followers were mighty enough to beat 

back their foes' assaults, most other werewolves were not so 

lucky. Time and again, sorcerers, clerics, and druids led war 

parties to track down and destroy the packs one by one. In the 

face of such a threat, Maram of the Mask devised many of the 

strategies used today by Footwalkers to evade detection. In 

time, he founded the Footwalker faction of werewolves and 

ascended to godhood upon his death. 

Maram is depicted as a swarthy human with short, curly black 

hair, a perpetual scowl, and a scar running across his left eye. 

He is powerfully built, with long, hairy arms and thick, bowed 

legs. While never depicted in wolf form, his hybrid guise is 

that of a gray furred humanoid with obsidian claws and a 

wavy-bladed dagger tucked into a simple, leather belt. Known 

to take a direct hand in his followers' activities, Maram is said 

to walk the world in his human guise. If he can detect the 

presence of werewolves in a city, he ruthlessly hunts them 

down and slays them. In this manner, he ensures that only 

those werewolves with the cunning and intelligence necessary 

to hide themselves among humanity prosper. Sometimes, the 

seemingly brutal, random murder of a werewolf is enough to 

send a panic through the wolves hiding within a city. Fearful 

of Maram's arrival, they flee town in search of more peaceful 

hunting grounds. 

Ethos: Remain hidden at all costs, obey your betters, and hunt 

only those humans who will not be missed. Maram teaches his 

followers that the best hunter strikes his prey from hiding and 

finishes his kill before his enemies know what happened. A 

Footwalker must take care to conceal his true nature. The most 

glorious kills are those that are never discovered, as they leave 

a hunter free to strike again. 

Followers: The Footwalkers worship Maram, though not all of 

these werewolves pay him respect. In human cities, some 

werewolves prefer human deities, demons, or devil lords. 

Still, when Maram moves through an area he kills all 

werewolves who fail to conceal their true nature whether they 

worship him or not. 

Symbol: A black cloak clasped with a silver pendant shaped 

like a wolf. 

Favored Weapon: Short sword. 

Domains: Animal, Law, Trickery. 

Lycanthrope 

Characters 

A werecreature PC can arise in a number of ways. An 

experienced adventurer might contract lycanthropy and, over 

the course of weeks and months, learn to turn his curse into 

an advantage. A young weretiger might travel with humans 

and elves in search of adventure, standing beside them as a 

sworn companion. In some cases, an apprentice mage or 

warrior might discover her lycanthropic heritage as she grows 

up, slowly mastering the gift that runs in her blood. In any 

case, a lycanthrope can prove to be a powerful and valuable 

component of an adventuring party. 

Since lycanthropes can arise from so many sources, from an 

infected bite to a character's natural heritage, these rules 

present several options characters can use to enter the path of 

lycanthropy. Otherwise, gaining abilities as a werebear, 



weretiger, or wereboar follows the same pattern as any other 

character class. Each lycanthrope type is given a level 

progression. As a character ascends along one of those paths, 

he gains a greater degree of control over his lycanthropic 

powers and learns to better exercise them. In some ways, 

these classes work like a combination of prestige and base 

classes. Only characters who have contracted lycanthropy or 

have werecreature parents or ancestors can gain levels in 

them. However, a starting character who fulfills either of 

those conditions could take his first character level in one of 

these classes. 

It is important to note that these classes were designed with 

game balance with the other character classes in mind. While 

it might make sense in the strictest interpretation of realism for 

a character to immediately gain all the abilities offered to 

werecreatures, doing so can cause tremendous problems with 

game balance for low-level parties. The stock lycanthropes as 

presented in the core rules are all much more powerful than a 

starting, or even a 4th or 5th-level character. To balance this 

inequity, lycanthrope player characters must progress through 

the classes given here. If you or your game master want to 

allow starting characters to gain the full benefits of 

lycanthropic heritage, you can grant a character the complete 

level progression in the appropriate werecreature class and 

balance the rest of the party against that total level. 

The Paths to Lycanthropy 

You have three basic options to choose from if you want to 

play a character that has lycanthropy: 

• Afflicted characters contract lycanthropy and learn to 

control it well enough that the disease does not hinder their 

lives. Through meditation, willpower, or training, they learn 

to better control their changes. 

• Natural lycanthropes had one or two werecreature parents 

and grew up with their abilities. They must still master their 

ability to change shapes and slowly gain the full spread of 

lycanthropic abilities. 

• Wereblooded characters have either recent or distant 

ancestors who were lycanthropes. Their heritage allows 

them to slowly master their innate abilities, but they 

blossom into full-blooded lycanthropes only through 

practice and study. 

This section presents game rules and advice for all three 

options. Only 1st-level characters can choose the later two 

options, while any character who is exposed to lycanthropy 

can become an afflicted werecreature. 

Afflicted Characters: Characters who contract lycanthropy 

face one of two options depending on how your game master 

wants to use the disease in his game. A character with this 

disease may have to struggle against the changes he undergoes 

and risk an alignment change. Alternatively, he may slowly 

master the abilities of his new form. This second option is 

particularly apt for characters whose alignment already 

matches the lycanthrope type they are doomed to become. 

Under these rules, a character suffers the drawbacks given for 

lycanthropy in the core rules. He may gain levels in the 

applicable werecreature character class, reflecting his growing 

ability to control his changes and unlock the full potential of 

his disease. Once a character has gained 1st level in the 

appropriate lycanthrope class, he no longer suffers involuntary 

changes and he does not have to change his alignment to match 

his lycanthrope type's given moral direction. He has mastered 

the disease and can now control it. In addition, he can no 

longer be cured of lycanthropy. For all intents and purposes, he 

is now a full-blooded lycanthrope. 

Expanded rules for lycanthropy, including guidelines on the 

disease's effects on a character, are given in chapter three. 

Natural Lycanthropes: Children born to one or two 

werecreature parents are known as natural lycanthropes. From 

birth, they bear the ability to change their shape and are 

comfortable with their dual nature. Natural lycanthropes are 

like the other player character races, but with a few important 

differences. A character with this race is also a member of one 

other player character race, referred to as his base race. For 

example, one weretiger might have elf as her base race, while 

another might select gnome. In addition, you must select a 

werecreature type such as werebear or weretiger. These two 

choices influence the bonuses and abilities you gain. Natural 

lycanthropes have the following features: 

• A natural lycanthrope can gain either the ability score 

modifiers listed below for his werecreature type or the 

standard modifiers for his race. Half-elf and human natural 

lycanthropes automatically use their werecreature's 

modifiers. 

• Low-Light Vision: A natural lycanthrope can see twice as far 

as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar 

conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to 

distinguish color and detail under these conditions. 

• Lycanthropic Empathy: A natural lycanthrope shares a 

special affinity with animals of his werecreature type. He 

gains a +4 racial bonus on all checks made to influence an 

animal's attitude. He can also communicate simple 

commands and concepts to friendly animals. 

• Lycanthropy: Obviously, natural lycanthropes cannot 

contract this disease. However, they are unable to transmit it 

until they have gained several levels in their werecreature 

class. See the lycanthropic classes below for more 

information. 

• Bonus Feat: When a natural lycanthrope gains 1st level in 

a werecreature character class, he gains a bonus 

lycanthrope feat. 

• Shapechanger: Regardless of the natural lycanthrope's 

standard creature type, he gains the shapechanger subtype. 

• Favored Class: Natural lycanthropes count both their base 

race's favored class(es) and their werecreature class as 

favored ones. 


38 

Natural Lycanthrope 

Ability Modifiers 

Bear +2 Strength, –2 Dexterity, –2 Charisma 

Boar +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma 

Rat +2 Dexterity, –2 Wisdom 

Tiger +2 Intelligence, –2 Wisdom 


Wolf +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma 

Natural lycanthropes have less exposure to their humanoid 

ancestors' native cultures. As such, they lose some of the 

standard bonuses and abilities they would normally gain. A 

natural lycanthrope receives all the benefits and drawbacks for 

his humanoid race except as noted below. 

Humans: If you choose human as your character's base race, 

you must give up either the bonus skill points or the bonus 

feat that you would normally gain for being human. 

Dwarves: Natural lycanthrope dwarves lose many of the 

abilities ingrained in young dwarves from an early age. If dwarf 

is your base race, you lose the stonecunning and weapon 

familiarity abilities. In addition, you lose the dwarf racial 

bonuses to AC against giants and to attacks against orcs. 

Elves: If you select elf as your lycanthrope's base race, you lose 

the bonus weapon proficiencies and the +2 racial bonus on 

saves against enchantment spells and effects. 

Gnomes: Gnome lycanthropes lose their race's common 

teachings and skills. They do not gain weapon familiarity, the 

+1 racial bonus to hit kobolds, the +4 racial AC bonus against 

giants, or the ability to cast dancing lights, ghost sound, and 

prestidigitation. 

Half-Elf: With half-elf as your lycanthrope's base race, you 

lose several racial benefits. You lose the racial bonus to 

Diplomacy and Gather Information checks and your +2 racial 

bonus to saves against enchantment spells and effects. 

Half-Orc: With their orc blood further diluted, these 

lycanthropes lose their darkvision ability. Half-orc natural 

lycanthropes gain low-light vision as described above instead 

of darkvision. 

Halflings: A halfling lycanthrope is susceptible to fear-based 

effects and loses some of his racial abilities gained through 

practice and training. You lose the +2 morale bonus on saves 

against fear and the +1 racial bonus on attacks made with 

thrown weapons and slings. 

Wereblooded Characters: Sometimes, lycanthropy passes 

through multiple generations in a family without manifesting 

its standard symptoms. For decades, the ability to transform 

into an animal could remain dormant as it passes from parent 

to child. Sometimes, whether due to a magical effect or simple 

luck, a member of one of these quiescent lycanthrope families 

manifests his true heritage. Known as the wereblooded, these 

characters develop lycanthropic features midway through their 

lives. Through a trick of genetics or a magical event, they 

develop lycanthropic traits without contracting the disease. 

Usually, wereblooded characters have a lycanthrope buried 

somewhere in their family tree. Sages theorize that these 

shapeshifters unlock their inner potential due to their 

exceptional willpower, emotional strength, or focus. In any 

event, adventurers are far more likely than the average person 

to possess the strength and clarity of mind needed to manifest 

previously dormant lycanthropic abilities. 

Wereblooded characters must choose a base race and a 

lycanthropic race, just like natural lycanthropes. They gain 

their base race's standard benefits and drawbacks, but gain 

none of the abilities and modifiers listed for natural 

werecreatures. However, they are immune to lycanthropy for 

obvious reasons. They may gain levels in a werecreature class, 

but do not count it as a favored class. They also acquire the 

shapechanger subtype. 

Wereblooded characters offer you a useful tool to turn an 

existing character into a lycanthrope. Discuss this option with 

your game master if you want your character to become a 

lycanthrope. You do not have to select this option at 1st level, 

though your game master is free to judge that this option is offlimits 

to everyone but starting characters. A game master is 

fully within his rights to deny this option if you choose to 

become wereblooded the night after he introduces a wererat as 

a major nemesis or immediately before making a save to avoid 

contracting lycanthropy. 

Lycanthrope Character 

Classes 

In many ways, the lycanthrope classes behave just like core 

and prestige classes. A character must contract lycanthropy, 

begin play as a natural lycanthrope, or select the wereblooded 

ability as described above to gain levels in one of these classes. 

All lycanthrope classes have the following benefits and 

drawbacks: 

• A character may only take levels in one lycanthrope class. 

For example, you cannot take levels in both werewolf and 

weretiger. Otherwise, these classes count just like any other 

base class for multiclassing purposes. 

• You must contract lycanthropy, have natural lycanthrope as 

your character's race, or elect to become wereblooded in 

order to take levels in one of these classes. 

• Lycanthrope NPCs do not necessarily have levels in these 

classes. Your game master can design and use the 

werecreatures presented in the core rules just like any other 

monster. These classes are presented to give you a tool to 

make lycanthropes a viable character choice at low-levels 

and to keep them balanced against other character types. For 

example, a wererat that gains negative levels does not 

suddenly lose some of his racial abilities unless he has levels 

in the wererat class. 

• Once you have taken all the levels in a lycanthrope class, you 

no longer count that class's levels for purposes of 

determining any XP penalties you may suffer due to 


unbalanced multiclassing. After mastering your animal 

form's abilities, you no longer have to spend time and effort 

juggling them and your other classes' training. 

Werebear 

Werebears have all the following game statistics. Refer to the 

werebear culture section of this book for information on why 

werebears adventure and their typical outlook on life. 

Hit Die: d8. 

Class Skills 

The werebear’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) 

are Climb (Str), Control Shape (Wis), Craft (Int), Handle 

Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), 

Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Survival (Wis), and 

Swim (Str). 

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4. 


Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier. 

Class Features 

All of the following are class features of the werebear. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A werebear gains 

proficiency with light and medium armor, all simple weapons, 

and three martial weapons of your choice. 

Ability Score Bonuses: A werebear gains the listed ability 

score bonuses as he progresses through this character class. 

These bonuses, except for the bonus to Wisdom, only apply to 

the werebear's hybrid and animal forms, as described below 

under the alternate form special ability. 

Alternate Form (Su): A werebear can assume the form of a 

brown bear or a bear/humanoid hybrid. In animal form, the 

werebear becomes size Large. His space increases to 10 ft. In 

hybrid form, the werebear becomes size Large or uses his race's 

base size, whichever is bigger. Any armor and clothes he wore 

when he made his transformation are destroyed if he becomes 

a larger size. A werebear wearing light armor may spend a fullround 

action that draws an attack of opportunity to loosen his 

armor's straps and buckles before transforming; this prevents 

the armor from being destroyed by the change. His other 

equipment falls to the ground. If the werebear becomes a 

smaller size, his equipment, including armor but not any items 

he carries, falls to the ground. 

In both forms, the werebear gains the full benefits of the ability 

score modifiers and natural AC bonus gained from this class. 

In hybrid form, he may attack with a claw that deals 1d6 damage 

and a bite that inflicts 1d8 damage. His bite attack gains only 

half his normal Strength bonus to damage. With the full attack 

action, the werebear may strike with two claws at his full base 

attack bonus and a bite attack with a –5 penalty for using a 

secondary attack. He never gains second (or third, fourth and so 

on) attacks due to a high base attack bonus when using his 

natural weapons. Alternatively, he may strike with a weapon and 

count his off-hand claw as a light, second weapon. He gains a 

10-ft. reach with all of his attacks. 

In animal form, the werebear's claw damage increases to 1d8 

and his bite damage becomes 2d6. He still gains only half his 

Strength bonus to damage with his bite attack. Otherwise, he 

fights as per his hybrid form but may not use weapons while 

in this form. He does not gain any additional reach, but his 

speed becomes 40 ft. While in bear form, he gains a +4 racial 

bonus to all Swim checks. 

If the werebear uses his bite as his primary attack, he ignores 

the –5 penalty normally assigned to it and uses his full 

Strength bonus to damage. 

Changing form is a standard action that does not provoke an 

attack of opportunity. 

Scent (Ex): At 1st level, a werebear gains the scent special 

ability. 

Low-Light Vision (Ex): If the werebear does not already 

possess low-light vision, it develops this ability at 2nd level. 

Natural Armor: As a werebear gains levels, he increases his 

natural armor bonus. This bonus is represented by two 

numbers: The number before the slash represents the 

character's natural armor bonus in animal and hybrid forms, 

and the number after the slash represents the bonus in 

humanoid form. For example, a 4th-level werebear has a +3 

natural armor bonus in hybrid and animal forms, and a +1 

bonus in humanoid form. 

Bear Empathy (Ex): A werebear gains a +4 racial bonus on 

all checks made to influence a bear's attitude. He can also 

communicate simple commands and concepts to friendly 


40 

bears. Natural lycanthropes gain this ability as part of their 

racial talents. 

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 5th level, a werebear gains DR 

5/silver while in animal and hybrid form. This DR increases to 

10/silver at 9th level. 

Improved Grab (Ex): At 6th level, a werebear gains the 

improved grab special attack when he is in bear form. To use 

this ability, the werebear must hit with one his claw attacks. He 

may then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without 

drawing an attack of opportunity. 

Bonus Feat: Natural lycanthrope characters gain a bonus 

lycanthrope feat at 7th level of this class. 

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): At 9th level, the werebear can 

spread its lycanthropic heritage to other creatures. Any 

humanoid or giant hit by a werebear’s bite attack in animal or 

hybrid form must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or 

contract lycanthropy. 

Wereboar 

Wereboars have all the following game statistics. Refer to the 

wereboar culture section of this book for information on why 

some of these lycanthropes seek a life of adventure and their 

attitudes towards others. 

Hit Die: d8. 


Base 

Attack Fort Ref Will 

Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 

1 +0 +2 +2 +0 +2 Str, +2 Wis, alternate 

form, scent 

2 +1 +3 +3 +0 +2 Str, +2 Con, +1/+0 natural 

armor, low-light vision 

3 +2 +3 +3 +1 +2 Str, bear empathy, +2/+0 

natural armor 

4 +3 +4 +4 +1 +2 Str, +2 Con, +3/+1 

natural armor 

5 +3 +4 +4 +1 +2 Dex, DR 5/silver 

6 +4 +5 +5 +2 +2 Str, +2 Con, improved 

grab, +4/+1 natural armor 

7 +5 +5 +5 +2 +2 Str, bonus feat, +5/+1 

natural armor 

8 +6/+1 +6 +6 +2 +2 Str, +2 Con, +5/+2 

natural armor 

9 +6/+1 +6 +6 +3 +2 Str, DR 10/silver, curse of 

lycanthropy 

Class Skills 

The wereboar's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) 

are Climb (Str), Control Shape (Wis), Craft (Int), Handle 

Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Survival (Wis), 

and Swim (Str). 




All of the following are class features of the wereboar. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A wereboar gains 

proficiency with light armor, all simple weapons, and two 

martial weapons of your choice. 

Ability Score Bonuses: A wereboar gains the listed ability 



the wereboar's hybrid and animal forms, as described below 


Alternate Form (Su): A wereboar can assume the form of a 

boar or a boar-humanoid hybrid. The wereboar's animal form 

is always Medium size, but his hybrid form is either Medium 

or his humanoid race's base size, whichever is larger. If the 

wereboar shifts from Small to Medium size, armor and clothes 

he wore when he made his transformation are destroyed. A 

wereboar wearing light armor may spend a full-round action 

that draws an attack of opportunity to loosen his armor's 

straps and buckles before transforming; this prevents the 

armor from being destroyed by the change. His other 

equipment falls to the ground. Hybrids move at the humanoid 

race's base speed or 30 ft., whichever is faster. Wereboars in 

animal form have a base speed of 40 ft. 



Base 



1 +0 +2 +2 +0 +1 Con, +2 Wis, +1/+0 natural armor, 

alternate form, scent 

2 +1 +3 +3 +0 +2 Str, +1 Con, +2/+0 natural armor, lowlight 

vision 

3 +2 +3 +3 +1 +1 Con, boar empathy, +4/+1 natural armor 

4 +3 +4 +4 +1 +1 Con, +5/+1 natural armor, DR 5/silver 

5 +3 +4 +4 +1 +2 Str, +1 Con, +6/+1 natural armor, 

ferocity 

6 +4 +5 +5 +2 +1 Con, +8/+2 natural armor, curse of 

lycanthropy, DR 10/silver 

In both forms, the wereboar gains the full benefits of the ability 


In hybrid form, he may attack with two claws that each deal 

1d4 damage. When using the full-attack action, he uses both 

claws at his full attack bonus. In place of this claw attack, he 

may use weapons as normal. He may also fight with a gore as 

a secondary attack that inflicts 1d6 damage plus half his 

Strength bonus. This secondary attack suffers a –5 penalty to 

hit. If the wereboar uses this gore as his primary attack, he 

ignores the penalty and uses his full Strength bonus to 

damage. In animal form, the wereboar may attack with a gore 

that inflicts 1d8 damage. Regardless of his form, a wereboar 

never gains second (or third, fourth and so on) attacks due to 

a high base attack bonus when using his natural weapons. 



Natural Armor: As a wereboar gains levels, he increases his 





humanoid form. For example, a 3rd-level wereboar has a +4 



Scent (Ex): At 1st level, wereboars gain the scent special 

ability. They may use it in all three of their forms. 

Low-Light Vision (Ex): If the wereboar does not already 

possess low-light vision, it develops this ability at 2nd level. 

Boar Empathy (Ex): A wereboar gains a +4 racial bonus on 

all checks made to influence a boar's attitude. He can also 


boars. 

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 4th level, a wereboar gains DR 



Ferocity (Ex): A wereboar is such a tenacious combatant that 

it continues to fight without penalty even while disabled or 

dying. 

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): At 

6th level, the wereboar can spread 

its lycanthropic heritage to other 

creatures. Any humanoid or giant 

hit by its gore attack in animal or 

hybrid form must succeed on a DC 

15 Fortitude save or contract 

lycanthropy. 

Wererat 

Wererats have all the following game 

statistics. Refer to their cultural 

description to learn why wererats 

become adventurers and the goals 

they typically pursue in life. 

The wererat class is suited primarily to NPC villains and 

opponents. All wererats are lawful evil as part of the curse that 

spawned them, making them a poor choice as heroic 

characters. On a mechanical level, they receive damage 

reduction at a relatively early level. The wererat's otherwise 

uninspiring abilities compensate for this, as their ability score 

adjustments are poor compared to those of werebears and 

weretigers, and their natural attacks are largely ineffective. This 

makes them "one-trick ponies" at low levels. In essence, 

wererats work as characters but they are not much fun to play. 

Hit Die: d8. 

Class Skills 

The wererat's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are 


42 

Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Control Shape (Wis), Disguise (Cha), 

Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Move Silently (Dex), Search 

(Int), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex). 




All of the following are class features of the wererat. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A wererat gains 

proficiency with light armor, all simple weapons, the rapier, 

and one other martial weapon of your choice. 

Ability Score Bonuses: A wererat gains the listed ability 



the wererat's hybrid and animal forms, as described below 


Alternate Form (Su): A wererat can assume the form of a 

dire rat or a humanoid-rat hybrid. The wererat's animal form 

is always Small. In hybrid form, the wererat becomes size 

Medium or his humanoid race's base size, whichever is larger. 

Any armor and clothes he wore when he made his 

transformation are destroyed if he becomes a larger size. A 

wererat wearing light armor may spend a full-round action 




equipment falls to the ground. 

In both forms, the wererat gains the full benefits of the ability 


In animal form, the wererat may make a bite attack that deals 

1d4 damage. In his hybrid form, he may make a bite attack 

that inflicts 1d6 damage. He may use this as his primary 

attack, or he may use it in addition to his armed attack at a –5 

penalty on the attack roll. When using this attack in addition 

to his other strikes, the wererat uses only half his Strength 

bonus to the bite's damage. 

If the wererat uses his bite as his primary attack while in 

hybrid form, he ignores the –5 penalty normally assigned to it 

and uses his full Strength bonus to damage. 

Regardless of his form, a wererat never gains second (or third, 

fourth and so on) attacks due to a high 

base attack bonus when using his natural 

weapons. 

A wererat in rat or hybrid form uses its 

Dexterity modifier rather than Strength 

for Climb or Swim checks. He has a +8 

racial bonus on Climb checks and can 

always choose to take 10 on a Climb 

check, even if rushed or threatened. A 

wererat has a +8 racial bonus on Swim 

checks while in rat form. 

In hybrid form, a wererat uses its base 

humanoid race's speed or a speed of 30 


ft, whichever is higher. In animal form, a wererat moves 40 ft. 

and it gains the climb movement mode at a rate of 20 ft. 



Low-Light Vision (Ex): If the wererat does not already 

possess low-light vision, he develops this ability at 2nd level. 

Natural Armor: As a wererat gains levels, he increases his 





humanoid form. For example, a 3rd-level wererat has a +2 



Scent (Ex): At 1st level, a wererat gains the scent special 

ability. 

Weapon Finesse: Wererats are naturally quick and agile. This 

innate talent translates into their fighting prowess. They 

receive the Weapon Finesses feat for free at 1st level. 

Rat Empathy (Ex): A wererat gains a +4 racial bonus on all 

checks made to influence a rat's attitude. He can also 

communicate simple commands and concepts to friendly rats. 

Natural lycanthropes gain this ability as part of their racial 

talents. 

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 2nd level, a wererat gains DR 



Disease (Ex): All wererats acquire the ability to spread horrid 

diseases. In their natural environment, these beasts wallow in 

filth. The disease they commonly carry has the following game 

statistics: Filth fever; bite, Fortitude DC 12, incubation period 

1d3 days, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is 

Constitution-based. 

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): At 4th level, the wererat can 


humanoid or giant hit by a wererat's bite attack in animal or 



Base 



1 +0 +2 +2 +0 +1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 Wis, alternate form, 

scent, Weapon Finesse 

2 +1 +3 +3 +0 +1 Dex, +1/+1 natural armor, DR 5/silver, 

low-light vision 

3 +2 +3 +3 +1 +2 Dex, +1 Con, +2/+1 natural armor, rat 

empathy 

4 +3 +4 +4 +1 +2 Dex, +3/+2 natural armor, curse of 

lycanthropy, DR 10/silver 


Weretiger 

Weretigers have all the following game statistics. Refer to their 

culture section of this book for information on why they 

adventure, their attitudes towards life, and their stereotypical 

goals. 

Hit Die: d8. 

Class Skills 

The weretiger’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) 

are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Control Shape (Wis), Craft 

(Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), 

Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession 

(Wis), and Survival (Wis). 





All of the following are class features of the weretiger. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A weretiger gains 

proficiency with light and medium armor, all simple weapons, 

and three martial weapons of your choice. 

Ability Score Bonuses: A weretiger gains the listed ability 



the weretiger's hybrid and animal forms, as described below 


Alternate Form (Su): A weretiger can assume the form of a 

tiger or a tiger-humanoid hybrid. In animal form, the weretiger 

becomes size Large. His space increases to 10 ft. In hybrid 

form, the weretiger becomes size Large or his race's base size, 

whichever is bigger; if he becomes Large, he gains 10 ft. reach. 

Any armor and clothes he wore when he made his 

transformation are destroyed if he becomes a larger size. A 

weretiger wearing light armor may spend a full-round action 




equipment falls to the ground. If the weretiger becomes a 

smaller size, his equipment, including armor but not any items 

he carries in his hands, falls to the ground. 

In both forms, the weretiger gains the full benefits of the ability 


In hybrid form, he may attack with a claw that deals 1d8 

damage and a bite that inflicts 1d6 damage. His bite attack 

gains only half his normal Strength bonus to damage. With the 

full attack action, the weretiger may strike with two claws at 

his full base attack bonus and a bite attack with a –5 penalty 

to hit for using a secondary attack. He never gains second (or 

third, fourth and so on) attacks due to a high base attack 

bonus when using his natural weapons. Alternatively, he may 

strike with a weapon and count his off-hand claw as a light, 

second weapon. 

In animal form, the weretiger's claws deal 1d8 and his bite 

damage becomes 2d6. He still gains only half his Strength 

bonus to damage with his bite attack. Otherwise, he fights as 

per his hybrid form, but may not use weapons while in this 

form. He does not gain any additional reach, but his speed 

increases to 40 ft. 

If the weretiger uses his bite as his primary attack, he ignores 

the –5 penalty normally assigned to it and uses his full 

Strength bonus to damage. 



Natural Armor: As a weretiger gains levels, he increases his 





humanoid form. For example, an 8th-level weretiger has a +4 



Scent (Ex): At 1st level, a weretiger gains the scent special 

ability. 

Skill Bonuses: Owing to their innate agility and grace, 

weretigers have a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Hide, and Move 

Silently checks. In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, 

this Hide bonus improves to +8 in tiger form. 

Low-Light Vision (Ex): If the weretiger does not already 


Tiger Empathy (Ex): A weretiger gains a +4 racial bonus on 

all checks made to influence a tiger's attitude. He can also 


44 


Base 



1 +0 +2 +2 +0 +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 Wis, 

+1/+0 natural armor, alternate form, 

scent, skill bonuses 

2 +1 +3 +3 +0 +1 Str, +1 Con, low-light vision 

3 +2 +3 +3 +1 +2 Str, +1 Dex, tiger empathy, +2/+1 

natural armor 

4 +3 +4 +4 +1 +1 Str, +1 Con, rake 

5 +3 +4 +4 +1 +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con, +3/+1 natural 

armor, DR 5/silver 

6 +4 +5 +5 +2 +2 Str, improved grab 

7 +5 +5 +5 +2 +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con, +4/+2 natural 

armor, bonus feat 

8 +6/+1 +6 +6 +2 +1 Str, +1 Con, pounce 

9 +6/+1 +6 +6 +3 +2 Str, +5/+2 natural armor, DR 

10/silver, curse of lycanthropy 


tigers. Natural lycanthropes gain this ability as part of their 


Damage Reduction (Ex): At 5th level, a weretiger gains DR 



Rake (Ex): When grappling a foe in his animal form, a 

weretiger learns to bring its rear claws to bear with deadly 

effect. A weretiger with this ability gains two additional claw 

attacks that it can use only against a grappled foe. Rake attacks 

are not subject to the usual –4 penalty for attacking with a 

natural weapon in a grapple. 

A weretiger must begin its turn grappling to use its rake. It 

cannot begin a grapple and rake in the same turn. The 

weretiger's rake deals 1d8 damage plus half its Strength bonus. 

Improved Grab (Ex): At 6th level, a weretiger gains the 

improved grab special attack when he is in tiger form. To use 

this ability, the weretiger must hit with one his claw attacks. He 

may then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without 

drawing an attack of opportunity. 

Bonus Feat: Natural lycanthrope characters gain a bonus 

lycanthrope feat at 7th level of this class. 

Pounce (Ex): At 8th level, a weretiger learns to make the 

most of his explosive strength and speed while in animal form. 

If a weretiger in tiger form charges an opponent, it can make a 

full attack, including two rake attacks. 

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): At 9th level, the weretiger can 


humanoid or giant hit by a weretiger’s bite attack in animal or 



Werewolf 

Werewolves have all the following game 

statistics. The section on werewolf society, 

history, and attitudes sheds light on how 

and why they become adventurers. 

As werewolves are chaotic evil creatures, 

they make poor adventurers. Given to 

bloodlust, madness, and murder, they make 

ideal villains. In addition, as with the 

wererat, this class offers little to the typical 

adventurer. Remember that villains and 

monsters generally interact with the 

adventurers only during a few scenes in the 

course of an adventure. Werewolves 

function fine in such limited environments, 

but their abilities are a little too limited to 

function well over the course of an entire 

adventure. 

Hit Die: d8. 

Class Skills 

The werewolf's class skills (and the key 

ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), 

Control Shape (Wis), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), 

Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). 





All of the following are class features of the werewolf. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A werewolf gains 

proficiency with light armor, all simple weapons, and two 

martial weapons of your choice. 

Ability Score Bonuses: A werewolf gains the listed ability 



the werewolf's hybrid and animal forms, as described below 


Alternate Form (Su): A werewolf can assume the form of a wolf 

or a humanoid-wolf hybrid. The werewolf's animal form is always 

Medium size. In hybrid form, the werewolf's size changes to 

Medium or his humanoid race's base size, whichever is larger. If 

the werewolf grows larger, any armor and clothes he wore when 

he made his transformation are destroyed. A werewolf wearing 

light armor may spend a full-round action that draws an attack of 

opportunity to loosen his armor's straps and buckles before 

transforming; this prevents the armor from being destroyed by the 

change. His other equipment falls to the ground. 

In both animal and hybrid forms, the werewolf gains the full 

benefits of the ability score modifiers and natural AC bonus 

gained from this class. 

In animal form, the werewolf may make a bite attack that deals 

1d6 damage. In his hybrid form, he may 

make two claw attacks that inflict 1d4 

damage and a bite attack that inflicts 1d6 

damage. He uses his full base attack bonus 

with both claw attacks. He may use his bite 

as a secondary attack in addition to his 

claws or any weapons he holds at a –5 

penalty to hit. When using this attack in 

addition to his other strikes, the werewolf 

uses only half his Strength bonus to the 

bite's damage. Regardless of his form, a 

werewolf never gains second (or third, 

fourth and so on) attacks due to a high 

base attack bonus when using his natural 

weapons. 

In hybrid form, a werewolf uses its base 

humanoid race's speed or a speed of 30 ft., 

whichever is greater. In animal form, a 

werewolf moves at a speed of 50 ft. 




Scent (Ex): At 1st level, a werewolf gains the scent special 

ability. 

Canny Tracker (Ex): A werewolf in hybrid or wolf form gains 

a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent. 

Low-Light Vision (Ex): If the werewolf does not already 


Natural Armor: As a werewolf gains levels, he increases his 





humanoid form. For example, a 3rd-level werewolf has a +2 



Wolf Empathy (Ex): A werewolf gains a +4 racial bonus on 

all checks made to influence a wolf's attitude. He can also 


wolves. Natural lycanthropes gain this ability as part of their 


Damage Reduction (Ex): At 3rd level, a werewolf gains DR 



Trip (Ex): At 4th level, a werewolf learns to use its powerful 

jaws in animal form to pull down its enemies and pounce 

upon them. If the werewolf hits with a bite attack while in 

animal form, it can attempt to trip the opponent with a +2 

racial bonus to its Strength check as a free action without 

making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. 

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): At 4th level, the werewolf can 


humanoid or giant hit by a werewolf's bite attack in animal or 



Base 



1 +0 +2 +2 +0 +1 Str, +2 Wis, alternate form, scent, 

canny tracker 

2 +1 +3 +3 +0 +1 Dex, +1 Con, +1/+0 natural armor, 

low-light vision 


DR 5/silver, wolf empathy 


trip attack 


curse of lycanthropy, DR 10/silver 

Lycanthrope Prestige 

Classes 

With their unique abilities and cultures, lycanthropes have 

developed a wide array of specialized fighting styles, schools of 

magic, and other talents. Each of the five major lycanthrope 

races receives at least one prestige class in this section. In 

addition, several of the prestige classes are suitable for all 

werecreatures. Players can use these classes to expand their 

abilities and create unique characters. For game masters, 

prestige classes give you a convenient way to spring a surprise 

on your players. Even the most experienced fantasy gamer 

cannot memorize the exact abilities and talents given by every 


46 


last prestige class. When designing lycanthrope villains, use 

these classes to help you sculpt enemies worthy of the 

characters' attentions. 

Some of these classes might work with other races, such as 

orcs, humans, elves, and so on. In many cases, these classes 

draw on the stereotypical depiction and expectations built into 

the various werecreatures. For example, the master of the hunt 

gathers wolves to him and learns to fight alongside them with 

great skill and cunning. A barbarian cult dedicated to a wolf 

totem might use this prestige class to model its most powerful 

members' deep connection to wolf packs. Sometimes, you can 

strip away the background material attached to a prestige class 

and use its mechanics in a wide variety of situations. 

The prestige classes are presented in alphabetical order. They 

are designed for use with lycanthropes, and each has that type 

flagged next to its name. Those marked with "any" are 

available to all werecreatures. Many of these classes also 

include notes for adapting them to other lycanthrope types. 

Bestial Warmaster (Any) 

Among the lycanthropes, there sometimes appears a powerful, 

towering figure that surpasses his fellows in terms of size, 

strength, and ferocity. These werecreatures hew much closer to 

their animal nature than their humanoid side, allowing them 

to reach unparalleled levels of physical might and savagery. 

Some sages believe that these talents come about through a 

trick of breeding or heritage. As these monsters typically come 

to lead packs of werewolves, wereboars, and wererats, 

researchers think of them as a sort of lycanthropic nobility. In 

truth any lycanthrope that focuses his thoughts and actions on 

bringing out his animal side can grow into a powerful, vicious 

beast. Bestial warmasters lead their packs not because of 

tradition or birthright, but because they are the toughest, 

strongest, and most capable fighters among their folk. 

Any lycanthrope can become a bestial warmaster, though these 

warriors are most common among wereboars and werewolves. 

Of the other common wereraces, werebears sometimes 

produce them, while wererats and weretigers only rarely have 

the violent, savage tendencies needed to mold a warmaster. 

Lycanthropes that grow up in the wild, isolated from their 

kind, naturally grow into this role as they lean upon their 

animal nature to survive. Regardless of how or why they arise, 

bestial warmasters usually occupy positions as warleaders, 

guardians of sacred places, or even cruel despots among evil 

lycanthropes. 

Hit Die: d12 

Requirements 

To become a bestial warmaster, a character must fulfill all the 

following criteria: 

Base Attack Bonus +8 

Intimidate: 8 ranks 

Feats: Cleave, Power Attack 

Strength 16+ in humanoid form 

Race: Lycanthrope 

Class Skills 

The bestial warmaster's class skills (and the key ability for 

each) are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), 

Jump (Str), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). 

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier. 


All of the following are class features of the bestial warmaster 

prestige class. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The bestial warmaster 

gains no additional proficiencies with weapons, armor, or 

shields. 

Beast of War (Ex): The bestial warmaster excels in using his 

natural attacks to tear his enemies to pieces. He counts as 

having the Weapon Focus feat for all of his natural attacks 

except for his humanoid form's unarmed attacks. 

Natural Armor (Ex): As the warmaster gains experience in 

combat, his hide toughens and thickens to help him resist 

blows. He gains a bonus to his natural AC modifier according 

to his level. Note that the bonus on his progression table 

represents the total modifier he gains. For example, at 7th level 

the warmaster gains a total +3 bonus to his natural AC 

modifier. This bonus applies only to the warmaster's animal 

form. 

Monstrous Bearing (Su): When the bestial warmaster is in 

his hybrid or animal form, he can opt to spend a standard 

action which does not provoke attacks of opportunity to 



further increase his size. He grows one size category larger, 

gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +2 bonus to Constitution, and 

+5 ft. reach. He gains all the benefits and drawbacks of 

increasing his size as normal, such as modifiers to attack rolls 

and AC. If the lycanthrope becomes size Large or greater, his 

space becomes 10 ft. The warmaster may grow no more than 

one size category larger. He can return to his normal size as a 

standard action which does not provoke attacks of 

opportunity. Any equipment he wears falls off or is ruined as 

per a standard lycanthrope changing into a larger form. After 

attaining this larger size, the lycanthrope can shift from hybrid 

to animal form and back while retaining his greater size. 

However, he cannot return to humanoid form without first 

shrinking down to normal. 

Note that any extra hit points the warmaster gains due to an 

enhanced Constitution disappear when his score returns to 

normal. Subtract the hit points lost by this sudden drop from 

both the warmaster's maximum and current hit points. 

Fangs of the Beast (Ex): When the warmaster grows to a 

larger than normal size, his claws, fangs, and other natural 

weapons shift and change to deal additional damage. At 6th 

level, the warmaster's transformation is fine-tuned to the point 

that he inflicts additional damage with his thicker, sharper 

claws and fangs. Treat his natural attacks as size Medium 

weapons that are increased to size Large to determine their 

new damage when he uses his monstrous bearing ability. 

Glowering Beast (Ex): When the bestial warmaster gains a 

larger size, he acquires a fearsome, terrifying aspect. His lesser 

enemies stumble back to evade his massive claws and slavering 

fangs. Beginning at 8th level, when the bestial warmaster uses 

a standard action to increase his size, any opponents that can 

see him must make Will saves with a DC equal to his 

Intimidate check. Creatures that fail this save cannot attack 

him until his action next round. 

Gargantuan Bearing (Su): At 10th level, the bestial 

warmaster can attain even greater sizes. When he uses his 

monstrous bearing ability, he may now opt to grow one or two 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Beast of war 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Natural armor +1 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 

4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Monstrous bearing 

5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Natural armor +2 

6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Fangs of the beast 

7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Natural armor +3 

8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Glowering beast 

9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Natural armor +4 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Gargantuan bearing 

sizes larger. If he grows two sizes larger, he gains a +8 bonus to 

Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and +10 ft. reach. These 

bonuses are used in place of, not in addition to, those gained 

by growing one size category. Otherwise, use all the rules 

detailed under the monstrous bearing ability described above. 

Emerald Claw (Weretiger) 

Many monastic orders model their fighting techniques after the 

maneuvers and tactics used by a variety of animals. From 

insects to powerful beasts to magical creatures, the natural 

world provides many examples that martial artists can use in 

molding their styles. The Order of the Emerald Claw takes this 

belief to its logical conclusion. Their fighting style, known as 

Tiger Claw Fist, not only draws on the tiger's ferocity and 

overwhelming strength, but it also requires its practitioners to 

take the form of a snarling tiger. From savanna druids to 

weretiger fighters, this monastic order draws a variety of 

shapechangers who seek to meld their animal and humanoid 

sides into a single, lethal combination. A visitor to an Emerald 

Claw monastery is likely to witness fights between tigers and 

humans, with both participants employing martial arts 

maneuvers designed to take advantage of their forms' strengths 

while masking their weaknesses. 

The monks of the Emerald Claw learn to affect partial 

transformations of their bodies, turning their hands into 

clawed weapons that can rend and tear flesh. They focus their 

ki to produce a tremendous roar or create a fearsome aspect, 

striking fear into their enemies or rooting them in place due to 

overwhelming terror. As these monks master their unique form 

of martial arts, they learn to use their claws to cause greater 


48 

injury and pain. While not expressly created and used by evil 

monks, this martial art's brutality is second to none. Good 

orders of the Emerald Claw emphasize responsibility and the 

careful application of violence, while evil ones exult in causing 

pain and spreading terror. 

You can adapt this prestige class to fit other werecreatures that 

gain strength and speed in their animal forms. Wererats are a 

poor fit for it, as their animal form is rarely considered 

powerful or aggressive. Bear or boar fighting styles might 

follow a similar path as the one shown here, though you 

should change this class's abilities' names to better fit them. 

Hit Die: d8 

Abbreviation: Emc 

Requirements 

To become an emerald claw, a character must fulfill all the 



Feats: Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike 

Special: The ability to change into a size Medium or larger 

tiger for at least an hour per day. This change can be 

accomplished via the alternate form ability, wild shape, or any 

other supernatural or spell-like ability a creature can use. 

Magic items that confer the ability to change shape do not 

fulfill this requirement. 

Class Skills 

The emerald claw's class skills (and the key ability for each) are 

Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), 

Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), 

Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex). 




All of the following are class features of the emerald claw 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The emerald claw gains 

no additional proficiencies with weapons, armor, or shields. 

Unarmed Strike: The emerald claw studies the martial arts in 

much the same manner as a monk. Stack the claw's levels with 

any monk levels he has to determine his unarmed damage, 

unarmored speed, AC bonus, and flurry of blows attack 

bonus. If the claw does not yet have any levels in monk, count 

only his levels in this class to determine those abilities. For 

example, an emerald claw with six levels in this class and five 

levels in monk uses the flurry of blows attack as an 11th-level 

monk. If an emerald claw had four levels in this class and none 

in monk, he would use the flurry of blows attack bonus of a 

4th-level monk. 

Springing Tiger Stance (Ex): The tiger is always wary and 

alert, ready to pounce upon a foe in a split second. The 

emerald claw throws himself at his opponents in the same way 

a tiger launches itself at its prey, claws and teeth poised to rend 

and tear. When charging, the emerald claw may opt to make a 

Jump check to leap upon his enemy. If his jump covers at least 

half the distance he must move to charge, he can attack using 

the full number of strikes allowed by his flurry of blows rather 

than a single attack. 

Tiger Claw Punch (Su): The emerald claw learns to gain 

greater focus and control over his claws. In human or hybrid 

form, he can retract and shape them so that his unarmed 

strikes deal more damage. Beginning at 2nd level, he gains a 

+2 bonus to damage when fighting with unarmed strikes in 

human or hybrid form. 

Claws of Righteous Order (Su): Powered by his intense 

focus and mastery of his inner strength, the emerald claw's 

natural attacks in tiger form and unarmed attacks in hybrid and 

humanoid shape count as lawful weapons for purposes of 

overcoming DR once he has achieved 3rd level in this class. 

Tiger's Fangs (Ex): The emerald claw's knowledge of the 

martial arts does not disappear when he assumes his animal 

form. Instead, beginning at 3rd level, he learns to adapt his 

fighting styles to the tiger's body. While in animal form, he may 

use his flurry of blows attack bonus with one of his natural 

attacks, using the higher of his monk unarmed damage or his 

natural damage. When using this option, the emerald claw 

attacks with either his bite or claw. He does not gain his other 

natural attacks in addition to his flurry of blows. 

Tearing Claw Strike (Ex): At 4th level, the emerald claw 

learns to use his claws in concert to devastate his enemies. 

When he hits the same opponent with two or more natural or 

unarmed attacks in the same round, any further attacks he 

makes against that same opponent deal an additional +2 

damage. For example, an emerald claw receives three unarmed 

attacks per round. He strikes a goblin and hits with his first 

two strikes. Any additional hits he scores with unarmed or 

natural attacks against that goblin gain a +2 bonus to damage. 

The emerald claw digs his claws and fangs into his opponent, 

rending and tearing him to pieces. 

Tiger Roar (Sp): By focusing his inner ki energy over the 

space of a few moments, the emerald claw can unleash it as a 

howling shriek that strikes terror into his enemies. The claw 

must be in his animal form in order to use this ability. Once per 

day starting at 5th level, with an additional daily use gained at 

9th level, the emerald claw can unleash a terrible roar that 

causes all enemies within 100 ft. to make Will saves (DC 17 + 

the emerald claw's Wisdom modifier) or become shaken. 

Shaken creatures suffer a –2 penalty to attacks, checks, and 

saves. This ability is a sonic effect. Only creatures that can hear 

the emerald claw may be targeted with this ability. 

Overwhelming Rush (Ex): When in his hybrid or animal 

form, the emerald claw can drop to all fours when charging his 

opponent. By throwing himself in the air and putting his 

weight behind his attack, he can knock his opponent prone 

and send him sprawling. When a 6th-level or higher emerald 

claw charges in hybrid or animal form, he may make a free trip 

attack against his enemy without drawing an attack of 

opportunity. The claw uses his best base attack bonus to 

determine if the trip hits. Resolve this check before the 

emerald claw makes his other attacks. Otherwise, use the 



standard rules for trip attacks. The emerald claw cannot be 

tripped as a result of this attack. 

Tiger's Eyes (Sp): Tigers are renowned for their predatory 

instincts. The emerald claw learns to combine his inner, 

animal nature with his mastery of ki energy to crush his 

opponent's will. Once per day beginning at 7th level, he may 

use a gaze attack against a single opponent that functions as 

the spell hold monster except that it is considered a fear-based 

effect. The save DC against this effect is 15 + the emerald 

claw's Wisdom modifier. 

Adamantine Claws (Su): Through training and focus of his 

internal energy, the emerald claw imbues his natural and 

unarmed attacks with a supernatural strength and hardness. At 

eighth level and above, his claws, bite, and unarmed strikes 

count as adamantine weapons for purposes of defeating DR. 

Rending Claw Strike (Ex): By digging his claws into his 

enemy and ripping and tearing with them, the emerald claw 

can savage an opponent with horrific efficiency. If a 10th-level 

emerald claw strikes the same opponent with two or more 

attacks on his action, he may opt to deal extra damage if he 

reduces his number of attacks. Once the claw hits an opponent 

a second time during his action with a natural or unarmed 

strike, he can immediately elect to surrender any additional 

attacks he can make. In return, he automatically inflicts 

additional damage equal to double his claw or unarmed 

damage, whichever is greater, plus his Strength bonus times 

1.5. The emerald claw may use this ability only once per round 

and he must use it during his action. He cannot use it in 

conjunction with an attack of opportunity. 

For example, a 10th-level emerald claw/7th-level monk/3rdlevel 

weretiger attacks an opponent using his flurry of blows. 

Normally, he gains five unarmed strikes per round. If his first 

two attacks hit, he can opt to give up his last three attacks to 

rend his foe. By the same token, if his first attack missed but 

his second and third hit, he could surrender his last two 

Base 



1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Springing tiger 

stance 

2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Tiger claw punch 

3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Claws of righteous 

order, tiger's fangs 

4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Tearing claw strike 

5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Tiger roar (1/day) 

6 +4 +2 +5 +2 Overwhelming rush 

7 +5 +2 +5 +2 Tiger's eyes 

8 +6 +2 +6 +2 Adamantine claws 

9 +6 +3 +6 +3 Tiger roar (2/day) 

10 +7 +3 +7 +3 Rending claw strike 

attacks to deal additional damage. The claw must decide to 

give up his attacks and gain additional damage as soon as his 

second attack hits. He cannot resolve additional attacks then 

decide to use this ability. 

Herald of Decay (Wererat) 

The foul wererats spread disease wherever they take root. As 

creatures of the sewers and other dark, hidden places in 

human cities, they must frequently cope with outbreaks of 

sickness. Luckily for the wererats, they are naturally hardy 

creatures. Elder wererats are infested with many diseases that 

fail to harm them while providing a convenient weapon 

against less well-adapted enemies. While most wererats 

consider their endemic diseases more of a minor bother than a 

boon or blessing, a small sect of wererats see diseases as an 

important tool in keeping humans, dwarves, and other 

humanoid races in line. Particularly among the followers of 

Verthix the Plague Lord, disease is considered both an 

honorable badge and a useful tool that should be cultivated 

and used. 

The herald of decay is an ardent follower of Verthix, one who 

seeks truth and strength in the comforting embrace of a deadly 

illness. While his physical body wastes away under a disease's 

assault, his mental processes and magical senses acquire a 

well-honed edge. In time, he loses dependence on his physical 

form and uses the sheer force of his intellect or personality to 

sustain his life. 

Heralds of decay rarely work together. Most of them discover 

the secrets of this prestige class while caught in the fevered 


50 

grip of an illness. As the disease assaults their minds and 

senses, they acquire a supernatural insight into the workings 

of decay and may even receive a vision from Verthix himself. 

Thus set upon their course, they strike out on a holy crusade 

to spread disease and propagate Verthix's teachings. 

This prestige class is suited to the followers of any god or 

demon of sickness, decay, and disease. In terms of 

lycanthropes, wererats are the only logical fit for it. Their 

animal nature, innate abilities, and common settling grounds 

make them prime candidates for a prestige class that spreads 

diseases. Werewolves are too brutal to follow this path, while 

wereboars, tigers, and bears typically lack the sadistic nature 

needed to embrace the herald of decay's path. 

Hit Die: d6 

Requirements 

To become a herald of decay, a character must fulfill all the 


Ability to cast 2nd-level spells (arcane or divine) 

Knowledge (arcana): 8 ranks 

Special: Contract and survive a disease that inflicts at least 6 

points of ability score damage during the course of your 

infection. Otherwise, you must have an exceptional, 

supernatural, or spell-like ability to cause disease in others. 

This ability can be granted via a class feature, a magical spell 

you can prepare and/or cast, or an innate racial ability. 

Class Skills 

The herald of decay's class skills (and the key ability for each) 

are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), 

Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana), Profession (Wis), and 

Spellcraft (Int). 



All of the following are class features of the herald of decay 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The herald of decay gains 


Spellcasting Ability: The herald of decay gains arcane or 

divine spellcasting as he progresses through this 

prestige class. He stacks his levels from this class 

with the caster level he has in any spellcasting 

class of his choice. He gains additional spells per 

day, a higher caster level, and higher level spells. 

He does not gain any of the other benefits 

normally associated with gaining levels in his 

other class. For example, a 10th-level 

wizard/3rd-level herald of decay would cast 

spells as a 13th-level wizard. However, his 

familiar would have abilities as per a 10th-level 

wizard's minion. 

Strength of Decay (Ex): The herald of decay 

gains strength of mind and clarity of purpose even 

as his body rots away and crumbles into ruin. The 

herald gains a +2 bonus to his choice of 

Intelligence or Charisma. In return, he suffers a –2 


penalty to Constitution and either Strength or Dexterity. In 

addition, any spell, special ability, or other attack he uses that 

causes a disease gains increased potency. Add the herald's 

Intelligence or Charisma modifier to the save DC needed to resist 

any diseases he attempts to spread to his enemies. 

Arcane Pestilence (Su): As the herald's body continues to 

rot and his mastery of disease grows, he becomes a living 

avatar of pestilence. Starting at 4th level, the herald gains a 

persistent cloud of flies and other putrid insects that feed on 

his rotting body. These vermin harass the herald's enemies, 

biting and stinging them. Any creature that moves within a 30 

ft. radius of the herald must make a Fortitude save (DC 15 + 

the herald's Intelligence or Charisma modifier) or suffer a –2 

competence penalty to attacks, saves, and checks. This penalty 

persists for 1d6 minutes, as the insects burrow into and 

beneath clothing and armor, deliver painful stings and bites, 

and otherwise distract the herald's foes. A creature that 

succeeds its saving throw against this effect need not save 

again for the rest of the encounter. 

Mind Over Body (Ex): As the herald's afflictions run their 

course, his body slowly fails and dies. Upon achieving 7th 

level in this class, he survives only by his indomitable will and 

the strange, symbiotic relationship he has developed with the 

diseases that infest his form. The herald now loses his 

Constitution score. In its place, he uses his Charisma modifier 

to determine all Constitution-related effects such as modifiers 

to skills and saves, ability score checks, hit point modifier, and 

so on. 

Lord of Decay (Su): At 10th level, the herald of decay 

becomes an unquestioned master of the strange magic behind 

the creation and propagation of disease and sickness. His very 

touch turns simple creatures and plants into dead, rotting 

husks. The herald gains the ability to induce the rapid onset of 

rot and decay. Once per day, he can deliver a touch attack 

against an opponent, who must then make a Fortitude save 

(DC 20 + the herald's Intelligence or Charisma modifier). If the 

target fails his save, he suffers 2d4 points of temporary 

Constitution damage. On a successful save, the target suffers 

1d4 temporary points of Con damage. The victim's flesh 

blackens, rots, and falls from his body, while sickening red 

boils spread across his form. 

Base 



1 +0 +2 +0 +2 +1 caster level, strength of decay 

2 +1 +3 +0 +3 +1 caster level 

3 +1 +3 +1 +3 +1 caster level 

4 +2 +4 +1 +4 Arcane pestilence, +1 caster level 

5 +2 +4 +1 +4 +1 caster level 

6 +3 +5 +2 +5 +1 caster level 

7 +3 +5 +2 +5 Mind over body, +1 caster level 

8 +4 +6 +2 +6 +1 caster level 

9 +4 +6 +3 +6 +1 caster level 

10 +5 +7 +3 +7 Lord of decay, +1 caster level 



Knight of Glade and Glen 

(Werebear) 

Among the werebears, the knights of glade and glen are 

perhaps the most respected and feared defenders of the forest 

realm. Personally chosen by the gods of plants, animals, and 

earth, they bear a holy mark that allows them to compel respect 

from nature's children. As they grow in power, they learn to 

ignore the pitiful tools crafted and used against them by the 

forces of civilization. Arrows bounce from their hides, swords 

fail to draw their blood, and the stoutest armor buckles and 

cracks beneath their assaults. In battle, a knight of glade and 

glen is a ferocious foe. Drawing on his animal instincts and 

primal anger, he channels nature's fury into his body and grows 

in strength and potency. 

Knights of glade and glen are chosen in a special ceremony 

observed by werebear lodges. Each year, prospective 

candidates receive a benediction from the werebear shamans 

before venturing off alone into the wilderness with no 

weapons, armor, or supplies. After days of wandering, the 

chosen werebears find an overgrown, forgotten path through 

their domain. This trail invariably leads to the lair or location 

of some creature that seeks to ravage the natural environment. 

All the werebear seekers chosen from among the potential 

initiates meet as they follow this path. When they have all 

assembled, they finally converge upon their chosen enemy and 

must defeat him. If they are victorious, the survivors receive a 

vision from the gods that unlocks the first secrets of this 

prestige class. From that moment onward, these werebears 

serve as nature's handpicked defenders. 

This prestige class can apply to any lycanthrope that seeks to 

preserve nature from destruction. Its members must be good, 

limiting it to those animal races that yield noble lycanthropes. 

You can also extend this class to any animal type that is 

normally considered benevolent or protective in your 

campaign world. 

Hit Die: d8 

Abbreviation: Kgg 

Requirements 

To become a knight of glade and glen, a character must fulfill 

all the following criteria: 


Divine Spellcaster level 2+ 

Knowledge (nature): 4 ranks 

Alignment: Lawful good 

Race: Werebear 

Class Skills 

The knight of glade and glen's class skills (and the key ability 

for each) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), 

Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Jump 

(Str), Knowledge (nature), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis), 

and Swim (Str). 



All of the following are class features of the knight of glade and 

glen prestige class. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The knight gains no 

additional proficiencies with weapons, armor, or shields. 

Nature's Fury (Ex): As the chosen guardian of the forest, the 

knight of glade and glen fights with the raw power and fury of 

the natural world. Like a cornered animal or a ferocious beast, 

he can summon tremendous reserves of strength that 

temporarily boost his physical abilities to inhuman levels. The 

knight may rage once per day as per the barbarian class. 

Furthermore, when he rages he may enter hybrid or animal 

form as a free action. Drawing on his animal side's primal 

instincts, the knight taps into his great strength and power to 

overwhelm his foes. 

Wild Empathy (Ex): The knight can improve the attitude of 

an animal in a manner similar to using a Diplomacy check made 

to improve a person's attitude. He rolls 1d20 and adds his level 

in this prestige class and her Charisma modifier to determine 

the wild empathy check result. If the knight has levels in other 

classes that also grant wild empathy, their levels stack with this 

prestige class's levels when using this ability. 

The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of 

indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly. 

To use wild empathy, the knight and the animal must be within 

30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, 

influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with 

influencing people, it might take more or less time. 

A knight can also use this ability to influence a magical beast 

with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he suffers a –4 penalty 

on the check. 


52 

Lord of Tree and Timber (Ex): The knight is the 

unquestioned champion of the forest. When he meets other 

creatures of nature, they have a natural tendency to heed his 

advice and treat him with respect. He gains a bonus to a 

variety of skill checks when dealing with certain types of 

creatures. Starting at 2nd level, he gains a +1 

competence bonus to all Diplomacy and 

Intimidate checks against elves, fey, and 

intelligent animals. He also gains a +1 

competence bonus on Handle Animal 

checks. These bonuses increase by +1 at 

each even-numbered level of this prestige 

class. 

Healing Hands (Sp): At 3rd level, the 

knight gains the ability to mend wounds 

with the touch of his hands. He can heal 

damage equal to his class level times his 

Charisma bonus each day. He may spend all 

his healing at once, or he can choose to 

spread it over several uses. For example, a 

3rd-level knight with a Charisma of 15 can 

heal 6 points of damage. He could heal 4 

points with his first use of this ability, then 

heal 2 more points later that day. 


Nature's Champion (Su): As the chosen defender of nature, 

the knight gains a variety of bonuses and advantages when 

fighting in natural terrain. Starting at 5th level, in any area 

other than dungeons, city streets, and other areas of worked 

stone manufacture, he gains a +2 morale bonus on all saves. In 

addition, he heals 1 point of damage per hour while in such 

areas, in addition to any natural healing he may receive. 

Nature's spirit and energy strengthen and sustain him against 

his foes. 

Smite the Unliving (Su): The knight of glade and glen is the 

sworn foe of constructs, undead, and other mockeries of life. 

From 7th level onwards, when fighting against these creatures, 

he gains a +2 bonus to damage and may score critical hits as 

normal even though his targets are normally immune to such 

effects. Fueled by nature's power, his weapons, claws, and 

fangs rend them to pieces. 

Scorn the Forge (Su): At 9th level, the knight becomes so 

closely linked to the natural world that artifacts of civilization 

and technology crumble before his attacks. Three times per 

day, he may channel nature's energy to gain one of two 

different effects. He may ignore a target's armor bonus to AC 

gained through armor worn and shields carried, though not 

from spells and other effects. Alternatively, he may roll double 

damage against any inanimate, manufactured object he 

attempts to break. He may gain this bonus damage when using 

the sunder action to break a foe's weapon, so long as the 

armament was manufactured. 

Shield of Life (Su): At 10th level, the knight's connection to 

nature allows him to transcend many of the weapons and tools 

used by those who would despoil his lands. The knight gains 

DR 5 against all metal weapons and tools that were crafted, 

forged, or otherwise created from raw materials. He does not 

gain this benefit against natural weapons, spells, and other 

sources of damage. He also loses this DR against stone or 

wooden armaments, even those sculpted, chiseled, or carved 

from raw materials. 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Nature's fury, wild empathy 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Lord of tree and timber +1 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Healing hands 


5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Nature's champion 


7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Smite the unliving 


9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Scorn the forge 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Lord of tree and timber +5, shield of life 

Master of the Hunt 

(Werewolf) 

As the dark of night descends over the forest, the master of the 

hunt awakens from his slumber to stalk across the wilderness. 

Some of these master hunters never leave their lupine forms, 

while others bear spears, bows, and other tools of human 

trackers. Regardless of their preferred guise, these 

lycanthropes are always accompanied by one or more wolves. 

While the ignorant eye may 

mistake these animals for 

pets, in truth these wolves 

form a pack that includes 

the master of the hunt as its 

alpha. Hunting and 

fighting as a 

group, 

these 

wolves 

and their 


lycanthrope leader pose a deadly threat to anyone foolish 

enough to venture into the woods after dark. 

The master of the hunt develops his race's natural link with 

wolves to an extraordinary degree. Rather than merely create 

an empathic bond to his pack mates, he hones a much more 

powerful telepathic link to them. The master's thoughts and 

desires become one with his wolves' aims, forging them into a 

group that acts as a single creature spread over the bodies of 

many animals. In battle and on the hunt, the wolves and their 

leader fight with uncanny coordination. They time their 

attacks to take advantage of a gap in an opponent's defenses 

and use tactics more suited to a human general than a simple 

pack of wolves. In many ways, the wolves become an 

extension of the master's will. 

This prestige class is poorly suited to other lycanthropes, 

primarily because they assume forms that are stronger and 

more dangerous than wolves. Furthermore, the wolf pack 

motif does not necessarily extend to many other animals. Still, 

you can easily adapt this class to any animal type that has CR 

1. Smaller creatures might be too weak to use with this class's 

abilities, while stronger, more powerful ones cause it to 

become much too tough. 

Hit Die: d10 

Requirements 

To become a master of the hunt, a character must fulfill all the 




Feats: Stealthy, Track 

Race: Werewolf 

Class Skills 

The master of the hunt's class skills (and the key ability for 

each) are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), 

Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen 

(Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis). 




All of the following are class features of the master of the hunt 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A master of the hunt gains 


Wolf Pack (Su): At 1st level, the master of the hunt gains the 

services of a group of wolves who serve him with fanatical 

devotion. These beasts will fight to the death in his name and 

obey his orders without question. The master of the hunt can 

communicate with these creatures via telepathy to a range of 5 

miles. In combat, the wolves use the master's initiative result as 

their own due to his psychic connection to them. 

The size of the master's pack depends on his level. He gains 

the services of a number of wolves equal to his total character 

level. Any wolves killed are replaced in one day, assuming the 

master is in an area where wolves could plausibly be found. 

For instance, wolves might wander from a forest into a nearby 

desert to join the master, but would not somehow appear on a 

deserted island hundreds of miles from the nearest landmass. 

The master's natural link to wolves is much stronger than the 

one normally enjoyed by werewolves. He gains a +10 racial 

bonus to influence a wolf's attitude. 

Swarming Attack (Su): By using his ability to telepathically 

coordinate his wolves' actions, the master of the hunt can help 

them evade attacks of opportunity and other threats. Beginning 

at 2nd level, when the master's wolves must make a saving 

throw, they may make the save as if they had the master's save 

bonus or their own, whichever is higher. In addition, if the 

master takes no other actions on his turn other than directing 

his wolves' efforts, the wolves do not provoke attacks of 

opportunity so long as they do nothing but move. 

Tactical Cunning (Su): As the master of the hunt learns to 

fight with his newly acquired pack, he unlocks the potential 

inherent within his ability to telepathically communicate with 

them. In combat, he intuitively lends tactical guidance and 

commands to his wolves. Beginning at 3rd level, the wolves of 

the master's pack gain a +1 competence bonus to hit and a +2 

competence bonus to damage so long as they are within 60 ft. 

of the master of the hunt. 

Strength of the Pack (Ex): As the master of the hunt gains in 

strength and prominence, he attracts mightier wolves to his 

side. at 4th level, the wolves he attracts with his wolf pack 

ability each gain an additional hit die. Use the standard rules for 

advancing a creature to determine their enhanced abilities. 

Hunters in the Night (Su): At 5th level, the master and his 

wolves become adept at running down their quarry as a group. 

A single wolf or the master of the hunt can make Survival 

checks to track a foe with a +4 circumstance bonus per pack 

member that aids in the check. Normally, a successful assist 

results in a +2 bonus to a skill check. In addition, when 

pursuing their quarry the master and his wolves gain a +10 ft. 

bonus to speed. Driven by the scent of their target, they throw 

themselves into the chase with supernatural vigor. 

Overwhelming Attack (Su): When the master of the hunt 

and his wolf pack focus their attacks on a single foe, they can 

drag him down with the sheer weight of their numbers. 

Beginning at 6th level, on any round in which the master or 

his wolves make a grapple check against an opponent, they 

receive a +1 bonus per fellow pack member who also made a 

check or initiated a grapple against that foe. 

Pack Fighter (Ex): at 7th level and above, the master of the 

hunt and his wolf followers fight with unparalleled levels of 

coordination and tactical cunning. When flanking an 

opponent, they gain a +4 bonus to hit rather than +2. In 

addition, they inflict +1d6 additional damage when attacking 

a flanked creature. Treat this bonus damage as a sneak attack 

for determining which creatures are immune to it and all other 

rules issues. The master and his wolf allies gain these benefits 

only when he and his wolves combine to flank a creature. For 

example, if the master and a hobgoblin flanked a dwarf fighter, 



the master would not gain these benefits. He would receive the 

standard +2 bonus to hit a flanked target. If he and one of his 

wolves flanked the dwarf, both of them would gain the 

benefits of this ability. 

Eyes of the Pack (Su): Beginning at 8th level, when the 

master of the hunt must make a Spot or Listen check, he gains 

a +2 circumstance bonus to his check for each of his wolves 

that is within 30 ft. of his current position. Aided by his deep 

connection to his packmates, the master uses all of their senses 

to keep watch over his surroundings. 

Might of the Pack (Ex): With his many victories and the 

great power he has gathered, the master of the hunt attracts 

only the mightiest wolves to his side. At 9th level and above, 

any wolf he gains with his wolf pack special abilities gains two 

additional hit dice. Use the standard rules for advancing a 

creature's HD to determine the wolf's new statistics. This 

ability replaces (and does not stack with) the strength of the 

pack class ability. 

Tactical Supremacy (Su): At 10th level, the master of the 

hunt learns to combine his pack's abilities to the ultimate level. 

When fighting with his wolves, he grants them a +2 

competence bonus to hit and a +4 competence bonus to 

damage. The wolves see through each others' eyes, allowing 

them to coordinate their attacks and battle with a human's 

cunning and a beast's ferocity. The wolves gain this ability as 

long as they are within 60 ft. of the master. 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Wolf pack 

2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Swarming attack 

3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Tactical cunning 

4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Strength of the pack 

5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Hunters in the night 

6 +6 +5 +2 +5 Overwhelming attack 

7 +7 +5 +2 +5 Pack fighter 

8 +8 +6 +2 +6 Eyes of the pack 

9 +9 +6 +3 +6 Might of the pack 

10 +10 +7 +3 +7 Tactical supremacy 

54 

Master of Fang and Blade 

(Any) 

The master of fang and blade studies a unique fighting style 

rarely encountered outside of lycanthrope settlements and 

enclaves. By training to fight while in hybrid form, a 

werecreature learns to weave his natural attacks and armed 

strikes into a single, indomitable fighting style. The 

werecreature slashes with his blade, snaps at a foe with his 

fangs, and tears at him with his 

claws. Most humanoid warriors are 

used to fighting opponents 

equipped with a single blade, while 

animals and other beasts are 

confused by the master's strange 

method of fighting. 

Members of this prestige class 

train long and hard to combine 

their heritage's varied talents 

into a single, cohesive style. A 

swordsman may jab with his 

blade and follow up with a 

quick nip from his fangs. 

A werebear might 

grapple his foe with 

his claw, then 

finish him with 

the punch 

dagger he 

carries in his 

other paw. Most 

masters of fang 

and blade pick a 

single weapon that 

they use in 

conjunction with this 

fighting style, but a few 

dabble in a variety of 

different armaments. 

Most masters arise in areas where lycanthropes can mingle 

freely and openly with each other. Under such circumstances, 

they can develop a unique fighting style that utilizes their 

natural abilities. Evil werecreatures, most notably wererats, 

gather in secretive cabals within human cities to spread this 

prestige class's teachings and train an elite corps of warriors. 

Only the werewolves rarely follow this prestige class, as few of 

them have the intelligence and foresight to master humanoid 

armaments. Still, the few werewolves that do pick up a 

master's skills are fierce opponents. 

Hit Die: d10 

Abbreviation: Mfb 

Requirements 

To become a master of fang and blade, a character must fulfill 

all the following criteria: 


Feat: Multiattack, Weapon Focus (any natural weapon), 

Weapon Focus (any melee weapon) 

Special: The ability to fight with natural weapons, such as 

claws or fangs, in addition to a normal weapon. For example, 

lycanthropes qualify for this prestige class because they can 

fight with weapons in addition to their claws while in hybrid 

form. An unarmed attack that normally draws an attack of 

opportunity, such as a human's fist, does not qualify as a 


natural weapon, even if the character has the Improved 

Unarmed Strike feat or a similar ability. 

Class Skills 

The master of fang and blade's class skills (and the key ability 

for each) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump 

(Str), Profession (Wis), and Swim (Str). 




All of the following are class features of the master of fang and 

blade prestige class. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A master of fang and 

blade is proficient with all martial weapons. He gains no 

additional proficiencies with armor or shields. 

Lightning Claws (Ex): As the master of fang and blade 

masters his esoteric fighting style, he learns to incorporate his 

natural strikes into the strikes and jabs he makes with his 

weapon. When using the full-attack action, the master may 

opt to replace one of his natural attacks with a single attack 

using a held melee weapon. He uses his full base attack bonus 

with this strike. He does not suffer the standard penalties for 

fighting with a secondary attack for this blow. 

Improved Multiattack (Ex): At 5th level, the master of fang 

and blade learns to better combine his natural and armed 

attacks. For purposes of the multiattack feat only, he counts 

any armed attacks he makes as being made with natural 

weapons. The master selects one of his attacks as his primary 

strike. He makes this attack as normal with his full Strength 

bonus to damage. His other attacks suffer a –2 penalty to hit 

and use only half his Strength bonus unless the attack type is 

identical to his primary attack. For example, a creature with 

two claws and a bite can attack with either its single bite attack 

or both its claws as its primary weapons. 

In addition, when taking a full attack action, the master of fang 

and blade may make any additional attacks he would normally 

get due to a high base attack bonus. These extra attacks must 

be made with his primary attack only, and cannot be made if 

the primary attack is a weapon rather than a natural attack. 

For example, a werewolf master of fang and blade carries a 

longsword while in hybrid form. He has a base attack bonus of 

+14. Normally, if he made a full attack with his sword and his 

bite, he would strike with the sword at +14/+9/+4 and his bite 

at +9 (due to the –5 penalty for using a secondary attack). If 

he attacked with only his bite, he would receive only one 

attack at +14. With this ability, he attacks with his sword at 

+14/+9/+4 and his bite at +12. If he opted to use his bite as his 

primary attack, he would attack with it at +14/+9/+4 and his 

sword at +12. 

Suppose that the werewolf wanted to attack with its two claws 

and its bite. Normally, he would attack once with each claw at 

+14 and his bite at +12 if he had Multiattack. With this class 

ability, he could strike with one claw at +14/+9/+4, his second 

claw at +14, and his bite at +12. If he attacked with his bite as 

his primary weapon, he would fight with a +14/+9/+4 bite and 

both his claws at +12. 

Bonus Feat: At 2nd, 4th, and 8th level, the master of fang and 

blade may choose a feat from the fighter's list of bonus feats or 

the new lycanthropic feats presented in this book. 

Surprise Attack (Ex): The master of fang and blade learns to 

nimbly shift his weapon from one hand to the next, confusing 

his enemy while shifting from one claw attack to another. His 

foe, forced to follow the weapon's movement, must stretch his 

defenses to their limit in order to cover himself. When using 

the full-round attack action, a 6th-level or higher master may 

opt to forgo his attacks with his weapon. In return, he may use 

his natural attacks with a +2 competence bonus to hit. The 

master must still hold his weapon and cannot use both his 

claws to attack at the same moment (and thus cannot rend). 

Supreme Multiattack (Ex): At 10th level, the master of fang 

and blade attains the highest degree of expertise possible in his 

chosen art. When using his Improved Multiattack ability, he 

may make additional attacks with each of his secondary 

attacks. For each secondary strike, he gains another attack 

with that weapon at a –5 penalty to hit. His primary attack 

remains unchanged unless he uses two identical attacks as his 

primary strike. In that case, he may use his second primary 

weapon – the one that does not normally gain any extra 

attacks – a second time with the –5 penalty to hit. 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Lightning claws 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Bonus feat 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 

4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Bonus feat 

5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Improved Multiattack 

6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Surprise attack 

7 +7 +5 +2 +2 

8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Bonus feat 

9 +9 +6 +3 +3 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Supreme Multiattack 

Midnight Justicar 

(Weretiger) 

Weretigers commonly dwell among humans, elves, and other 

humanoid races that build cities, towns, and other centers of 

civilization. Aside from wererats, they are perhaps the 

lycanthropes best adapted to life in an urban environment. 

The weretigers' curiosity and intellect allows them to mingle 

with mundane races with few problems. However, the 

weretigers realize that their existence sometimes hangs by a 

thread. Any aggressive activity by lycanthropes, especially 

wererats, can alarm the folk they live among and lead to a 

ruthless crackdown on their kind. The weretigers are wise 

enough to realize that a panicked, edgy population might be 


56 

unlikely to differentiate between a friendly werecreature and 

the shapechanging fiends who have preyed on their neighbors. 

To help ensure their security and to prevent rival lycanthropes 

from muscling in on their territory, the weretigers employ a 

shadowy group of enforcers known as the midnight justicars. 

A midnight justicar prowls the city at night, alert for wererats 

and other hidden threats that can disturb the weretigers' 

peace. He strikes from the darkness, leaping from the shadows 

to cut down his prey before slipping back into the night. By 

tapping into the lycanthropes' mystical connection to the 

moon, the justicar learns to magically bind and control 

shadows and other patches of darkness. Combined with his 

natural grace, speed, and strength, these magical abilities allow 

him to stalk and kill enemy lycanthropes without drawing any 

undue attention to his activities. 

Almost any group of urban lycanthropes might employ a 

similar class of shadow warriors to exterminate rivals without 

raising any alarms. While weretigers employ these skills to 

defend their territory, wererats might cultivate them to create 

an elite class of assassins who can eliminate troublesome 

enemies and rivals. 

Hit Die: d6 


Abbreviation: Mdj 

Requirements 

To become a midnight justicar, a character must fulfill all the 



Hide: 11 ranks 

Move Silently: 11 ranks 

Feat: Spring Attack 

Race: Weretiger 

Class Skills 

The midnight justicar's class skills (and the key ability for each) 

are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist 

(Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Move 

Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), and Tumble (Dex). 



All of the following are class features of the midnight justicar 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A midnight justicar gains 


Superior Scent (Ex): Midnight justicars learn to identify 

other lycanthropes by scent. By merely passing within 60 ft. of 

a fellow werecreature, a justicar can identify its true nature and 

the animal form that it can assume. 

Cloak of Shadows (Sp): With their innate connection to 

the night and the moon, midnight justicars develop the 

magical ability to conceal themselves in a murky layer of 

liquid darkness. Beginning at 2nd level, they gain a +4 

competence bonus to all Hide and Move Silently checks 

made under the night sky. In addition, once per day they 

can create a cloak of darkness that obscures them from 

observation. The justicar may cast blur as a sorcerer with a 

caster level equal to the justicar's total character level. The 

justicar ignores any spell failure chance due to armor he 

wears. 

Sneak Attack (Ex): A midnight justicar gains the ability to 

sneak attack as per the rogue class ability. Additional damage 

gained via this prestige class stacks with any existing sneak 

attack capabilities the justicar already possesses. The justicar 

gains +1d6 of sneak attack damage at 3rd, 6th, and 9th level. 

Pouncing Attack (Ex): Justicars strike with great strength, 

precision, and speed, allowing them to move next to an 

opponent, deliver a devastating attack, and slip away without 

exposing themselves to undue danger. When using their Spring 

Attack feat, justicars of 4th level or higher may nominate one 

opponent in addition to their target. This foe does not threaten 

any areas for purposes of determining attacks of opportunity 

against the justicar when he uses Spring Attack. 

Mantle of Shadow (Su): The midnight justicar attracts 

shadow to him like a magnet draws iron. When he walks 



within areas of darkness, he fades in and out of sight as the 

inky blackness whirls around him. Once per round starting at 

5th level, when in a shadowy environment, the justicar can 

force an opponent who attacks him to re-roll his miss chance 

due to concealment. If the justicar's foe has Blind-Fight, using 

this ability cancels that feat's ability to allow re-rolls on 

concealment checks. 

Intuitive Tracker (Ex): Beginning at 7th level, the justicar's 

keen sense of smell allows him to identify and track a specific 

creature by scent alone. The justicar must come within 10 ft. of 

a creature in order to imprint its scent. When attempting to 

track his chosen target, the justicar gains a +4 competence 

bonus to his Survival check. In addition, he immediately senses 

his target's presence via scent when he comes within 100 ft. of 

the target. He learns the target's general direction and can 

locate a path to it with a successful Survival check. 

A midnight justicar can only choose one creature as this 

ability's target at a time. Acquiring a new target is a free action, 

though the justicar must move close enough to imprint the 

creature's scent. 

Swooping Attack (Ex): At 9th level the midnight justicar 

moves with such speed, grace, and skill that his enemies move 

too slowly to strike at him. When using his Spring Attack feat, 

he may choose up to three opponents. These foes do not count 

as threatening any areas for purposes of provoking attacks of 

opportunity against the justicar due to the movement and 

attacks he makes as part of his Spring Attack feat. In addition, 

when using the Tumble skill to avoid attacks of opportunity, the 

justicar suffers only a +1 DC modifier per foe he attempts to 

avoid after the first, rather than the usual +2. 

Crown of Shadow (Su): At 10th level, the midnight justicar 

masters his magical ability to find strength and support from 

the shadows that mask his movements and activities. He calls 

upon the darkness to shroud him from sight, allowing him to 

move unseen among his foes and strike at them without fear. 

For a total of 15 rounds per day, he may gain the benefits of 

greater invisibility as cast by a 20th-level wizard. The justicar 

can use this ability as often as he wishes. Each time he activates 

Base 



1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Superior scent 

2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Cloak of shadows 

3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Sneak attack +1d6 

4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Pouncing attack 

5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Mantle of shadow 

6 +4 +2 +5 +2 Sneak attack +1d6 

7 +5 +2 +5 +2 Intuitive tracker 

8 +6 +2 +6 +2 Swooping attack 

9 +6 +3 +6 +3 Sneak attack +1d6 

10 +7 +3 +7 +3 Crown of shadow 

it, he consumes this ability's duration until he either stops 

using it or exhausts his daily allotment of rounds. 

Lunar Adept (Any) 

A wide variety of philosophies, schools, and teachings attempt 

to explain the theory and practice behind arcane magic. As all 

of these various splinter groups can employ spells with equal 

talent and similar effects, and none have claimed a monopoly 

on the one true way of magic. Yet, while their skill remains 

roughly equal, the exact expression of their magic exhibits a 

wide range of variation. Fire mages develop supreme skill and 

mastery with their chosen element, while bards express their 

inner abilities through rhyme and song. Among these unique 

brands of magic exists a small, secretive sect of mages who 

attribute arcane power to the moon. Known as lunar adepts, 

these spellcasters manipulate the moon's energy to sharpen 

their spells and improve their magical abilities. 

Lunar adepts usually congregate in isolated areas where they 

can erect great towers to position themselves closer to their 

source of magic. Many of them sleep by day, venturing outside 

only under the cover of night. In urban areas, their nocturnal 

activities cast a suspicious, sinister aspect over them, though in 

truth these mages hail from the full gamut of alignments. Good 

lunar adepts see the moon as a watchful caretaker, a sentinel 

that peers into the night. Evil ones consider it the rightful ruler 

of the celestial realm, one that the sun wrongfully pushes from 

the sky at dawn. Neutral adepts usually avoid placing any 


58 

personal characteristics upon the moon, instead seeing it as a 

powerful astrological force that should be respected. 

In your campaign, the lunar adept can be a useful prestige 

class for players who want to create a distinctive spellcaster. If 

you run many wilderness adventures, this class's abilities can 

frequently come into play. As a villain or NPC, the lunar adept 

should focus on squaring off against the characters under the 

most favorable conditions. He strikes at night when the moon 

is full and makes full use of his enhanced ability with 

divinations to spy on PCs. In either case, this class has very 

specialized abilities but is not necessarily crippled compared to 

other PCs, as its continuing arcane spell progression allows it 

to keep up with everyone else as they gain levels. Even during 

the day or when trapped indoors, the lunar adept can prove to 

be a useful character. 

Hit Die: d4 

Requirements 

To become a lunar adept, a character must fulfill all the 


Arcane spell caster level 5+ 


Knowledge (astrology): 4 ranks 

Class Skills 

The lunar adept's class skills (and the key ability for each) are 

Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), 

Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession 

(Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). 




All of the following are class features of the lunar adept 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The lunar adept gains no 


Spellcasting Ability: The lunar adept gains spellcasting levels 

as he progresses through this prestige class. He stacks his levels 

from this class with the caster level he has in any arcane 

spellcasting class of his choice. He gains additional spells per 

day, a higher caster level, and higher level spells. He does not 

gain any of the other benefits normally associated with gaining 

levels in his other class. For example, a 10th-level wizard/5thlevel 

lunar adept would cast spells as a 15th-level wizard. 

However, his familiar would have abilities as per a 10th-level 

wizard's minion. 

Child of the Moon (Su): The lunar adept draws his magical 

energy from the moon rather than other, more traditional 

sources. When casting a spell under the light of a full moon, 

he gains a +1 circumstance bonus to his effective caster level. 

When the moon is waxing, the duration of any of his spells 

increases by 1 round. When it is waning, it decreases by 1 

round. On the night of the new moon, the adept suffers a –1 

circumstance penalty to his effective caster level. All of these 

bonuses and penalties apply only of the adept is outside at 

night. When he is shielded from the moon's light, he gains 

none of these benefits and suffers none of the drawbacks. 

Veil of Night (Su): The moon protects its followers and aids 

them in their endeavors. When fighting outdoors at night, the 

2nd-level moon adept enjoys good luck while his enemies 

suffer from ill fortune. Arrows slip from bows, trees sway in 

breezes just enough to deflect crossbow bolts, an orc slips on 

a mud patch as he swings his axe, and so forth. The lunar 

adept gains a +1 luck bonus to AC while outdoors at night. On 

the night of the new moon, he suffers a –1 luck penalty to AC 

rather than this bonus. 

Written in the Stars (Su): The lunar adept grows adept at 

conversing with his celestial guide via spells and other magics. 

When employing divination spells under the moon's light, he 

can commune with the moon and tap into it to enhance his 

efforts. If a lunar adept of 3rd level or higher casts a divination 

spell outdoors at night, he gains a +1 circumstance bonus to 

the spell's save DC and a +1 circumstance bonus to his 

effective caster level. He loses these advantages on a night of 

the new moon. 

Pierce the Veil (Su): As the lunar adept progresses in the 

teachings of the moon's strange magical lore, he unlocks 

several mystical secrets that aid him in his daily endeavors. 

When outdoors on any night other than the new moon, the 

4th-level lunar adept can see as if it were day. The moon's light 

gleams with the same power as the sun to his eyes. Even thick 

cloud cover does little to dim this ability, as it renders the night 

as bright as an overcast day. 

Lunar Master (Su): At 5th level, the lunar adept achieves the 

ultimate mastery of his order's strange form of magic. He gains 

the ability to cast light at will, thought the illumination this 

spell sheds is a pale, ghostly light similar to the moon. In 

addition, once per night the adept can apply a single 

metamagic feat he knows that does not increase a spell's level 

by more than one to a spell he casts under moonlight. This 

does not increase the level of the spell slot used to cast the 

spell. It does increase the casting time for sorcerers and other 

spontaneous casters as normal for metamagic feats. He must 

be outside at night to use this ability. It does not function on 

the night of the new moon. 

Base 



1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Child of the moon, 

+1 caster level 

2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Veil of night, +1 

caster level 

3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Written in the stars, 

+1 caster level 

4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Pierce the veil, +1 

caster level 

5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Lunar master, +1 

caster level 


Night Howler (Werewolf) 

Among the werewolf packs, the night howlers reign supreme 

as war chiefs, leaders, and alpha pack members. In the dead of 

the night, they stalk through the forest in search of prey 

worthy of their horrific attentions. The mightiest night howlers 

draw great packs of lesser werewolves to them, forging them 

into a deadly force through the sheer will of their personalities 

and the brutal punishments they levy for the slightest trace of 

dissension in the ranks. It is a testament to the power and 

respect these beasts command that they are able to forge the 

chaotic, self-interested werewolves into cohesive packs. 

Night howlers are the chosen of Hurar the Pursuer. Many of 

them are clerics or sorcerers blessed with the knowledge 

of necromantic magic. Among their numbers, a few 

known as the Moonfangs are said to have 

personally survived a night in which Hurar 

descended to the mortal world and stalked and 

killed every werewolf he encountered. In this 

manner, Hurar ensures that only the 

mightiest werewolves survive to propagate 

the species. A werewolf who survives this 

experience gains a gleaming, white pelt 

and soon displays the magical talents 

needed to enter this prestige class. 

Other night howlers observe ancient 

traditions and legends to enter this 

class, learning the basics of magical 

lore needed to combine the 

werewolves' ferocity with the fearsome 

effects of necromancy. 

The night howler is a poor fit for other 

lycanthrope types, as it plays on the 

wolf's stereotypical howl and its ability 

to trip foes with its bite attack. If you 

want to adapt this class for other 

races, add Improved Trip to the 

requirements and modify the 

descriptions of the special abilities to fit 

the lycanthrope's attack forms. In 

addition, this prestige class is best suited 

to evil creatures, as it exults in spreading 

terror and crushing foes with vicious, 

bloody attacks. 

Hit Die: d10 

Requirements 

To become a night howler, a character must 

fulfill all the following criteria: 


Spellcasting Ability: Must be able to prepare or 

spontaneously cast a 1st-level necromancy spell at least once 

per day. This spell may be either divine or arcane in nature. 

Survival: 8 ranks 

Feat: Blind-Fight 


Race: Werewolf 

Special: Must have the ability to trip foes with its animal 

form's bite attack 

Class Skills 

The night howler's class skills (and the key ability for each) are 

Climb (Str), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), 

Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). 



All of the following are class features of the night howler 


Weapon and Armor 

Proficiency: The night howler 

gains no additional 

proficiencies with weapons, 

armor, or shields. 

Blood Hunter (Ex): The night 

howler excels in dragging down his 

enemies and ripping them limb from 

limb. When the battle fury overtakes 

him and he tastes his foe's blood, a 

terrible anger overcomes him. When the 

night howler uses his trip ability while in 

wolf form, he may immediately make a bite 

attack at his full attack bonus if his opponent 

falls prone. If the howler already has the 

Improved Trip feat, he gains a +4 competence 

bonus to hit with a bite attack made after a 

successful trip. 

Hunter in the Dark (Su): The dark of 

midnight is the night howler's natural 

environment. At 2nd level, his eyes further 

adapt to areas of pitch black. In addition to his 

natural low-light vision, the night howler gains 

darkvision with a range of 120 ft. His eyes glow 

with a red, feral radiance as the necromantic magic 

he dabbles in provides him with this ability. 

Crushing Bite (Ex): While in hybrid or animal form, 

the hunter in the dark learns to use its bite attack to worry 

and tear at its opponent's flesh. The hunter gains a +2 

bonus to damage with its bite in either of those two 

shapes at 3rd level. 

Chilling Howl (Su): Once per day beginning at 4th 

level, the night howler can unleash a keening howl that sends 

a chill through all living creatures that hear it. By spending a 

full-round action while in wolf or hybrid form, the howler 

rears back and unleashes a wail fueled by necromantic magic. 

All creatures within 60 ft. of the howler must make Fortitude 

saves (DC 15 + the howler's Constitution modifier) or suffer a 

–2 penalty to Strength for 1 hour. The chilling howl unleashes 

waves of necromantic energy that sap the vitality of living 

creatures caught within it. 

Blood Seeker (Su): The night howler develops a ravenous 

thirst for the blood of living creatures. In battle, his darkvision 


60 


allows him to see the ebb and flow of blood as it courses 

through a creature's body. Using this magical vision, the 

howler rips into its foe's arteries and other vulnerable spots. At 

5th level and above, whether in hybrid or animal form, the 

hybrid threatens a critical hit with its bit attack on a natural 19 

or higher. 

Master of the Night (Su): The night howler uses his magical 

abilities to dampen light sources and render his enemies 

helpless. Three times per day beginning at 6th level, the 

howler may create an area of flickering shadow as per darkness 

cast by a sorcerer with a caster level equal to the howler's class 

level. The howler may use this ability in humanoid, hybrid, or 

wolf form. 

Blood Drinker (Su): When the night howler grasps a foe 

with its fangs, and tears open arteries and saps the vitality and 

health from its enemy. Three times per day beginning at 7th 

level, the howler may use its supernatural affinity for 

necromancy to weaken a foe. The howler must elect to use this 

ability before resolving its bite attack. On a successful hit, its 

target must make a Fortitude save (DC 16 + the howler's 

Constitution modifier) or suffer 2 points of temporary 

Strength damage. This ability score damage is in addition to 

any damage caused by the bite. 

Rending Bite (Ex): The night howler's ferocity and blood 

thirst drive it to commit horrid atrocities in battle. Starting at 

8th level, when the howler hits with its bite attack while in 

animal form, it may choose to rend and tear its foe in place of 

its trip attack. The howler makes an opposed Strength check 

against its enemy with a +4 bonus. Its foe makes a standard 

Strength check. Creatures smaller than the howler suffer 

penalties as if they were the target of a trip attack. Larger 

creatures do not gain their standard bonus to resist a trip, as 

the howler simply tries to rend and tear their flesh rather than 

send them tumbling to the ground. If the howler succeeds in 

this check, it immediately deals its bite damage to its target 

again. The howler worries and tears at its foe, causing further 

injury as it widens the bite wound. 

Symphony of the Night (Su): With a single long, keening 

wail, the howler can strike such overwhelming terror into its 

foes that they are rooted in place and unable to move. Once per 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Blood hunter 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Hunter in the dark 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Crushing bite 

4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Chilling howl 

5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Blood seeker 

6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Master of the night 

7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Blood drinker 

8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Rending bite 

9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Symphony of the night 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Blood gorger 

day starting at 9th level, as a full-round action, the howler 

gathers its inherent talent for necromancy and channels it into a 

roaring howl. All creatures within a 120 ft. spread of the howler 

must make Fortitude saves (DC 17 + the howler's Charisma 

modifier). Those that fail in this save are stunned for 1d4 

rounds. This ability is a mind-affecting, fear-based effect. 

Blood Gorger (Ex): The 10th-level night howler strikes with 

such ferocity that it can use its bite to throw a foe to the ground 

and latch on to its opponent with a vise-like grip. If the howler 

successfully trips an opponent, it may start a grapple as a free 

action. Once grappling, it may choose to deal its bite damage 

without making a grapple check. It may not grapple to inflict 

additional damage, but may use a check to pin a foe. 

Pack Lord (Any) 

Striding among his fellows with powerful grace and 

unparalleled calm, the pack lord is the unquestioned leader of 

any lycanthrope group he joins. With his combination of a 

humanoid's canny knack for manipulation and personal 

relationships, along with his feral, animal side's raw power and 

instinctual feel for power, the pack lord is the unquestioned 

leader of his people. Many pack lords are born into their 

position, joining a long line of distinguished (or feared) leaders 

and/or tyrants. Among the werewolves, these fearsome 

creatures run at the head of the pack, cowing their followers 

into obedience not with violence but through the sheer power 

of their presence. Among werebears, these revered leaders set 

an example for others in the lodge to follow. They use their 

wisdom, sense of justice, and carefully tempered ideals to 

guide their people. 

Pack lords are easy to spot among ordinary lycanthropes. They 

walk with a sense of regal grace that many human monarchs 

can only dream of achieving. In many ways, they represent the 

civilized ideal of what a fusion of man and animal can become. 

In other cases, they are brutal, petty dictators who bend their 

followers into useful tools to gain what they want. In either 

case, the lords' methods differ but the source of their power 

remains the same. Just as some animals naturally defer to the 

powerful alpha beasts among them, so too do lycanthrope 

groups produce mighty leaders that demand and gain 

obedience with the raw strength of their indomitable 

personalities. 

Pack lords are typically born rather than made. They spring 

from long, illustrious lines of leaders and kings. You can adapt 

this prestige class to other races simply by changing the racial 

requirement and perhaps customizing a few of the class's 

abilities. The dwarf version of this class might be known as the 

lord of stone and steel, while an elf analog could be titled the 

arboreal overlord. 

Hit Die: d6 

Requirements 

To become a pack lord, a character must fulfill all the following 

criteria: 

Base Attack Bonus +5 or divine or arcane spell caster level 5+ 


Diplomacy: 8 ranks 


Feat: Persuasive 

Race: Lycanthrope 

Class Skills 

The pack lord's class skills (and the key ability for each) are 

Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Gather 

Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Perform 

(Cha), and Sense Motive (Wis). 




All of the following are class features of the pack lord prestige 

class. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The pack lord gains no 


Animal Magnetism (Ex): The pack lord represents a 

powerful fusion of raw, animal power and 

the restrained, careful consideration of a 

humanoid mind. The two combine 

to allow him to exert a powerful 

effect on others he meets. He 

gains a +2 competence 

bonus to all Charisma 

checks and Charismabased 

skill checks. In 

addition, he gains a 

+2 bonus to Will 

saves against mindinfluencing 

effects. 

Stately Manner 

(Ex): In all of his 

forms, the pack lord 

moves with a grace 

and panache that reveals his regal nature. Beginning at 2nd 

level, creatures that have no more than half as many hit dice as 

the lord must make a Will save (DC 10 + the lord's Charisma 

modifier) in order to attack him. Creatures make this save 

before taking their actions for the round. On a successful save, 

the creature does not have to check again for the rest of the 

encounter. Creatures that fail this save are allowed another one 

each round until they succeed. This is a mind-influencing 

effect. 

Baleful Eye (Ex): While a pack lord can use his personality 

to encourage and sway others, he can also use it to strike terror 

into his enemies' hearts. Three times per day beginning at 3rd 

level, he may use a standard action to stare into a foe's eyes in 

order to use the raw force of his personality to cow him into 

submission. The opponent must make a Will save (DC 16 + 

the pack lord's Charisma modifier) or become shaken. Shaken 

creatures suffer a –2 penalty to all attacks, saves, and checks. 

This effect lasts for 10 rounds. 

Feral Aspect (Ex): At 4th level, the pack lord takes on the 

most majestic or terrifying qualities of his base animal form, 

allowing him to exert his influence over others without 

making any special effort to do so. Once per encounter, the 

pack lord may make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check to 

influence others as a free action. At 8th level, the pack lord 

may use this ability twice per encounter. 

Alpha Status (Ex): At 5th level, the pack lord cultivates his 

talents in manipulating others to such a degree that he can 

lend aid and support to his companions and allies. His mere 

presence inspires greatness in his friends. All of the pack lord's 

allies within 30 ft. of him receive a +1 morale bonus on attacks 

and Will saves. 

Fearsome Glare (Ex): When locked in combat, the pack 

lord channels his overwhelming personality 

into a terrifying aspect. He growls and 

glares at his foe, casting doubt into his 

mind and making his attacks 

uncertain. Once per day beginning at 

6th level, the lord may make an 

Intimidate check as a free action 

against a creature that he hits 

and damages with a melee 

attack. That opponent 

must make a Will save 

with a DC equal to the 

result of the Intimidate 

check. If the lord's 

opponent fails this save, 

he becomes shaken 

(suffering a –2 morale 

penalty to attacks, checks, 

and saves) and may take 

only a standard action on 

his next turn. This is a 

fear-based, mindinfluencing 

effect. 

Regal Manner (Ex): The 

pack lord's grace and power acquire an almost palpable aura at 

7th level. Any creature that attempts to attack him must make 

a Will save with a DC of the lord's class level + 5 + the lord's 

Charisma modifier. If the pack lord takes any violent actions 

during an encounter, he loses the benefits of this ability for the 

duration of that encounter. However, he still gains the use of 

his stately manner class ability. 

Withering Glance (Ex): Once per day at 9th level and 

above, the pack lord may ready an action to overpower an 

opponent with the sheer force of his personality. On his chosen 

target's action, the lord makes a Diplomacy check. The target 

of this ability must make a Will save with a DC equal to the 

check's result. If this save fails, the creature loses its actions for 

the round. The pack lord must be able to see its target, and 

vice versa, for this ability to function. 

Lord of Beasts and Men (Ex): At 10th level, the pack lord's 

command of others reaches its ultimate state. He cannot enter 

a room without others naturally deferring to his status and 

power, while he handles social situations and negotiations 

with skill and grace. The pack lord gains a +4 competence 


62 


bonus to all Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill 

checks. This replaces (does not stack with) the animal 

magnetism class ability. In addition, the pack lord may compel 

service from other, lesser creatures. This ability functions as 

the spell command cast as a sorcerer at the pack lord's total 

character level (save DC 11 + the pack lord's Charisma 

modifier). The lord may use this ability at will. This ability 

functions only against creatures with fewer hit dice than the 

pack lord. 

Base 



1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Animal magnetism 

2 +1 +3 +0 +3 Stately manner 

3 +2 +3 +1 +3 Baleful eye 

4 +3 +4 +1 +4 Feral aspect 

5 +3 +4 +1 +4 Alpha status 

6 +4 +5 +2 +5 Fearsome glare 

7 +5 +5 +2 +5 Regal manner 

8 +6 +6 +2 +6 Feral aspect 

9 +6 +6 +3 +6 Withering glance 

10 +7 +7 +3 +7 Lord of beasts and men 

Relentless Charger 

(Wereboar) 

Among the wereboars, strength and toughness easily outweigh 

intellect in terms of social value. The crude, crass, and 

backward wereboars prefer to spend their days gorging 

themselves on moonshine and stuffing whatever edible 

morsels they can find into their maws. In battle, these brutes 

rely on overwhelming strength and a touch of reckless 

abandon to overcome their foes. Given that wereboars are near 

simpletons, they favor direct, simple tactics. Most of the time, 

a wereboar charges his opponent and tries to beat him into 

submission as quickly as possible. If that fails, he turns tail and 

runs. 

The most talented wereboar warriors turn the act of trampling 

an opponent into an art form. Bored by their long days of lazy 

squalor, some of them take to practicing their overwhelming 

charges on trees, boulders, and other large, inanimate objects. 

Though the jarring collisions knock many of them senseless, a 

few learn to leverage their considerable bulk and strength with 

incredible efficiency. With practice, a wereboar warrior can 

learn to knock even the strongest frost giant flat on his back. 

These lycanthropes are known as relentless chargers, living 

balls of destruction that exist solely to blast through their foes' 

ranks and level all in their path. 

The wereboars treat members of this prestige class with great 

respect and deference. Normally they rise to positions of 

prominence in their communities, bossing other wereboars 

around and occasionally trampling a rival wereboar or 

encroaching stranger into the ground. The other lycanthrope 

races never produce members of this prestige class. Only the 

wereboars' culture, such as it is, produces these unique 

warriors. After all, few other groups place any premium or 

value in running head first into trees for entertainment. 

Hit Die: d10 

Requirements 

To become a relentless charger, a character must fulfill all the 



Feats: Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun 

Race: Wereboar 

Class Skills 

The relentless charger's class skills (and the key ability for 

each) are Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), and Swim 

(Str). 



All of the following are class features of the relentless charger 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The relentless charger gains 


Overwhelming Charge (Ex): When lining up a bull rush or 

overrun attack in conjunction with a charge, the relentless 



charger gains an additional +10 ft. of movement. The relentless 

charger gains this bonus only when making a charge to deliver 

an overrun or bull rush attack. 

Overpower (Ex): The relentless charger hammers through 

his enemies, casting them aside like dolls as he tears into their 

ranks. When using the overrun or bull rush combat actions, a 

2nd-level or higher relentless charger counts as one size 

category larger than he actually is. This change affects his size 

modifier to these attacks, the maximum creature size he can 

target, and all other areas in which size plays a role in either 

type of attack. 

Gore Attack (Ex): When making a bull rush attack, the 3rdlevel 

relentless charger slams his long, ferocious tusks into his 

opponent. If the charger is in hybrid or animal form when he 

attempts a bull rush, he may make a gore attack in conjunction 

with the bull rush. If the gore attack is successful, he deals his 

normal damage with a +2 bonus for every 5 ft. he pushes his 

opponent backward. 

Thunderous Impact (Ex): The relentless charger slams into 

his opponent when using the bull rush attack, knocking his 

target into the air at the cost of dropping his own guard against 

attacks. Beginning at 5th level, the charger may opt to incur 

attacks of opportunity as normal for making a bull rush attack, 

as if he did not have the Improved Bull Rush feat. In return, he 

automatically knocks his opponent an additional 5 ft. 

backward. In addition, the target of his bull rush must succeed 

at an opposed Strength check against the charger or be 

knocked prone. 

Trampling Boar (Ex): When the charger overwhelms his 

enemies, he grinds them into the ground with his feet or 

hooves, as appropriate to his current from. If a relentless 

charger of 6th level or higher knocks an opponent prone with 

an overrun attack, he deals 1d4 + half his Strength modifier in 

damage to his opponent. 

Unstoppable Charge (Ex): As per the charger's 

overwhelming charge ability, save that at 8th level, he now 

counts as two size categories larger for purposes of bull rush 

and overrun attacks. 

Trample (Ex): As a full-round action, the 9th-level or higher 

relentless charger can move up to twice its speed and literally 

run over any opponents of his size or smaller. The charger 

merely has to move over the opponents in its path in a straight 

line. Any creature whose space is completely covered by the 

trampling creature’s space is subject to the trample attack. If a 

target’s space is larger than 5 feet, it is only considered 

trampled if the charger moves over all the squares it occupies. 

If the charger moves over only some of a target’s space, the 

target can make an attack of opportunity against him at a –4 

penalty. A charger that accidentally ends its movement in an 

illegal space returns to the last legal position he occupied, or 

the closest legal position, if there’s a legal position that’s closer. 

A trample attack deals 1d8 + 1.5 times the charger's Strength 

bonus in bludgeoning damage. 

Trampled opponents can attempt attacks of opportunity, but 

these take a –4 penalty. If they do not make attacks of 

opportunity, trampled opponents can attempt Reflex saves to 

take half damage from the trample attack.The save DC against a 

trample attack is 15 + the charger's Strength modifier. 

Torrent of Fury (Ex): At 10th level, the relentless charger 

unlocks his inner strength and turns himself into a veritable 

wrecking ball of destruction. When using the bull rush attack, 

he gains a +4 bonus to his Strength score. This bonus lasts for 

one full round. In addition, he pushes his opponent backward 

twice the normal distance on a successful bull rush. Note that 

this increases the bonus damage he inflicts with his gore attack 

special ability. 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Overwhelming charge 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Overpower 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Gore attack 

4 +4 +4 +1 +1 

5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Thunderous impact 

6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Trampling boar 

7 +7 +5 +2 +2 

8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Unstoppable charge 

9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Trample 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Torrent of fury 

Shadow Prowler (Wererat) 

Among the wererats, the shadow prowlers from a secretive, 

highly feared sect of thieves, assassins, and spies who draw 

upon an ancient pact with diabolic forces. Members of this cult 

combine a smattering of mystical knowledge with their ability 

to slip into temples, castles, and other fortresses of civilization 

undetected to prove their courage and potential. After a test 

that usually involves using magic and cunning to steal a 

valuable item, the shadow prowler is inducted into the sect's 

inner mysteries. In a ceremony that leaves a star-shaped scar on 

his left palm, the prowler marks his allegiance to the dukes of 

hell and swears to follow the dictates of the order. With his oath 

in place, the elders begin to instruct the new initiate in the 

magical secrets they have unearthed. 

Shadow prowlers use a variety of magical abilities to infiltrate 

human cities and other settlements to spy on their inhabitants. 

Their first secrets allow them to mingle with humans and hide 

within a cloak of shadows from their enemies. Chief among 

these foes are the midnight justicars, a group of weretiger 

enforcers who literally wage a game of cat and mouse against 

the shadow prowlers. Since the foundation of both orders, 

they have struggled to purge the world of each other. 

As prowlers prove themselves, they earn greater privileges and 

access to deeper secrets. They learn to bind and call swarms of 

rats, hasten their own ability to assume other shapes, and 

ultimately gain benefits from hell itself in the form of diabolic 

vermin and half-fiend servitors. In return, the shadow prowler 

clans pledge wealth, kidnap victims, and other grim 


64 

commodities to their overlords. 


In many ways, the shadow prowlers represent a typical wererat 

devil cult. Other groups gather to worship a variety of potent, 

lawful evil beings, but the prowlers are the most common. In 

the rigid hierarchy of wererat kind, these groups become 

powerful political and military tools that have determined the 

course of many intricate political maneuvers. In many human 

cities, a wererat shadow prowler elder lurks within the 

forgotten sewer channels, uncovering the town's secrets and 

using his servitors to slowly extend his power. 

Hit Die: d6 

Abbreviation: Sdp 

Requirements 

To become a shadow prowler, a character must fulfill all the 



Arcane Caster Level 2+ 

Handle Animal: 4 ranks 

Hide in Shadows: 8 ranks 


Move Silently: 8 ranks 

Race: Wererat 

Class Skills 

The shadow prowler's class skills (and the key ability for each) 

are Concentration (Con), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist 

(Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) 

(Int), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Search (Int), 

Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha). 



All of the following are class features of the shadow prowler 


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The shadow prowler gains 


Shadow Friend (Su): At 1st level, the shadow prowler's 

arcane training and lycanthropic heritage allow him to bend 

and mold the shadows to his wishes. When making Hide 

checks, he gains a +2 competence bonus as shadows move to 

cloak him from observation. 

Cloak of Illusion (Su): As the shadow prowler must openly 

walk among humanoid society, he develops magical 

countermeasures to foil any attempts to determine his true 

nature. Beginning at 2nd level, the shadow prowler may roll a 

Hide check whenever a divination spell is used to uncover 

information about him. The caster of the divination spell must 

make a caster level check with a DC equal to the prowler's 

Hide check in order to get any information on the prowler. 

Make this check each time a spell is used to observe the 

prowler, determine his true nature, read his alignment, or 

otherwise delve into his nature and background. 

Sneak Attack (Ex): As thieves and infiltrators, shadow 

prowlers learn to target their enemies' sensitive, vulnerable 

areas. In addition to training in the art of stealth and the arcane 

secrets of their order, they learn how to deliver sneak attacks 

as per the rogue character class. A prowler inflicts 1d6 sneak 

attack damage at 3rd level and 2d6 at 7th level. If the prowler 

gained this ability from any other class, stack that damage with 

the damage this class grants him. 

Allied Claws (Su): Once per day starting at 4th level, the 

prowler may call 1d4+1 rat swarms to aid him. These creatures 

arrive one round after the prowler uses an action to call them. 

They obey his orders without question and remain in his 

service for a number of hours equal to 3 + the prowler's 

Charisma modifier. 

Spawn of the Warren (Su): A favored trick used by 

prowlers to escape capture, this ability allows them to assume 

the guise of dozens of normal rats as a standard action. The 

prowler may transform his body into a mass of rats that spill 

down on to the floor and scramble for cover. A total of 20 

identical dire rats appear, all of which break for the nearest 

bolt holes. Randomly select one of the rats as the prowler. The 

rats do not fight unless cornered and attacked. Rather, they 

attempt to escape in a blind panic. The prowler may use this 

ability once per day beginning at 5th level. Unlike normal 

lycanthropic transformations, any equipment the prowler 

carried is transformed into animal form along with the prowler 

itself. The prowler may remain in its dire rat form for up to 10 

minutes per class level, though it may dismiss the effect earlier 

if desired. 

Whispers in the Night (Su): As a prowler delves deeper into 

the mysteries of his strange cult, he learns to call rats to serve 



him for long periods of time. These envoys search through the 

city, obeying his orders and bringing him news of events. In 

addition, he can temporarily cast his mind into the vast network 

of rats he creates. This ability, gained at 6thlevel, allows the 

prowler to make Gather Information checks in half the normal 

time with a +20 competence bonus. In addition, he can cast the 

equivalent of scrying as a sorcerer with a caster level equal to his 

total caster level + his level in this prestige class. 

Infernal Emissary (Su): The prowler's mystic studies and 

research into his cult's mysteries allows him to unlock new 

powers and abilities. At 8th level, by reaffirming a pact with 

dark gods, demons, and devils, he gains lordship over a swarm 

of infernal rats. When using his allied claws ability, double the 

number of swarms summoned. In addition, any or all of those 

swarms may be given the infernal template if the prowler 

wishes. 

Lightning Change (Su): At 9th level, the prowler learns to 

unlock his inner lycanthropic heritage and enhance it with the 

dark magics that his studies and training have unleashed 

within him. When using his alternate form ability (see the 

wererat class for more information) he can change form as a 

free action once per round. In addition, he may opt to 

incorporate the items he carries into his new shape. Rather 

than fall to the floor, they become one with his body. When he 

later changes to humanoid or hybrid form, his equipment 

appears in his hands and/or on his person as it was arranged 

when he transformed. 

Master of Vermin (Su): At 10th level, the infernal network 

of rodents that the prowler has assembled becomes deeply 

linked to him. When he uses his whispers in the night ability 

to cast scry, double his effective caster level and increase the 

save DC against the spell by +2. In addition, he gains the 

services of a demonic servant. This follower is a wererat with 

the half-fiend template and up to eight levels in character 

classes chosen by the prowler. Sent by the lords of hell, this 

lieutenant is utterly loyal and willing to die for his master. If he 

does perish, the prowler gains a new lieutenant in 1d10 days. 

The lieutenant has equipment as appropriate for a character of 

his total level. 

Base 



1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Shadow friend 

2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Cloak of illusion 

3 +2 +1 +3 +3 Sneak attack +1d6 

4 +3 +1 +4 +4 Allied claws 

5 +3 +1 +4 +4 Spawn of the warren 

6 +4 +2 +5 +5 Whispers in the night 

7 +5 +2 +5 +5 Sneak attack +2d6 

8 +6 +2 +6 +6 Infernal emissary 

9 +6 +3 +6 +6 Lightning change 

10 +7 +3 +7 +7 Master of vermin 

Wolf Slayer 

In areas infested with werewolves and other lycanthropes, the 

wolf slayer hunts in the night to defend the bastions of 

civilization. By studying the different werecreature species, he 

learns to take advantage of their weaknesses and turn their 

talents into liabilities on the battlefield. He learns to strike 

when a creature changes its shape, piercing vital organs and 

joints as his foe's body shifts and changes. With the merest 

glance at a humanoid, he can tell whether he looks upon a 

lycanthrope in disguise or simple peasant. With his abilities to 

uncover lycanthropes and his specialized talent in hunting 

them down, he makes a fearsome enemy to any werebeast. 

While this class is called the wolf slayer, it can be easily 

renamed to fit the different lycanthrope species that infest an 

area. A member of this class who operates in an urban area 

might be known as a rat stalker, while an evil one who hunts 

werebears could be known as a forest scourge. This class's 

abilities are generic enough to function against many 

shapechangers and all lycanthropes. 

As an option for player characters, this class is a bit too 

limited in scope. Unless your game features lycanthropes as a 

major, continuing menace, chances are that a player won't 

find much use for its abilities. When a lycanthrope does 

appear, the wolf slayer can easily dispatch even the mightiest 

warrior among them. Perhaps the best way to use this class is 


66 

as a recurring villain or rival for any lycanthrope PCs within 

the party. A werebear druid may have to face the foul villain 

that destroyed his lodge, while a weretiger might hunt down 

the treacherous spy that slew one of his siblings. A 

lycanthrope PC might push one of the evil organizations or 

villains in your campaign to recruit a wolf slayer as a 

bodyguard or assassin. Remember that the players cannot 

possibly memorize every prestige class in print. Throwing a 

wolf slayer at them can confuse the party and inject some 

additional mystery and danger into an otherwise typical 

encounter. 

Hit Die: d8 

Requirements 

To become a wolf slayer, a character must fulfill all the 



Survival: 8 ranks 

Favored Enemy: Humanoid (shapechanger) 

Special: Stalk and kill a werewolf in the wilderness without 

aid from anyone else other than any animal companions that 

follow you. 

Class Skills 

The wolf slayer's class skills (and the key ability for each) are 

Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal 

(Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge 

(dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), 

Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), 

Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival 

(Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex). 




All of the following are class features of the wolf slayer prestige 

class. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The wolf slayer gains no 


Discerning Sight (Ex): Wolf slayers develop an innate 

ability to pick out creatures that have adopted a different 

form through magical or mundane means. They have 

studied creatures in their natural habitat to such an extent 

that they can discern the adopted mannerisms and motions 

of a shapechanger or a person who sports a disguise. They 

can notice a shapechanger, regardless of its form, or a 

creature whose shape has been changed via magic with a 

successful Spot check (DC 20). In addition, the wolf slayer 

gains a +4 competence bonus on all Spot checks opposed by 

a Disguise check. 

Wolf Stalker (Ex): As the wolf slayer's fighting abilities and 

experience with lycanthropes expands, he further hones his 

skill in defeating them in battle. At 2nd, 5th, and 8th levels, 

his favored enemy bonus against humanoids (shapechangers) 

increases by +2. This bonus applies to damage and all the skill 

checks that the favored enemy bonus normally applies to. 

Lycanthropic Immunity (Ex): At 3rd level, the wolf slayer 

develops complete immunity to lycanthropy. As part of his 

training, he exposes himself to werewolf blood, saliva, and other 

infectious agents in small doses. Over time, his body builds up an 

immunity to the diseases inflicted by the beasts he hunts. 

Vulnerable Strike (Ex): His many battles against 

werecreatures allow the wolf slayer to take advantage of their 

weaknesses. When a werecreature changes forms, the slayer 

can attack its most vulnerable spots with pinpoint accuracy. 

Beginning at 4th level, if a slayer attacks a werecreature after it 

changes shape but before its next action, he gains +1d6 

damage to his attack. Treat this damage as a sneak attack for 

determining how it functions with respect to critical hits, 

magical items, and other effects. The slayer gains this damage 

with melee strikes and missile attacks made at a range of 30 ft. 

or less. 

Scent of the Beast (Ex): At 6th level, the slayer's training 

and experience in fighting werecreatures allow him to develop 

a nearly supernatural ability to detect them. He is considered 

to have the scent special ability, but only against werecreatures, 

regardless of their current form. 

Canny Wrestler (Ex): A wolf slayer must commonly move 

into close combat with a creature that is taller and stronger 

than he is, requiring him to make up for his relatively small 

girth with skill and cunning. Beginning at 7th level, when 

grappling, the slayer gains a +4 competence bonus to grapple 

and Escape Artist checks against creatures that have a higher 

Strength score and/or larger size. The slayer uses his 

opponent's bulk and power against him with misdirection, 

throws, and limb locks. 

Precision Strike (Ex): By studying an opponent, the 9thlevel 

wolf slayer can pick out soft, vulnerable areas in his 

target's armor or hide. As a full-round action, he makes a 

single strike at his best base attack bonus, but this strike 

Base 



1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Discerning sight 

2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Wolf stalker +2 

3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Lycanthropic immunity 

4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Vulnerable strike 

5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Wolf stalker +2 

6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Scent of the beast 

7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Canny wrestler 

8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Wolf stalker +2 

9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Precision strike 

10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Hindering strike 



ignores either his target's armor or natural bonus to AC (the 

slayer may choose which bonus to ignore). The slayer finds 

gaps in plate mail, soft areas around a beast's joints, and other 

spots that make ideal targets. 

Hindering Strike (Ex): At 10th level, the wolf slayer masters 

the tactics and maneuvers needed to easily dispatch 

lycanthropes. If he uses a full attack action to make a single 

strike against a lycanthrope, he can force the creature to revert 

to its humanoid form if he successfully hits and inflicts 

damage. The werecreature must make a Fortitude save (DC 20 

+ the slayer's Strength modifier) or be forced to use his next 

action to transform into humanoid shape. The intense pain 

caused by the slayer's strike clouds the lycanthrope's mind and 

forces it to reflexively turn into a humanoid. 

Lycanthrope Feats 

Feats represent tricks, talents, and other minor abilities that 

adventurers learn to enhance their skills and abilities. 

Lycanthropes, with the various abilities they have in each of 

their forms, have developed an array of unique talents. Some 

of the feats presented here work best when used in animal 

shape, while others are tailored to hybrid form. Be sure to 

consider your character's preferred form before picking out 

feats for him. 

Most of the feats presented here are marked with the 

lycanthrope keyword. These feats are available only to 

werecreature characters and NPCs. They draw on and improve 

typical lycanthropic traits and are thus unsuitable to other 

characters. Feats that do not have this keyword can be taken 

by any character. 

Since werecreatures often have radically different ability scores 

in their animal and humanoid forms, your character might 

qualify for a feat while in animal guise but not in humanoid 

form. You can take any feat if one of your forms meets its 

prerequisites. However, you can only utilize that feat while in 

forms that meet the feat's qualifications. For example, a 

werebear with a 10 Strength in humanoid form but a 24 in 

bear form could use Power Attack as an animal but not as a 

humanoid. If his humanoid form's Strength increased to 13, 

possibly due to a magic item, he could then use Power Attack 

in that shape as well. 

As an optional rule, you can take feats that none of your forms 

can use with the understanding that as you gain levels in the 

werecreature classes you will eventually qualify to use it. 

Banking a feat in this manner allows you to build the character 

you want without worry about timing your access to feats with 

your ability scores. 

In addition to the primary feats listed here, the end of this section 

includes expanded rules for the Control Shape skill and a 

selection of feats that utilize it. These feats are listed separately for 

ease of reference. Both feat sections are listed together in a single 

reference table to make selecting them easier. 

Alter Features 

[Lycanthrope] 

When changing forms, you can opt to alter your appearance. 

You can change your facial structure, alter the color of your 

hair, or change the pattern of your fur. You cannot make 

massive changes to your appearance, but you can attempt to 

mimic others and disguise yourself. 

Prerequisite: Disguise skill. 

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all Disguise checks in any 

form. 

Armored Shapechange 

(light) [Lycanthrope] 

You have learned to change shapes without ruining your 

armor. As you alter in a new form, you release straps, untie 

laces, and shed your armor as part of your transformation. 

Benefit: When you change into a form that is larger than your 

current one, you can remove any light armor you wear as a free 

action. You can only take your armor off in this manner if you 

change shape. You cannot remove it this quickly under other 

conditions. 

Armored Shapechange 

(medium) [Lycanthrope] 

Your experience in wearing heavier armor and many hours of 

practice have taught you how to change shape without 

wrecking your armor. 

Prerequisite: Armored Shapechange (light) 

Benefit: As per Armored Shapechange (light), save that you can 

remove medium armor as a free action while changing shape. 

Blade Grasper 

[Lycanthrope] 

When an opponent hits you with a weapon, your damage 

reduction causes the wound to heal around the blade. With a 

quick twist of your body, you wrench the sword or axe free of 

his hands. 

Prerequisite: DR 10/silver 

Benefit: Once per round, when you are hit with a non-silver 

slashing or piercing weapon that fails to inflict damage due to 

your DR, you may make a Strength check opposed by your 

opponent's attack roll. If you succeed, your opponent drops 

his weapon in your square. Otherwise, he maintains control of 

his blade. 


68 

Crushing Squeeze 

[General] 

With your great size and strength, you can grind opponents to 

death while you grapple them. 

Prerequisite: Size Large or larger, Str 20+, Improved Grapple, 

base attack bonus +6. 

Benefit: When you grapple an opponent, you may choose to 

crush him in a bear hug. Your foe must be your size or smaller. 

Make an opposed grapple check. If you succeed, your 

opponent is pinned and you may choose to automatically 

inflict damage against him without making a grapple check. In 

essence, your grapple checks to inflict damage automatically 

succeed. However, instead of dealing unarmed damage, you 

inflict damage equal to your Strength bonus. A foe so grappled 

is considered to be pinned. 

Darting Strike 

[Lycanthrope] 

While in animal form, you can slip into an enemy's space and 

attack him from below. Since you move on all fours, you can 

easily maneuver beneath larger creatures. 

Prerequisite: Dex 13+. 


Benefit: While in animal form, you can move into the area 

occupied by a creature that is at least one size category larger 

than you are. This provokes an attack of opportunity from 

your opponent. However, whenever you occupy the same 

space as your foe he loses his Dexterity bonus to AC against 

your attacks. Each round you remain within your foe's square, 

you provoke an attack of opportunity from him. 

Ferocious Grapple 

[General] 

When engaged in close quarters fighting, you know how to 

bring your claws and fangs to bear upon an opponent with 

deadly results. 

Prerequisite: Improved Grapple 

Benefit: While grappling an opponent, you may attack him as 

normal with your natural weapons. This benefit does not 

extend to unarmed strikes in humanoid form unless you have 

the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. 

Normal: Normally, you may attack with natural weapons at a 

–4 penalty to hit. 

Form Mastery (animal) 

[Lycanthrope] 

You have spent much of your time in animal form and have 

grown more accustomed to it than your other shapes. You fight 

better in your animal form and can assume it faster than normal. 

Prerequisite: You may not choose this feat if you have 

previously gained Form Mastery (hybrid) or Form Mastery 

(humanoid). 

Benefit: You suffer a –1 competence penalty to all attacks, saves, 

and checks while in hybrid or humanoid form, but gain a +1 

competence bonus to attacks, saves, and checks while in animal 

form. In addition, you can change into animal form from 

humanoid or hybrid form as a standard action. 

Form Mastery (humanoid) 

[Lycanthrope] 

You feel most comfortable as a humanoid, with both your 

hybrid and animal forms proving difficult for you to adapt to. 

Some of the traits and abilities you would enjoy as a 

lycanthrope bleed through to your humanoid form, as you 

channel your feral instincts to your humanoid psyche. 

Prerequisite: You may not choose this feat if you have previously 

gained Form Mastery (hybrid) or Form Mastery (animal). 

Benefit: While in humanoid form, you gain a +2 bonus to any 

ability score that increases when you switch into hybrid or 

animal shape. When in either of those two other forms, you 

suffer a –2 penalty to all attacks and checks. In addition, you 

reduce your speed in hybrid and animal forms by 10 ft., as you 

have difficulty adjusting to your new body. 


Form Mastery (hybrid) 

[Lycanthrope] 

Caught between your humanoid and bestial sides, you prefer 

to remain in hybrid form for much of the time. 

Prerequisite: You may not choose this feat if you have 

previously gained Form Mastery (animal) or Form Mastery 

(humanoid). 

Benefit: When you switch from humanoid to hybrid form, you 

do not lose any of your equipment even if your size changes. 

When fighting with your natural weapons as secondary attacks 

while using a sword or other weapon as your primary attack, 

reduce the penalty the secondary attacks suffer by 1. When in 

humanoid form, you suffer a –2 penalty to Strength and 

Dexterity as you must struggle to cope with a weak, frail form. 

In animal guise, you reduce your speed by 10 ft. and suffer a 

–1 competence penalty to attacks, checks, and saves. 

Lycanthropic Shield 

[Lycanthrope] 

Drawing on your natural immunity to non-silvered weapons, 

you use your body to catch and deflect light blows. Since many 

attacks cannot injure you, you use your arm like a shield. This 

makes it easier to hit you, but your foes are less likely to inflict 

a serious injury against you. 

Prerequisite: DR 5/silver. 


Benefit: You can choose to inflict a –2 penalty to your 

opponent's damage at the cost of granting him a +2 

circumstance bonus to hit you. You force your opponent to 

strike non-vital parts of your body, such as shielding your 

throat with your arm or twisting to catch an arrow on your 

shoulder rather than your chest. 

Overwhelm [General] 

With your great bulk and strength, you can force your 

opponents backward in melee. You lean into them and 

overwhelm them with raw force. 

Prerequisite: Size Large or larger, Str 20+. 

Benefit: When making a full attack against a creature smaller 

than you, you can attempt a Strength check in place of the 5ft. 

step you would normally be allowed. Any one creature that 

you attacked and hit that round must oppose this check with 

its own Strength check. If your check succeeds, you move into 

your opponent's space and he must move into one of the three 

squares behind him relative to you. If your check fails or there 

are no free squares for your opponent to retreat into, your 

opponent maintains his space and may make an attack of 

opportunity against you. 

Power Slam [General] 

You strike your foes with such tremendous force that you send 

them tumbling to the ground. 

Prerequisite: Bull Rush, Power Attack, Str 20+. 

Benefit: As a full-round action, you focus on making a single, 

devastating blow against an opponent. Make a single attack at 

your highest base attack bonus as normal. If you hit, your 

target must beat you in an opposed Strength check. If he fails, 

you knock him prone in his current square. 

Turn the Tables 

[Lycanthrope] 

You use your natural immunity to non-silvered weapons to 

your advantage in battle. When a foe strikes at you, you pull 

him off balance by grabbing at his weapon and forcing it 

deeper into your body. So long as your lycanthropic nature 

prevents you from incurring an injury, you can throw your 

opponent off-balance. 

Prerequisite: DR 10/silver. 

Benefit: Once per round, you gain an attack of opportunity 

against an opponent who hits you with a weapon in melee and 

fails to deal enough damage to defeat your DR. You do not gain 

this attack against creatures that use silver weapons, unarmed 

strikes, natural weapons, spells, or ranged attacks. 

Control Shape and Lycanthropes 

In the core rules, the Control Shape skill is used only by afflicted 

werecreatures to harness the strange new abilities they gain 

through lycanthropy. These rules expand on this skill and present 


70 

a series of new feats that work with it in much the same way that 

the Track feat extends the Survival skill. You may have noticed 

that the werecreature classes all gain Control Shape as a class skill 

even though natural lycanthropes normally have no use for it. 

Under these rules, all werecreatures can use Control Shape to 

gain new special abilities. 

Control Shape (Wis) 


Any character that has contracted lycanthropy and is aware of 

his condition can learn Control Shape as a class skill. (An 

afflicted lycanthrope not yet aware of his condition can 

attempt Control Shape checks untrained.) This skill 

determines whether an afflicted lycanthrope can control his 

shape. A natural lycanthrope does not need this skill, since it 

has full control over its shape, but it can develop its talent with 

it in order to establish a greater degree of control over its 

changes. For example, a lycanthrope can use this skill to 

change forms faster, make a partial transformation from one 

form to another, and otherwise increase the breadth of utility 

in its alternate form ability. 

Check (Involuntary Change): An afflicted character must 

make a DC 25 check at moonrise each night of the full moon 

to resist involuntarily assuming animal form. An injured 

character must also check for an involuntary change after 

accumulating enough damage to reduce his hit points by onequarter, 

and again after each additional one-quarter of his 

normal maximum hit points lost. 

On a failed check, the character must remain in animal form 

until the next dawn, when he automatically returns to his base 

form. A character aware of his condition may make one 

attempt to return to humanoid form (see below), but if he fails, 

he remains in animal form until the next dawn. 

Retry (Involuntary Change): No. Check to resist an 

involuntary change once each time a triggering event occurs. 

Check (Voluntary Change): In addition, an afflicted 

lycanthrope aware of his condition may attempt to use this 

skill voluntarily in order to change to animal form, assume 

hybrid form, or return to humanoid form, regardless of the 

state of the moon or whether he has been injured. 

Voluntary Change Control Shape DC 

Return to humanoid form (full moon*) 25 

Return to humanoid form (not full moon) 20 

Assume hybrid form 15 

Voluntary change to animal form (full moon) 15 

Voluntary change to animal form (not full moon) 20 

* For game purposes, the full moon lasts three days every 

month. 

Retry (Voluntary Change): A character can retry voluntary 

changes to animal form or hybrid form as often as he likes. 

Each attempt is a standard action. However, on a failed check 

to return to humanoid form, the character must remain in 

animal or hybrid form until the next dawn, when he 

automatically returns to humanoid form. 

Special: An afflicted lycanthrope cannot attempt a voluntary 

change until it becomes aware of its condition (see 

Lycanthropy as an Affliction). 

Check (Controlled Change): Any character with levels in 

any of the lycanthrope classes given in this book can use 

Control Shape to make minor adjustments to his body form. A 

werebear in human shape might try to increase his Strength to 

match his bear form's physical might. A wererat sorcerer who 

wants to use spells while in the guise of a rat might attempt to 

alter his form to temporarily produce humanoid hands and 

vocal cords. 

The DCs for these checks are outlined in the individual feat 

descriptions given below. Each of the Control Shape feats 

works much like the Track feat, offering a new, useful way to 

use the Control Shape feat. 

Retry (Controlled Change): Normally, on a failed check to 

make a controlled change a character can try again as soon as 

he wishes. Aside from wasting an action on an unsuccessful 

skill check, he usually suffers no drawbacks. A few of the feats 

list other penalties that a lycanthrope incurs when he fails a 

Control Shape check. 

Special: Only lycanthropes that possess the Control Shape 

feats given in this section may attempt skill checks to gain the 

feats' benefits. 

The Control Shape Feats 

These feats all require that a character have one or more ranks 

in Control Shape in order to use them. You can take these feats 

without restriction, but they are useless in most cases unless 

you have several ranks in that skill. Since you can use Control 

Shape untrained, there's always a chance that you might get 

lucky. 

Note that all of these feats are flagged with the lycanthrope tag. 

Only werecreatures can take them, and any class that grants 

access to bonus lycanthrope feats allows you to take these feats. 

Bestial Caster 

[Lycanthrope] 

While in your animal form, you cause subtle changes to your 

forelimbs and vocal cords that allow you to complete somatic 

and verbal spell components. 

Prerequisite: Arcane or divine spellcaster. 

Benefit: As a move-equivalent action while in animal form, you 

may attempt a Control Shape check (DC 20) to allow you to 

use spells with somatic and verbal components while in your 

animal form. If this check succeeds, you may use a standard 

action during that same round to cast a spell. You cannot use 

spells that require full-round actions to cast. You return to 


normal at the start of your next action. Until then, you cannot 

use your natural weapons to make attacks. You count as 

unarmed for purposes of attacks of opportunity and other 

strikes you may make and inflict damage as per your 

humanoid form's unarmed strike. 

If your Control Shape check fails, you may take your standard 

action as normal. You cannot cast a spell but you do not suffer 

the drawbacks of losing the use of your natural weapons. The 

spell is not ruined, as you do not attempt to cast it until after 

your skill check resolves. You cannot use this ability to gain 

hands or speak, as the changes you make are subtle and tailored 

to allow the completion of a spell. In addition, you must have 

any necessary material components on hand. 

Bestial Hide [Lycanthrope] 

You partially transform into your animal or hybrid form, 

allowing you to temporarily gain the benefits of that form's 

superior natural armor class. 

Benefit: You may make a Control Shape check as a free action 

to improve your natural armor bonus while in humanoid 

form. The DC of this check is 15 + 1 per point of natural AC 

bonus you want to gain. You may gain a maximum total 

natural AC bonus equal to your hybrid or animal's bonus. You 

maintain this benefit for 10 minutes. Due to the stress this 

partial change places on your system, you may use this feat 

only once per hour. 

Claws of the Beast 

[Lycanthrope] 

You partially change into your hybrid form, sprouting fangs 

and claws that you can use to fight your enemies. 

Benefit: As a free action while in humanoid form, you may 

make a Change Shape check (DC 10) to gain the use of your 

hybrid form's natural attacks. You inflict damage as per your 

hybrid form and otherwise treat your unarmed attacks as 

natural weapons. When fighting with them, you count as 

making armed attacks. You make full-attacks with them as per 

your hybrid form. You can return to your normal form as a free 

action that does not require a Change Shape check. 

Feral Agility [Lycanthrope] 

You call upon your animal form's speed and grace, allowing 

you to move with inhuman agility while in humanoid form. 

Prerequisite: Dex 13+ while in humanoid form. 


Benefit: As a free action, you may make a Control Shape check to 

increase your Dexterity while in humanoid form. You may increase 

your stat to a maximum of your animal or hybrid's modified 

ability. The DC of the Control Shape check equals 15 + 2 per point 

of Dexterity you wish to gain. This increase lasts for five minutes. 

You may use this feat once per hour, as the strain it places on your 

humanoid form is too great to use it more often. 

Feral Endurance 

[Lycanthrope] 

While your humanoid form is weak and frail, you can call 

upon your animal nature to increase its durability for short 

periods of time. 

Prerequisite: Con 13+ in humanoid form. 

Benefit: As a free action, you may make a Control Shape check 

to increase your Constitution while in humanoid form. You 

may increase your stat to a maximum of your animal or 

hybrid's modified ability. The DC of the Control Shape check 

equals 15 + 2 per point of Constitution you wish to gain. This 

increase lasts for five minutes. You may use this feat once per 

hour, as the strain it places on your humanoid form is too great 

to use it more often. 

Feral Rage [Lycanthrope] 

You channel your anger and energy into your animal nature, 

allowing you to more easily awaken the beast within you while 

you are in the midst of battle frenzy. 

Prerequisite: Ability to rage. 

Benefit: You gain a +6 bonus to all Control Shape checks you 

make while raging. Normally, changing forms requires too much 

focus to use while in a berserk fury. When you rage you blend 

your humanoid, hybrid, and animal natures into one, allowing 

you to more easily cross the boundaries between the three. 

Feral Strength 

[Lycanthrope] 

You tap into your animal form, gaining increased physical 

power while keeping your humanoid guise. 

Prerequisite: Str 13+ in humanoid form. 

Benefit: As a free action, you may make a Control Shape check to 

increase your Strength while in humanoid form. You may increase 

your stat to a maximum of your animal or hybrid's modified 

ability. The DC of the Control Shape check equals 15 + 2 per point 

of Strength you wish to gain. This increase lasts for one minute. 

You may use this feat once per hour, as the strain it places on your 

humanoid form is too great to use it more often. 

Material Transformation 

[Lycanthrope] 

You master not only the physical process behind your 

lycanthropic transformations, but also the magical forces that 

propel them. When you shift forms, you can incorporate items 

you carry into your new shapes. 

Prerequisite: Int 10+. 

Benefit: When you change forms, you can opt to incorporate 

items you carry, armor you wear, and weapons you wield into 

your new form. Rather than drop these goods or destroy armor 


72 

you wear, you make them part of your new form. You lose all 

benefits of any items that you could not normally continue to 

use when shifting forms. When you return to a form that can 

utilize a piece of equipment, it appears once again on your body. 

In order to activate this feat, you must make a Control Shape 

check (DC 15) as a free action while switching forms. 

Remember, if you are not involved in combat or otherwise under 

stress you can take 10 on this and most other skill checks. 

Rapid Transformation 

[Lycanthrope] 

By focusing your will on controlling your form, you slip from 

one shape to another much faster than normal. While other 

werecreatures take a few seconds to go from one shape to 

another, your changes take place much faster. 

Prerequisite: Control Shape 4+ ranks. 

Benefit: You may make a Control Shape check to quicken the 

speed of your changes from one form to another. Declare that 

you wish to use this feat and make a Control Shape check. The 

outcome of your check determines how quickly you change 

form. If you fail to change your shape any faster than normal, 

you morph into your alternate form as a full-round action. 

Due to the strain this rapid change places on your body, you 

may use this feat only once per minute. Furthermore, after 

changing your shape using this feat, you cannot assume a 

different form for 10 rounds. 

Transformation Speed DC 

Move-equivalent action 25 

Free action 35 

Reduce Size [Lycanthrope] 

You can decrease your size by one category by exercising your 

control over the process of changing your shape. 

Prerequisite: Control Shape 4+ ranks. 


Benefit: When using your alternate form ability to change 

shape, you can make a Control Shape check (DC 20) to reduce 

the size of your new form by one category. You suffer a –4 

penalty to Strength in this form, but otherwise gain the usual 

benefits and drawbacks of your new size. If you fail the 

Control Shape check, you can decide to transform into your 

form's normal size or remain in your current shape. You must 

spend the action to change forms in either case. 

Swiping Attack 

[Lycanthrope] 

You sprout temporary fangs or claws, allowing you to rake 

your opponent and possibly catch him off guard. 

Benefit: While in humanoid form, you may make an unarmed 

attack with a free hand or a bite. After declaring your attack, you 

may make a Control Shape check (DC 25) to sprout fangs or 

claws to deliver a savage blow against your opponent. If this 

check fails, you make a standard unarmed attack that provokes 

an attack of opportunity unless you have the Improved Unarmed 

Strike feat. If the Control Shape check succeeds, your attack 

surprises your opponent. You deal damage with your bite or 

claw (as appropriate) as per your hybrid form. In addition, your 

opponent must make a Sense Motive check (DC equal to the 

result of your Control Shape check) or he loses his Dexterity 

bonus to AC against this attack. 

The strain this rapid change places on your body allows you to 

use it only once every five rounds. 

Special: You may use a standard action to make this attack or 

you can make it as part of a normal full-attack action. In the 

latter case, you suffer a –5 penalty to this attack. 

Lycanthropes 

and Magic 

While werecreatures are generally seen as feral monsters that 

have little to do with learning and knowledge, they hold many 

magical talents that they have shepherded through the ages. 

Lycanthropes have developed a variety of spells that aim to aid 

them in their endeavors, from simple charms that make them 

lethal hunters to complex, powerful spells that allow them to 

maintain possession of their weapons and armor when 

changing forms. 

This section lists a variety of magical spells developed and used 

by werecreatures, along with notes and rules for how they 

employ magic. Since many lycanthropes spend a fair portion of 

their time in a non-humanoid form, they have learned to adapt 

traditional spellcasting methods to their unique forms. 

Spellcasting and Animal 

Forms 

Normally, a lycanthrope can use magic only while in 

humanoid or hybrid form. In both of these shapes, they have 

hands to manipulate material components and complete 

somatic ones. In addition, they can clearly and correctly speak 

the verbal portions of a spell. Animal form is a different story. 

Without hands or vocal cords capable of producing speech, 

lycanthropes in animal form cannot cast most spells. Most of 

the time, lycanthropic casters prepare or cast spells with the 

still spell and silent spell metamagic feats. 

A few of the spells designed by lycanthropes were specifically 

crafted for use in animal form. These spells use a new 

component, bestial, marked with a B in the spell descriptions. 

The bestial component consists of growls, motions, and other 

actions that an animal can complete. Anyone seeing a 

lycanthrope in animal form cast a bestial spell will recognize 

that the animal is not acting normally, and a Spellcraft check 

(DC 15-spell level) will reveal that the animal is actually casting 

a spell. Using a bestial spell requires no special training or 

knowledge. The work needed to add it to a caster's list 



represents all the training he needs, just as a wizard who adds 

magic missile to his books or a cleric who gains raise dead is 

assumed to master those spells' specific components. Bestial 

spells never require material components. 

Spells that list only a bestial component can only be cast in 

animal form. If a spell's component list ends with /B, then the 

spell can be cast using either all the components listed to the 

left of the slash, or only the bestial component, as appropriate 

to the caster's form at the time of casting. 

Lycanthrope Spellcasters 

Werecreature spellcasters make effective characters because of 

their ability to assume animal and hybrid forms. In those 

shapes, their ability to use spells is limited but they gain 

superior Strength, Constitution, and AC. Thus, a werewolf 

sorcerer could use spells in humanoid form and then shift into 

animal shape once his foes draw near. In that guise, he could 

either flee using the wolf's good speed or continue to fight with 

his fearsome bite. In hybrid form, lycanthropes enjoy the best 

of both worlds. They can rain spells upon their enemies while 

fending off any who draw too near with their claws. One thing 

to keep in mind is that even in their animal and hybrid forms, 

lycanthropes still suffer from the spellcasting classes' poor hit 

points and fighting ability. Still, a lycanthrope wizard or 

sorcerer can defend himself in battle much more effectively 

than his humanoid counterpart. 

If you want your lycanthrope spellcaster to spend most of an 

encounter in animal form, you should focus on using spells 

that improve your fighting ability or your allies' skills. Spells 

such as mage armor, bull's strength, cat's grace, and similar 

magic all improve your abilities regardless of your form. While 

fighting as an animal, especially at lower levels in the 

werecreature classes, your AC is your biggest weakness. Since 

you are unable to wear armor, any magic that boosts your AC 

proves its worth many times over. Even at low levels, a spell 

such as shield can spell the difference between an easy victory 

and a difficult battle. A lycanthrope can spend a few rounds 

casting spells, especially if he has warning of the battle to come, 

before changing shape. This advice applies equally to both 

NPC and player character lycanthropes. 

Druids present an interesting issue to game masters who want 

to use lycanthropes as allies or villains. Since a druid must be 

at least partly neutral, most of the stock lycanthrope races can 

never qualify for it as presented. Werewolves, wererats, and 

werebears can never qualify for this class, as they are listed as 

always chaotic evil, lawful evil, and lawful good respectively. 

You can safely assume that, just like PC lycanthropes, the 

druids among them are exceptional individuals who buck the 

trend presented in the core rules. 

New Spells 

The magic spells presented here were developed by 

lycanthrope casters, though they are in many cases equally 

useful to normal humanoids. Spells usable only by 

lycanthrope casters are marked as such in the spell's stat block, 

under the school designation. 

Transmutation 

Level: Drd 2, Rgr 2 

Components: B 

Casting Time: 1 action 

Range: Personal 

Target: You 

Duration: 1 round/level 

Battle Spines 

You cause long, jagged bone spines to erupt from your body. 

Your natural attacks deal more damage than normal, as these 

razor sharp protrusions tear into your opponent. Furthermore, 

when grappling these spines skewer your enemies. When 

fighting with natural weapons, you inflict an additional 1d4 

points of damage per attack. On a critical hit, do not multiply 

this damage. Apply it only once. When grappling, you deal 

2d4 bonus damage if you elect to inflict damage upon your 

opponent with a successful grapple check or attack him with 

a natural weapon. As with the normal version of this bonus, do 

not multiply it on a critical hit or any other effect that 

multiplies damage. 

Bestial Fangs 

Transmutation 


Components: V 



Target: You 

Duration: 1 minute/level (D) 

You sprout long, vicious fangs and sharp, cruel claws. You 

count as being armed with natural weapons when fighting 

with these attacks, and may strike twice with your claws at 

your full base attack bonus and once with your bite at a –5 

penalty. You do not gain the benefits of extra attacks due to a 

high base attack bonus while fighting in this manner. Your 

claws gain your full Strength bonus to damage, but your bite 

gains only half of it. Any spells that modified your unarmed 

attacks, such as magic fang, apply to your newly grown claws 

and fangs. While under this spell's effects, you cannot use 

spells with verbal components or carry weapons or shields due 

to your natural weapons. 

Transmutation 

Level: Rgr 5, Sor/Wiz 4 

Components: V, S, M 


Range: Touch 

Blindsight 


74 

Target: Creature touched 

Duration: 1 minute/level 

Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless) 

Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless) 

This spell grants a creature incredible sensitivity to vibrations, 

a sharper sense of smell, acute hearing, or echolocation. He 

gains blindsight with a range of 60 ft. Within this range, 

invisibility, darkness, and most kinds of concealment are 

irrelevant to the spell's recipient, though it must have line of 

effect to a creature or object to discern that creature or object. 

The recipient usually does not need to make Spot or Listen 

checks to notice creatures within range of this spell. 

Material Focus: A bat's eye. 

Calm the Inner Beast 

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting] 

Level: Brd 2, Drd 2, Rgr 2 

Components: V, S, F 


Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) 

Target: One creature 


Saving Throw: Will negates 

Spell Resistance: Yes 

This spell severs a lycanthrope's magical ability to change 

shape, forcing him to adopt a form of your choice on his next 

action. Once in that form, the lycanthrope cannot easily 

change into a different shape until this spell's duration ends. 

Each time the lycanthrope attempts a change, he must spend a 

standard action as normal and make another Will save to resist 

this spell; if the save fails, the action is lost and the lycanthrope 

does not change shape. If the target does manage to change 

shape, he must make another Will save before his action each 

round or be forced to return to the shape you originally chose 

when casting this spell. The lycanthrope does not need to 

make a save if he remains in the shape you picked. 

Focus: A miniature whip that is snapped at the target creature. 

Evocation 


Components: V/B 


Range: See spell description 

Target: Creature grappled 


Saving Throw: None 



Crushing Weight 

When grappling a creature that you have pinned, you may 

attempt to cast this spell to leave the creature rooted in place. 

You create a powerful force that holds the target in place and 

attempts to prevent it from escaping. Each time the creature 

attempts to break your pin or your grapple, you may make a 

grapple check to keep the creature trapped, even if you no are 

no longer grappling it. In essence, this spell allows you to leave 

a creature that you have grappled unattended. The force 

generated by the spell works to keep the creature in place. Treat 

the spell in all ways as if you were physically grappling the 

target. However, the spell may not be used to damage the target 

or do anything other than maintin an existing grapple or pin. 

This spell ends as soon as the affected creature breaks the pin 

and subsequently defeats you (or, more accurately, the spell) in 

a grapple check to escape. 

Dire Form 

Transmutation 

Level: Drd 3 

Components: B 



Target: You 




You grow larger and more powerful, taking on a form similar 

to the dire version of the animal whose form you currently 

mimic. You gain the following benefits from this spell: Your 

size increases by one increment, changing your size modifier 

to attacks and AC while granting you a +5 ft. bonus to reach. 

In addition, you gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength. 

Feral Alacrity 

Transmutation [Lycanthrope Only] 


Components: V, S/B 



Target: You 




You tap into your inner animal nature and leave yourself 

suspended on the edge of all three of your forms. When you 

use your alternate form ability, you change shape in the blink 

of an eye. Once per round, you may change your shape as a 

free action. Otherwise, use the rules for changing shapes as 

normal. You can change shape more than once in a round if 


you use this spell to shift your form as a free action, then use 

a standard action to change shape again. You cannot gain the 

benefits of more than one of these spells at the same time. 

Casting it a second time has no special effect. 

Hail of Fangs 

Conjuration (Creation) [Lycanthrope Only] 

Level: Sor/Wiz 3 



Range: 30 ft.-cone 

Target: All creatures within a 30-ft. cone 

Duration: Instantaneous 

Saving Throw: Reflex half 



You unleash a vicious breath weapon that takes the form of a 

driving storm of razor sharp fangs. These teeth cut into your 

foes, slicing their flesh and tearing them to pieces. Creatures 

within this spell's area of effect suffer 1d6 damage per two 

caster levels, with a maximum of 10d6 damage. In addition, 

creatures that take damage from this spell must make saves to 

avoid suffering the effects lycanthropy or any other diseases or 

poisons that your bite attack can deliver. Use the normal save 

DCs and effects listed for any such diseases or poisons. 

Material Component: An incisor taken from a rat, wolf, or 

other mammalian predator or vermin. 

Howl of the Beast 

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Lycanthrope Only, Mind- 

Affecting] 

Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3 

Components: V/B 


Range: 50 ft. 

Area: All enemies within 50-ft.-radius burst centered on you 




You unleash a horrible, keening wail that scythes through your 

opponents' souls and leaves them unable to effectively defend 

themselves. Enemies who fail their Will saves are unable to 

approach you and are considered shaken. They suffer a –2 

morale penalty to attacks, checks, and saves. While your foes 

cannot move any closer to you, they are free to attack you with 

spells and ranged weapons. Any opponents who are in your 

threatened area when you cast this spell must move out of this 

area on their next actions. If you move so that a foe is within 

your threatened area, that opponent is allowed another Will 

save. If he succeeds, he may remain in that area on his next 

action. Regardless of this save's result, he remains shaken. 

Enemies who succeeded in their initial save against this spell 

do not need to make additional saves when you threaten them. 

Hunter's Ears 

Transmutation 




Range: Touch 


Duration: 1 hour/level 



This spell sharpens and clarifies a creature's hearing, making it 

able to pick up the slightest sound. It grants a +5 competence 

bonus on all Listen checks. 

Material Component: A small piece of wax. 


76 

Transmutation 




Range: Touch 



Hunter's Eyes 



This simple but useful spell grants a creature clearer vision and 

the ability to pick out details at a greater distance. It bestows a 

+5 competence bonus to all Spot checks for its duration. 

Material Component: A small scrap of cloth. 

Longfang's Shifting Shield 

Abjuration 





Target: You 


Using your magic, you alter the magical protections that ward 

you against physical blows delivered by weapons crafted from 

certain materials. If you have damage reduction from any 

source, such as a spell or an inherent supernatural ability, you 

may alter its weakness to a different material or aura for the 

duration of this spell. You may change it to one of the following 

qualities: adamantine, chaotic, cold iron, evil, good, lawful, 

magic, or silver. The amount of damage your DR prevents does 

not change, only the type of attacks it remains vulnerable to. 

You may not alter your vulnerability again until this spell 

expires. If you have more than one form of DR, this spell 

replaces them with a single DR rating with a numerical rating 

equal to your highest single DR, and vulnerability to the single 

attack type of your choice as listed above. 

Longfang's Mystic Pockets 

Conjuration (Summoning) 



Casting Time: 1 minute 


Target: You 

Duration: 1 hour/level (D) 




You create a shifting pocket of dimensional space around your 

body. When you change shape, such as with a lycanthrope's 

alternate form ability or via a spell or magic item, any 

equipment you carry that would not transform with you shifts 

into the space created by the spell. You can opt to retain any of 

your equipment in your possession, and it suffers the effects of 

the transformation as normal. For example, a werebear under 

the effects of this spell changes into its animal form. Her 

armor, weapons, and other gear disappear as she changes. She 

could opt to prevent her armor from slipping into the 

dimensional space, but if she grew larger due to the change it 

would be ruined. 

When you change back to the form that originally had this 

equipment, it automatically appears on you as you originally 

carried it. When this spell's duration expires (or if an 

opponent dispels it) your gear clatters to the ground at your 

feet as the space you created collapses and returns it to the 

material world. 

Material Component: A small scrap of cloth folded over into a 

pocket or small bag. 

Magic Fang, Supreme 

Transmutation 


Components: V, S 


Range: Touch 





This spell functions as per greater magic fang, save that in 

addition to the +1 enhancement bonus per four caster levels, 

you may bestow weapon traits such as flaming or chaotic onto 

a natural attack. You gain a +1 bonus per four caster levels to 

spend on these abilities. For example, a 16th-level caster 

would bestow a +4 enhancement bonus to a natural attack 

along with +4 worth of magic weapon traits. 

Transmutation 

Level: Drd 3 

Components: B 



Target: You 


Monstrous Fangs 


Your fangs and claws grow unnaturally long. They scythe 

through your opponents with ease, leaving them torn to 

pieces. Your natural attacks deal extra damage, as detailed in 

the monstrous fangs table. If you change from animal form to 

hybrid or humanoid form for whatever reason, this spell 

immediately ends. 

Base Damage Monstrous Fangs 

1d3 1d4 

1d4 1d6 

1d6 1d8 

1d8 2d6 

2d6 2d8 

2d8 2d12 

Moon Bridge 

Conjuration (Creation) 

Level: Drd 2, Sor/Wiz 2 


Casting Time: 1 round 

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) 

Effects: An archway 10-ft. wide and 5 ft. long/caster level 


You conjure up coherent moonlight to form an arch that is a 

total of 5 ft. long per caster level and 10 ft. wide. This bridge 

shimmers and glows under direct moonlight but is otherwise 

invisible. You must place the arch so that one end touches the 

ground within range and the other end is anchored on a solid 

object. You can form the arch so that it has a gentle slope or a 

sharp, sheer face as long as both ends touch solid objects. If 

you try to form a bridge that lacks anchors on both ends, the 

spell fails. The arch can support any amount of weight, but 

any creature that forcibly tries to move through the arch itself 

can push through it by spending an additional 5-ft. (1 square) 

of movement. The archway does not block attacks or spells 

and cannot be targeted with them, nor does it block line of 

sight or line of effect. Missiles, spells, and other effects pass 

through the bridge's ephemeral material. 

Moon Veil 

Illusion (Shadow) 

Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1 





Duration: 2 rounds +1 round/2 levels 




You create a shimmering, swirling globe of dull light and 

darkness that wraps around a creature's eyes. If the target relies 

on normal sight or darkvision, or otherwise needs its eyes to 

perceive targets, it suffers a 20% miss chance due to 

concealment on all melee and ranged attacks. The target can 

attack any opponent as normal, but the spell disrupts its 

vision. It sees the world as if under the effects of a strobe light. 

Images flash and darken before its eyes. Creatures with 

blindsight and similar abilities ignore this spell's effects, as 

they rely on other senses to perceive their foes. 

Mule's Toughness 

Transmutation 



Casting Time: 1 round 

Range: Touch 


Duration: 1 day 



You grant this spell's target supernatural resilience and 

toughness. For the spell's duration, the target gains the 

benefits of the Endurance feat. 

Mystic Fang 

Transmutation 


Components: V, S/B 


Range: Touch 





You grant a single natural attack of your choice, such as a slam, 

claw, or bite, a characteristic that allows it to defeat a creature's 

damage reduction. Possible traits include silver, adamantine, 

and cold iron. You can grant a natural attack an alignment 

trait, but the target of this ability must have an alignment that 

matches the descriptor you wish to grant to the attack. For 

example, a neutral animal's attacks could not be given a good 

or evil aura. You can instead opt to grant the attack a 

descriptor such as fire or cold. The affected attack delivers 

damage of the chosen type. When you cast this spell, you must 

choose one material, alignment, or energy type to bestow. You 

do not grant the target one of each. 

A creature may be affected by this spell more than once, as 

long as each casting bestows a different quality. 


78 

Evocation [Force] 




Overpowering Force 

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) 



Saving Throw: None 

Spell Resistance: No 

You create a writhing bundle of force similar to a tentacle and 

send it hurtling towards an opponent. Each round, this spell 

attempts to grapple its target using your base attack bonus and 

Strength. Its initial touch attack does not draw an attack of 

opportunity. Once it grapples an opponent, it attempts to pin 

him. After pinning an opponent, it deals unarmed damage as 

appropriate to your unarmed attack. The spell continues to 

make grapple checks until it is dispelled or its duration 

expires. Regardless of your size, the force created by this spell 

counts as a Medium creature. 

Plague Touch 

Transmutation 

Level: Clr 1, Drd 1, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 1 




Target: You 


A favorite incantation of wererats and other creatures that have 

the inherent ability to spread disease, this insidious spell makes 

all diseases that you carry much more difficult to resist. Any 

diseases you can spread to others have the DC required to resist 

them increased by 4. This bonus applies to mundane and 

magical diseases, including mummy rot and lycanthropy. 

Toppling Weight 

Alteration 

Level: Drd 1, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 1 

Components: V, S, F 


Range: Touch 






You confer a mystic force upon this spell's target that increases 

his weight and power so that he can send opponents tumbling 

to the ground. When the creature attempts to trip a foe, he 

gains a +5 enhancement bonus to Strength checks. His 

increased weight and sturdiness allows him to pull down an 

opponent with greater ease. 

Ward the Inner Beast 

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting] 

Level: Brd 1, Drd 0, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 1 





Duration: 1 day/level 



Valued by those who fight werecreatures or must treat their 

victims, this spell delays the onset of lycanthropy and helps 

creatures fight off its effects. A creature under its effects does 

not need to make Control Shape checks to avoid changing into 

animal form;he is considered to automatically succeeding at 

such checks. If forced to make a Fortitude save to resist 

lycanthropic infection or if he must make any save to throw off 

the infection, such as after consuming belladonna, the target 

gains a +5 circumstance bonus to his save. 

Woodsman's Charm 

Transmutation 

Level: Clr 2, Drd 2, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 2 



Range: Touch 





This spell confers a basic knowledge of wilderness survival, 

allowing its recipient to manage in a forest, desert, or similar 

environment with the skill and experience of a competent 

ranger. The target counts Survival as a trained skill and gains a 

+4 competence bonus when using it. In addition, he gains the 

benefits of the Track feat. 



Lycanthrope 

Magic Items 

While many werecreatures live in the wilderness and pay little 

mind to crafting fine goods, an equal number dwell in the 

cities of men or form their own small settlements. While 

werewolves and feral wererats sometimes function at near 

Stone Age levels of technology, werebears, weretigers, and 

many other creatures make extensive use of weapons, armor, 

wondrous magic items, and other gear. Some werebeasts work 

as artisans and craftsmen among other races, while others form 

small settlements and keeps of their own. Werebear lodges 

organize themselves into small forts built into the wilderness. 

While they respect the wilds, they also see the value in trading 

for metal ores and forging tools, armor, and weapons. 

By the same token, lycanthrope spellcasters craft magic items 

to aid their allies and protect themselves from their enemies. 

While werecreatures rarely produce potent magical items, the 

treasures they do produce are noted for the durability and 

utility. Many of them draw from the lycanthropes' culture or 

tactics. The few wereboars capable of crafting enchanted items 

usually prefer ones that create simple but physically powerful 

effects. Wererats employ wondrous items that improve their 

stealth, while werewolves seek to build items that make them 

even more fearsome and terrifying than normal. 

The new magical items presented in this section represent the 

treasures normally produced by lycanthrope spellcasters. 

While these items may have once been the sole province of the 

werecreatures, they long ago filtered into the general study and 

application of magical theory. Many races, from elves and 

dwarves to orcs and goblins, now craft these items and ones 

similar to them for their own uses. 

Using Magic Items 

Lycanthrope NPCs and characters face a unique challenge 

when it comes to enchanted items. Since these characters can 

change shape, they must take care to avoid items that might be 

destroyed when they shift from humanoid to animal or hybrid 

form. This section addresses this rules issue. It presents the 

basic types of items, such as cloaks and rings, and gives you 

guidelines for handling those types of gear for lycanthropes. 

For example, a necklace might strain and snap when a 

werebear shifts from humanoid to bear form, but a ring could 

re-size itself to fit its master's larger shape. Most of the time, 

items are designed for use by humanoid characters. Shifting 

from humanoid to hybrid form has no effect on how a magic 

item works, but changing into animal shape can destroy items 

or render them useless. 

Weapons: In most cases, a lycanthrope can carry weapons in 

both its humanoid and hybrid form. When it changes into its 

animal shape, it simply drops the weapon in its current space. 

If the lycanthrope's size category changes between its 

humanoid and hybrid forms, remember to apply the penalty 

for wielding a weapon of the incorrect size. 

Armor: Armor is troublesome for most lycanthropes to wear, 

as when they change shape it can be twisted and torn into a 

useless pile of wreckage. If a lycanthrope grows larger then any 

armor and clothes he wore when he made his transformation 

are destroyed unless he spends a full-round action that draws 

an attack of opportunity to loosen his armor's straps and 

buckles. This option applies only to light armor. Medium and 

heavy armor must be completely removed before a 

lycanthrope increases his size. Otherwise, it is destroyed. If a 

lycanthrope's size decreases, he must spend a move-equivalent 

action to throw off the armor as it sags around his diminished 

form. If the lycanthrope's size stays the same, he can keep the 

armor on if he changes into his hybrid form, or allow it to fall 

off without any ill effects if he shifts to his animal shape. 

Headbands, Hats, Helms, and Phylacteries: In most 

cases, animals lack the proper size and shape to effectively 

employ these magic items. Hats fall off, headbands slip from a 

creature's head, and helmets clatters to the ground. 

Phylacteries fall to the ground in the same manner as a 

headband. As the character changes form, the strap holding it 

in place loses its grip. 

Eye Lenses and Goggles: Much like headgear, these items 

are poorly adapted for use by animals. As a lycanthrope's head 

shifts and changes into its animal forms, both of these items 

fall to the ground in its space. An animal's facial structure 

cannot accommodate these items, but neither are they 

destroyed as the lycanthrope assumes its new form. 

Amulets, Medallions, Necklaces, and Periapts: These 

items must be fastened around a user's neck. When a 

lycanthrope changes into animal form, these items remain in 

place as long as his size remains the same. These items 

magically resize themselves to suit his new form, but they 

cannot change quickly enough for a creature that increases in 

size. Note that some items, such as a necklace of fireballs, 

require a character to physically interact with them in order to 

activate them. Some animal forms might be unable to use an 

item, depending on how it functions. The necklace of fireballs 

requires a character to throw its spheres, an action that a bear 

or wolf is unable to complete. As a rule of thumb, if an item 

specifically mentions a specific, physical action its user must 

complete to use it an animal cannot normally employ it. 

Brooches and Scarabs: These items are either pins or are 

used to clasp a cloak in place. These items are useless to a 

lycanthrope in animal form unless the articles of clothing they 

are attached to remain in place in that shape. 

Vests, Vestments, Shirts, and Robes: These items cannot 

remain in place when a character assumes his animal form. 

They fall to the ground in the space he currently occupies. If 

the character assumes a smaller form, he must use a moveequivalent 

action to escape this gear as it falls on him. If he 

grows larger, the item must make a saving throw against DC 15 

or be destroyed. These items either fall from his body as he 

changes or are ripped to shreds and ruined. 

Belts: Belts never remain on a lycanthrope in animal form. 


80 


Luckily, they are easy to unlatch. A werecreature need only 

undo the buckle as a free action while he transforms. A belt 

simply falls to the ground in the lycanthrope's square. If the 

lycanthrope cannot unbuckle the belt or chooses not to, it is 

automatically destroyed if he shifts into a larger form while 

wearing one. 

Cloaks, Capes, and Mantles: As with most articles of 

clothing, these items cannot remain in place when a 

lycanthrope changes into his animal form. Luckily, they are 

relatively light and do not constrain a creature's movement if 

it assumes a smaller shape. If the creature grows larger, the 

cloak, cape, or mantle's clasp pops open and the garment falls 

to the ground. 

Bracers and Bracelets: These items can resize themselves to 

accommodate a user's size, making them useful to a 

lycanthrope regardless of his form as long as he does not 

increase in size category. In that case, the bracer or bracelet 

cannot change its size quickly enough. They must make saving 

throws (DC 15) or be ruined. Otherwise when changing into 

an animal, a werecreature's bracelets remain in place on his 

forelimbs. He continues to gain the benefits they offer, though 

he may not be able to fully use them if they require physical 

manipulations that he cannot complete in animal form. 

Gloves and Gauntlets: As animals lack hands, these items 

always fall to the ground undamaged when a lycanthrope 

assumes its animal shape. As his fingers and hands transform 

into paws, a pair of gloves or gauntlets slips from his body. 

Even if the lycanthrope's size increases, these items will not 

remain in place long enough to suffer any damage. 

Rings: As with many magical items, rings resize themselves to 

suit a creature's size. However, unless a lycanthrope's animal 

form has recognizable fingers, any rings he wears clatter to the 

ground. As a lycanthrope's fingers shorten and compact into 

paws, the rings he wears fall from his body whether he grows 

larger, smaller, or remains the same size. 

Boots and Shoes: In much the same manner that gloves, 

rings, and other articles of clothing fall off of a lycanthrope, so 

too do any shoes he currently wears slide from his paws as he 

transforms into his animal form. Boots are a slightly different 

story, as they are large enough to remain in place as a 

lycanthrope transforms. In that case, the boots must make a 

saving throw (DC 10) or be ripped and destroyed. Otherwise, 

they fall off without any ill effect. 

Other Items: For most other items, consider whether they 

would change shape to accommodate characters of different 

sizes. If the answer is yes, then the item should alter its form 

as a lycanthrope changes shape. In addition, most items 

cannot remain in place on an animal unless they are securely 

attached to a character. In most cases, an item would fall off 

of a humanoid as he transformed into a beast. The easiest 

way to think of this is to consider whether an item would 

remain on an animal if it ran, jumped, and otherwise 

attempted to go through the full range of motions and 

actions it would undertake in combat or similar trying 

circumstances. While a hat or cloak might stay on a wolf that 

moved slowly and carefully, such an item would quickly fall 

off if it broke into a trot or run. 

Try to avoid arbitrarily deciding that an item would break due 

to a transformation, especially when dealing with PC 

lycanthropes. It isn't much fun for a hard-earned, expensive 

item to break when a character simply tries to use his class or 

race abilities. On the other hand, there are a few cases where 

this heavy-handed judgment makes sense. If you warn a player 

well ahead of time that his character might lose an item, then 

it is up to him to make sure his PC takes care of it. Armor in 

particular falls into this category, as one of the drawbacks of 

being a lycanthrope is that many useful magic items prove 

worthless in animal form. By the same token, don't go too easy 

on the players. A werebear that can wear full plate in animal 

form has a major advantage over the other characters. Avoid 

violating the guidelines given above, as the restrictions they 

place on items help keep werecreatures in line with the other 

PC races and classes. 

Magic Item Qualities 

Magic item qualities are minor effects or abilities that can be 

added to any enchanted equipment other than potions. They 

represent common wards, enhancements, and abilities that are 

useful across a wide range of equipment. Adding a quality to 

an item increases its cost by the listed amount. A creator must 

meet both the base item's listed requirements and those given 

for the quality. You can add a quality to an existing item. Treat 

the quality as a wondrous item with a price equal to its cost 

modifier to determine the cost of materials needed to add it 

and the time necessary to complete it. A magic item 

undergoing such modifications cannot be used during the time 

needed to add the quality to it. 

Morphing: Many creatures, most notably lycanthropes, have 

the ability to assume a variety of forms. While some types of 

transformation include a creature's equipment and other 

possessions, many do not. For lycanthropes, many valued 

items are useless and impossible to carry while they are in 

their animal forms. The morphing ability was created to 

combat this problem. A magical item with this quality changes 

when its user alters his form. It becomes part of his body 

remains in his possession until he changes his shape again or 

he dies. While a magical item is part of a creature's form, it 

loses all its properties and cannot be directly attacked or 

affected by any means. 

Strong transmutation; CL 15th; Craft Wondrous Item, 

polymorph any object, secret chest; Price 2,000 gp; Weight. 

Weapons and Armor 

Many of the unique armors and weapons produced and used 

by lycanthropes feature natural materials taken from fallen 

enemies. Werewolves in particular are known for their savage 

ingenuity in producing enchanted items from skulls, bones, 

skins, and fur. 



Hunter's Arrow: At first glance, this arrow appears to be 

little more than a simple, primitive item. Hand-carved from a 

wooden branch and tipped with a wolf's tooth, it lacks 

fletching and seems unable to fly straight. However, when 

used in battle its true abilities become apparent. Werewolf 

hunters produce these items to slow down enemies, 

particularly those on horseback, so that the pack can run 

them down and slay them. A hunter's arrow operates as a +1 

arrow, except that in addition to taking normal damage, a 

target must make a Fortitude save (DC 14) or suffer a –10 ft. 

circumstance penalty to all movement modes. A creature's 

speed cannot be reduced to less than 5 ft. for any type of 

movement due to this effect. 

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, 

slow; Price 300 gp; Weight 1 lb. 

Rat Swarm Bullet: This leaden sling bullet is carved with 

mystic symbols and a simple, angular picture of a clawed, 

fanged rat. When grasped, the bullet seems to move ever so 

slightly, and if closely observed it occasionally shudders and 

squeaks as if a small rat is trapped within it. When fired from 

a sling, the bullet's true magic becomes apparent. If it strikes 

an opponent, it deals normal damage and explodes into a 

shower of squealing, vicious rats. Treat these rats as a swarm 

that has already entered the target's square in order to attack 

him. In addition to damage from the bullet, the swarm 

immediately attacks its target and continues to do so until it is 

slain or the target falls. Once the target is defeated, the swarm 

disperses. A rat swarm bullet counts as a +3 weapon. 

Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, 

summon monster V; Price 500 gp; Weight 1 lb. 

Ripper Blades: This set of matched daggers is decorated with 

a tiger motif. A prowling feline is inscribed along the length of 

each blade, while the pommels are set with gleaming gems. 

Individually, these daggers count as +1 weapons. However, 

when used together, the ripper blades function with their true 

magical potential. A character who fights with a ripper blade 

in each hand gains the ability to deal additional damage if he 

hits the same target with both daggers as part of a full attack 

action. Once the second dagger hits, the user may immediately 

rend his target for 2d4 damage plus double the damage bonus 

he gains with the dagger in his primary hand. As the two 

daggers sink into their target, their wielder can tear into the 

target's flesh, ripping through bone, muscle, and sinew. 

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, 

haste, keen edge; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs. 

Shot-Put of the Boar: While wereboars rarely master even 

the simplest forms of arcane magic, some among them become 

clerics and druids dedicated to their gods. With their divine 

spells, they craft simple, robust magical items that even the 

brutish wereboars can master. The shot-put of the boar is 

perhaps the most common of the weapons they create. Little 

more than a crudely forged, vaguely spherical lump of metal, 

only the sigils and runes carved on the shot-put betray its 

magical nature. When thrown, the shot-put slams into its 

target with a ferocious impact, inflicting 2d8 damage and 

forcing the target to make a Strength check (DC 15) or be 

knocked prone. The shot-put has a +1 enhancement bonus to 

attacks and damage. It counts as a two-handed, thrown 

weapon with a 10 ft. range increment. Only characters with a 

Strength of 13 or higher can wield this item. The shot-put is 

useless in melee. It can be picked up and reused after being 

thrown. 

Moderate transmutation; CL 6th; Craft Magic Arms and 

Armor, bull's strength; Price 8,300 gp; Weight 8 lbs. 

Spiked Gauntlets of Ursine Might: These brutal, black iron 

gauntlets are studded with sharp spikes and decorated with a 

thick fringe of bear fur. The palms and the undersides of the 

fingers are crafted from cured bear hide. A favored weapon of 

brawlers and wrestlers, the spiked gauntlets of ursine might 

transform even the meekest warrior into a ferocious closequarters 

combatant. When worn, the gauntlets function as +2 

magic weapons. The wearer inflicts damage with the gauntlets 

rather than his normal unarmed strike when he opts to injure 

an opponent while grappling. If he hits an opponent in melee 

with the gauntlets, he gains the benefits of the improved grab 

special ability. He may opt to initiate a grapple as a free action 

that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Otherwise, the 

rules listed for improved grab apply to him as normal. 


Armor, bull's strength; Price 32,305 gp; Weight 2 lb. 

Wolf Spear: This longspear features an oaken shaft and a 

long, barbed head crafted from black iron. The snarling head 

of a wolf, crafted from the same blackened iron as the head, 

decorates the spear's butt. This weapon counts as a +1 

longspear that can be thrown with a range increment of 20 ft. 

It can be used as a bludgeoning weapon that deals the 

longspear's normal damage by bashing opponents with the 

iron wolf head. Once per day, the spear can be thrown with a 

range increment of 100 ft. If this attack successfully hits, it 

deals double damage (quadruple on a confirmed critical) due 

to its tremendous speed and power as it surges through the air. 

When used in this manner, the spear unleashing a loud, 

piercing wolf's howl. 


Armor, fly; Price 8,305 gp; Weight 2 lb. 

Wondrous Magic Items 

Many of the items crafted and used by werecreatures are useful 

to them in all three of their forms. Collars, implanted fangs, 

and ioun stones represent some of the more common items 

they favor. 

Amulet of Inner Tranquility: Valued by woodsmen, 

adventurers, and others who must sometimes confront 

lycanthropes, the amulet allows a victim of lycanthropy to 

resist the infection's symptoms long enough to find a 

spellcaster skilled in curing the disease. The amulet consists of 

a silver chain that holds a smooth, polished obsidian sphere. 


82 


The sphere represents the night of the new moon, while the 

silver links symbolize the weapons commonly used to slay 

werecreatures. While worn, the amulet grants its user a +10 

enhancement bonus on saves against contracting lycanthropy. 

If the wearer becomes infected, the amulet allows him to better 

resist the primal urge to assume animal form. He gains a +15 

competence bonus on all Control Shape checks. Even if he 

fails one or more checks, his alignment never permanently 

changes to match the lycanthrope's ethos. However, he still 

behaves as per the creature's alignment while in animal form. 

If the amulet's wearer ever willingly changes shape, he loses all 

the benefits it offers. 

Faint conjuration; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, calm 

emotions, remove disease; Price 1,000 gp; Weight –. 

Boar Tusk Mask: This magic item shows obvious signs of 

poor workmanship. Carved from wood, it depicts a snarling 

boar face though its details are poorly rendered. The eyes are 

poorly aligned, one or both of the wooden tusks that protrude 

from it are broken, and the paint used to decorate it is 

splattered and smeared. To a collector or dealer in art objects, 

it would fetch no more than a few coppers. However, when 

worn in battle this item's true properties become apparent. If 

a character charges while wearing the boar tusk mask, it 

generates a field of magical force in front of him that allows 

him to batter through his enemies. The wearer gains the 

Improved Bull Rush feat. When he charges an opponent, his 

foe must make a Strength check (DC 10) or be knocked prone 

whether the mask's user made an attack or bull rush with the 

charge. Resolve this check after the user makes his charge 

attack. The target gains a +4 circumstance bonus to its 

Strength check for each size category it is larger than the 

attacker. Four-legged creatures and those that are 

exceptionally well-balanced gain an additional +4 

circumstance bonus to this check. 

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, bull's 

strength, hold person; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb. 

Wolf Skull: This ancient, yellowed skull is crafted so that a 

creature can wear it like a mask. A strap made from sinew and 

tendons holds it in place, while bone fragments have been 

removed from its base and rear to allow it fit on the head of a 

Medium or Small humanoid. When worn, the skull bestows 

the ability to transform into a wolf/humanoid hybrid or a wolf 

as per a werewolf. The creature using this object transform as 

per all the rules for a lycanthrope changing shape. Most of the 

items he wears fall to the ground or break as his shape alters, 

while he gains physical power and stamina. Apply the 

werewolf template from the core rules as normal, though the 

user does not gain the ability to spread lycanthropy to his 

opponents. Otherwise, treat him as a full-blooded 

lycanthrope. He does not need to make Control Shape checks, 

and his alignment remains unchanged. 

Moderate transmutation; CL 13th; Craft Wondrous Item, 

polymorph; Price 25,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs. 

Lycanthrope Artifacts 

Many of the mighty artifacts employed by lycanthropes were 

granted to them by the gods, diabolic or angelic allies, and 

similar planar sources. Few lycanthropes spellcasters achieve 

the skill and talent needed to produce such potent items. 

The Blood Cauldron: This feared artifact was once used by 

the Wolf King, a legendary chieftain of the northern 

werewolves, to spread terror and death across the land. 

Crafted from iron ore in the depths of Hell, the blood 

cauldron is 6 feet wide, deep black, and covered with 

indecipherable runes and the leering faces of devils, twisted 

humanoids, and howling wolves. A dozen good-aligned 

Medium humanoids must be freshly killed and their bodies 

carefully drained of blood in order to fill the cauldron to its 

capacity. Once it is filled, this item can confer its benefits 

upon up to 50 Medium creatures before it must be refilled. 

When filled with blood and set above a roaring fire, the 

cauldron's magic activates. Any living creature that steps into 

the boiling blood and bathes within it gains supernatural 

immunity to most physical attacks. It gains DR 

20/adamantine and SR 20 for two weeks, and its skin or fur 

acquires a bright red color. Anyone using this item 

automatically suffers an alignment shift to evil, though their 

alignment with respect to law and chaos remains unchanged. 

While the Wolf King was eventually defeated, the cauldron's 

location remains a mystery. According to legend, the trickster 

wererat Locrith the Swift slipped into the werewolves' lair and 

replaced the humanoid blood in the cauldron with blood 

taken from animals. The Wolf King and his guards bathed 

within it before a major battle, only to die in a hail of silvered 

arrows as they confidently marched before a massed regiment 

of longbowmen. If the portents and readings offered by 

mystics are correct, the wererats swore vengeance against the 

Wolf King for his attacks on cities they had carefully nurtured 

as comfortable, secure lairs. The cauldron undoubtedly now 

lies in the paws of the rat folk, though what they plan to do 

with it none can say. Aside from the occasional report of 

cloaked thieves who prove impervious to the stoutest sword or 

spear, little news concerning the cauldron has surfaced. 

Strong transmutation; CL 20th; Weight 200 lbs. 

The Moonstone: The bards and storytellers speak of a great 

time of terror in the city of Thrax. According to the legends, 

centuries ago the full moon loomed large in the sky above the 

city and never dipped below the horizon. Instead, it stood like 

a sentinel guarding against the dawn's approach. For day after 

day, the stars continued to shine and the moon remained 

lodged in place. The seemingly endless night drove many folk 

to leave the city in terror, for only a day's ride in any direction, 

the daily dance between the sun and moon continued as it 

always had. As the city's population dwindled, crime soared. 

While the thieves' guild claimed that most of its members had 

long since left for more hospitable climes, the royal governor 

and many of the richest merchants were left with ransacked 

treasure vaults and thoroughly pillaged homes. Wizards, 

priests, and druids flocked to the city to investigate this 


strange, ceaseless night, while charlatans in equal numbers 

offered outrageously priced amulets and other trinkets to ward 

away the terrors of the dark. 

In time, the heroic wizard-paladin Thorvec the Ironfisted 

uncovered the source of Thrax's troubles. The wererats 

beneath the city had discovered a powerful artifact known as 

the moonstone. A chunk of the moon that fell to the world in 

eons past, this mighty object held the power to cast a spell of 

eternal night over a limited area of the land. What appeared to 

be the full moon above the city was the moonstone. Its 

powerful magic greatly exaggerated its appearance and cast an 

illusion over the city. While the wizard and his allies put the 

wererats to the sword, a sorcerer among the lycanthropes used 

his magic to soar into the air, snatch the moonstone, and 

teleport to an unknown location. 

Since then, the moonstone has passed from history. This 

artifact is a gray, pockmarked stone roughly the size of a 

halfling's head. When thrown into the sky, it soars into the air 

and activates its powerful magic. The area within a 32-mile 

radius of the stone becomes cloaked in an endless, full moon 

night. To all observers, even those who employ magic, the 

moon seems to hang in the sky surrounded by stars. The 

weather continues as normal, though clouds never obscure 

the moon. Anyone who can fly 1,000 ft. in the air can see that 

the "moon" is in fact a spectral image surrounding the 

moonstone. While the stone remains in the air, all 

lycanthropes gain a +2 morale bonus to all attacks, skill and 

ability checks, and saves. In addition, afflicted lycanthropes 

must resist involuntary changes as per the standard night of 

the full moon. Dislodging the moonstone is as simple a 

process as plucking it from the sky. 

Strong illusion; CL 20th; Weight 20 lbs. 


Lycanthropes in the 

Campaign 

This section is intended to help you place lycanthropes in your 

campaign. It includes advice on how they relate to other 

cultures, and the mechanical ramifications of using 

lycanthrope PCs. 

Lycanthropes and Society 

With their ability to blend into the population of cities and 

kingdoms run by other races, lycanthropes provoke a wide 

array of reactions and attitudes from humans, dwarves, orcs, 

and other creatures. Some creatures may view them as an 

insidious, hidden threat that must be stomped out as 

quickly as possible. Others view lycanthropy not as a curse, 

but as a powerful, beneficial blessing. Of course, regional, 

historical, and social variations can provide exceptions to 

the general trends outlined below. Use them as a starting 

point, not as a cast iron template for how werecreatures 

must fit into your world. 

One of the ways you can look at a society and its relationship 

with lycanthropes is to consider its alignment. A lawful society 

is likely to see werecreatures as a dangerous, hidden threat. 

These governments place a premium on stability, 

predictability, and order. A simple peasant who can transform 

into a massive, powerful beast represents a threat to all three 

of those goals. Control is key to a lawful monarch or 

government. The less it knows about its citizens, the less 

control it can exert over them. 

While benevolent leaders might want to extend their influence 

into daily life in order to better protect their citizens and serve 

their needs, they would still feel uneasy at best about 

unidentified lycanthropes. After all, even a werebear could 

pose a threat if his goals run counter to the greater good. 

Evil leaders try to exert control to better subjugate and exploit 

their vassals. A tyrant is likely to see lycanthropes as a threat, 

since they can move among the population in disguise and are 

liable to have the combat abilities and magical talents needed 

to defeat his troops. On the other hand, a lawful evil monarch 

might consider werecreatures as valuable allies. With their 

ability to hide among the peasants and commoners, they 

make ideal spies. Their combat skills and magical abilities 

make them useful in warfare, and they can slip into enemy 

lands and report back on any arms buildups or other 

suspicious maneuvers. 

Whether good or evil, a lawful realm is liable to require 

lycanthropes to register their status or otherwise openly 

proclaim their true nature. They might have to register with 

the town guard, who in turn stock up on silvered weapons to 

deal with any werecreature issues. Spreading lycanthropy 

could be a crime punishable by death, as the ever-controlling 

government strives to do whatever it can to maintain an iron 

grip over its citizens. A rampant lycanthropy outbreak can 

turn an easily subjugated village into a nest of vicious, 

dangerous monsters. 

Lawful evil realms probably seek to recruit wererats, tigers, 

and boars, while hunting werewolves and werebears. Since the 

bears are likely to oppose an evil monarch on moral grounds, 

they make ready enemies for such governments. Werewolves, 

as chaotic creatures, are difficult to control and most likely 

seen as a threat. In some cases a lawful evil realm might 

employ them as shock troops and scouts, but they are unlikely 

to welcome them as citizens. Lycanthropes that refuse to serve 

or who offer any hint of betrayal are executed or imprisoned. 

Lawful good leaders work to root out and kill wererats and 

werewolves. Werebears are probably welcomed unless their 

ecological concerns clash with the ruler's plans. Even in that 

case, chances are that the bears are treated more like unwanted 

neighbors than outlaws. Weretigers and wereboars may have 

to declare their nature or suffer a fine, but as long as they keep 

to themselves and obey the law they are free to do as they 

wish. Infecting an unwilling subject with lycanthropy is 

probably a crime punishable by death, as the resulting change 

in alignment could be viewed as the virtual "death" of the 

victim's old personality as the beast takes over. 


84 


Chaotic realms are likely to allow lycanthropes to do as they 

wish, so long as the security and health of the realm as a whole 

remains unthreatened. In these lands lycanthropes are liable to 

keep to themselves, though evil ones may take advantage of 

the government's disorganized, informal nature to spread 

havoc in secret. A band of werewolves might pose as a camp 

of loggers or hunters. By night, they strike at caravans and 

poorly guarded settlements. They could even fake an attack on 

their own settlement, helping to deflect suspicion. A canny 

werewolf might volunteer to take part in any effort to root out 

the force behind the spate of attacks, working from within to 

sabotage any efforts to uncover his crimes. Since chaotic 

realms place a much higher value on personal freedom, 

privacy, and informal chains of command, a lycanthrope can 

hide within them with relative ease. Werecreatures only rarely 

need to worry about inquisitions, secret police, a highly 

coordinated town guard, or other agencies that could uncover 

the patterns of their crimes or behavior. 

A chaotic evil realm cares little for its citizens' health and wellbeing, 

instead viewing the populace as disposable resources 

best put to some useful end. Werecreatures in this 

environment often have the opportunity to seize power for 

themselves. In a wild territory ruled by humanoid tribes, the 

wolves can use their supernatural abilities to seize power over 

their orc, goblin, and kobold neighbors. In these areas, 

brutality and strength are all that are needed to claim control. 

Werewolves, wererats, and wereboars might see an advantage 

in claiming humanoid servants. In this case, the lycanthropes 

would take care to avoid infecting any of their subjects. While 

lycanthropic orcs might be more useful in battle, they could 

also prove much more difficult to control. The curse could be 

used as a motivating tool, with the most trustworthy and 

successful followers granted it as a sign of their favor. 

Lycanthropy can also serve to destabilize and splinter enemy 

tribes or humanoid clans that haven't yet come into the 

werecreatures' fold. A powerful chieftain might fall from power 

when his weaker rivals become lycanthropes. A werewolf 

might secretly contact ambitious but weak humanoids and 

offer them his curse in exchange for their allegiance. In this 

manner, a powerful wolf lord could come to lead an entire 

legion of orcs, trolls, and other monsters. 

In chaotic good lands, lycanthropes are tolerated so long as 

they respect the health, well-being, and freedom of others. 

Werecreatures have the freedom to live as they wish, and 

wereboars and weretigers can exist comfortably among the 

land's other citizens. Lycanthropes do not need to worry about 

society condemning them as a group or taking special 

measures against them so long as they remain civil and respect 

others' rights and properties. In some ways, these lax attitudes 

can become a problem for lycanthropes. A lawful nation is 

liable to enact special controls over their behavior, but by the 

same token, the rule of law protects them from other citizens. 

In a chaotic good land, a few rampant lycanthropes can lead to 

the banishment, arrest, or harassment of the rest. A werewolf 

incursion might cause suspicion to grow against weretigers 

and wereboars. Merchants might refuse to sell goods to them, 

while neighbors could commit petty crimes against them 

without fear of prosecution. With law enforcement based more 

on an informal network and personal judgment rather than a 

set of rigid laws, unpopular werecreatures can quickly become 

pariahs. As long as lycanthropes can preserve their good 

names and maintain trust with the authorities, they can 

flourish in chaotic good realms. 

Humanoid Races and 

Lycanthropy 

While it is easy to think of werecreatures as a set of creatures 

separate from humans, dwarves, orcs, trolls, and other 

humanoids, in many ways they share as much with their 

humanoid roots as they do with their animal ones. While 

alignment is a good measure for how society reacts to 

werecreatures, the stereotypical humanoid cultures could also 

exhibit idiosyncratic traditions and attitudes towards these 

creatures. If a player in your game group wants to run a 

lycanthrope character, you can add more detail to your 

campaign by depicting the different ways in which humanoid 

races regard werecreatures. 

The notes and ideas given below are advice and ideas for fitting 

lycanthropes into your campaign. They draw from the 

stereotypical views of the various fantasy races, and as such 

may not be completely compatible with your campaign world. 

Use them as inspiration or ideas, not necessarily canonical 

declarations of how different groups view werecreatures. 

Dwarves: Dour, grim, and dedicated to their craft, dwarves 

are liable to see werecreatures as aberrations spawned in the 

dark, treacherous shadows of an elf-infested forest. From their 

mountain homes, the dwarves consider anything that smacks 

of nature as suspicious. They surround themselves with stone 

and metal, the fruits of technology and labor rather than of the 

forests and grasslands of the natural world. As such, they are 

suspicious of anything that is overly connected to what they 

consider to be a grim, alien land. Furthermore, dwarves place 

a heavy emphasis on trust, openness, and family. Their 

mountain halls are small and cramped, shaping their society 

into one that puts a premium on forthright discourse. 

Animosities and mistrust cannot fester within a dwarf clan's 

stronghold, as such divisions can cause permanent rifts within 

its social fabric. Thus, the dwarves relate to each other with 

direct, blunt discourse that other societies find rude at best 

and crass at worst. A lycanthrope, with its many forms and 

strange abilities, is liable to make an already suspicious dwarf 

even more alert than normal. To the dwarves, a creature that 

can take the form of an animal is probably a treacherous beast 

that relies on deception and cunning to steal its victims' 

treasures. After all, if it had no ill intentions, it wouldn't need 

to hide its true nature behind a humanoid or animal mask. 

Most dwarven lycanthropes are outcasts from their clans. Their 

dual nature as both dwarf and beast alienates them from their 

people. As most dwarves have little experience with the 

natural world, they are also unable to relate to their animal 

brethren. Thus, they tend to embrace the duality of their 

nature with a stronger conviction and greater level of comfort 



than other creatures. A dwarf lycanthrope prefers to spend his 

time in hybrid form, reflecting his mixed nature. He might 

seek other dwarves who are similarly cast out by their kin and 

induct them into his nascent tribe, but he has no qualms about 

admitting creatures from other humanoid races. 

Dwarf lycanthropes tend to display the natural tendencies of 

their lycanthropic form to extreme levels. Dwarven 

werewolves conduct raids and attacks with bloodthirsty 

abandon, resting only to heal wounds and seek new targets. 

Werebear dwarves are tenacious in their struggles to protect 

nature, gladly surrendering their lives for the cause of their 

newly-adopted folk. Of all the lycanthropes, dwarves are the 

most likely to found new clans, villages, and even towns for 

their people. Their tradition of finding strength in a unified 

clan pushes them to unite their newfound kin. 

Elves: Always seeking new experiences and open to the 

wonders of the natural world, elves are the most likely 

humanoids to treat lycanthropes as close allies and valued 

friends. They see in them not contradiction or deception, but 

rather a creature that embodies both civilization and the 

natural world. The elves can relate to this, as they typically 

dwell in great forests and other verdant realms. While they 

build cities and towns, they take care to unify their creations 

with nature rather than use them to control or replace it. 

For these reasons, the elves are the most likely to welcome 

good and neutral werecreatures into their cities. They find 

weretigers charming companions and werebears valued allies. 

While most older elves see wereboars as crude, simple 

barbarians, younger wood elves with a penchant for violence, 

excitement, and hard drinking strike up easy friendships with 

them. On the other hand, the elves hate werewolves with a 

cold passion. They see these predators as wasteful, hateful 

beings of pure destruction. Elven nations hunt down these 

creatures at the first sign of their presence in much that same 

way that a farmer might cull his cattle of the sick and dying. 

To the elves, the evil strains of lycanthropy are dreaded, 

rotting sicknesses that can turn pleasant, bountiful forests into 

bleak wildernesses. The elves know that if they allow the 

infection to fester, it can warp the woods into a cruel mockery 

of nature's perfection. 

Elven lycanthropes are rarely welcomed in their people's 

strongholds with the same level of brotherhood and amity 

reserved for kinfolk, but they rarely face expulsion or any 

other form of punishment. Instead, they are recognized as 

something other than full-blooded elves in much the same way 

that half-elves are tolerated but never fully accepted. An elf 

weretiger can expect his relatives and friends to maintain their 

connection to him, but over time they may grow to exclude 

him from many of the important, personal events in their lives. 

An elf werebear's assistance might be happily accepted in the 

face of a goblin invasion, but he would be allowed into war 

meetings only if he was a highly respected commander before 

his affliction. This distance between lycanthropic elves and 

their people pushes many of them to wander the land. Some 

may settle for a time with others of their kind, most notably in 

the case of werebears, but most travel from place to place in 

search of new experiences and challenges. Only old age or dire 

need can keep them from following their wanderlust and 

chasing their goals. When it comes time to settle, most seek 

quiet solitude in the wilderness. 

Gnomes: The mischievous, crafty gnomes treat lycanthropy 

as a puzzling, alien affliction. With their tendency towards 

invention and engineering, they look upon afflicted 

werecreatures as the unfortunate victims of a disease that 

challenges them to cure it. While normally cheerful, pleasant, 

and given to jokes, the thought that a simple disease could 

permanently rob a creature of its free will and warp its moral 

compass repulses gnomes to their core. However, they only 

allow this disgust to color their view towards lycanthropes 

when dealing with obviously evil ones. An afflicted gnome can 

expect to face a battery of cures that range from the effective to 

the ridiculous. A gnome who falls into the disease's clutches 

can expect help and care from his neighbors, friends, and 

relatives. While gnomes have the same sort of tight family 

bonds as dwarves, their mischievous nature grants them a 

much more accepting attitude that serves to diffuse any latent 

fear or paranoia. 

On the other hand, gnomes find natural lycanthropes 

endlessly fascinating. Their ability to change shapes strikes 

gnomes as a powerful, and rather useful, magical effect. Given 

the gnomes' natural curiosity, they are intrigued by a creature 

that can experience the world in multiple forms. Many 

weretigers have settled into a long, comfortable retirements 

among gnomes who welcome them into their communities 

with open arms. Werebears are seen as trusted allies and 

stalwart companions against the forces of darkness that would 

ravage the natural world. Wereboars, while a bit too oafish to 

make good neighbors, represent a perfect mix of hedonism 

and enthusiasm for the occasional woodlands feast. 

Gnomes treat wererats and werewolves in much the same 

manner as elves. When they encounter them, they hunt them 

mercilessly to stave off infection before it can spread. Some 

werewolf packs consider gnome youngsters a delicacy, a fatal 

mistake that few of them live to regret. "Silvering the spikes" 

is a common gnome euphemism for making all-out 

preparations for anything. It has its origins in the grim, 

determined, and vengeful war parties that usually stayed up 

all night silvering their weapons before marching forth to 

slaughter a werewolf pack. 

A gnome lycanthrope approaches his condition with the same 

wide-eyed curiosity he would apply to anything else. He tests 

out his new senses, changes shape as often as possible, and 

tries to approach the world from the point of view of his 

animal, humanoid, and hybrid form. A gnome wereboar might 

walk through a cave in all three of his shapes to get a better 

sense of it. He uses his shapechanging ability to add to his 

pranks and trick others. He might even spend time in animal 

shape when dealing with strangers to get a good sense of their 

true motives and purpose. After all, most people forget to 

mind what they say in front of a simple animal. 

Half-Elves and Half-Orcs: Neither of these groups forms 


86 


societies of their own. Instead, they carve out niches within 

human society, with half-elves sometimes dwelling among 

their elven kin. In either case, both half-elves and half-orcs live 

as outsiders. Though they enjoy some level of acceptance, they 

are rarely welcomed into the fold. Thus, in some ways these 

folk have empathy for a lycanthrope's plight. Weretigers find it 

easiest to form friendships with half-breeds, as they face the 

same sort of grudging acceptance from society as a whole. 

Even lycanthropes that keep their true natures a secret find 

half-orcs and half-elves easy to get along with. Wereboars 

respect and enjoy the tough but simple half-orcs, while 

weretigers and werebears can relate to a half-elf's natural 

intelligence and connection to nature. Of all the civilized folk, 

half-breeds are the most likely to willingly accept lycanthropic 

infection. While it might cause a change in their ethos and 

personality, some of these outsiders find comfort in taking a 

place in a group that can wholly accept them. 

Halflings: The nomadic, enterprising halflings rarely turn 

away anyone or anything that can aid them in their endeavors. 

As they are always wary of the big folk, they see werecreatures 

as simply another menace they must contend with. After all, 

evil and cruel humans rarely make their intentions obvious 

before acting upon them. Werecreatures operate in the same 

way, though their transformation is obviously much more 

dramatic. Of all the civilized groups, halflings are the most 

likely to accept a lycanthrope at face value. As long as a 

werecreature does nothing to trouble them or interfere with 

their business, they're content to leave him alone. In some 

cases, halflings gladly accept weretigers and werebears as 

companions. With their great strength and ferocity, these 

creatures can help defend a caravan or settlement from giants, 

orcs, and other threats. This arrangement works in both 

directions, as many lycanthropes are glad to find a stable, 

welcoming community. Like most civilized races, halflings fear 

werewolves and wererats. When they encounter them, they 

usually prefer to move on to greener pastures rather than stand 

and fight. Wererats in particular evoke dread in halflings, as 

they have been known to slip into settlements to kidnap and 

infect young halflings to raise as their own children. With the 

premium the ratfolk place on stealth and subtlety, halfling 

recruits rank as the most valuable they can find. 

Halfling lycanthropes usually remain with their people unless 

they slide into evil or violence. Halfling wereboars live as 

enforcers and guards among their people, accepting food and 

strong drink as pay for their service. When a bullying human 

or orc troubles the group, the wereboar uses his hybrid form 

to put him to flight. Halflings rarely survive as werewolves in 

the wild, as they invariably end up at the bottom of the pack's 

social order. On the other hand, their small size and natural 

stealth make them the ideal wererats. Many warrens of those 

creatures consist almost entirely of halfling ratfolk. 

Lycanthropes in Your 

Campaign 

Before allowing a player to run a lycanthropes character in 

your campaign, you should consider the mechanical 

challenges behind such a development. Werecreatures offer a 

few special abilities normally off-limits to PCs. While 

powerful, they also face an array of restrictions that require 

special attention in play. 

A lycanthrope's damage reduction is perhaps its biggest 

advantage compared to other characters. While their 

phenomenal Strength scores in animal or hybrid form give 

lycanthropes an advantage over other characters, DR requires 

special attention to prevent it from overshadowing the other 

PCs' abilities. The key to remember is that most adventures 

and monsters are designed with the assumption that DR is 

hard to come by for player characters. Obviously, lycanthropes 

throw a monkey wrench into that belief. 

The first and most important thing to remember is that when 

a player designs a character, he wants to use and explore the 

abilities offered by the race and class he selects. While it might 

seem easy to simply equip every last orc and kobold with 

silvered weapons, that solution simply nullifies what should be 

one of a lycanthrope's major abilities. Silvered weapons are 

appropriate in some circumstances, especially when the PCs 

face recurring villains or enemies who have taken the time to 

examine the party's abilities. If the players have to stifle a yawn 

when silvered weapons show up, you might be overdoing it. 

Try to make such weapons' appearance special. Restrict it to 

villains, important battles, and other situations where they 

would make sense. If an NPC knows that one of the characters 

is a werecreature, then he should seek out weapons to defeat 

him. But random orcs, hired bandits, and other monsters that 

are not important or featured parts of an adventure should not 

usually have them. 

On the other hand, a lycanthrope character can become too 

tough if his enemies are unable to hurt him. If you look over 

the list of creatures in the core rules, you should note that 

around the level the playable, non-evil werecreatures gain 

damage reduction, there are many CR-appropriate monsters 

that inflict plenty of damage. Ogres, minotaurs, and other 

giants or strong humanoids can dish out lots of punishment. 

Spellcasters and monsters with magical attacks can easily 

bypass a werecreature's DR, especially with spells such as 

lightning bolt or magic missile that inflict damage even on a 

successful save. Lycanthropes receive only a d8 hit die, 

leaving them with fewer hit points than fighters and 

barbarians. Attacks that bypass their DR can quickly sap their 

few hit points. 

If DR does become a problem in your campaign, or if you 

would rather not cope with it, require that all lycanthrope PCs 

count as afflicted rather than natural, thus reducing their DR 

For all the werecreature classes, remove their DR 5/silver 

ability. When they acquire DR 10/silver, they actually gain DR 

5/silver. Be sure to tell the players about this change before 

they create characters. 

Generally speaking, a lycanthrope of the same level as a fighter 

or barbarian can attack more often and deal a fair amount of 

damage, though his base attack bonus is inferior. Furthermore, 

at higher levels the lycanthrope misses out on extra attacks. 


Generally speaking, though, the werecreature's Strength bonus 

more than compensates. The key to this ability is that it 

operates only while the lycanthrope is in hybrid or animal 

form. In those shapes, most magical and mundane items are 

useless. A bear cannot use a ring of protection, nor can a 

weretiger hybrid wear a suit of chainmail. While the 

werecreatures' high Strength scores allow them to deal a lot of 

damage, their poor AC and hit points make them relatively 

easy to overwhelm. Werecreature PCs must focus on delivering 

attacks while minimizing an opponent's ability to respond. 

They thrive against weaker foes that they can trip or grapple, 

but heavily armored opponents who can withstand their 

attacks can quickly wear them down. 

Lycanthropy 

If you purchased this book, chances are that you either plan 

to play a lycanthrope character or want to use them as 

important villains and enemies in your campaign. In either 

case the introduction of lycanthropy into your game can cause 

some unforeseen headaches, particularly for low-level parties 

that lack access to the common cures for this disease. This 

section addresses lycanthropy in depth. It offers a variety of 

alternative explanations for its effects, cures, and advice on 

how werecreatures can fit into your campaign world. It builds 

from the logical assumption that if you want to include 

lycanthropes as a prominent feature in your campaign, you 

need to consider the impact of lycanthropy on the characters 

and the world as a whole. 

Potential Problems and 

Pitfalls 

Before proceeding to the rest of this section, it is important to 

consider why lycanthropy can become an issue in a campaign. 

Simply put, between their damage reduction and powerful 

natural attacks, lycanthropes are a cut above the typical orc or 

goblin bandit. A band of werewolves could easily overwhelm 

a small village without facing a single opponent who carried a 

weapon that could injure them. If the party faces a 

werecreature, a single bite could lead to weeks of trouble. The 

party's fighter might end up locked in a cage while everyone 

else seeks out a cleric who can cure his condition. In the first 

case, lycanthropy conjures up questions about the campaign 

world's stability and cohesiveness. In the second case, it can 

sap the fun from a game as an afflicted player must worry 

about losing his character over a single, failed DC 15 

Fortitude save. 

From a game design perspective, lycanthropy offers a unique 

problem. In terms of the threat a werecreature poses in a single 

encounter, the disease is irrelevant. During the 10 or 15 round 

battle with such a monster, it has no effect on the outcome. 

The damage a werecreature delivers with its bite is more 

important. However, in the aftermath of the struggle 

lycanthropy can play havoc with your game. If a character is 

afflicted and the common cures fail to aid him, the rest of the 

party must continue on while the diseased PC faces permanent 

Chapter Three: Lycanthropy 

removal from the game, and/or an unwanted alignment 

change. That's not much fun for anyone involved. The rest of 

the party is short a PC, while the player of the affected 

character has little to do in the game. At higher levels this issue 

fades away as the party's cleric can use his spells to cure the 

illness. However, at low levels it becomes a tremendous 

problem. 

In terms of your campaign world, the ease of spreading 

lycanthropy combined with the difficulty in curing it begs the 

question of why werecreatures aren't a prominent, important 

group. A wererat overlord could bid his followers to nip and 

bite random peasants until he has an army of lycanthropes at 

his disposal. Werewolf packs could swell in ranks after each 

raid on a human or elf village. An army of good could ask a 

werebear to grand its soldiers lycanthropy, allowing them to 

easily smash to invading orc army. Many of the answers to 

these questions depend on how you use lycanthropes and on 

their place in your campaign world. Most of the time, such 

questions are irrelevant to your game. It doesn't matter if 

werewolves could overrun the northern kingdom because you 

don't plan on using them as villains. Besides, the characters are 

too busy in the eastern realms battling the lich king. On the 

other hand, if you want to use lycanthropes as powerful 

villains and a major threat to civilization, you might want to 

consider these issues. Not only can lycanthropy pose problems 

for the PCs, but it also forces you to consider some campaign 

issues that you need to resolve. 

With those two issues in mind, the rest of this section 

addresses some alternate rules and background ideas you can 

use to make lycanthropy easier to work into your campaign. If 

you have no plans to make lycanthropes an important part of 

your campaign, the details and options given here probably 

add unnecessary baggage to your game. However, if you want 

to make lycanthropes key villains or major antagonists, these 

options can make your campaign run more smoothly. 

The Origin and Nature of 

Lycanthropy 

Most game settings depict lycanthropy as a strange 

combination of a magical curse and a disease. According to the 

core rules, spells such as cure disease and break enchantment 

can purge it from an infected creature. This section gives you 

some ideas on presenting lycanthropy from both of those 

angles. The core rules make no judgment on what drives 

lycanthropy and how it was created. Instead, if such 

information is important to your game you need to create your 

own material. This section is here to help you with that task. 

A Magical Disease: Lycanthropy is in essence a magical 

infection. If you consider that bacteria and viruses spread 

disease, it isn't much of a stretch to imagine microbes that are 

spawned or propagated by magical means. In a world of 

dragons and manticores, a magical virus represents a logical 

development. Perhaps lycanthropy represents the first and last 

of the magical diseases. In the ancient days, the gods created a 

variety of creatures and beings. One deity, a lord of pestilence 


88 

and decay, crafted a powerful microbe that killed anything it 

infected. The other gods banded together in a great alliance to 

prevent this sickness from destroying all of creation. Even the 

evil deities joined the cause, as their orc, giant, troll, and other 

followers faced extinction. 

After imprisoning the wayward god, they turned their 

attention to the sickness. As an artifact of a god, they could not 

destroy it. Instead, the gods altered its basic nature. Rather 

than kill its victims, it strengthened them and rendered them 

immune to many common weapons. Only in this manner 

could they nullify its baneful effects. To keep the balance 

between the many animals and intelligent creatures that fell to 

the sickness, the infected creatures could assume both forms. 

The force of the moon would ensure that these new creatures 

would never scorn one side of their heritage for the other 

Finally, since the gods of both good and evil contributed to the 

struggle, the surviving infected creatures were divided into the 

camps of good, evil, and neutrality. To ensure a continuing 

balance between them, each lycanthrope strain was dedicated 

to a different alignment. 

If you opt to use this idea in your campaign, you can work it 

into the background as part of the myths and creation stories 

presented earlier in this book. Perhaps the stories passed down 


from one generation of lycanthrope to the next are false. Their 

new gods, in a bid to strengthen their claims to godhood, 

passed down these legends to their new followers to cement 

their worship. So much time has passed since the 

werecreatures' genesis that none can say what is truth and 

what is fiction. 

The Curse of Lycanthropy: The werewolf creation legend 

given earlier in this book serves as a good example of 

lycanthropy as a curse. For some ancient transgression against 

the natural order, animals were forced to take the guise of men 

or vice versa. In this case, the lycanthropes can spread their 

curse to others via their bite. Perhaps the curse was originally 

created by a good-aligned deity, but in the process of forging it 

an evil, mischievous demigod altered its traits. Rather than 

punish a villainous group that would eventually die off, the 

curse spawned whole new races dedicated to evil. The reverse 

could also be true in the case of werebears, with an evil god's 

plans for destruction subtly turned into a force for life and 

good. This explanation covers why lycanthropy appears as a 

magical disease, as the curse was created with magic but 

warped and twisted to resemble an illness. 

Lycanthropy allows you to introduce the idea that 

lycanthropes are victims of their own state. Perhaps 


werewolves and wererats can be redeemed, or the gods may be 

at fault for their condition. It is also a handy explanation for 

any players that want to run werewolf or wererat PCs. While 

those races are normally evil, perhaps a few members among 

their ranks can rise above their heritage and throw off the 

weight of their curse. 

A Means of Reproduction: Under this scenario, 

lycanthropes are unable to breed via normal means. As a 

strange fusion of humanoid and animal, they can neither mate 

and create offspring with others of their kind nor with 

members of the species they can mimic. Perhaps lycanthropes 

are not truly wolves, humans, tigers, or dwarves. Instead, they 

occupy a strange middle ground between sentient creatures 

and animals. As such, the only way they can reproduce is by 

infecting other creatures with lycanthropy. Under this 

scenario, a magical process alters a creature and turns it into a 

lycanthrope. This explains why spells such as break 

enchantment can snuff out the infection. However, in 

biological terms it is spread much like an infection. A 

werecreature's bite leaves behind traces of a poison or similar 

substance that infects a victim and allows the magical 

transformation to occur. The appealing feature of this 

explanation is that it leaves intact any of the myths, legends, or 

background information that you want to use for your game 

world's lycanthropes. It introduces interesting possibilities for 

PCs to be chosen as inheritors to a heroic lycanthrope's 

position, or long-running villains to reappear as lycanthropes 

that have been chosen to succeed a dying pack leader. 

Influence of the Moon: The moon plays a significant role in 

afflicted lycanthropes, as it determines when they must 

unwillingly change into their animal form. The moon could 

play a role in any of the explanations offered above. It might 

be a timer of sorts used to dictate when lycanthropes must 

embrace their bestial heritage even if they would rather ignore 

it. The moon could hold an evil god imprisoned. When it is 

full, he can still exert control over the ancient curse or disease 

he fashioned to spawn the lycanthropes. To some 

lycanthropes, the moon itself could be a deity who heralds 

their important religious rites and holidays. Depending on the 

type of campaign you run, it might even be a workable 

solution that lycanthropes originally hail from the moon. 

Perhaps it holds a gateway to a world where the lycanthropes 

are the dominant species. On the world the static races of men 

and animals are seen as strange, freaks of nature. 

You can extend the moon's influence in a variety of ways. 

Perhaps during a lunar eclipse, lycanthropes are unable to 

use their alternate form ability. One night a year, the moon 

might grow a deep red. On these blood moons, all 

lycanthropes gain the ability to rage and must make Will 

saves (DC 15) to avoid entering into this state when injured 

in combat. Werebears and other good-aligned lycanthropes 

might try to avoid contact with other creatures, while 

werewolves set out on unholy crusades of raiding, 

bloodletting, and murder. More information on the moon 

and its relationship with lycanthropes is given later in this 

chapter under Lycanthropes and the Moon. 


The Spread of Lycanthropy 

Once you've considered the nature of lycanthropy, you need to 

think about how and why it spreads. If you think about a 

werecreature's place in the world, it seems logical to assume 

that there should be plenty of them running around. After all, 

a single bite can transform a normal person into a slavering 

werebeast. Furthermore, lycanthropy can cause problems for 

PCs and for your campaign's progress. As discussed above, a 

character that contracts the disease at a low level can be forced 

out of the game with a few unlucky rolls. Yet, given their CR, 

werecreatures are a good set of opponents for 3rd to 8th-level 

characters. The only sure-fire cure for the disease is available 

from a 12th-level caster, a resource that you might not feel 

comfortable making readily available to the party. 

This section considers how and why lycanthropy spreads. As 

with many of the details given in this section, the less realism 

you need in your campaign, the less you need to worry about 

how this material works. Some game masters pay little 

attention to the details behind their worlds, while others like 

to delve into their world's background. 

The Chosen: Perhaps not every lycanthrope's bite spreads 

the disease. Rather, werecreatures only choose to infect 

opponents or victims who would make good additions to 

their ranks. A werewolf might avoid infecting a powerful 

figure, since such a person could challenge him for leadership 

of the pack or hunting rights in an area. On the other hand, 

weak or easily bullied commoners would make ideal followers 

as long they remain manageable in numbers. Wererats would 

use similar lines of thought in spreading their curse, as 

overcrowding could become a major issue when they want to 

remain hidden from the city above. At times, these creatures 

might use their disease to subvert and control powerful 

figures, but most of the time they would rather avoid 

spawning a powerful competitor. 

Good lycanthropes might see their condition as an honor or a 

responsibility. They confer it only upon those creatures that are 

worthy of their mantle. These powerful allies would benefit 

from the additional abilities granted to them via lycanthropy, 

while their new allegiance makes them more likely to help the 

werebears (and other good werecreatures) achieve their aims. 

Neutral ones could infect others based on whims or personal 

needs. A weretiger might fall in love with a human woman and 

infect her to bring her closer into the fold. By the same token, 

a weretigress artist might infect a promising young talent to 

"adopt" his prodigious talent into her people's culture. 

In any case, under this state a lycanthrope can turn his ability 

to infect others off or on as he wishes. In this manner, the 

werecreatures control their own numbers without limiting 

their combat abilities. Assume that a lycanthrope can use a 

free action to decide if it wants its bite to afflict a creature 

with lycanthrope. 

Death is Only the Beginning: Under this variant, a 

lycanthrope's bite still afflicts a victim with lycanthropy. 

However, a creature can only develop the disease if the bite 


90 

attack reduces it to fewer than zero hit points. At that moment 

when life and death hang in the balance, a creature's spirit is 

weak enough for the lycanthropic curse to overwhelm it. 

With this variation in place, you retain the fear inherent in 

facing a lycanthrope. The characters must worry about 

contracting the disease and converting into a cross 

between a humanoid and an animal. However, since not 

every bite causes the disease you do not have to worry 

about exposing the party to too much danger. This 

variant also dispels concerns of lycanthropes running 

around, mass infecting populations, and raising an army 

of followers. Few people are willing to let a creature bite 

them nearly to death, and the bad luck of a few fumbled 

rolls can cause a significant number of these recruits to die. 

It also adds the element of danger and fear into lycanthrope 

encounters without overdoing it. If every werecreature bite 

can cause lycanthropy, the disease is just another annoying 

obstacle to cope with. If it arises only after a difficult 

encounter, you magnify the already considerable danger that a 

werecreature poses. 

Curing Lycanthropy 

There are several standard methods to cure lycanthropy. 

This section covers the cures given in the core rules 

and presents alternative rules for each of them. 

Belladonna, also known as wolfsbane, is 

perhaps the most well-known cure. (More 

information on belladonna can be found 

on page XX*.) A sprig of this herb can 

purge the illness from an infected 

character. An afflicted character that 

consumes belladonna within one hour of 

contracting the disease can make a Fortitude 

save (DC 20) to throw off the illness. If a healer 

administers the herb, use the character’s save bonus or the 

healer’s Heal check modifier, whichever is higher. The 

character gets only one chance, no matter how much 

belladonna is consumed. The belladonna must be reasonably 

fresh (picked within the last week). 

The problem with this cure is that it offers only a saving throw 

against an even higher DC than given for resisting the disease 

in the first place. If the party has a character with a high bonus 

in the Heal skill, than most of the time this cure works without 

any problems. However, if the party lacks such a PC then they 

could be in for trouble. Even worse, belladonna is toxic 

(Fortitude save DC 13, 1d6 Str/2d6 Str) making it possible 

that a cured character might be rendered immobile. If you 

want to use lycanthropes as regular villains or common 

monsters, these complications can serve to slow down your 

campaign. After each fight with a lycanthrope, the party might 

have to return to town, administer this herb, and then wait 

several days for their comrade's Strength to return via natural 

processes or magic. In either case, the PCs end up sitting 

around waiting for their infected friend to return to normal. As 

an optional rule, you might remove belladonna's toxic 

properties and reduce the Fortitude save required to remove 


the disease. This option works best if werecreatures are 

common foes in your campaign. Otherwise, it can make 

lycanthropy too trivial an ordeal for some DM's tastes. If you 

want the characters to be afraid of contracting the disease, 

leave the rules as given. If you would rather that they fight lots 

of werecreatures and progress through the adventure, the 

optional rules keep the action flowing. 

A remove disease or heal spell cast by a cleric of 12th level or 

higher also cures lycanthropy, provided the character receives 

the spell within three days of the lycanthrope’s attack. This 

option is a relatively painless way to remove lycanthropy, but 

it comes at the cost of requiring access to a relatively highlevel 

caster. For low-level PCs, this might not be an option. 

Removing the level restriction opens up this option to parties 

as low as 5th-level, allowing you to use lycanthropes in large 

numbers without worrying out infecting them all. As it 

stands, it may seem a little strange that a 9th-level cleric can 

raise the dead but he cannot cure lycanthropy, a disease 

carried by a CR 2 creature. If you want to keep this restriction 

in place, consider allowing the characters access to a highlevel 

cleric who sponsors their efforts and offers them help 

without asking for donations. You can use this as a convenient 


excuse for the cleric to ask the PCs to complete a quest for 

him, as they must defeat some evil creature or thwart a 

menace in return for his aid. 

The only other way to remove the affliction is to cast remove 

curse or break enchantment on the character during one of the 

three days of the full moon. After receiving the spell, the 

character must succeed at a DC 20 Will save to break the curse 

(the caster knows if the spell works). If the save fails, the 

process must be repeated. As it stands, this method of curing 

a character is a reasonable solution. The Will save might be a 

bit high for your tastes, especially since it could lead to the 

ridiculous scene of a PC caster repeatedly hitting his comrade 

with break enchantment until it takes hold. However, a party 

with access to either of those spells should have the cash and 

casting resources to use remove disease. You might want to 

remove the save DC to help speed up the recovery process, but 

it can also serve to add tension. You may also consider not 

letting the caster know whether the spell succeeds or not, so 

the party must wonder if the lycanthrope has truly been cured. 

All of the cures covered above are the standard methods 

offered in the core rules. To help vary things, you might want 

to present other methods of removing lycanthropy from an 

inflicted character. You can use these solutions in addition to 

or in place of the standard ones. 

Death of a Werewolf: Under this option, killing the 

werecreature that inflicted a character breaks the curse of 

lycanthropy. A beast has a magical link to the werebeasts it 

sires. If an infected character helps kill the beast that cursed 

him, the link breaks and the PC no longer suffers from 

lycanthropy. A character can retain the curse if he so wishes, 

but if he wants his freedom it fades away. This version of a 

cure works very well for low-level parties if you use the core 

rules' methods without changing them. If a PC falls victim to 

lycanthropy, his best option for a cure lies in tracking down 

and slaying his enemy. You can use this to drive some very 

intense adventures and battles, as the party dogs a werewolf's 

steps and tries to corner him. Perhaps the villain slips away 

using clever tactics, upping the ante as the PCs must again 

and again match wits with him. With each passing day, the 

afflicted PC faces a growing doom. Not only do the PCs gain 

the experience and treasure from defeating a werewolf, the 

players can enjoy a thrilling, intense series of adventures. 

Villains are much more effective if the PCs have a personal 

reason to hate them. 

Unique Cures: There are a multitude of different, specific 

methods you can present to the party to cure lycanthropy. 

Some may revolve around sites, others might involve objects 

or artifacts, and still more could require the completion of 

tasks or quests. Each of those three basic methods allows you 

to craft an adventure that sets the party along the path of 

curing lycanthropy. As discussed above, placing a clear, 

important burden on an adventure's success is a good way to 

increase the drama and tension in your game. Previously dull 

or routine encounters take on a far more important air when a 

PC's life is on the line. 


The best part about this cure is that it takes something that 

could be very dramatic and removes the mechanics from it. 

Contracting lycanthropy can be a daunting obstacle for a PC. 

Reducing it to saving throws and hunting down high-level 

spellcasters can make the players feel powerless. By giving 

them a goal and allowing them to chase after it, you forge a 

strong link between the work the PCs accomplish and the 

important goals it yields. If the players feel that their characters 

can accomplish great and important deeds, your game takes 

on a legendary, compelling tone. 

Sites: A blessed spring might cure lycanthropy in anyone who 

bathes within it. Within a deep forest glen, the spirit of the 

wolf totem appears and purges the curse from anyone who 

bows before it. Anyone who journeys deep enough into the 

dark heart of the world – perhaps four or five dungeon levels 

down – severs his tie to the moon and breaks the disease's 

hold. In each of these cases, the characters must make a long 

and perhaps dangerous journey to the place they seek. The 

sacred spring might be found within a monastery that many 

years ago fell to an invading army of orcs. The wolf totem 

might dwell in a forest infested with werewolves. Traveling 

into the earth is never a safe bet, even in areas thought to be 

relatively free of monsters. 

Items: Similar to a site, an item probably requires a PC to seek 

it out and win it over from a powerful enemy. On the other 

hand, a potentially friendly NPC might possess it and require 

a service in return for its use. In many ways, this cure is 

analogous to requiring the party to find a 12th-level cleric to 

cast cure disease. However it doesn't require a high level 

caster – an attractive option if the game is set in a tiny town, 

or if you would rather not use high-level NPCs to bail the 

characters out of trouble. 

Task/Quest: In a lot of ways, finding an item or journeying to 

a place is a quest for the PCs. In addition to those options, an 

infected character might be able to rid himself of lycanthropy 

by defeating a specific demon, desecrating the altar of an evil 

werecreature deity, or journeying to another plane. These 

solutions require a character to complete a specific set of 

actions that usually have some sort of symbolic link the 

lycanthropy. Desecrating the altar severs a character's tie to 

his curse, while entering a specific plane breaks the moon's 

hold over a PC. 

Curing Characters with Lycanthrope Levels: One issue 

that you may need to consider is what happens when a 

character with levels in a werecreature class seeks a cure for his 

condition. This situation is possible only with characters who 

were afflicted with lycanthropy. The simplest and most logical 

solution is to rule that any PC who takes levels in the 

appropriate lycanthrope class has embraced his new nature 

and can no longer be rid of it. Otherwise, you should have the 

character shed any benefits he may have gained from that level 

and permanently lose those levels from his total. Place his 

experience point total at the midpoint between his new, 

adjusted level and the next higher one. 


92 

Lycanthropy's Symptoms 

and Effects 

In addition to altering and modifying the cures and methods 

by which lycanthropy spreads, you can also change its 

symptoms and effects to better fit your campaign world. A 

disease that causes involuntary changes might be a handy 

tool to use with NPCs and other unsuspecting werecreatures, 

but it could prove troublesome for characters. On the other 

hand, a campaign where an otherwise heroic PC – such as a 

paladin – unwittingly commits horrific crimes can lead to a 

lot of fun adventures. 

The core rules feature the following guidelines for lycanthropy: 

When a character contracts lycanthropy, no symptoms appear 

until the first night of the next full moon. On that night, the 

afflicted character involuntarily assumes animal form and 

forgets his or her own identity, temporarily becoming an NPC. 

The character remains in animal form, assuming the 

appropriate alignment, until the next dawn. 

The character’s actions during this first episode are dictated by 

the alignment of its animal form. The character remembers 

nothing about the entire episode (or subsequent episodes) 

unless he succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom check, in which case 

he becomes aware of his lycanthropic condition. 

At this point, the basic rules allow for a PC (or an NPC) to slip 

into animal form and revel in his newly uncovered bestial 

side. Evil lycanthropes, particularly werewolves, engage in 

wholesale murder and slaughter. In this form, a character 

stalks the area in search of intelligent creatures to slay. 

Chances are that the werewolf is canny enough to avoid 

killing its humanoid form's companions. After all, such an 

action is sure to raise alarms and pinpoint the culprit. Instead, 

a werewolf ranges a few miles from its companions or seeks 

out isolated victims whose death is likely to go unnoticed. 

Lycanthropes maintain their intelligence in animal form. You 

can assume that a werewolf acts with a PC or NPC's 

Intelligence score and uses its capacity to plan actions. 

Furthermore, allow the werebeast a Wisdom check (DC 15) to 

draw upon the victim's memories to aid it in seeking out 

humanoids to terrorize. A character might awake to the news 

that his parents had to fend off a terrible, slavering beast the 

night before, or that some horrid monster used the secret 

passages into the baron's castle to launch a raid. 

Wererats, while evil, are much more subtle than werewolves. 

A PC transformed into one of these beasts might launch 

robberies and hide the stolen goods in a secret place. While the 

core rules assume that a lycanthrope enters its animal form to 

wreak havoc, a giant rat isn't very likely to strike terror into the 

region unless the PC is very high level and has plenty of hit 

points. Instead, allow the PC to assume his hybrid form and 

use it to commit robberies, ambush travelers, and work with a 

local thieves' guild. Worst of all (from a PC's point of view), the 

hybrid form might walk around wearing his weapons and 

armor. While most wererats are probably too smart to give 


away their true identity, it is much easier for a rat to slip out of 

a jail cell than a human. The character's emerging wererat side 

could ruin his reputation and continue its illicit activities. It 

might even contact other wererats in the area and use the PC's 

memories (if it succeeds at a DC 15 Wisdom check) to aid 

them in their endeavors. 

Weretigers are likely to explore their surroundings and hunt 

wild animals. Since these lycanthropes hold no special malice 

against civilized folk, they might even seek the nearest gate out 

of town to frolic in the nearby wilderness. An afflicted PC 

might wake up miles outside of town, bereft of equipment and 

surrounding by hostile wilderness. On the other hand, the 

varied sights and sounds of the city might prove too much for 

a weretiger to ignore. The tiger could sneak into a wizard's 

tower to explore, only to set off a magical trap that captures it. 

The PC may end up in an evil mage's clutches, requiring the 

rest of the party to band together to save him. 

A wereboar likely heads off in search of whatever fun happens 

to cross its path. It might clomp into an inn, slurp up any 

unattended puddles of ale, and spend the rest of the night 

practicing its charge maneuver on a handy stone wall. The PC 

might wake up with a massive headache. Alternatively, if the 

boar passes out from overindulgence, a merchant could drag it 

into a pen and lock it up to sell it for meat. There's nothing 

quite so humorous as a character that wakes up in a pile of 

mud, surrounding by a mob of pigs. 

On the other hand, a good-aligned animal such as a werebear 

might watch over sleeping PCs or wander the night in search 

of wrongs to set right. It could also embark on a quest to kill 

a werewolf or similar monster, if it can call upon the PC's 

memories (Will save DC 15) and identify any particularly 

dangerous threats in the area. The characters could hear stories 

of a powerful animal that smashed down the corrupt sheriff's 

door and crushed him to death. While the peasants might be 

happy in the short term, in a few days the evil baron's men will 

undoubtedly sweep in to exact revenge for their loss. The 

werebear might seem like a blessing, but as a rigidly lawful 

good creature it may sometimes choose a forceful, direct 

option rather than a subtle, quiet plan that has better prospects 

for success in the long term. 

Regardless of the form he takes, the character is subject to 

involuntary transformation under the full moon and whenever 

he is damaged in combat after his first transformation. He or 

she feels overwhelming rage building up, and must succeed on 

a Control Shape check (DC 25) to resist changing into animal 

form. These changes take place only during the night, and they 

end as soon as the sun rises, even if the character is in an area 

that the sun cannot reach. 

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. 


Once a character becomes aware of his affliction, he can now 

voluntarily attempt to change to animal or hybrid form, using 

the appropriate Control Shape check DC. An attempt is a 

standard action and can be made each round. Any voluntary 

change to animal or hybrid form immediately and 

permanently changes the character’s alignment to that of the 

appropriate lycanthrope. 

The Beast: One of the interesting things you can explore with 

a werecreature is the divide between a PC and the psyche that 

emerges in animal form. Perhaps the disease doesn't so much 

curse or infect a character as spawn a new, nascent personality 

within him. As the character copes with his condition, this 

personality might take on more detailed traits and 

complexities. It could adopt a name, gain levels, and even 

grow to speak to the PC when he is in control of his body. The 

opposite could also happen, as the character must go along for 

the ride in animal from, forced to watch as his lycanthropic 

personality runs rampant. For experienced roleplayers, this 

offers the opportunity for some excellent character interaction 

and development. As a rule of thumb, this option is best used 

with players who enjoy getting into character and developing 

a personality for a PC. For example, a player who adopts an 

accent, uses distinctive personality traits and mannerisms, and 

makes decisions that might be less than optimal, all in an effort 

to properly portray his PC, is a very good candidate for this 

treatment. You might even turn over control of the 

lycanthropic side to the player, especially if you can trust him 

to accurately portray both sides of his character. 

There are pitfalls to this method. First and foremost, always 

respect a player's control over his character. Lycanthropy gives 

you the chance to dictate what a character does, despite the 

player's desires. There are a few guidelines you should follow 

to avoid angering your players and treating their characters 

like puppets. 

Avoid going into detailed descriptions of what a lycanthrope 

does while it is in control of a PC. Unless the other characters 

can see what is going on, there is no need to use a heavy 

handed reminder that the player is no longer in control of his 

character. 

Never use lycanthropy as an excuse to humiliate a PC. If the 

party's paladin is infected, he shouldn't wake up in a brothel, 

naked in a pile of mud, or drunk and incoherent. Approach 

the infected character's player beforehand and talk to him 

about your general plans for the infection. Sometimes, a player 

might think it's fun for his character to endure humiliation or 

embarrassing moments. Other players build up their 

characters in specific ways and feel uncomfortable allowing a 

DM to alter his appearance and reputation in such a 

fundamental way. A good way to approach these sorts of 

situations is to think of what would you do if you wanted to 

include the player, as opposed to the character, in a plan that 

could see him end up face-first in a puddle of mud or 

otherwise horribly embarrassed. You'd never want to push a 

friend to do something like that unless he was perfectly willing 

to do it and had a clear picture of the consequences. Think of 

it as asking someone to take a pie in the face as part of a 


comedy skit. It can be funny for everyone, as long as the guy 

receiving the pie is in on the joke. Don't be afraid to sit down 

with a player, outline some general ideas of what you want to 

do with lycanthropy as an infection, and work with him to 

build a situation that's fun for everyone. 

Memories: Another topic to consider is how much a character 

remembers after a lycanthopic transformation ends. The core 

rules, as described above, allow a DC 15 Wisdom check for a 

PC to remember everything that happened. On one hand, this 

can allow a character the chance to realize his fate and work to 

correct it. On the other, if you want to use lycanthropy as a 

growing mystery, a single check can ruin everything. Once a 

PC knows he is a werecreature, he can immediately set about 

working to cure himself. At high levels, this is a trivial matter. 

At low ones, it is either very difficult or easy depending on the 

rules variations you choose to use. The greater the role you 

want an infection to play, the longer it should take for a 

character to realize what's going on. 

To stretch out the time it takes for a PC to realize he has the 

disease, you can use these optional rules that require a 

character to go through several layers of discovery before his 

condition dawns upon him. This method allows you to 

introduce hints slowly over time, rather than relying on a 

single saving throw that determines if the character knows 

everything or nothing. 

Each time a PC undergoes an involuntary transformation, he 

may make a Wisdom check (DC 15) with a +2 competence 

bonus per previous change. If he succeeds in this check, he 

learns information depending on the total result of his check. 

Consult the lycanthropy awareness table for more information. 

Lycanthropy Awareness 

Table 

Wisdom Check Total Result 

15 – 19 Vague Recall: The character remembers bits and 

pieces of what happened to him while 

he was transformed, but nothing 

specific beyond vague, blurry images. 

20 – 24 Partial Recall: The character can see the faces of 

anyone he attacked or extensively 

interacted with while in his other 

shape, along with one or two details 

of any places he visited. 

25+ Total Recall: The character has complete memory of 

anything that happened, as if he 

himself had committed the deeds of 

his own free will. 

Alignment Changes: The blanket rules that cause a 

character's alignment to permanently change might seem a bit 

harsh to some Game masters. These guidelines can be 

particularly troublesome for low-level parties, as they lack the 

resources to cure lycanthropy on their own. There are good 


94 

reasons both for and against changing this rule, and in the end 

it comes down to your game mastering style and the tone you 

want to give to lycanthropy. 

The base rules as given above require a Will save (DC 15 + the 

number of times a character has turned into an animal) to 

avoid a permanent alignment change. By the same token, any 

character who willingly undergoes a change automatically 

assumes the lycanthrope race's listed, standard alignment. On 

one hand, this might seem like a harsh punishment. 

Lycanthropes have relatively low CRs, and the ability to 

essentially take a character out of the game is relatively 

powerful. Even if a character is forced into a non-evil 

alignment, this rule pushes a player to change his PC in ways 

that he might not want to. To many players, this is a fate worse 

than losing a beloved character. As was discussed earlier in this 

section, players grow attached to their PCs and hate any 

attempt to force fundamental changes to them. They might 

resent these rules and feel cheated by them. 

However, some groups are willing to roll with the punches the 

game delivers. Losing a character is part of the risk of playing 

RPGs, and death is not the only way in which a character can 

fall. Forcing a PC into an NPC role is an excellent way to create 

a new villain. Who knows the heroes' strengths and 

weaknesses better than someone who shared in their 

adventures? If the player doesn't mind the alterations to his 

character, you can change a trusted friend into a terrible 

enemy. This foe can strike where the characters are most 

vulnerable, targeting their loved ones and their friends, and 

working to oppose the goals they hold most dear. 

The alignment change does not need to be permanent. Perhaps 

a powerful spell such as wish can restore a character to his 

original state. Otherwise, some of the optional cures for 

lycanthropy can double as methods by which a party of 

adventurers can return a corrupted character to normal. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that the alignment change 

works in both directions. Just as a hero can fall to evil when he 

becomes a werewolf, so too can a foul villain turn to the path 

of good after an encounter with a werebear. There are many 

ways you can use this to fuel adventures in your campaign. 

Perhaps a local werebear ranger, long renowned as a powerful 

defender of the forest, falls in battle with a marauding bandit. 

A few weeks later, reports filter in of a new werebear who has 

appeared in the forest. When the characters go to meet him, 

they discover that this new guardian is the bandit. While they 

may want to avenge their fallen ally, the bandit's alignment 

change and new outlook compels him to fill his old enemy's 

place. In this situation, you can use the prospect of a cure as a 

tool to make the PCs' lives more interesting. Perhaps the 

bandit's friends want to return him to normal. If the characters 

trust the new werebear too much, they may live to regret it 

when he returns to the path of evil. 

Wererats and other clever lycanthropes might use their curse 

to subvert and recruit powerful leaders and merchants. The 

mayor might cut funding to the mercenaries who patrol the 


sewers after he is transformed into a wererat and recruited to 

their cause. Many science fiction movies use the concept of a 

hidden invasion to portray the slow downfall of society. Over 

time, an alien menace converts more and more people to its 

cause, either brainwashing them or physically transforming or 

replacing their bodies. Using a similar strategy, lycanthropes 

can infiltrate and subvert a town or city. This method works 

very well as the background for a campaign. While the PCs 

deal with other matters, the folk in town are slowly but surely 

brought into the lycanthropes' camp. Once the characters 

uncover the horrid conspiracy, they must act quickly before 

the foul beasts' plan can come to fruition. The characters might 

have to fight and kill old friends who have been turned into 

monsters. If you use the optional cures given in this book, the 

party might have to kill the head werecreature, uncover an 

artifact, or make some other great quest to turn their friends 

back to normal. All the while, they can never be sure that the 

friendly innkeeper or the local blacksmith is trustworthy. With 

the lycanthropes' spies and converts everywhere, the 

characters can never be truly safe. 

If these scenarios do not seem worth the risk of alienating a 

player, you can rule that the alignment change takes place only 

when a character enters his hybrid or animal form. These rules 

work particularly well with the ideas given for creating a 

second, bestial personality that controls the PC's dark half. In 

this situation, a character can remain in control as long as he 

avoids situations that force him to change his shape. Every 

injury in combat and every full moon can send him into a 

transformation. While the PC is relatively safe by day, each 

night is an ordeal that he must do his best to endure. Using 

these guidelines, you can portray a character as plagued by his 

terrible curse without allowing it to destroy his PC simply due 

to a failed saving throw. 

The Moon and 

Lycanthropes 

The moon has a tremendous effect on lycanthropes. As anyone 

who has seen any movie with a werewolf in it can tell you, a 

full moon brings out the beast in a werecreature. Most of the 

time, though, the moon fades into these creatures' 

background. After all, aside from afflicted lycanthropes the 

moon has little effect on them. This section introduces 

optional rules that you can use to add more flavor and detail 

to lycanthropes. It gives you a simple system of keeping track 

of the moon and introduces several special, magical effects that 

the moon can have on lycanthropes. For example, on the night 

of the blood moon the werewolves stalk across the land in 

search of quarry worthy of their attention. On the evening of 

the black moon, lycanthropes weaken and lose some of their 

abilities as the moon fades from the night sky. On some 

campaign worlds, several moons pass amidst the stars. Rules 

and guidelines cover such campaign settings and show you 

how to resolve werecreature abilities in lands where the moon 

is unknown or takes on a different form than normal. 


The Phases of the Moon 

In a world of magic and strange monsters, the heavenly satellites 

that grace the night sky can undergo strange and frightening 

changes. This section presents a few different phases of the 

moon to complement the standard waxing and waning. Due to 

magical effects, the decree of gods, or meddling by wizards, the 

moon can exert its influence on werecreatures in a number of 

ways. The conditions given below are meant as examples you 

can use to add flavor to your campaign and draw a deeper 

connection between lycanthropes and different magical states 

that can affect the moon. Use some or all of them to grant the 

werecreatures you use special bonuses or drawbacks. 

One of the fun things you can do with these phases of the 

moon is to use them to set up a dangerous situation involving 

lycanthropes. For example, the characters might be engaged in 

a long-running struggle against a clan of wererats. With the 

night of the cloaked moon approaching, they know that they 

can expect a raid from the rats. The tension that builds as a 

night approaches can help add excitement and pressure to 

your campaign. Don't be afraid to alert the characters of an 

approaching event, as the anticipation can be just as 

frightening and trying as the event itself. 

When adding these lunar events to your campaign, consider 

how they fit into your world's mythology and religions. 

Perhaps they are natural events fueled by the ever-present ebb 

and flow of magic within the world. Otherwise, they could be 

caused by a divine figure linked to the moon, an artifact buried 

beneath the lunar surface, or an ancient curse that continues 

to exert its influence over the world. Lycanthropes might base 

holidays or religious ceremonies on these nights. For example, 

the night of the blood moon could signal the end of the 

werewolves' most important holy days. After several nights of 

feasting and celebration, they embark on an unholy crusade to 

set the tone for the coming year's raids and attacks. 

The Blood Moon: On this night, the moon hangs large and 

red in the sky. The sages whisper that it comes to pass on the 

eve of a great massacre, though whether this belief arose after 

or before the werewolves' great rampages none can say. What 

is indisputable is that on this night the savage lupines gain 

tremendous strength and power, with an aggressive drive that 

matches their newfound abilities. For the length of the night, 

all werewolves gain a +4 bonus to Strength and Constitution. 

In addition, they may rage once during the night as a 1st-level 

barbarian. A werewolf with barbarian levels gains an 

additional use of the rage ability. 

The Cloaked Moon: On the night of the new moon, 

lycanthropes sometimes gain a mystical connection to the 

darkness and shadows that cover the land. Once every five 

years, the moon plunges into darkness and extends its murky 

disguise to include the lycanthropes that dwell across the 

world. On these nights, werewolves, weretigers, and other 

werecreatures gain a +4 competence bonus to all Hide and 

Move Silently checks. Shadows and darkness seem to follow 

them wherever they walk, concealing them from observers and 

muffling the few sounds they make. 


The Moon Bridge: This mighty lunar event takes place only 

once every century. If it occurred with greater frequency, the 

civilized folk of the world would have been forced to hunt 

down and defeat the evil lycanthropes for fear of their eventual 

destruction. On the night of the moon bridge, the werewolves 

gather in isolated forest clearings to wait for the full moon's 

glow. When it reaches them in all its radiance, it forms a 

gleaming, shimmering pathway that allows them to take part 

in the great hunt. Werewolves from across the world, from 

horizon to horizon, sweep across these moon bridges to find 

and hunt down great numbers of civilized, intelligent beings. 

Riding their moon bridges, they sweep down upon cities, 

towns, and villages, attacking good, evil, and neutral folk with 

equal abandon. As the night progresses, the wolves follow the 

bridges around the world. Eventually, the bridges extend back 

to their home territories, where the werewolves alight and 

finally rest after 24 hours of continuous fighting and pillaging. 

Luckily, the nature of the moon bridge forces the wolves to 

never tarry long in one place, but this is small comfort to the 

many people who lose loved ones and friends to their 

depredations. Legend holds it that the werewolves' fearsome 

god, Hurar the Pursuer, visits this evil upon the world to test 

his followers and to remind the folk of even the largest cities 

that the werewolves maintain an eternal vigil at the edge of 

civilization. The smallest mistake, the shortest lapse in 

defenses, and the werewolves will descend upon the 

countryside in the full fury of war. 

On this night, characters can expect to face werewolves who 

descend from the heavens on gleaming, magical bridges of 

moonlight. Even the most heavily defended cities face 

desperate trouble, as wolves leap down upon isolated homes, 

inns, taverns, and other poorly defended areas. After a halfhour 

or so of vicious, hard fighting, the surviving wolves 

return to the bridges and depart for fresh hunting grounds. 

Invariably, a few of the wolves' victims become afflicted 

lycanthropes, thus spreading the werecreatures' curse across 

the world. 

The Night of Void: On this darkest of nights, the moon and 

stars fade from the night sky. An absolute gloom covers the 

land. Legend tells that on this night the dead walk and dark, 

forgotten corners of the world fill with souls of the damned, 

demonic beasts, and other terrors. For lycanthropes, this night 

is perhaps their most trying hour. All lycanthropes lose their 

alternate forms and damage reduction. With their ties to the 

heavens temporarily severed, they spend the night cloistered 

in the safety of their dens, cities, and caves. 

The Peering Moon: The moon hovers in the night sky, 

casting its light upon everything that comes to pass beneath it. 

On the night of the peering moon, werecreature mystics can 

extend their magical reach to tie into the moon's position 

above the world. When casting a spell from the divination 

school, a werecreature gains a +5 bonus to its effective caster 

level. In addition, the save DC to resist such a spell increases 

by 5. On this night, some sages claim that they can see the 

faint outline of a humanoid face etched into the moon and 


96 

looking down upon the world. Lycanthrope spellcasters 

describe how their spells seem to swim into the moon's light 

and expand back down upon the world, soaking the lands 

below in the power of their magic. Werebear clerics and 

wizards use this night to track down their most hated enemies, 

collecting visions to drive their lodge mates in the coming 

years. Werewolves and wererats use it to find and investigate 

promising targets for raids and robberies, respectively. 

The Silver Moon: On some nights, the moon glows with a 

light seen only by those with the arcane ability to perceive it. 

Known as silver moons, these nights see an increase in the ebb 

and flow of arcane magic in the world. Anyone who uses detect 

magic during the night can sense a faint nimbus of alteration 

magic around the moon. Most spells function as normal. 

However, the lycanthropes' connection to the moon causes 

their magic to change in subtle ways. When a werecreature 

casts an arcane spell on a night of the silver moon, increase his 

effective caster level by one. In addition, save DCs versus such 

spells are increased by one. The silver moon's mystic aura 

reaches out to strengthen and improve magic employed by 

lycanthropes. Some sages believe that this phenomenon is a 

manifestation of a powerful artifact buried on the moon. Over 

the course of the year, it builds up arcane energy until it 

releases it during a single night. 

Multiple Moons 

In a campaign world with multiple moons, think about the 

various moons and the legends, stories, and myths attached to 

them. Perhaps one moon is seen as a malevolent influence, 

while another is a source of arcane magic. The moons might 

symbolize gods, or they could be the actual, physical form of 

deities. When looking at lycanthropes' relationship to the 

moons, you should outline the satellites' reputed natures and 

match them to the different lycanthrope species. For example, 

a dark moon normally linked to dark magic and necromantic 

practices might be linked to wererats, werewolves, and other 

evil lycanthropes. When this moon is full, those creatures 

assume their animal forms. Afflicted humanoids suffer the ill 

effects of lycanthropy as per a normal full moon. In contrast, 

the weretigers share a link with a golden moon that serves as 

the home of their goddess. As that moon waxes and wanes, so 

too do their fortunes. The black moon has no effect on them, 

though they know it signals the activities of their werewolf and 

rat enemies. 

Lycanthropes can also feel the effects of different 

configurations and interactions between the moons. Perhaps 

an afflicted lycanthrope is forced into his form when all five 

moons that appear in a world's sky are full. In this case, 

infected characters have quite a bit of time before they are 

forced to undergo a change. You can use this to give the party 

more time to cure anyone with lycanthropy, as it offers a 

convenient and logical way in which to stretch out the process 

of finding a way to break the curse. 


Belladonna and its 

Properties 

While perhaps the easiest tool for the prevention of 

lycanthropy, belladonna is a dangerous poison that can harm a 

patient while it cures him of his curse. Belladonna, also known 

as wolfsbane, is a flowering plant widely known for its toxic 

nature. It has red, bell-shaped flowers and green leaves that 

grow along its stem. It bears black, sweet berries that are 

poisonous if eaten. Belladonna requires a Fortitude save (DC 

13) to resist its effects. Its initial damage is 1d6 Strength, while 

its secondary damage is an additional 2d6 Strength. 

The link between lycanthropes and belladonna is unclear. 

Many herbalists believe that the plant's ability to sap a 

creature's physical strength has some sort of mystic connection 

to the curse of lycanthropy. Since a werecreature taps into a 

primal, bestial part of its personality for strength and ferocity, 

belladonna can sever that tie through its weakening effect. 

While the herb saps a creature's physical power, it also has an 

effect on its psychic health. Just as its muscles grow slack and 

weak, so too do the vicious, animal aspects of its personality 

diminish. Belladonna weakens these aspects to the point 

where the curse of lycanthropy withers and expires. 

Belladonna earned its common name of wolfsbane for its 

effectiveness against werewolves and other lycanthropes as a 

poison or a weapon. In the wild, werewolf packs take pains to 

avoid patches of the herb. Even werebears find it repellent. 

While they allow it grow within their domains, they never 

personally tend to it. Werebears endure it only because as 

caretakers of the forest they must preserve all of nature, not 

just the portions they find appealing. 

Wolfsbane can be prepared as a poison for use against 

lycanthropes. Other creatures are only affected by it if they 

ingest it, but the juice of its berries is a useful weapon poison. 

When used in this manner, it has a Fortitude save DC of 15 

and causes 1d6 Strength damage. Its secondary damage is 2d6 

Strength. This poison affects only lycanthropes. Other 

creatures struck with a weapon smeared with wolfsbane are 

unaffected by it. 

The belladonna plant is also useful in warding off 

lycanthropes. In areas suffering from a werewolf infestation, 

many peasants gather the plant and set it on their doors and 

windows. A lycanthrope must make a Fortitude save (DC 10) 

to move within 10 ft. of a sprig of freshly cut wolfsbane. A 

werecreature needs to make this save if it wants to move closer 

to the herb. If a creature carries belladonna up to a 

werecreature, it does not need to save nor does it have to move 

away from it. In combat, a lycanthrope can make this save each 

round. Once it succeeds, it does not need to save again for the 

rest of the encounter. 

A dose of wolfsbane poison costs 150 gp, while a plain sprig 

of belladonna costs 10 gp. A character can find a belladonna 

plant in a forested area with a DC 20 Survival check.

SlavesOfTheMoon_Fina.. - Marcia Schoonover's web page

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?