DF: Werewolves

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

[Author's Note: I made this critter for a GM needing a template to present his players with, but its low point cost and combat effectiveness make it suitable to a DF game, I think. ;-)]

Werewolves are beings that add human cunning, bestial ferocity and unnatural strength. A werewolf can look like an ordinary human being (in fact, most of them are of average appearance and without distinctive features: a possible natural self-defense, since known werewolves tend to be killed on sight) or a wolf-human hybrid monstrousity, a humanoid seven to nine feet tall, with fur and skin as though as steel and metal-tearing jaws. While in this form, the werewolf retains only a spark of its human intelligence... but it's still smarter than a beast, one thing werewolf hunters often do not grasp. He stands on human-like legs, but his "hands" are little more than clawed pawns and cannot manipulate objects or use tools; his face changes into a wolf-like muzzle, with a mouth full of teeths and burning eyes.
Werewolves need three seconds to change between one form and the other; withstanding the process is an horrifying experience, as the "new" for literally bursts through the "old" one, as if it was hidden just below the surface. They can change form whenever they like; they are no more connected to the full moon than ordinary wolves are.
Not every werewolf is an evil being... but many's morality is at least questionable. Some of them actually like the taste of human flesh, while others prefer to prey on animals, but all enjoy the pleasure of the hunt and the ecstasy of killing and devouring. For most of them, their human looks are simply a disguise that allows them to think better; they consider the hybrid form their natural form.

A werewolf has the human template, plus an Alternate Form (Man-Wolf Form; Reduced Time 3, +60%) [33]. The following template replaces the human template while in hybrid form:

Man-Wolf [10]

Attribute Modifiers: ST +9 (No Fine Manipulators, -40%; Size, -10%) [45]; DX +1 (No Fine Manipulators, -40%) [12]; HT +2 [20]; IQ -5 [-100].
Secondary Characteristics Modifiers: SM +1; Per +7 [35]; Will +5 [25].
Advantages: DR 4 (Can't Wear Armor, -40%) [12]; Discriminatory Smell [15]; Fangs [2]; Sharp Claws [3]; Speak With Animals (Canids Only, -60%) [10]; Striking ST 6 (Biting Only, -60%) [12].
Disadvantages: Bloodlust [-10]; Cannot Speak [-15]; No Fine Manipulators [-30]; Social Stigma (Monster) [-15]; Vulnerability (Silver) x2 [-10].
Perks: Fur [1].
Quirks: Dislikes fires; Likes raw meat [-2].

It is rumored of a werewolf group called "The Hunters", whose members have an amazing control over their transformed bodies and minds. Such werewolves' hybrid forms have a lower IQ penalty (the masters among them could have no penalty at all) and functional hands instead of paws: their claws are Blunt rather than Sharp, but they do not have No Fine Manipulators and favor the use of man-forged weapons (notably swords) over claws and bites.

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

The following werewolf has all attributes at 10 in human form. He may disguise as a peasant or city dweller.

ST 19 HP 19 Speed 5.75
DX 11 Will 10 Move: 5
IQ 5 Per 12
HT 12 FP 12 SM: +1.

Dodge: 8. Parry: 10. DR: 4.

Bite (14): 2d+3 imp.
Claw (14): 2d-1 cut.
Traits: Bloodlust; Cannot Speak; DR 4 (Can't Wear Armor); Discriminatory Smell; Fangs; No Fine Manipulators; Sharp Claws; Speak With Animals (Canids Only); Striking ST 6 (Biting Only); Vulnerability to Silver (x2).
Skills: Brawling 14; Tracking 16 (+4 for Discriminatory Smell).
Class: Were-creature.
Notes: Takes double damage from silver weapons. Can talk with dogs, wolves and other canids. His acute sense of smell allows him to track with scent and recognize individuals by their odor.

[lachimba]

What no regeneration?

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Originally Posted by lachimba

What no regeneration?

I was on a budget when making that, but I suppose they could have one. ;-)

[PK]

The werewolf == regeneration concept isn't really tied to old school myths, so there's no reason you can't leave it off, especially if you're making this a reasonably priced PC race.

[pawsplay]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

The werewolf == regeneration concept isn't really tied to old school myths, so there's no reason you can't leave it off, especially if you're making this a reasonably priced PC race.

Really? In the original myths, they sometimes rose from the dead and had to get the vampire treatment to stop coming back. On the other hand, in the old myths, they sometimes bore wounds acquired in their wolf form that served to identify them. But in OTHER myths, they would get identified by threads from clothing in their teeth because their wounds would vanish in their human form.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by pawsplay

But in OTHER myths, they would get identified by threads from clothing in their teeth because their wounds would vanish in their human form.

This one, in GURPS terms, might just be Non-Reciprocal Damage (Powers, p75).

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by pawsplay

Really? In the original myths, they sometimes rose from the dead and had to get the vampire treatment to stop coming back.

That's not regeneration, or at least not in the X-Men "heals in combat time, watch the wound finish closing less than 30 seconds after creating it" sort of way that Werewolves regenerate in RPGs (the most extreme case that I know of being Werewolf: The Apocalypse, where a sufficiently angry werewolf can in fact REGROW HIS HEAD after being decapitated, as long as the sword wasn't silver. Takes 6 seconds flat.)

That might better be described as resurrection. It doesn't prevent them from getting dead, they just get better again afterward.

Of course, in GURPS that's probably Slow or Regular regeneration and Unkillable 1.


The French-Canadian version of this, by the way, is that dead werewolves come back as Vampires, not like vampires. They might even come back as werewolf-vampires, which are worse than regular werewolves and regular vampires put together!

Originally Posted by pawsplay

On the other hand, in the old myths, they sometimes bore wounds acquired in their wolf form that served to identify them. But in OTHER myths, they would get identified by threads from clothing in their teeth because their wounds would vanish in their human form.

Or because they were never wounded by the mundane weapon in the first place. Of course, folklore also has werewolves being only harmed by blessed weapons, weapons wielded by priests, or only by fire... or at the other extreme werewolves being harmed by everything normal people are harmed by.