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View Full Version : Help! Eberron Werewolf Character Build.



Krill
2007-02-21, 01:18 PM
I've spent a lot of time re-reading the old threads on lycanthropy - a huge thanks to everyone that's asked questions before me!

I'm trying to build an Urban Druid (from Dragon magazine - or the Best of Dragon collection) character in an Eberron game. Unfortunately, the poor fellow got chomped by a werewolf and is now an afflicted (aware) lycanthrope.

This is, as you can tell, not a particularly powerful build - as he'll be spending most of his time avoiding becoming a werewolf. As soon as he gives in, he loses the 'call' of the city and his Urban Druid class abilities. Also, the party cleric (a Silver Flame sort) will kill him. Ow. It's meant to be an interesting role-play opportunity - also, a good chance to convince other people that my 'wild shape' is me inadvertantly turning into a slavering beast 19 nights/month.

Can I run the build by people? We're starting at level 6. So following the template build from wizards.com (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a), he's basically a 2nd level druid, 2nd level 'wolf' and 2nd level werewolf.

Does this mean he gets the +1 ability score (level 4) and 2 more feats (levels 3 and 6)?

Also, besides cranking every possible skill point into Control Shape - does anyone have any ideas how to keep some sort of control over this?

The 'Mark of the 12 Moons' feat gives +10 to Control Shape checks, which seems like an mandatory!

It should - potentially - be a brilliant character. I'm looking forward to role-playing the conflict between someone that hears the 'call of the city' and the 'call of the wild'. Plus, the chance to chew on people's legs.

Thanks...

Nerd-o-rama
2007-02-21, 01:31 PM
Your link's broken.

Yes to the bonus point for fourth level (as he has four hit dice), yes to the third level feat, no to the 6th-level feat, which are also technically based on Hit Dice, not Effective Character Level. LA mostly only affects experience calculation and CR/wealth-by-level guidelines.

As for the fluff - as long as you and your DM are aware and okay with the fact that it could potentially cause PvP, it sounds like an excellent character background. I highly recommend the Mark of the Twelve Moons feat, which I'm not familiar with but makes sense...d20srd.org's Monster section seems to be down temporarily, but if I remember the Control Shape rules right, that should be enough that you could usually keep it under control that way.

And remember, it might not be that bad. The Lycanthropic Purge was a while ago, and the disease is no longer the epidemic it was at the time. Silver Flamers might not feel compelled to kill you, although if you're an Evil strain of Werewolf, they might do it on general principle anyway.

Krill
2007-02-21, 01:38 PM
Link fixed - thank you.

I think I've successfully sweet-talked the DM into letting the were-wolfing go 'CN' as opposed to 'CE'. So he's still erratic and animalistic (and loses his Urban Druid powers if he ever succumbs to it), but not actually likely to go straight for the throats of party members.

Thanks for clarifying LA - I have to confess, it's had me totally mystified.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-02-21, 01:57 PM
Okay, so you took the first two levels of the Werwolf template class (which are like LA), and the two levels of the Wolf (Lycanthrope) class, which basically give you your Wolf HD...yeah. Works out to the same as the template, actually, which is the point of the class, but okay. I think you've got it right.

PinkysBrain
2007-02-21, 05:08 PM
The silver flame finds offense in the alignment change lycanthropy causes, whether the lycanthropes in question are good or evil is quite irrelevant.

How long do you think it will take your party members to notice you have DR and can't cast anything higher than first level spells?

Mewtarthio
2007-02-21, 05:38 PM
Can I run the build by people? We're starting at level 6. So following the template build from wizards.com (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a), he's basically a 2nd level druid, 2nd level 'wolf' and 2nd level werewolf.

Ironically enough, that template class is only for the inhereted ("natural") version of the template. The acquired ("afflicted") version is somewhat different: You only get DR 5/silver and can't spread your curse (also you have to make the Control Shape checks that natural lycanthropes do automatically). It's also LA +2 anyway, so no real problems there. You're basically an Animal 2 / Druid 2 / LA 2. See the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lycanthrope.htm).

Your Control Shape DCs will all be around 20-25. Max it out to 7 ranks and buy 18 Wis (you're a Druid, you want it anyway) for a total of +11 to the check. You get an extra +2 Wis for your lycanthropy, making that +12. The feat that grants +10 to Control Shape lets you automatically at any attempt to shift back to human form outside a full moon, meaning you can pretty much pass off any involuntary changes as your ordinary Wild Shape. There is an exception when you're under a full moon, as the DC to change back is equal to the DC to resist other involuntary changes (25). You have to roll a 3 or higher to change back in that case. You should be fine on that front. And that assumes you need to change back at all, since you've still got to roll a 3 in the first place to fail resisting the involuntary change.

The Will saves, on the other hand, might cause some problems. As you've said, failing a DC 15 + [number of transformations] save means that you lose your class abilities and get killed by the Paladin. Do your best to avoid having to make those saves. This means avoid getting injured enough to trigger a change. Of course, if you're really desperate, you could burn a feat on Skill Focus (Control Shape), which, if my math's right, renders you essentially immune to the nasty aspects of lycanthropy.

Aside from that, you should be able to find Clerics capable of curing your lycanthropy. Have Remove Curse cast on you, then make a DC 20 Will save to get rid of the affliction.


How long do you think it will take your party members to notice you have DR and can't cast anything higher than first level spells?

DR only applies in animal form (or hybrid form, but if he goes hybrid he loses everything). The low caster level could just as easily be indicitave of a low-level caster (those other two HD don't have to be Animal HD as far as they know). Knowing that you're an ECL 6 character is probably metagaming more or less (particularly since he won't be taking advantage of many of the powers that lycanthropy gives, making his actual effectiveness much lower).

PinkysBrain
2007-02-21, 06:04 PM
They will notice the fact he isn't catching up.

Mewtarthio
2007-02-21, 06:12 PM
They will notice the fact he isn't catching up.

The concept of "experience" and "levels" is more or less a metagaming concept. It'd be like comparing a 57 HP attack to a 56 HP attack. They'd just figure that he was a little slow when it comes to training.

PinkysBrain
2007-02-21, 06:32 PM
More or less there have been lots of bands of adventurers before, gaining experience from challenges is more or less a standard part of life in the D&D world (even for non adventurers). They are too stupid to know how their world works?

Mewtarthio
2007-02-21, 07:56 PM
More or less there have been lots of bands of adventurers before, gaining experience from challenges is more or less a standard part of life in the D&D world (even for non adventurers). They are too stupid to know how their world works?

I'd consider it metagaming if a party calculated exactly how many kobolds they needed to kill in order to reach level three. Experience and levels are meant to be abstractions.

PinkysBrain
2007-02-21, 08:13 PM
You don't gain per monster XP anyway.

Adventurers gain power very fast by facing far larger challenges than "normal" people. Bands of adventurers will tend to keep up with each other. You need to metagame for your character to ignore those basic facts, not to have them acknowledge it ... it's in game directly observable truth. Your opinion of what is supposed to be an abstraction is out of game knowledge.

Ignoring the quantization of certain aspects of the D&D rules is fine and well, easily glossed over. Trying to shoehorn real life learning and development into the backstories of D&D characters makes for a very poor fit though ... it's a whole different reality.

SpiderBrigade
2007-02-21, 09:33 PM
Ok, sure, D&D characters are going to know that by fighting enemies and going on quests they get better at what they do. They probably would notice that Bob the Werewolf doesn't seem to be picking up new tricks as fast as everyone else. But I don't think that translates to them somehow figuring out he must be werewolf, from his slower levelling alone. Yeah, if they notice he suddenly shuns silver and instantly regenerates normal wounds...but not because his druid abilities don't seem up to par. For all they know, he's been working on picking up some Monk abilities instead.

Krill
2007-02-22, 03:25 AM
True enough - we're (I say with pride) a very good group when it comes to player vs character knowledge. Although I'll keep my lycanthropy secret as long as possible as a player (for the fun of it), it doesn't really matter if other players figure out. Just their characters.

Playing a somewhat bizarre base class - an Urban Druid - should help with that.

Everyone's being very helpful - this sounds like it's actually going to work. Thank you!

The big question raised (to me, at least) was whether or not I'll ever want the character to be cured. Currently, the character's main issue is resisting the temptation to voluntarily shift to hybrid or wolf form (because he instantly and permanently loses his alignment). But sooner or later the Will Save DC from the involuntary changes will stack up and he'll have to make a choice between being a professional druid or a professional werewolf. Oh, the temptation... ('I can summon rats!' vs 'I'm a furry killing machine!')

InaVegt
2007-02-22, 07:57 AM
Ironically enough, that template class is only for the inhereted ("natural") version of the template. The acquired ("afflicted") version is somewhat different: You only get DR 5/silver and can't spread your curse (also you have to make the Control Shape checks that natural lycanthropes do automatically). It's also LA +2 anyway, so no real problems there. You're basically an Animal 2 / Druid 2 / LA 2. See the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lycanthrope.htm).
While that might be correct the article states afflicted lycanthropes (correct term this time, I hate it when they call something like a werefox a lycanthrope, should be something else (don't know the exact term, never had lessons of ancient languages, do know lycan means wolf though)) can't take the 3rd level, also when you look at the table you might notice the difference between the 2nd and 3rd level is the same as between an afflicted and natural lycanthrope.


Each lycanthrope template class has three levels, but only natural lycanthropes can take all the levels it offers. An afflicted lycanthrope can take only 1st and 2nd levels in the class, since his level adjustment is +2 instead of +3.