Wereboar: Man-Bear-Pig… Minus the Bear

I ran out of good title jokes a long time ago.

A lot of creatures come to mind when you imagine a lycanthrope. A wolf. A lion. A bear. I can’t think many people would consider a pig.

That, or I’m just close-minded.

Lore: A Wild Family

Unlike werebears, wereboars don’t try to quell the spread of their curse. In fact, it will take great joy in seeing people try to resist the curse after they infect them, as they only grow more savage for the effort. Living in remote forest areas, caves, or old huts, wereboars will gather together into a small herd. They rarely trust strangers, and on the rare occasion they do, they ally themselves with orcs.

This could make for a fun encounter. Need an extra-menacing enemy for an orc-themed campaign? Throw in a crew of wereboar mercenaries. Or you could do a simple save-the-village plot. You don’t have many possibilities, and certainly not many creative ones. But those that are there are plenty enjoyable.

Design: Reject Humanity, Return to Pig

This isn’t an especially amazing design. But I would say it’s a step up from the werebear.

On the surface, it’s exactly what you’d expect: a pig-man. Not as savage as the werebear, but still animalistic and dangerous in its own way. And yeah, that’s what it is.

But I like one small detail: the clothes. They aren’t raggedy, like the wereboar tore it to pieces. Rather, they’re neat, pristine. It’s like the wereboar has fully embraced its curse, allowing it to keep a hold on its humanity, if not its morality. It fits the lore very well.

In the end, it isn’t an amazing look. But there have been less creative or effective designs, I suppose.

Stats: Run ‘Em Down!

You ever tried fighting a pig? It ain’t as easy as you might think. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

This thing isn’t nearly so bulky as the werebear. It has the same AC, but much lower HP. It’s best defense is its immunity to non-silvered weapons. That, and Relentless, which allows it to go down to 1 HP instead of 0 should certain criteria be met.

It doesn’t have much to go off of offensively, either. It can hit you with a maul in human form or gouge you with its tusks in boar form. The ladder can be boosted in damage if it uses Charge, so… don’t let it get too far away.

While it isn’t the most boring slugfest you could have, it is still a slugfest. The only thing the party will really need to worry about is their positioning in order to avoid letting the wereboar use Charge. And once Relentless is used up, if it even is at all, that’s it. It’s far from a menacing or memorable foe.

Placement

The wereboar is a middling monster. It’s lore is alright and its design isn’t awful, but its stats leave something to be desired. None of it is bad. Yet none of it is amazing.

With all that in mind, let’s put the Wereboar on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Dragon Turtle
4. Green Dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Blue Dragons
7. Black Dragons
8. White Dragons
9. Silver Dragons
10. Couatl
11. Behir
12. Aboleth
13. Sea Hag
14. Lamia
15. Bronze Dragons
16. Brass Dragons
17. Copper Dragons
18. Gold Dragons
19. Chuul
20. Kuo-Toa
21. Gibbering Mouther
22. Kraken
23. Intellect Devourer
24. Chimera
25. Death Knight
26. Fomorian
27. Bone Devil
28. Dracolich
29. Faerie Dragon
30. Lich
31. Kobold
32. Kenku
33. Hobgoblins
34. Night Hag
35. Green Hag
36. Ankheg
37. Hook Horror
38. Storm Giant
39. Hill Giant
40. Empyrean
41. Efreeti
42. Grimlock
43. Dao
44. Cloud Giant
45. Drow (all four of ’em)
46. Shadow Demon
47. Marilith
48. Drider
49. Aarackockra
50. Azer
51. Demilich
52. Spectator
53. Hydra
54. Marid
55. Harpy
56. Werejackal
57. Half-Dragon
58. Cambion
59. Fire Giant
60. Animated Armor
61. Banshee
62. Basilisk
63. Yochlol
64. Bulette
65. Cloaker
66. Darkmantle
67. Doppelganger
68. Ghoul and Ghast
69. Ettin
70. Pit Fiend
71. Erinyes
72. Chain Devil
73. Bearded Devil
74. Barbed Devil
75. Spined Devil
76. Ice Devil
77. Djinni
78. Nalfeshnee
79. Glabrezu
80. Chasme
81. Grell
82. Barlgura
83. Horned Devil
84. Balor
85. Shadow Dragon
86. Werebear
87. Lizardfolk
88. Vrock
89. Dretch
90. Gnolls (all three)
91. Goristro
92. Hezrou
93. Manes
94. Frost Giant
95. Duergar
96. Quasit
97. Dryad
98. Flumph
99. Goblin
100. Wereboar <———————
101. Githyanki
102. Planetar
103. Imp
104. Clay Golem
105. Flameskull
106. Displacer Beast
107. Carrion Crawler
108. Githzerai
109. Grick
110. Invisible Stalker
111. Rug of Smothering
112. Bugbear Chief
113. Bugbear
114. Flesh Golem
115. Vine Blight
116. Twig Blight
117. Needle Blight
118. Bullywug
119. Hellhound
120. Ettercap
121. Gas Spore
122. Cockatrice
123. Lemure
124. Homonculus
125. Solar
126. Deva
127. Gorgon
128. Hippogriff
129. Griffon
130. Cyclops
131. Centaur
132. Ghost
133. Fire Elemental
134. Water Elemental
135. Air Elemental
136. Stone Giant
137. Deep Gnome
138. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
139. Iron Golem
140. Stone Golem
141. Earth Elemental
142. Galeb Duhr
143. Helmed Horror
144. Flying Sword
145. Crawling Claw
146. Violet Fungus
147. Shrieker
148. Gargoyle