Good god, I’ve been reduced to Twilight jokes. What have I become?
The Company of the Black Moon – they used to be adventurers loyal to the realm. Now they roam the woods as a pack of werewolves. The king has promised estates, titles, and gold to anyone who can undo the curse afflicting them. I, for one, have no interest in such rewards.
Thornstaff, Elf Druid
Lore: Savage Cowards
There isn’t a whole lot of lore to cover here. Werewolves are savage hunters, especially in their hybrid form. Most flee civilization not long after becoming cursed, either fearing hurting their loved ones or fearing being caught murdering. Many of them gather in packs with regular wolves or dire wolves.
While this is super sparse, there is some stuff you can do with it. Perhaps the party needs to sneak a werewolf out of a heavily guarded city before they can lose control? Or maybe they’re sent to find an NPC who has joined a wolf pack, having gone full werewolf? It won’t make for anything more than a one-off side quest, but it’s better than nothing.
Design: A True Beast
Once again, this is exactly what you’d expect. Even still, they did manage to tell a story with it. At least somewhat.
It’s impressive that they managed to create a narrative with nothing more than a shredded tunic. This isn’t like some of the previous lycanthropes, who had accepted their curse and adapted to it. This is a person who has well and truly become a beast, with only the barest semblance of their sanity remaining to them.
But, even still, it’s just a wolf-man. Nothing new or interesting has been done with the concept of a werewolf. It is exactly what you’d expect. Fine, but not particularly interesting or memorable.
Stats: Disappointingly Weak
Wow. For being the go-to lycanthrope, the werewolf sure is pathetic.
Killing it isn’t hard. Its AC and HP are both incredibly low. So long as you have a silvered weapon, you’ll be fine.
Damage wise, it’s options are incredibly limited and boring. It has plenty of weapons, and they do decent damage for a low-level monster. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a simple slugfest. This monster has zero abilities more interesting than just scratching the players.
Overall, this makes for an incredibly disappointing fight. Even if you bolster the werewolf with a pack of wolves or dire wolves, it’s still just another ‘hit it until it dies’ situation. Extremely disappointing.
Placement
Overall, this is another middling monster. It’s lore is sparse, but could make for some fun encounters. The design is exactly what you expect, but it was effectively done. Unfortunately, the stats just don’t make for an interesting battle.
With all that in mind, let’s put the Werewolf on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Dragon Turtle
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Sea Hag
- Lamia
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Kuo-Toa
- Gibbering Mouther
- Kraken
- Intellect Devourer
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Lich
- Kobold
- Kenku
- Hobgoblins
- Night Hag
- Green Hag
- Ankheg
- Hook Horror
- Storm Giant
- Hill Giant
- Empyrean
- Efreeti
- Grimlock
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Drider
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Hydra
- Marid
- Harpy
- Werejackal
- Half-Dragon
- Cambion
- Fire Giant
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Ghoul and Ghast
- Ettin
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Djinni
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Werebear
- Lizardfolk
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Gnolls (all three)
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Frost Giant
- Weretiger
- Werewolf <—————–
- Duergar
- Quasit
- Dryad
- Flumph
- Goblin
- Wereboar
- Wererat
- Githyanki
- Planetar
- Imp
- Clay Golem
- Flameskull
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Githzerai
- Grick
- Invisible Stalker
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Flesh Golem
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Bullywug
- Hellhound
- Ettercap
- Gas Spore
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Homonculus
- Solar
- Deva
- Gorgon
- Hippogriff
- Griffon
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Ghost
- Fire Elemental
- Water Elemental
- Air Elemental
- Stone Giant
- Deep Gnome
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
- Stone Golem
- Earth Elemental
- Galeb Duhr
- Helmed Horror
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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