Dungeons and Dragons Lore : Werewolf

I liked how he mentioned werewolves being an idea for a supersoldier program. In my WW1 Esq world that I am currently building, a nation decided to modify the curse of lycanthropy to suit military needs. Although the subjects of this program were able to control themselves (true neutral) and even wield modified weaponry, the effect of the full moon still turned them into uncontrollable and savage forces of nature. These modified lycanthropes (called the Geanderte) fled to the icy wilderness of the continent and now live in nomadic tribes.

There were actually plenty of other lycanthrope creatures in folklore and mythology long before D&D. Egypt had sorcerers who transformed into jackals and feasted on human flesh, parts of sub-Saharan Africa had men who would transform into lions and panthers to seek vengeance on their enemies. North Africa and the Middle East had grave robbing were-hyenas. The Asian cultures had a demonic fox that would transform into a human form, and even some North American First Nations people had legends of were-fox sorcerers, and cruel were-otters that would lure boatmen and children as prey. Plus the original were creatures, the Scandinavian berserkers who would don the hides of wolves and bears, transforming themselves into the beast. Northwestern Europe had demonic seals that would shed their beast pelt to transform into human women. Lycanthropes, or more properly therianthopes, were more common and varied in their beast nature than even the D&D writers have imagined.

Because I have to ask the important questions: How do they respond to belly rubs and head pats?

A man bitten, is a man cursed

"werespiders" AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Love the werewolves A.J......if you've ever played the Demiplane of Dread you'll find they're particularly powerful,another interesting lycanthrope is the wereraven which actually migrated to Ravenloft from the Greyhawk setting,why? I don't know I just found it particularly odd to find one of the only non evil lycanthropes that would want to go there....shit it took me forever to get my Necromancer out of there! Lol

13:40 "Werewolves aren't pack animals." (shows a pack of three werewolves) My werewolves are a little different than the video, but that's okay, because D&D is big enough to encompass all types.

Ive always liked the idea that lycanthropy reveals the inner beast of humanoid creatures. If deep within you are a selfish and violent monster then you become a werewolf that would murder and consume the flesh of even your dearest friends. If you are a kind and altruistic person you turn into a werebear.

I just realized something about this type werewolf. Its not just a currption of the man, its the currption of the beast inside also. Cause no wolf is this vicious or aggressive.

Bingeing through some older content and this was a serendipitous moment. When you say “but outside of a full moon” it cut off for an add and just blares “Liberty Liberty li li Liberty!” Gave me a good chuckle, first time I’ve enjoyed a Liberty mutual commercial thought I’d share lol

My favorite věirvülf is the "Strahd's shock trooper" kind. 🐺

Werewolf the apocalypse and forsaken is a great source for were creatures and they have a dark age werewolf.

I've had a character idea of a dwarf child who was born with lycanthropy, to live in society stays in wolf form, begging for food. Kind of imagining Oz"s cousin from Buffy

I only need Werewolves, the other Weres are just imitating 😜

Great video and a very nice tribute to Gary Gygax at the end.

I'm making a monster hunter in 5e who specializes in hunting werewolves but not to kill them but to capture and cure them. I'd like know anyone's thoughts on this.

Running my group through the Werewolf Den in our Curse of Strahd campaign this evening. been listening to this, as well as some of your other creature videos, to really get into the Werewolf mindset, and for inspiration to add to the den, as it seemed a bit lacking to me.

1:44 A were-owlbear? Anyway, I'm running Curse of Strahd, and I have some ideas about the werewolves. Zuleika the She-Wolf is my player's ally against Strahd, from Madam Eva's Tarokka reading. I did some thinking about them, because up until now they haven't faced lycanthropes. So I thought --What is the Curse of the Werewolf? It's not being super-fast, and super-strong, recovering from almost any wound, having super-senses to help you hunt prey, or being able to walk around like a normal person when you want to, or being immune to diseases, even magical ones. Those are the benefits. The curse is that your body is always running at full speed, it's red-lining an engine 24 hours a day, it's having adrenaline in your system all the time. You need to eat fresh meat, continuously, because your body is burning energy at an alarming rate. The Curse is -- you can't stop. In my game, werewolves can survive easily on 1d4 hours of sleep, usually during the day, with no ill effects. They can live in cold climates because they have a higher than normal body temperature. Their bodies don't produce lactic acid, so they can run for hours. They can eat anything organic, no matter how rotten or diseased, bones and all, because the Curse makes it usable inside your body. But you need to eat fresh meat every day, or bad things start to happen. If a werewolf doesn't eat fresh meat in a 24 hour period, it gains 2 levels of Exhaustion. This penalty is cumulative, so after 3 days, you're dead. Now that's a curse. Think about the most food you've ever eaten. A whole pizza? 4 Big Macs? The 10-foot hoagie from season four of The Simpsons? A werewolf must eat that every day, or die. Well, maybe not that much. In game terms, how about at least one pound of fresh meat per Hit Die, every 24 hours. And when I say fresh, I mean alive. Another thing about werewolves in my world is that you can't catch the curse. You get bit during a fight, you won't turn into one. The Curse has to be passed on by choice. It's like being in a gang, you need to pass the initiation. And I don't have hereditary werewolves, you can't be born that way. The energy requirements for your body's strength and healing have a deleterious effect on your reproductive system. You can't have offspring. The only way to make more werewolves is by passing the Curse to someone you like well enough to be with them forever. Or until they are killed by an adventurer with a silver weapon.

I enjoy your videos often I forget to like and subscribe. I’m trying to make it a point to do that now though. Appreciate your work

great vid as always! this creature has been a standby in many full length campaigns.i9 was unaware that lycanthropy was hereditary. that is very interesting. you dont have to be bitten, you just have the roll of the dice.