werewolf hero

[DullandRusty]

after the elf pack, i thought of adding in a werewolf hero...maybe the players pick him up in the elf quests somewhere along the way. not sure if i like the idea, but here's what i'm toying with just for fun.

the werewolf hero starts a quest as a human with relatively low to moderate attack and defense. say maybe elf attack level or a touch less and maybe has significant restrictions on weapons so he is relatively weak whenever in human form. upon the heroes first kill (or maybe after a set number of kills) he rolls a dice to see the phase of the moon. if it rolls a skull he turns into a werewolf. the werewolf hero no longer has weapons or armor but is notably stronger. say like 6 attack dice or so and decent defense, with a set movement of up to 8 or 9 squares. the hero will have this higher strength for the rest of the quest and stay in werewolf form unless maybe dispelled by a wizard (if the group really doesnt like the idea of the werewolf lasting the remainder of the quest). here's the catch. the werewolf hero has to have his hunger satisfied frequently. say he has to personally kill a monster before x amount of turns go by (not sure how many yet). if he does not satisfy his hunger, he will turn on the closest person (whether it is monster or hero and attack it). now the heroes can flee it and if they roll high dice rolls can run away (to which the werewolf will then pursue the closest thing on the board). if the werewolf kills a hero, his hunger is satisfied and he regains some semblance of sanity (still staying in werewolf form though) and the counter resets for him to kill another monster before he again goes insane with hunger and turns on the nearest monster or hero. this might spice up the party drama, and add a little nervousness as they dont want to get killed, but also dont want to kill off their party mate which takes him out of the campaign. it also makes the drama of having to find monsters and make sure the werewolf gets the kill in even if the barbarian could likely finish it off. not sure my thoughts on it, but could be fun for bit. any thoughts?

[Anderas]

I thought a lot about paragraphs

I think here the other heroes would just immediately turn on the werewolf character and kill him. It maybe is a different thing if the hero was cursed during the quest and they still search the cure.
But if the player was choosing this as a new character, they would fight each other.

[j_dean80]

Not sure anyone would choose to play it.

I would make it as a Spell Scroll or something. Maybe a certain roll to cause the affect to end.

[DullandRusty]

I thought a lot about paragraphs

.

so true. i tend to type in all lower case and just one big paragraph. especially late at night when my eyes glaze over looking at a computer screen (much like your probably did reading my rambling)

[DullandRusty]

yeah, i wasn't sure if the loss of a character would make them try to avoid killing off the werewolf or not. we tend to have big penalties for death. lose all gold, and half of gear. half can be grabbed by others in the room but the half is randomly selected (which means artifacts not randomly selected are gone for good). as such our players would be hesitant to kill the werewolf off but a the same time be trying to fight him off to stay alive themselves.

and just for you anderas, i'll make a paragraph break

i wonder if having a smaller movement range for the werewolf would make it more likely to work, as the players could outrun it easier. this would lead to it finding monsters a little more easily after it goes insane and turns on the closest monster/hero. that might make it so others don't just gang up and kill it (along with the penalties of death, etc.) the other aspect that could play in is if the defense or the body points goes up so it is a little more difficult to kill and would likely take out a hero before it is killed by the group.

i do think a spell or cure somewhere in the dungeon they can search for could be an interesting dynamic as well. gives them almost a mini quest to do during the quest.

[DullandRusty]

the other aspect that could play in is if the defense or the body points goes up so it is a little more difficult to kill and would likely take out a hero before it is killed by the group.

by that i mean if it is harder to kill and is a threat to the team where one of them will likely die if they face off against it, then they will be more likely to flee. during the fleeing if they get enough distance between themselves and it, the werewolf will eventually be closer to a monster than a hero and begin moving towards that to satisfy its hunger.

[DullandRusty]

that said, i'm just throwing ideas out of heroes that people could play that have entirely different game mechanics, skills or things that need to be considered when playing and appreciate your input. the werewolf would intrigue me, myself being a gambler of sorts, as the base stats are weak but the top end would be highest in the game for a hero. however, that high end stat would come with the risk of "if you aren't careful with your teams planning, you may or even likely will destroy your whole team". albeit, that might get mighty annoying too.

[DullandRusty]

Not sure anyone would choose to play it.

I would make it as a Spell Scroll or something. Maybe a certain roll to cause the affect to end.

hmm, maybe if when insane, the werewolf rolls each turn prior to his movement and attack on the nearest target. if he rolls whatever is decided (say a black shield etc) then he reverts back to a human. if he does not, then he continues his movement and action towards the nearest target (hero or monster). the insanity affect could still end when he kills something, leaving him in wolf form with the benefits of the boosted stats. if he ends up rolling to break the curse and reverts to human form then he has the benefit of not attempting to kill his party, but loses the stat boosts from being in wolf form.

eventually in the quest he may revert to wolf form if he again kills the prerequisite # of monsters to roll for the moon phase again. this hero might also have the choice of do i just whittle down monsters to low BP and let someone else finish them off, or do i kill them fully and gamble on going back into wolf form.

again, just spitballing here to come up with something of a novelty hero of sorts, so any further input is always appreciated, even if its "that's a stupid idea"

[mitchiemasha]

As Anderas said. A curse might be a better idea.

My Berserker mod could work here. Not a conventional full on wareful but similar. It will only attack everything in reach if rolling higher than it's Mind on 1d6 when rolling to move. Reach is defined by the other d6 value. 6,6 would be risky. 6,1 not. Now heroes might want to keep a distance. The roll reflects the character been unable to control his urge to kill. Over excited. A weaker mind, more likely to kill. If it's mind gets too weak, the Heroes will have to put you down, too greater a threat.

Doing this means there's no extra rolling or fiddly record keeping. It simply flows with the existing rules.

[mitchiemasha]

A high roll could get the Heroes out of a pickle, the wareful cursed hero taking out a full room or cost the heroes a few fetal BP's

The more i think about this i prefer it for a wareful than a berserker. The wareful part explains the faster speed of being able to reach everything that's close to it in 1 turn. But not the max distance of 1d6. We can theme that as it being smell related. It's the smell that the cursed hero is constantly having to battle with his mind, to not attack.