In the next installment of our series celebrating Halloween, we take a look at everyone’s favorite lycanthrope, the Werewolf. The living embodiment of dual personality disorder, these creatures have a long and storied history in our culture.

Are they misunderstood or just creatures of evil?

One of the first movies I can remember being truly scared by was “An American Werewolf in London”, which was released in 1981. I was 11 years old, and the scene where David Naughton changes into a Werewolf is forever burned into my brain. Horrifying and fascinating at the same time, my younger self thought being a Werewolf could quite possibly be the coolest thing ever, glossing over the fact that the Werewolf then ran around killing people throughout London. David didn’t want to be a Werewolf, so I justified it by saying it wasn’t his fault and he couldn’t be blamed for what he was doing. Then Teen Wolf came out and ruined it for me.

Werewolves date back to Ancient Greece, where the mythology spoke about men that could change into wolves, usually as a punishment inflicted upon the poor soul by the gods. It wasn’t until the rise of Christianity throughout Europe in the late 16th and 17th centuries that the concept of Werewolves took root. Being a person that could change their shape was a common accusation during the witch trials of that time. Wolf attacks were frequent until the early 20th century in Europe, and with wolves being one of the most feared predators then, the mythology of Werewolves was used to explain away many of the attacks.

The lore varies among cultures, Werewolves are also known as Lycans, Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters, and She-wolves. Some stories have these creatures being able to change shape at will, while others tell us that they will only transform during a full moon. Common lore is that when they are in human form, they are extremely hairy, have animal-like teeth, and are a very unfriendly lot while others portray them as indistinguishable from everyone else. Modern-day Werewolves vary from movie to movie, story to story. Lycan abilities range from having incredible strength, the power to heal themselves, the ability to change shape at will, and being the mortal enemies of vampires.

So where do they fit into Dungeons & Dragons? First off, we will be focusing on the Werewolf and not the entire family of lycanthropes. It would take forever to talk about every member of the lycanthrope family considering that there have been all sorts of shapechangers, from wererats to werecrocodiles to werebears. But the Werewolf is the mother of the lycanthrope family, so our focus and stat blocks will be on them. Let’s get started and see how our friendly neighborhood shape changer has progressed throughout the editions.

OD&D - Werewolf, under Lycanthrope

No. Appearing: 2-20

Armor Class: 5

Move: 15"

Hit Dice: 4

% in Lair: 15%

Treasure Type: C

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attack: 1d6+Special

Save: F4

Alignment: Neutral/Chaos

OD&D introduces the Werewolf in the Dungeons & Dragons White Box (1974) starts right off the bat with four different lycanthropes - Werewolf, wereboar, weretiger, and werebear. It also starts us off on the wrong by making the Werewolf the weakest of all the lycanthropes in this edition. They are the godfathers of lycanthropes! I understand weretiger and werebears being stronger, but the wereboar? At the very least they could have come up with a few lycanthropes that would be weaker than Werewolf.

Everyone knows that werewolves can only be hurt by silver weapons, and so OD&D keeps up with that fact and makes it one of the first facts they put in the description. They can also be damaged by magical weapons, which makes sense, but takes a little off the shine of the silvered weapons. Multiple werewolves are either in packs, which number 2-4, or in family packs, which number 5-8 and include a mom, dad, and their children… er, pups. This leads to the question of how exactly a family pack works.

A family pack will consist of two adults with the remainder being made up of children of varying ages, from toddlers to young adults. If the young are attacked, the mom will get pissed and she will fight at three times her base damage for four rounds. This ferocious onslaught does come at a cost, as after the four rounds, her attacks drop to only half their normal value. But it isn’t only the mother who gets angry if she is attacked, look out, cause the father then gets a turn to get angry. The male will do double damage for the entire length of the combat, but only if the female is attacked… poor children. If both parents are killed, the very young will stop fighting while the young adults will fight to the death.

How do you change into a Werewolf in Dungeons & Dragons? Anyone seriously wounded by a Werewolf, meaning that if they took damage of 50% or more to their hit points, they will be infected and become a Werewolf within 2-24 days. Once again you’ll need a cleric in your party… haven’t we been telling you that? If your 10th level or higher healer doesn’t cast Cure Disease on the affected creature, you’ve got a werewolf in your party. There is no mention of being able to fight the curse or changing only on the full moon, in fact, the rules are pretty vague on lycanthropes in the early editions.

Though the Blackmoor (1975) supplement does specify that anyone who turns into a Werewolf gets increases to their stats and the DM decides what personality trait effectively takes over the character and they must roleplay accordingly.

Basic D&D - Werewolf

Armor Class: 5 (9 in human form)

Move: 120’ (40’)

Hit Dice: 4

No. of Attacks: 1 bite

Damage/Attack: 2-8

No. Appearing: 1-6 (2-12)

Save As: Fighter Level 4

Morale: 8

Treasure Type: C

Alignment: Chaotic

X.P. Value: 125

Basic D&D brings the Werewolf out in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977) and development is the name of the game as this edition gives us some new fun things for the Werewolf. All lycanthropes can now summon two of their animal friends and if you’re a Werewolf, that means two pretty grey wolves will find you in 1-4 rounds and hang out. Of course, you will have to share those dead commoners with them, but there should be enough to go around. Any group of 5 or more will have a leader that is far stronger and will make any adventurers doublethink their odds.

For every one positive there are two negatives. Lycanthropes can’t wear armor, since having Plate Mail on would be uncomfortable when you change into a wolf. This makes a lot of sense, since getting larger should burst through armor and rip through your clothes, tearing them to shreds. You don’t get to keep the tattered remains of your pants on… unless you are the Hulk.

The second new disadvantage is the werewolf’s susceptibility to wolfsbane. Turns out if a lycanthrope is hit by wolfsbane, it must make a Saving Throw vs. Poison or run away in fear. The sprig of wolfsbane must be used as a weapon and for some reason, it is horrifying to behold.

In human form, a lycanthrope often looks somewhat like its were-form. Werewolves may have longer noses, sharper teeth, and so forth. In this form, they may be attacked normally, and may speak any known languages they are fluent in. In animal form, a lycanthrope may only be harmed by magic weapons, silvered weapons, or magic spells. The lycanthrope cannot speak normal languages, though it can speak with normal animals of its were-type.

In the basic edition, Lycanthropy is clearly defined as a disease. As before, any human character who loses more than half of his or her hit points when in battle with it, will become a lycanthrope of the same type in 2-24 days. The victim will begin to show signs of the disease after half that time. Interestingly enough, it’s only humans that are affected by this disease. All other humanoids will be killed by the disease, not turned, which is too bad, as a gnome werewolf would be hilarious. It’s much harder to rid yourself of the disease as you now need a cleric of at least 11th level to cast Cure Disease on you. Finally, any character who becomes a werewolf will become an NPC, to be run by the DM only. That truly sucks.

AD&D - The Werewolf