Lycanthropes in the Dresden Files universe aren’t quite what you might think they are…
Lycanthrope
Let’s get this clear up front: lycanthropes are not werewolves-though they share some traits in common. But where werewolves change their bodies to take on power, lycanthropes change only their minds, aligning their thoughts and senses with those of a beast. While this isn’t as scary as a man turning into a wolf right in front of you (at least at first), they can still mess you up all nasty-it’s thought that lycanthropes are what gave birth to tales of Viking berserkers. Add to this the fact that a pack of lycanthropes in close proximity to one another have a near-telepathic link, giving them a sort of group-mind advantage, and you’re looking at some serious badasses here.
So what keeps lycanthropes from taking over the world?
Well, to start, they’ve got a bit of a temper problem. Beasts don’t run governments very well. But beyond that, most of their powers aren’t fully in effect except for about five days out of every month-starting two days before the full moon, and ending two days after.
As such, players may find playing a lycanthrope to be pretty frustrating–having a lot of your power tied up and only available 5 days out of every 28 may not be a lot of fun for some. When faced with a lycanthrope PC, GMs will have to consider how often they’re willing to stage stories near the time of the full moon-and if so, how much of a restriction the Mundane Form (Involuntary) really represents. At the least, deciding that the full moon is not forthcoming may be worth a compel every time it’s relevant.
Musts: A lycanthrope must have a high concept aspect that references his or her nature as a mind-shifting beast-dude (e.g., LYCANTHROPE BIKER). In addition, the lycanthrope must take the following supernatural abilities:
- Pack Instincts
- Echoes of the Beast
The above abilities are always available to the lycanthrope, even when not near the time of the full moon. The lycanthrope should also take:
- Mundane Form (Involuntary)
- Inhuman Strength
- Inhuman Speed
- Inhuman Recovery
This set of abilities are affected by the Mundane Form, and are only available near the time of the full moon. Some lycanthrope concepts (particularly non wolf-derived ones) may not require all of these abilities, or may provide a different set of abilities during a particular time period or under particular circumstances. Player and GM should discuss any such possibilities if the player is interested.
Later this month we’ll be talking about the odd men out of the Dresdenverse — the minor talents.
Wait a minute. I thought the Lycanthropes from Fool Moon were like, conduits for rage spirits. The ones in the book didn’t seem affected by the lunar cycle. They were just crazy mofos.
Nope. Marcone nails it:
“That’s a twelve-gauge riot gun, Mr. Parker,” Marcone said. “I’m fully aware of your rather special endurance at this time of the month.”
— “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone to Parker, a lycanthrope, Fool Moon, Chapter 23
This is the first of the character archetypes that I don’t like, especially with my GM hat on. The reason I consider Spirit of the Century to be the finest RPG I have used is that it does a superb job of balancing spotlight time between players, while simultaneously keeping everyone involved. The lycanthropes as written here seem like a backwards step towards the D&D 3rd edition mentality, where particular characters can be almost useless to the group in many situations (e.g. a rogue when fighting any of the many enemies immune to sneak attack) and feel left out of the action. I know I won’t recommend that any of my players make a character that is only going to be able to perform cool stunts a fraction of the time; not only are they likely to enjoy it less, but it makes it harder for a GM to do their job (for instance, I know I wouldn’t enjoy a player whining because a particular session/adventure was set on a moonless night; and it would likely invite claims of bias in some groups).
And on the thought of lycanthropes taking over the world in your description: since almost any of the supernatural human-seeming creatures could take over the world, but haven’t because of of in fear of fear of mortal response, why do lycanthropes get special mention?
That all said, I love almost everything you guys have shown in the previews, and am eagerly awaiting the book’s release.
I disagree. I think the character aspect is a good one. First along side other classes they may look useless, but I, my self loved the lycanthropes from the books. It takes a little GMing granted. but come on any player worth there spit can make it work for them. Heck the kinematics value can be insane. If it really is a that bothersome try running a full lycanthrope game.
Just my opinion though.
@Chronicled – If you’re a fan of Spirit of the Century, then think about the kind of fate point generation a lycanthrope could get out of “if only it was the full moon” situations. We built a system where downsides are upsides, after all.
They’ll still be running around with Pack Instincts (unspoken, single-word communion with other lycanthropes) and Echoes of the Beast (keyed-up beast-senses) even outside of that time of the month.
And if the GM’s paying close attention to player need, the groovy thing to do here is to always start a new story either during the full moon (giving the PC the challenge of his powers running out somewhere partway through the adventure) or just prior to it (leaving the PC trying to hold out/fight long enough that he can get his full mojo working).
That said, remember, we’re trying to respect the *canon* here first, and this is what the canon dictates about lycanthropes. There’s no big red sign here that says “hey players, even though you don’t think this would be fun, you *must* play this character type”. That’d be ridiculous.
Therefore, the only folks who should be playing these dudes would be those who are buying into the notion of limited powers access *as a fun thing*. If they’re not, they can rationalize some other “style” of lycanthrope (minus the wolfy part, I imagine, plus some other source) that has no involuntary change, and spend a few more points of refresh for the privilege of always-on access.
I am also not all that enthusiastic about playing a Lycanthrope who is just about being a part time tough guy. On the other hand, we are just seeing some of the details here. Knowing what Echos and instincts do is useful.
My question is how expensive the power package is compared to some of the other types. If it is on the lower end of things, then part time badass works with minor talents in a low powered game, and in a high powered game, consider a Lycanthrope Fairy Court Knight as scary usually, and totally terrifying when the time is wrong.
hmm see everyone’s thinking about this as if there were only one lycanthrope and true enough if theres only one playing in a game his talents are pretty much useless… but more likely than not it will be more the ambush and overwelm mentality with 4 or 5 lycanthropes froming a pack making it harder to take out 1 without the others beating you to a pulp (or shooting)… now that being said just the standard layout doesn’t seem like enough if just one person is playing in this class. in the book i believe it says something along the lines that one of the females in the group could incite a blood lust in the others making them stronger, faster, but decreasing there reasoning that would be a useful talent to have even if it was a once a day ability.
I like the archetype, and I think it nails the description in the book. Like minor talents, a Lycanthrope PC will just have to more going for him than his magic side.
As far as verisimilitude in the game, one option might be rotating characters. Jut like Thomas and Ramirez are not in every book, I plane on my group having two PCs, and using the plot buildup to determine early on in the adventure which PC gets brought in. If a PC wants to have a Lycanthrpe, but feels hes not very valuable outside of the full moon, he has another option.
Imagine if you had a bunch of Lycanthropes in the Military … the always on stunts would be hugely useful and five days out of 28 they would be super dangerous
High-Concept: Wolf-Brother in Arms(Lycanthrope)
Aspect: I did my time in the Fort Bragg Stockade(Special Forces)
Fun idea … if there’s any minion stunts ala SOTC you could have a bunch of Military buddies you could call up for the big fight via Fate points … maybe Special Forces was clued into taking down the ‘Really Weird stuff’ like Murph’s special investigations has too sometimes.
The player character got cashiered because somebody had to take down the menace and there was no way to explain what was really going on to the un-clued in brass, but his wolf-brothers in arms know he’s one of the good guys and show up to help when really needed 🙂
Okay, so I grabbed this from the Red Court infected character archtype:
and there might be an argument happening in their skull between the red court monster within and the rage spirit that wants to take the wheel and drive
How does the rage spirit play out in the Rules? Is it part of the high concept?
@Dan from Chicago, that’s how I’d run it — mostly with aspect stuff.
Ok, these are the Lycanthropes, not the rage spirit wolves with the belts.. (The bikers from Fool Moon, not the FBI)
I like the idea.. I could have fun just playing a part of a twosome or threesome. (Hrmm a brother/sister pair might be really interesting)
Ah. I can see it now. 90% of the time my character is a hard drinking, gun totting bad ass. Then the moon is right…and he starts laughing, and laughing, and oh they’re running away. Come back, I want to beat you to death with my cell phone. It’s got great signal..ahahahahahahahaha!!!
lmao that is funny….I am kinda behind the times on these but I only just discovered this….to all of you who are complaining about the Lycanthropes being weak I agree with the people who say to have more than one character and about having several Lycanthropes in a group to help out.
Personally when I DM or GM in this case especially when I made a campaign with my 8 yr old brother who has limited grasp of D&D I made an NPC for myself to use and along the way I added several more powerful NPCs to help along so that might be a good Idea to use as well…just my personal opinion.
I may be looking foolish in asking this, but has any one considered multi classing a lycanthrope? I mean, in the books several vamps can use magic of some kind or another. What about a lycanthrope sorcerer? I have never played Spirit of the Century before so I don’t know the mechanics, but that is one of my running concepts for a character. The other is a flashy warden recruit who hates the lycanthrope.
that could work, just make sure you have enough refresh
Why doesn’t the Lycanthrope have a Catch for Inhuman Recovery?
Hi Zoe, Good question, but on an old post (from 2009) so it might not see many responses. I recommend posting over on the G+ group here https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103044538408330345444
Or at the DFRPG specific board on http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/
That said, consider:
1) The lycanthrope recovery isn’t suppressed by anything; you damage them, they heal. Shoot them with a silver bullet or whatever, it’s just the same as a normal bullet. Nothing special about damage, therefore no legit Catch.
2) All of those abilities are keyed into a Mundane Form that changes involuntarily. Outside of the full moon cycle, the lycanthrope’s a normal(ish) person. So a Catch would probably double-dip on that.