Sobek's Children//Werecrocs

Lycanthropy-Werecrocodile

One of the greatest blessings bestowed by the god Sobek is the ability to change into a human-crocodile hybrid, a werecrocodile. This strain of lycanthropy is only found in Egypt due to the transformation’s dependence on the Nile river. An unusual strain since the ability is not passed by the usual vector, a bite, but is passdowned hereditarily. Scribes believe this restriction may be connected to Sobek’s association with fertility, others say it was done to prevent enemies from contracting the strain. Werecrocodiles do not undergo their first transformation until after puberty is reached and only during Akhet, the Season of Inundation when the nile floods, which happens from June to September. As per my generic lycanthropy rules I’ll be using LotFP’s RAW disease rules as a base for this strain of lycanthropy.

• Incubation- The incubation time is from birth to the first Akhet after puberty.
• Infection- During Akhet, the Season of Inundation.
• Interval- Whenever human blood is detected. A Save vs. Magic may be made to resist the transformation with a +4 due to Sobek's Blessing.
• Effect- Transform into a werecrocodile(see below). Takes 2 minutes and is excruciatingly painful. Reverting back to human takes a round.

This strain was created to be a combat boon for Sobek's most devout followers and thus is dependent on detecting human blood to transform. Unlike the werewolf, werecrocs are fully in control of themselves until a kill is made, only then does the lure to devour take hold. 

Werecrocodile Stats

Armor 16, Move 120’(Swim speed 160'), 5 Hit Dice, 30hp, 1x Bite 1d12 damage 1x Tail Slap 1d6 damage, Morale 10. Whenever a kill is made a Save vs. Magic must be made to resist wasting a round devouring the corpse. Double damage from Silver Weapons(triggers a immediate morale check when hit, will flee on a fail)

Appearance & Traits

When transformed werecrocs stand over 6 feet tall and have a huge snout and rows of jagged teeth as well as an equally deadly serrated tail. Werecrocs have an excellent sense of smell, especially when it comes to blood. Those infected are able to differentiate the blood types and can even tell which pool or spray belongs to which victim. Any wounds received from non-silver, non-magic weapons while transformed heal at a rate of 1hp per hour.

The Cure

There is no known cure for this strain of Lycanthropy, mostly due to the small number of recorded infected.

Context

If you've been following my blog you'll know I'm planning on running a LotFP game set in 17th century Egypt. One of the bullet points I wanted was for the players to act as one of the many factions running around gathering treasure and macguffins. My players decided on playing as a forgotten cult of Sobek worshipers that are werecrocodiles. Yup.

I've never actually run a "monster" game so I'm interested to see how they handle a little power at the start of the campaign. The goal I gave them is to find a way to revive their dead god Sobek to reign over Egypt like the good old days. Should be pretty interesting. I'll probably come back here and update this strain after I've seen it in action.

Moon Baby//Lycanthropy

For my upcoming Egypt campaign one of my players expressed his desire to play as a werespider. Yes, a werespider. I was perplexed and hesitant at first but after thinking about it, why not? Lifespans in lamentations tend to be quickly and brutally extinguished. So, in order to fulfill this wish I had to do some research into Lycanthropy and how I would implement it into my game. I asked around the official LotFP Facebook page, the OSR discord and did some googling and got a lot of good feedback. I did struggle because I wanted to the curse to be powerful but with powerful consequences. Also I didn’t want it to be overly complex. Thankfully I was inspired by listening to one of Fantastic Dimension’s Rogue to Riches sessions and how he used the LotFP disease rules in his game. *Update* 08/31/19 Thanks to some great random encounter rolls 2 of my players are werewolves now. I had to tweak some things here after some testing.

Lycanthropy-Werewolf Strain

The curse of Lycanthropy acts much as a disease would so we’ll be using LotFP’s Rules & Magic disease rules as the base for the curse. The curse is transferred through bodily fluids, most commonly saliva via bite. On page.35 in the Rules & Magic book you’ll see diseases are broken up into four stages: incubation, infection, interval, and effect. We’ll use these to fill in what actually happens when your infected by Lycanthropy.
Note: I’ll be using the traditional werewolf as the example for this strain of Lycanthropy, in future posts I’ll be going over some other strains, the werespider and werecroc.

• Incubation- The incubation time is from first infected to the time of the next full moon and every full moon after.
• Infection- Every night that hosts a full Moon.
• Interval- From the Moon's Peak to Dawn.
• Effect- Transform into a werewolf.(see below). Takes 2 minutes and is excruciatingly painful. Reverting back to human at dawn takes a round.

So in other words once infected to the time of the next full moon(incubation) and every full moon after(infection) the infected transforms into a Werewolf(effect) from the full moon's peak to dawn(interval).

Werewolf Stats

Armor 16, Move 180’, 5 Hit Dice, 28hp, 2x Claw 1d8 damage, 1x Bite 1d6 damage, Morale 10. Those injured by a Werewolf that survive must make a Save versus Magic or become infected with Lycanthropy. Double damage from Silver Weapons(triggers a immediate morale check when hit, will flee on a fail)

Retaining Control

The real reason anyone would even want to play a Lycanthrope, the possibility of harnessing the curse. So, how do you do it? Certain packs have devised religious rituals to soothe their bestial side. Others have had tamed the beast through sheer will and an overpowering persona, though these individuals are a rare breed, 18 Charisma maybe? Check out the Lunar Lullaby below for an example of how to tame the curse.

The Lunar Lullaby

Music is a gateway to the soul and some would say the key to one's humanity. One pack in southern France devised a way to keep control of themselves during their transformation by playing a secret piece of music written and known only to them. Learning this piece and having it played during your transformation grants a a Save vs. Magic with a +4 to during the transformation phase of the curse. Success means your are fully in control of your character while transformed.

Lingering Consequences

The biggest would be a TPK after the referee gains control of the werewolf. If you've seen An American Werewolf in London after the protagonist killed his best friend he was haunted by him, which is a great idea for a lingering consequence. Here are some side effects for those afflicted with Lycanthropy.

•  Aversion to Silver, touching silver with bare skin causes the afflicted to lose 1d100 experience points.
• Aversion to non-meaty meals: Food without meat tastes bland and terrible not matter how well made it is. It takes twice the amount of food/rations to satisfy a werewolf if it has no meat.
• Add a +1 Modifier to Strength & Constitution. Does not increase the ability score, just the modifier.
• Death Friend: If the afflicted kills a Player Character that character may haunt the afflicted a number of times per week equal to twice their Charisma Score Modifier, Minimum 1. The "Death Friend's" spirit may never rest until the werewolf that killed them is dead.
• NPCs killed can haunt the afflicted but they tend to crowd together to judge from a distance.

The Cure

A Remove Curse spell during the incubation phase will cure the infected. However once the first transformation has occurred the only way to remove the curse is a lengthy quest(at referee's discretion).