What makes a monster? There’s nothing inherently evil about the ability to assume the shape of a beast. Many Wardens of the Wood have this gift. The shifters speak of champions of Olarune, guardians of the wild that walk as bears or boars. Selkies and other fey shift their forms, but have no innate desire to harm the innocent. It is not the ability to change shape that makes a lycanthrope a monster; it’s the murderous spirit that hides within, regardless of the outer form. Surely you’ve heard the warnings—’Fear the wolves that walk among us,’ or ‘Beware the beast that wears a friendly face.’ It’s said that the first lycanthropes were created by the overlords to spread terror among the Children of Eberron. These creatures aren’t the deadliest monsters spawned by Khyber, but the fear they create can be far more dangerous than any wolf’s bite. How many communities have torn themselves apart trying to find hidden rats? Worse yet, those who fall to the bite of these beasts rise again as monsters themselves. Make no mistake: a werewolf may wear the face of someone you knew, but your friend’s soul is dissipating in Dolurrh. What you face is a murderous tool of the overlords which seeks to torment and kill the people its victim once loved. 

—Dorius Alyre Ir’Korran, The Manual Maleficent

The lycanthrope is an iconic creature with a dramatic role in Eberron. In the ninth century the Church of the Silver Flame fought a brutal war against lycanthropes in the Towering Wood, hunting them nearly to extinction. But lycanthropes can still be found across Eberron. From the champions of Olarune to the Great Pack of Droaam and the Bilge Rats of Stormreach, lycanthropes remain. So I want to consider some of the traditional roles lycanthropes can play in a story, and then examine the latest interpretation of lycanthropy in the 2025 Monster Manual and consider what I’ll do with them in my campaign. 

But before we go further, I want to shoot the were-elephant in the room. Lycanthrope means wolf man. So, why do we use it to refer to wererats, werebears, and more? Well, this is D&D, where medusas are a species and gorgons are bulls that breathe petrifying gas. It’s NOT an accurate term, but it’s the word the rules use, so I’m going ahead and using it here. Within the world, I would see “lycanthrope” as an esoteric term, if it’s used at all; I’d expect people in everyday life to call them skinchangers, shapeshifters, werecreatures, or to use words that have their roots in the languages spoken in the world.

LYCANTHROPE STORIES

Lycanthropes can appear in any adventure. But here’s a few themes to consider when dealing with lycanthropes. 

• Champions of Nature? Over time, lycanthropes have often been used in two very different story roles. On the one hand you have the idea of beings whose ability to assume animal form reflects a close bond to the natural world—where this ability is a gift and a blessing. Part of the problem with D&D is that it has always tried to fold these blessed lycanthropes under the same mechanical umbrella as the cursed predators. Typically it’s werebears that are always good—and yet, even in this latest edition, they follow all of the same rules as the predators, including spreading their supposed gift in the same way as those that carry it as a curse. In Eberron we separated species and alignment—saying that alignment was tied by strain, so the blessing made you good and the curse made you evil, and you could have good werewolves and evil werebears. Starting with this article I’m going to take it a step further and establish clear mechanical distinctions between these gifted and cursed lycanthropes. Most of the rest of these points deal with the cursed lycanthropes—as they are the monsters. 
• Fear of the Wild. When you set aside the blessed lycanthropes and focus on the cursed, the first thing to remember is that there’s nothing natural about them. Real wolves rarely prey upon humans, but cursed werewolves are driven to prey upon humanoids; some editions call out that evil lycanthropes explicitly prey on the people they loved in their former life. Cursed lycanthropes aren’t natural wolves, they’re metaphorical wolves; they’re the Big Bad Wolf from faerie tales. They embody people’s fears of the wild and more directly of the hidden predator. REAL rats don’t actively scheme and intentionally spread disease; but wererats undermine and infest the cities they dwell in. When dealing with the cursed lycanthropes, remember that you’re dealing with the products of demons and daelkyr; they are a mockery of the natural world, not a celebration of it. 
• A Corrupting Force. In some editions of D&D, people can fight the Curse of Lycanthropy. But in most editions, there is at least a period where a cursed individual loses control of their actions—and in many, a path by which the cursed individual’s morality and personality are eroded until they are fully shaped by the predatory drives of the curse. Because of this, anyone can become a murderous lycanthrope. Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night can become a wolf when the moon is full… Because of this, the Curse is a force that can turn allies, friends, and loved ones into deadly enemies. It is a threat even a player can struggle with. The image of the good person chaining themselves in the basement when the full moon is on the rise is a key aspect of this story: the person who doesn’t WANT to hurt anyone, but who knows that they are going to become a murderous monster. To me, this is a key element of what makes lycanthropes compelling enemies: their ability to corrupt the innocent, and the terror that they could turn YOU into a monster. When dealing with cursed lycanthropes, the DM must decide on the intensity of the curse and what it drives its victims to do. Are they driven to murder innocents and spread terror? Are they drawn to serve the cause of an overlord or daelkyr? Can the curse be resisted or overcome? 
• A Hidden Threat. Lycanthropes can be a challenging enemy. But what makes them terrifying is their ability to hide among innocent people—made worse by the curse’s power to corrupt those innocents. When you arrive in a small town, anyone could be a murderous werewolf waiting for the moment to strike. If you find one wererat, you can be sure that there’s more scheming in the shadows. While this can be a challenge for adventurers, the fear of other innocents can be an even greater problem; as anyone who’s played any form of Are You A Werewolf knows, innocent people can often be hurt as panicked townsfolk hunt for the wolves in their midst. Imagine a group of adventurers arrive in a small town, with a task that will take them a week to complete. That night someone is murdered by a beast—and someone accuses the adventurers of harboring a werewolf. Can the adventurers prove their innocence? Can they be entirely certain one of them isn’t a werewolf? Can they find the true threat? A twist on this is if it’s not a lone wolf, but rather that there’s a well-established faction of lycanthropes who play important roles in the town; the “murderous wolf” could be a rebel member of the line, or from a rival clan who wants the adventurers to expose the family. But is that actually what’s best for the town? Typically, there’s no way to identify a lycanthrope while it’s in its animal form, and this is one reason lycanthropes fight in beast form instead of just murdering people with weapons. But stories often play with the idea that a severe injury to a lycanthrope in beast form might be retained in their humanoid form—so the butcher suddenly has a limp after the battlemaster tripped up the wolf that eventually got away.
• An Unexpected Challenge. One of the things that’s compelling about lycanthropes is the fact that the typical methods and tools adventurers use may not suffice to defeat them. Perhaps the adventurers are dealing with a local crime lord, a crooked sheriff, or a cultist… and it’s all a simple, clear story until the villain laughs at the steel sword plunged through his heart. While there are issues with this, which is why 2025 has removed it, to me the challenge of you need to UNDERSTAND what you’re fighting and to find the tools you’ll need to defeat it is a fun story and makes dealing with lycanthropes a very different experience from fighting random thugs. With that in mind, what I suggest below is changing the vulnerabilities by strain. The point is to add an aspect that goes beyond the pure wargame of combat and that drives the adventurers to investigate, to learn HOW to defeat their foe. 
• A Feral Apocalypse. Under the 2025 rules, lycanthropy can spread with astonishing speed. What happens when the wolves aren’t hiding, and instead mount an all out assault to spread their curse through a community? Can the adventurers find a way to contain this outbreak before it’s too late? Perhaps the adventurers are in a Vadalis enclave when an artificial strain of lycanthropy is released; can they prevent it from spreading out into the city?

THE 2025 MONSTER MANUAL

The 2025 Monster Manual is out. It includes the five familiar lycanthropes—werewolves, wererats, werebears, weretigers, and wereboars. It gives some loose lore suggestions—werebears are good and work with druids and fey! Werewolves are evil and some change when the moon is full! Weretigers consider their powers to be a family gift and like to protect things! However, the core mechanics are the same for all five types of lycanthrope and there are two major changes to the 2014 version. 

Silver Doesn’t Matter. Under the 2025 rules, lycanthropes have no resistance or immunity to normal weapons. They don’t have any sort of regeneration. Silver isn’t mentioned in their stat blocks or lore. Instead, the DMG makes silvered weapons a common form of magic item that adds additional damage if you score a critical hit against any sort of shapeshifted creature. There’s understandable reasons for this. It’s difficult to calculate CR for a creature with a situational immunity, because if the party is properly equipped the immunity has no impact at all, while if they don’t have the weapons they need it can be nearly impossible to defeat an enemy. As mentioned above, I like challenging a group of adventurers to find the tools they need; but for the casual DM or inexperienced players it can be a can of worms. So I understand the decision, but I don’t like it—and as a result, I’m suggesting alternatives later in this article. 

The Curse is Instant and Brutal. In most editions of D&D, the curse of lycanthropy is a slow affliction, something that might not even bother you until there’s a full moon. In many editions, player characters could become lycanthropes, using a template or just simple modifications to their character. Neither of these things are true in 2025. All of the five lycanthropes in the Monster Manual have the following effect on their bite attack (replacing ‘werewolf’ with the appropriate lycanthrope): The target is cursed. If the cursed target drops to 0 hit points it instead becomes a Werewolf under the DM’s control and has 10 hit points. The bolded text is part of the description, and indicates that the new creature uses the werewolf stat block. Let’s run down the effects and implications of this. 

• The change happens instantaneously. The moon has nothing to do with it, and once you are cursed there’s no way to resist changing and turning on your allies when you drop to zero hit points. 
• When you turn into a lycanthrope, you use the appropriate lycanthrope stat block and fall under the DM’s control. It’s not a template, meaning that the new lycanthrope has none of your skills or abilities. It is effectively a new creature summoned when you fall. 
• The 2014 Monster Manual included rules for player characters becoming lycanthropes. The 2024 book does not, because again, it’s not a template. You don’t gain new abilities when you are turned into a werewolf; you lose all the skills and abilities you had and become an NPC under the DM’s control. 

I read this in the way that Dorius describes it in the Manual Maleficent. For all intents and purposes, you die when you drop to zero hit points while cursed; an entirely new creature steps in and steals your body. What’s left isn’t you any more. This is a very clear and clean effect for a wargame. But in my opinion it loses most of the drama traditionally associated with the werewolf story—the struggle to resist the curse, chaining yourself in the basement when the full moon is rising. Instead, it’s far closer to a traditional zombie apocalypse scenario, where the bite of a zombie can transform a victim within minutes and turns them into a loyal member of the ravening horde. Under this model, a single werewolf could set the destruction of a village in motion within minutes. It serves a purpose, and it works well for the cursed victims of the Wild Heart. But I want more options to exist within my campaign. 

Can it be cured? The entry has no direct explanation of how lycanthropy can be cured. The text of the effect is The target is cursed. If the cursed target drops to zero hit points, it instead becomes a werewolf under the DM’s control. There’s no question that if you reach the victim BEFORE they drop to zero hit points, you can negate this with remove curse. But what happens AFTER they are transformed? A gentle interpretation is that the ongoing state of being a werewolf is considered to be a standard “curse” and that as such, it can be removed at any time with a simple remove curse. A harsher interpretation—which I personally subscribe to—is that the effect of the curse is “transform you into a werewolf when you drop to zero hit points,” and that once that occurs, the new werewolf is no longer under the effect of a curse.

The 3.5 rules of D&D had more detailed rules for the curing lycanthropy. Under these rules, a cleric of 12th level or higher could cure it magically if the cure was performed within three days of incurring lycanthropy. After that point, it could only be cured if the victim underwent remove curse or break enchantment during a night of the full moon, and at that point they had to succeed on a DC 20 saving throw (and consider that an unwilling creature can always choose to fail a saving throw!). To me, the ultimate issue is that remove curse isn’t a high level spell. At 3rd level, it’s part of every day life in the world. If that’s all it takes to curse any lycanthrope… it strips a lot of the fear and drama from the story. The idea of the lycanthropic purge is that terrible things were done in the name of rooting out hidden lycanthropes; if all it takes is casting remove curse and oh, job’s done, that’s not much of a story. On the other hand, the 3.5 rules were based on the model that it would TAKE days for someone to succumb to lycanthropy, during which time they could seek a cure. The 2025 rules strip that away; if there’s no way to cure the affliction after that initial transformation, it’s pretty ruthless. Ultimately, the way I see it is that 2025 lycanthropy is a form of death; it’s an alternative condition to dying. Remove curse is a 3rd level spell, on par with revivify. Like revify, it should be a valid option if you use it quickly; but after a little time has passed, you need something more powerful, on the level of raise dead—such as the 5th level greater restoration. Even then, I’d want to add an element of challenge—the equivalent of the 3.5 saving throw requirement—that also prevents you from just being able to strip away, say, Zaeurl’s lycanthropy with a simple spell.

So with that in mind, here’s what I’ll do; you’ll have to decide what makes sense in your campaign!

• Lycanthropes who are born with the condition (IE Changing Folk) or who receive it as a gift (Ollarune’s Blessing) or through an item or bargain (Skinweavers) can’t be cured. Likewise, exceptionally powerful lycanthropes—the creatures I call “alphas” in the later sections—can’t be cured.
• Remove curse can remove lycanthropy before it is triggered (by the victim dropping to zero hit points), or if it is administered within a day of the initial transformation. Greater restoration can remove the curse of lycanthropy up to a month after the initial transformation. Wish or spells of similar power can always remove lycanthropy.
• If someone wishes cast remove curse, greater restoration, or a similar spell on an unwilling victim—such as a hostile lycanthrope—they must make a successful spell attack roll against the target and the victim gets to make a Wisdom saving throw to resist the effect.
• There may be another way to curse a specific lycanthrope based on the story behind the strain. Perhaps there’s a celestial relic, a rare herb charged with the energies of Irian, or an experimental treatment House Jorasco and House Vadalis have been working on that can cure a lycanthrope. The point is that this is an interesting story—not just the expenditure of a spell slot.

Ultimately, the 2025 Lycanthrope is a platform to work with. To start with, I’m going to suggest some variant abilities that could be added to existing lycanthropes. Next, I’ll talk about the ways I’d combine those options with lycanthropes we’ve already mentioned in canon and kanon lore, along with some other ideas. Of course, the ideas for lycanthrope strains are still valid even if you don’t use the 2025 rules!

VARIANT TRAITS

These abilities could be added to a current lycanthrope. With that said, there’s no direct way to map them to an increase in CR, because the impact on combat will be entirely dependent on the degree to which your adventurers are prepared for the challenge. As such, it’s up to you as a DM to consider how these changes will affect the encounters you’re setting up—and to reward your players for overcoming greater challenges. A few other things to consider:  

• Bane materials. In a number of these abilities I refer to bane materials. It’s an interesting challenge to have an enemy who can’t be killed or slain by normal weapons. But now that it’s not part of the stat block, there’s no reason that weakness has to involve silver. It’s an easy choice and thematically appropriate for the children of the Wild Heart, supporting the Silver Flame and the Silver Crusade. But it makes sense to me that lycanthropes created by the daelkyr would be vulnerable to byeshk rather than silver. Meanwhile, champions of Olarune might be resistant to harm from all worked metals, but vulnerable to weapons made solely of wood. If you want to get wild, a fey lycanthrope could have a weakness tied to their own story: perhaps they can only be hurt by a weapon dipped in tears, or they take no damage from anyone who has the frightened condition. The key to introducing a new sort of bane is that there needs to be a straightforward way for the adventurers to uncover it. Consider whether the weakness is simply common knowledge; after the Silver Crusade, it makes sense that MOST people know that silver is a common bane for lycanthropes. If a creature has a different bane, how are the adventurers supposed to find out about it? Is it just a skill check? Is there a sage or a library who knows the answer? You want this to be a challenge for your players, not a source of sheer frustration. 
• Limited by Form? A second question to keep in mind is whether a trait is restricted to certain forms. The lycanthropes of the 2014 Monster Manual possess their damage immunity in all of their shapes. But if a lycanthrope only possesses invulnerability in its beast or hybrid forms, it gives them a concrete REASON to fight in animal form rather than to use weapons and equipment while still benefiting from invulnerability in humanoid form. It also solves the question of whether you can easily test for werewolves by inflicting minor injuries on them in humanoid form. 

WEAPON IMMUNITY. The lycanthrope is immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage unless it’s dealt by a weapon made from their bane material. This is the most extreme version of this trait, and can be frustrating for melee-focused characters. Consider what options are available for them. Can they improvise a weapon using the bane material available to them? Can they hit the enemy with a torch? A second question is what this invulnerability LOOKS like. Does a sword bounce off them? Does it injure them, but the wound heals right away? Do they get injured, but don’t react to the damage—continuing to fight even with arrows piercing their body? If this invulnerability manifests in humanoid form, this could be an easy way to reveal a lycanthrope.

WEAPON RESISTANCE. The lycanthrope is resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage unless it’s dealt by a weapon made from their bane material. This means that a melee-focused character CAN choose to ignore the trait and fight using their normal weapons and techniques; it will be harder, but it’s possible. 

REGENERATION. The lycanthrope regains 10 hit points at the start of each of its turns. If the lycanthrope takes damage from a weapon made from its bane material, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the lycanthrope’s next turn. The lycanthrope dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate. Drawn from the loup garou from Van Richten’s Guide To Ravenloft, this trait has the advantage that it’s just as relevant to spellcasters as it is to warriors. It’s not simply that swords won’t kill the wolf—it will recover from fire and acid as well, rising again and again until someone finishes it off using its bane. I like the flavor of this more than simple immunity, but even more than immunity, if the adventurers don’t have knowledge of and access to the bane material, you’re placing them in an impossible situation. Beyond the bane material, you could choose to add other damage types that would have the same effect; lycanthropes tied to the overlords might be hurt both by silvered weapons and by radiant damage. 

UNNATURAL VITALITY. When the lycanthrope is reduced to zero hit points, it enters a cataleptic state that is indistinguishable from death. It appears to be dead to outward observation and spells used to determine the lycanthrope’s status. While in this state it has the blinded and incapacitated conditions and its speed is zero. It remains in this state until it suffers any damage from a weapon forged from its bane material, at which point it dies; or until the moon rises, at which point the state ends and the lycanthrope gains the benefits of a long rest. This trait has a powerful long-term effect, but doesn’t change the balance of combat. Adventurers can defeat the lycanthrope using all their usual weapons and spells, but unless they know what it is and how to kill it, it will rise again. This is ideal for a slow burn story, where adventurers face a villain and don’t realize they’re a supernatural creature until they’ve killed the villain once only to have them return the next day. A question to consider is whether there are any ways to get around this. If the lycanthrope is dismembered, will that kill it? Will it reconstitute itself at nightfall? Or will it remain ‘dead’ until the pieces are brought back together, at which point it will rise again? This can allow for a cult that steals the preserved head of a long-dead lycanthrope from some vault, because they’ve located the rest of his body…

NO INFECTION. This lycanthrope does not curse its victim with its bite attack. For creatures where the condition of lycanthropy is a blessing rather than a curse, it doesn’t make much sense to spread it like a zombie plague. 

ONGOING INFECTION. When a creature is cursed by the lycanthrope’s bite, their hit point maximum is reduced by the damage of the bite attack. This damage cannot be undone until the curse is removed. When the cursed creature attempts to take a long rest, they must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 12); the DC is increased by 1 for each full moon. If the cursed creature fails the saving throw, they become a lycanthrope under the DM’s control. Once this occurs the curse is lifted and their hit point maximum is restored; at this point they are a lycanthrope, and the condition can only be removed by a wish or similar level of power. At the DM’s discretion, the character could remain in control of their actions while in their humanoid form, but have to make the Wisdom saving throw every time they attempt a long rest, losing control and becoming a lycanthrope whenever they fail. This retains the idea that a victim could carry the curse for a while, struggling against it. It keeps the simplicity of the 2025 approach in that when the victim transforms, they become a lycanthrope of the appropriate type under the DM’s control; it’s not a template, and they don’t retain any of their skills or class features. When using this approach, the DM could make removing the curse more difficult than simply casting a spell; perhaps the victim needs to acquire a certain herb, or be stabbed with a weapon made from the lycanthrope’s bane material to ‘kill the curse.’ 

SLOW INFECTION. This follows the rules for the Ongoing Infection, but the victim cannot be transformed by dropping to zero hit points; they can ONLY be transformed by failing a saving throw while taking a long rest. 

FERAL BOND. The lycanthrope can cast animal friendship, speak with animals and beast sense at will, but only targeting beasts of the same type as the lycanthrope’s beast form. For a guardian of nature, this reflects the lycanthrope’s connection to the natural world. For a cursed lycanthrope, this represents their ability to corrupt nature and twist it to serve their purposes. 

RESTRICTED SHAPE-SHIFT. The lycanthrope can only use its Shape-Shift bonus action when certain conditions are met. This could require the lycanthrope to be in possession of a particular object, such as a wolfskin belt or a set of hide armor. It could be limited to a certain time or place—they can only change while illuminated by moonlight. It could require the lycanthrope to spill blood, or even only be possible when the lycanthrope reduces a humanoid creature to zero hit points. The DM must also decide whether this applies in all forms. It could be that a cultist of the Wild Heart can enter wolf form at will, but can only return to humanoid form when they reduce a creature to zero hit points. Once they accept the gift, they HAVE to kill, or else be trapped in animal form. 

BESTIAL SHAPE-SHIFT. When this lycanthrope uses the Shape-Shift bonus action, they can only assume an animal form or their true humanoid form; they do not have a hybrid form. This is an option to distinguish a strain and prevents them from relying on weapons when they aren’t in humanoid form. 

STRAINS OF LYCANTHROPY

Canon lore provides no absolute origin for lycanthropy. It’s suggested that it could be tied to Eberron, Lamannia, or Olarune; and that this gift could have been corrupted by an overlord or by the daelkyr. Some believe shifters are descended from lycanthropes; some say that the reverse is true, and that the first lycanthropes were blessed shifters. To all of this, I say why not both? I describe six strains of lycanthropy here. Of these, skinchangers are by far the most common. Most people have only heard of the others in stories, if that; it’s up to you to decide if any of these exist in YOUR Eberron. 

SKINCHANGERS

Typically Found In: Anywhere in Khorvaire, especially the Towering Wood and Demon Wastes. 

Animal Forms: Typically Wolf and Rat, though any predatory creature is possible.  

Typical Variant Traits: (Typically) Resistant to physical damage unless caused by silvered weapons; (Alpha skinchangers) Immune to physical damage unless caused by silvered weapons, Feral Bond

When people in Eberron curse the “wolves that walk among us,” they’re talking about skinchangers. This is an ancient affliction first unleashed at the dawn of creation to turn the children of Eberron against one another. Skinchangers are predators whose primary purpose is to sow fear—murdering innocents in the form of beasts, and tearing communities apart from within. Skinchanger is a broad category that has many substrains within it. Each of these strains is tied to a particular overlord and to a particular animal form: so werewolves of the Wild Heart only create other werewolves, while skinchanger serpents of the Cold Sun only create other wereserpents. The skinchangers of the Wild Heart are the most widespread and diverse in their forms, though Wolf and Rat are by far the most common; beyond this, the curse of the Wild Heart is only associated with predatory creatures. 

The skinchanger curse is a cousin to fiendish possession; when the curse takes hold, it overrides the morality and memories of the victim, immediately corrupting them and turning them to the purpose of the pack. Victims usually retain some of the memories of their previous life, allowing them to maintain a masquerade, but even the most virtuous person will become a monster under the influence of the curse. So what are they driven to do? That depends on the overlord, but the general directive is to sow fear. Murder is a powerful tool in this direction, but if there’s one werewolf in a village, they won’t just kill everyone else in the village, even if they could; what the overlord wants is people living in fear. They might murder one person every month or even every year, just enough to keep the fear alive; or they might time their killings for when strangers arrive in town, turning the villagers against the newcomers. The werewolf is the favored child of the Wild Heart, but the strongest strains of wererat are associated with Eldrantulku. The Oathbreaker’s rats occasionally spread disease, but what they love most is to spread corruption, infiltrating institutions and spreading graft and schemes. Where the Wild Heart wants people to fear nature, Eldrantulku wants people to fear one another, to believe that everyone is corrupt and that no system can be trusted. 

With this said, the influence of the overlords waxes and wanes. During the Silver Crusade, the Wild Heart was close to release and was able to turn all skinchangers to its cause, driving them to cause a feral apocalypse. Currently, the power of the Wild Heart is weak, and the surviving skinchangers of its strains are largely left to their own devices—as seen in the Great Pack of Droaam. Most are still instinctively predatory and cruel, driven to intimidate and to hunt, but their primary loyalty is the alpha of their pack and whatever their goal may be. This can also be seen in the wererats of Stormreach, who are instinctively loyal to their leader. Likewise, keep in mind that most lycanthropes aren’t aware of their connection to an overlord. The wererats of Stormreach are a corrupting force in the city, but they think they work for Cartha; they aren’t chanting the name of Eldrantulku. A pack of lycanthropes can also be a cult of the Dragon Below, but it’s not automatic.

The best known trait of skinchangers is their resistance to physical damage, save the touch of silver. Most skinchangers can be hurt by other attacks, but only silver strikes true. More powerful alpha skinchangers are fully immune to physical damage save for wounds caused by silver. Skinchangers will appear to be hurt by mundane means, but they just don’t feel pain or suffer the full consequences of those injuries. So a simple cut on the palm isn’t enough to tell if a person is a skinchanger. During the lycanthropic purge, countless innocents were slain while undergoing tests to determine if they possessed a skinchanger’s resistance…

The ability of skinchangers to pass on their curse is also something that waxes and wanes. During the Silver Crusade, the curse was instantly infectious and followed the rules as presented in the 2025 Monster Manual. After the Crusade, it became far less potent, following the Slow Infection rules. It’s up to the DM to decide whether a particular strain uses the standard rules or if they only have the Slow Infection. It’s also worth noting that while the Church of the Silver Flame did its best to wipe out skinchangers, it’s impossible to truly exterminate them. It’s certainly rare, but the overlords can always reseed the curse. A leader of a cult of the Dragon Below can become a newborn alpha skinchanger. There are cursed artifacts that will infect those that carry them with the skinchanger curse. And there are truly ancient skinchangers with Unnatural Vitality, who have been buried—in some cases, their bodies cut in pieces and scattered—who wait to be released again.

SKINWEAVERS

Typically Found: Near Thelanian manifest zones

Animal Forms: Any 

Typical Variant Traits: No Infection, Restricted Shape-Shift, Bestial Shape-Shift; Weapon Immunity and Unnatural Vitality (usually Silver, Beast Form only)

The classic skinweaver is a cultist of Sul Khatesh or Eldrantulku who receives a skinweaver’s pelt—often a belt or cloak—that allows them to assume the form of a beast. They must pay for this gift with innocent blood; in some cases they can’t transform back to their humanoid form until they murder an innocent. While in beast form, a Skinweaver is protected from harm. Even if they are killed while in beast form, their Unnatural Vitality will protect them unless they are skinned; they remain in beast form while in their cataleptic state.

Skinweavers are usually agents of chaos who revel in their bestial power, or who wish to pursue a feud without fear of retribution. Those tied to fiends are typically vulnerable to silver. However, an archfey or animal lord could also grant a skinweaver’s pelt; in this case, their bane material would be tied to the story of the fey. Such lycanthropes wouldn’t have to be evil; there are tales in our world of benevolent fey who require a magical pelt to change shape, which can be stolen by unscrupulous mortals.

Skinweavers are extremely rare and don’t spawn other lycanthropes. A skinweaver’s pelt has no innate power of its own; the would-be wearer must activate it by making a pact with the entity that created it. A skinweaver’s pelt does have one special property: it transforms along with the victim when they assume their bestial form, reappearing when they return to their humanoid form.

DYRRN’S CORRUPTED

Typically Found: Near entrances to Khyber or in Cults of the Dragon Below

Animal Forms: Any

Typical Variant Traits: Regeneration (Byeshk, hereditary lycanthrope); Ongoing Infection (hereditary lycanthrope) or No Infection (afflicted lycanthrope); Bestial Shape-Shift

The daelkyr Dyrrn created this curse and cast it into the world. It spreads along two vectors. It is hereditary, and Corrupted lycanthropes pass the curse to their offspring. It can also be transmitted using the standard rules, with the Ongoing Infection variation. However, only lycanthropes born with the curse can transmit the curse; those transformed through a bite cannot spread the curse any further. 

Each strain of Dyrrn’s Corruption is associated with an alignment (typically neutral or evil), a beast type, and a moon… for example, neutral tigers tied to Rhaan. With that said, the bestial forms of Corrupted lycanthropes are typically unnatural in some way (which is consistent throughout a particular strain). Those neutral tigers might have translucent skin and fur, or barbed tongues instead of teeth, or extra tails that are actually lamprey-like tentacles. This could result in additional abilities in animal form—a climb speed, swim speed, unusual attack, or something similar. In addition, hereditary Corrupted lycanthropes are very difficult to kill; they possess regeneration that can only be countered by byeshk. So a hereditary Corrupted lycanthrope can spread its curse quickly, the lycanthropes it spawns in this way cannot create new spawn of their own and are easier to kill. 

When Dyrrn’s Corruption takes hold, it destroys the personality and many of the memories of the victim. While there are neutral strains, they are alien in their outlook, and a player character overtaken by the curse will become an NPC. Each strain of corrupted lycanthropy is driven by its own inscrutable instincts. Some are aggressive or act as Cults of the Dragon Below; others are simply enigmatic, creating strange monuments in the wild or howling in eerie choirs. 

OLARUNE’S BLESSED (spirit walkers, the Second Life)

Typically Found In: The Eldeen Reaches, Talenta Plains, Qaltiar drow   

Animal Forms: Any, including non-predatory beasts. 

Typical Variant Traits: No Infection; Resistance to damage caused by metal weapons (Beast Form Only); Bestial Shape-Shift; Feral Bond

Olarune’s Blessing is no curse. It is a gift that is occasionally granted to champions of the wild, especially shifters, rangers, and barbarians. The Moonspeaker druids of the Towering Woods say that this power flows from the moon Olarune, and this is the source of the name; and certainly, those that carry the give feel the desire to roam in their beast forms when Olarune is full, though they do not lose control. Others say that the power flows from Lamannia or Eberron itself. What is certain is that this gift is usually granted to people who already have some connection to primal magic, and that those who receive Olarune’s Blessing feel a strong drive to protect the natural world and its creatures. Olarune’s Blessing manifests spontaneously and can’t be passed on. Some of those who receive the gift have ecstatic visions of a glowing figure charging them to defend the wild; others discover the blessing with no prior sign or warning. Those who carry the curse often possess resistance to damage inflicted by metal weapons, but this doesn’t shield them from unarmed strikes, falling damage, or attacks made with weapons of wood, stone, or bone. 

Humanoids who carry Olarune’s Blessing gain the ability to assume the form of a beast that is respected or revered in the region in which they are blessed, and usually feel compelled to embody the positive traits associated with that animal. The bear is a common shape for the blessed in the Eldeen Reaches. However, any animal is possible, including non-predatory animals. 

In the Talenta Plains, this gift is known as the Second Life; typically, it is found among skilled hunters who have lost their dinosaur companions, and who gain the ability to assume the form of that creature. The gift is also found among the Qaltiar culture of the drow in Xen’drik, where the blessed are known as spirit walkers. 

THE CHANGING FOLK

Typically Found: Near Thelanian manifest zones

Animal Forms: Any 

Typical Variant Traits: No Infection

There are countless stories of people who are also animals—the Bears that Built a Barn, Brother Fox and his Wily Ways, the Wagons of the Wandering Wolves. Most scholars say these tales are inspired by shifters. But in the Moonlit Vale of Thelanis there are people who embody these tales, peaceful folk who shift freely between humanoid and bestial form. A few families of the Changing Folk have found their way into Eberron. Most seek to keep their distance from the outer world, remaining in isolation in Thelanian manifest zones and dwelling in their stories… but a few yearn for adventure and travel into the world beyond. 

Changing Folk aren’t cursed and can’t transform other creatures. Those born in Thelanis are fey, and they wither if they travel too far from Thelanis or manifest zones; those born in Eberron are humanoids. They are exceptionally rare, and most people in the Five Nations have never met one of the Changing Folk. 

If a player character wished to be one of the Changing Folk, the simplest way to simulate it would be to play a shifter druid, characterizing the Wild Shape ability as an expansion of their natural abilities. 

PUPPETEERS

Typically Found: Anywhere, especially Talenta Plains and Demon Wastes. 

Animal Forms: Any predatory creature

Typical Variant Traits: Alpha only – Weapon Immunity (see below) and Unnatural Vitality

Puppeteers are a variation of skinchanger lycanthropes. The skinchanger curse changes a victim’s morality and loyalty, but they still retain some memory of their former life. The puppeteer curse is a malevolent spirit, and it takes full possession of the creatures that succumb to its curse. While puppeteer lycanthropes are living creatures, in many ways they are effectively undead; the mortal soul has left the body, and all that’s left is a shell being manipulated by the spirit. The puppeteers of a particular pack are all controlled by a single mind, and are thus aware of everything experienced by members of their pack. If they choose, they can speak with one voice; however, the puppeteer can also maintain a semblance of autonomy among its pack members, though it can struggle if multiple members of the pack are required to engage in complex tasks or conversations at once. 

A puppeteer can only maintain a certain number of pack members; it’s up to the DM to decide what this is. As long as it is below that number, it uses the standard rules for spreading the curse and transforming victims found in the 2025 Monster Manual. Once the maximum pack size has been reached, members of the pack lose the ability to transmit the curse, and any cursed creatures who haven’t been transformed lose the curse. The ability is regained as soon as a member of the pack is slain. A creature under the protection of Protection from Evil and Good or other effects that protect against possession cannot be affected by the puppeteer’s curse. 

Each puppeteer pack has an alpha member who possesses Weapon Immunity and Unnatural Vitality. As long as the alpha remains alive, the spirit can always restore its pack. If the alpha is slain—fully slain, accounting for its Unnatural Vitality—all of the other members of the pack fall into a cataleptic state. It’s up to the DM to decide if they can be cured and restored at that point—or if they are truly dead. 

There are two distinct forms of puppeteer, and this determines the nature of the puppeteer’s bane material.

• Fiendish puppeteers are vulnerable to silver. Their beast forms are hideous and move in unnatural ways. They are typically driven by native fiends associated with Eldrantulku or the Wild Heart, though they don’t necessarily serve the interests of their overlords. While in beast form, a fiendish puppeteer’s creature type changes to fiend. 
• Undead puppeteers are driven by cursed or restless spirits. They are vulnerable to weapons made from the bones of their original body, weapons they owned in life, or the weapon that originally killed them; they will also permanently die if they are buried in hallowed ground. Undead puppeteers typically have smaller packs than fiends. Their bestial forms appear to be dead, with exposed bone and dried blood. While in beast form, an undead puppeteer’s creature type changes to fiend. 

Puppeteers are extremely rare; they’ve been encountered in the Talenta Plains and the Demon Wastes. The Mournland could be another place to find an undead puppeteer! 

LYCANTHROPES IN THE WIDER WORLD

Most of the ideas I’ve discussed here refer to lycanthropes in isolation. But how do they interact with other forces, like the Dreaming Dark or the dragonmarked houses? First of all, most strains of lycanthropy are very rare. Skinchangers have always been the most common and widespread, but they were hunted almost to extinction during the Silver Crusade. As I’ve mentioned, it’s impossible to utterly destroyed skinchangers because the overlords can make more—but they are still rare today and still hunted by the templars and other forces when they appear within the Five Nations. There can be a nest of wererats in Fairhaven if you want there to be… but they’d want to be quiet and clever about it. Beyond this, cursed lycanthropes typically have an enforced loyalty to their creators and their pack, which prevents a lot of casual alliances. A PACK may make an alliance—as seen with the Great Pack of Droaam allying with the Daughters of Sora Kell or the wererats of Stormreach allying with the Boromar Clan—but you don’t have a lot of individual cursed lycanthropes breaking away from their creators. Uncursed lycanthropes are another story; there are blessed lycanthropes among the Wardens and Moonspeakers in the Eldeen Reaches, and you could easily have a Skinweaver concordian in the Aurum. In general, however, the broad idea is that lycanthropes are a thing that people know exist and that they are afraid of—but that since the Silver Crusade, few people expect to actually see one.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for your stories. If you want more, check out my Patreon for bonus material tied to Olarune’s Blessing, including a supernatural gift for adventurers and discussion of lycanthropes tied to other beasts. It’s my patrons who make articles like this possible—if you’re already a patron, thank you for your support!