Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes (PFRPG) PDF

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Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes Changes the Shape of your Game

Note that this work collects the following previously released Bite Me! PDFs into one collection (plus new content): Wereblooded, Playing Lycanthropes, Archetypes, Skindancers.

Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes presents a wide variety of shapechanger content from a number of veteran and up-and-coming writers. Aside from plenty of suggestions and guidelines for Gamemastering both afflicted or natural lycanthropes or using them as player characters, inside these pages you will find a wealth of game mechanics to bring these creatures into your game with style.

Within Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes you will find:

  • Numerous Alternate Racial Traits, Wereblooded and Minor Wereblooded Clan Racial Traits, and Favored Class Options that address how adaptable such creatures are.
  • Lycanthrope Racial Bloodlines to add new flavor to the Sorcerer class.
  • The Wereblooded, Monstrous Wereblooded, and Skindancer race options.
  • Nearly two dozen New Archetypes to help shake up existing classes with a bit of lycanthropic flavor.
  • A selection of New Equipment and Weapons designed for or of interest to lycanthropes.
  • Over two dozen New Feats, including those belonging to the new Lycanthrope Feat Category.
  • An arsenal of New Magic Items related in some fashion to shapechangers (and, in some cases, to those who would hunt them.)
  • A bevy of New Magic Spells, along with a number of New Hexes and New Rituals, to add a touch of magic into the mix.
  • A range of Sample Characters to highlight various new game mechanics and racial options.
  • A short story to help set the lycanthropic mood.

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

This massive book clocks in at 126 pages of content, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 2 pages of ToC, 4 pages of SRD, 1 page backer-thanks, 3 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 113 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

But first, before we do, let me mention something: This massive book is basically a compilation of material I have already reviewed...at least, for the most part: We have the lycanthrope-archetypes, the wereblooded races, the skindancers and the excellent advice/rules-book on actually playing lycanthropes and how to handle them in your campaign - I have already covered, in extensive detail, mind you, all of these pdfs, so in case you require an in-depth analysis, I'll just point you there.

The book begins with a nice introduction to the subject matter by Ann Dupuis before venturing forth into the chapter on playing lycanthropes - which still remains one of the most useful components for a GM or player contemplating the use of lycanthropes in the game - the section is absolutely glorious and exceedingly useful.

The section on archetypes is still solid - the archetypes provided cover most classes and add an option to spice your character up with lycanthropic options. The archetypes are mostly solid, though e.g. the cleric one may be a bit problematic. Still, an overall nice section. The wereblooded get some significant expansion, with Mike Welham providing no less than 7 new minor wereblooded clans. Charchardons get a 1d3 bite attack, can smell blood, hold their breath longer and get +2 to Swim. Chiroptera can lick weapons to make them cause bleed-damage, get +2 saves vs. ingested poisons and diseases as well as becoming nauseated/sickened; they also get +2 to perception and slightly reduce miss-chances granted by concealment as well as vestigial wings.

Crocodylus wereblooded get +2 to Swim (and +2 to Stealth while swimming), an anti-trip vestigial tail, the same plague/disease-resistance and a 1d3 bite. Mantids get +4 Stealth in a certain terrain, +2 to saves versus mind-reading/charm/compulsions and vestigial wings. The Meles must take either +2 Con or Str and get a minor barbarian-like frenzy. The Rattus consider Escape Artist and Swim class skills, get the anti-plague/disease trick at double strength and can squeeze into smaller confines - nice one! Sinuae get +2 CMB for bull rushs and overruns while on the ground and 1d3 tusks. All in all, a solid array of complimentary clans here that further improve the already pretty cool wereblooded material!

The skindancers remain an intriguing alternate race that has some downright glorious potential, but at the same time, they should be considered the most breakable component herein that has some obvious potential for issues; I'd suggest only experienced groups take this one and only once both player and GM have talked about balancing the character properly. Still, the narrative potential makes these guys interesting indeed and they make for truly superb villains with some powerful, evil options.

Now if all of this does not (yet) sound like too much, then you'll be happy to note that this book, more so than its component parts, acts pretty much as a kind of NPC-codex, with quite a few intriguing NPC-builds provided for the options contained within - with most of them even featuring their own artworks!

If you're a fan of well-written fiction, you most certainly will also appreciate the short story "The Duke's Tramp", provided by Dave Gross at the end of this book.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are excellent, particularly considering the length of this book. Layout adheres to Misfit Studios' elegant and relatively printer-friendly two-column full-color standard with ample artworks. Additionally, a more printer-friendly version is provided - nice! The book comes fully bookmarked for your convenience with detailed, nested bookmarks and navigation etc. is simple indeed.

Ann Dupuis, Robert H. Hudson Jr., Jeff Erwin, Rich Howard, J.M. Perkins, Mike Welham, Morgan Boehringer, Jim Wettstein, Ben McFarland, Dave Gross -note something? All of the authors accumulated herein tend to fare pretty well regarding their offerings; they are all talented people and this book does show that. The added amount of content that can be found within these pages most certainly makes the book even more useful and for the asking price, we indeed have a more than fair offering on our hands. While not perfect in every instance, we nevertheless get a massive, concise book on the subject matter that should be appreciated by anyone remotely interested in the material. While I would have loved for some potentially rough edges to be sanded off in comparison to the constituent pdfs, the added content does somewhat alleviate my gripes in that direction. Over all, this is a useful resource indeed and well worth a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.


An Excellent Supplement for Playing as a Lycanthrope

5/5

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this product by the publisher - Misfit Studios - for the purpose of writing this review. I have not been compensated in any other way for this review.

Overview:

As you're probably guessed by the title, the Bite Me series is about playing Lycanthropes - and this review covers two products. The first is "The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes", while the second is simply "Werewolves", focused entirely on the most iconic class. Both products came with printer-friendly versions.

The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes (hereafter "Gaming Guide", or simply "Guide") comes in at 126 pages total in the PDF, almost all of which is content.

This is an IN-DEPTH review, so if all you want is the conclusion and whether or not it's worth buying, feel free to jump to the end.

The Guide:

The Gaming Guide opens with a brief forward, explaining the history and ideas that went into the creation of this book.

Chapter One: Playing Lycanthropes focuses on how to actually play a shapeshifting character in a game. The first major issue that comes up is the difference between Natural and Afflicted lycanthropes. Now, for those who don't already know, Pathfinder does feature two types of lycanthropes - Afflicted Lycanthropes follow the traditional "You're cursed and lose control" style (and is what player characters are most threatened with), while Natural Lycanthropes generally have full control of their powers (these are the type you might meet as, oh, the leader of a pack of werewolves out in the woods). The Gaming Guide promptly defines a number of terms as used in the book to help clarify all differences, and gives both rules and ideas for playing either type.

Following this bit is one of the most important sections for players - dealing with Lycanthropy, and more specifically, what happens when you get it (either as an affliction or as something you start the game with). The advice here is quite solid (and focuses on making sure everyone is still having fun, always an important consideration). If you really want to play a lycanthrope, then read this section in full - it'll help.

I was especially fond of the advice for roleplaying a lycanthrope - the most heavily-personalized characters tend to be the most interesting, and there's more than a few words on how to make a character you'll remember for a long time to come.

Following this is a section for GMs - how to run lycanthropes in games, make sure the players are all having fun, and generally keep things moving along. And let's face it, Lycanthropy IS one of the weirder things that can happen to a game (especially if it's Afflicted, and there are times when the players aren't in control of their own character). It's not just advice for the players, either - there's world-building advice, too, to make sure the rest of your game can react in a believable way.

Somewhat amusingly, this chapter even has a section on what to do if a player brings the book to you, asking to play a natural lycanthrope.

After this, we have a section on the different aspects of lycanthropes (animal type, spellcasting ability, speech, the scent power, and so on) and how they might affect the game. Advice is also given for the appearance of silver weapons and dealing with other things that might affect the character in different ways at different times. This is excellent material to be familiar with, and all of it is presented in a straightforward format for easy reference.

The section continues with a discussion of the differences in power between natural lycanthropes and afflicted ones. At this point, it's probably worth noting that there are three functional ways of becoming a lycanthrope: templates, racial classes, and race. As the book points out, nobody wants to use racial classes, and the templates aren't necessarily a good way of playing a lycanthrope. That leaves them as a racial option - for natural lycanthropes, at least, as afflicted generally remains a template - and the Gaming Guide strongly supports this method of balancing things.

Moving on, we have an in-depth section on playing natural lycanthropes as a race, complete with a broad selection of base animals (with varying statistic choices), background on community and social life, and a number of alternate racial traits, standard traits, favored class options, and even equipment that natural lycanthropes are likely to use. Supporting feats are also available, as are magical items (including an evil one that looks like a valuable Ring of Protection until the night of the full moon... muwahahahaha). This chapter closes out with some spells and a few samples of natural lycanthropes.

Chapter Two: Archetypes: It's exactly what it sounds like. People don't want racial classes, but archetypes for existing classes may be seen as far more favorable, and options exist for Alchemists, Barbarians, Bards, Cavaliers, Clerics, Druids, Fighters, Gunslingers (named, for some reason, 'Gunfighter' - typo?), Inquisitors, Magus, Monks, Oracles, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Sorcerers, Summoners, Witches, and Wizards.

So, basically, most of the classes in the game (except the newest). XD An Occult Adventures supplement might not be a bad idea. I'm not going to go into great detail on the overall balance or value of each option - if you're playing a Lycanthrope, you're probably doing it for flavor anyway, and all of these archetypes are about enhancing your ability to do that. It's an EXCELLENT addition to the book, and in my mind, one of the biggest points of value. You're not just "a Barbarian that happens to be a Werebear". Now you can actually integrate your class into your race properly, and I'd recommend doing so if you're going to play a lycanthrope at all. ...For your first time doing it, at least.

Chapter Three: Wereblooded This chapter presents another racial choice - Wereblooded, a 6 RP race (that's below humans, for those who aren't familiar with the system) based around the theme of being descended from lycanthropes. The guide notes that they're a lot like half-orcs, aasimar, and tieflings in that they're the scion of different ancestries, and the low RP cost means they should be easily balanced enough for any game you're running.
An alternate option is available for monstrous Wereblooded, who act as a 12 RP race.

Basically, this section is for getting some of the flavor and power of lycanthropy without going full-on furry - lycanthropy lite, as it were. If you're not sure about whether or not to allow lycanthropes in your game, this can be a good compromise point that allows both the player and the GM to see how these characters feel. Sample Wereblooded are included.

Chapter Four: Minor Wereblooded is an expansion to the previous chapter, covering a number of less-common racial options. (The main Wereblooded are Cats, Wolves, and Bears - this chapter goes for things like Bats, Rats, Sharks, Mantises... stuff like that.)

Numerous examples - quite usable as NPCs, complete with plot ideas - are given.

Chapter Five: Skindancers This chapter presents a 12 RP race that lives alongside lycanthropic society, albeit in a somewhat horrifying fashion given their racial history. As with the other races in this book, enough information is presented for both players and GMs to figure out how the character should be played and how they'd fit into the world. Racial subtypes with alternate options, favored class options, and even race-specific archetypes are all included.

Chapter Six: The Duke's Tramp The book ends with a short story, and I don't think you'll have much trouble guessing what type of character it's about. XD

Conclusion: Together, the Bite Me books are extremely solid - if focused - additions for Pathfinder. Great thought was put into these books, with an emphasis on fairness, fun, and expanding player opportunities to play shapeshifting characters instead of limiting them to narrow concepts. If you really want to play lycanthropes - or introduce them as a significant part of your world - these books are worth picking up.

Lycanthropes aren't for every game, but if you're going to play them at all, then Bite Me will help you play them well.


Where weres wear wares.

5/5

For disclosure, I did receive a review copy of this product.

First impressions: They are throwing themselves into the subject, have done a lot of research, and definitely are in love with the subject matter, which goes a long way in my book. The guide is also impressively sized for a supplement of its type, looking to be a comprehensive guide to animalistic shape changers at roughly 126 pages (give or take a few OGL pages).

I have to mention that I love the use of literary quotes, and that it is something I sort of miss from White Wolf products. They are all very well thought out and relevant.

There are good talking points about the downsides to afflicted lycanthropy, and why it should matter more than as a "power up". Additionally, I enjoyed the in depth discussions on playing a natural lycanthrope, and why it is important to measure and consider your choices, up to and including the type of animal you can shift into. There is a lot of care and detail spent emphasizing character development, which should more evident in other supplements about character creation options.

The gamemaster section comes with a healthy dose of caveats, which can be a hassle for people wanting to ignore a lot of the intricacies of lycanthropic PC's. I welcome the discourse though, because such changes to a character should be deep and meaningful, as would be the gamemastery element in such a game. Really, if you didn't want warnings and advice on how to run a lycanthrope, then you wouldn't really want a book like this; you'd use your GM fiat and the party's werewolf would treat his "affliction" more like a class or racial feature and less like a character defining trait.

To put it another way, you wouldn't let your players all play vampires unless you implicitly trusted them and came into it with a healthy perspective. This book offers plenty of perspective, as well as advice on what it could and perhaps should mean to run a game with one or more lycanthropes (or even the provided derivatives).

The book of course compiles the resources necessary to create a lycanthropes, collecting all current open material necessary, as well as providing new options to customize your character. There are a plethora of feats and magic items, creative NPC builds, various archetypes for several classes, all spread out over different flavors and magnitudes of lycanthropes.

The new were-blooded race is also an interesting option that lets you go mildly into the world of were-creatures.

Art is excellent, and well laid out. I'm impressed by the art direction for a book that delivers on the intense need for visual aids for cool looking lycanthropic creatures.

All that having been said, I thoroughly enjoy the book. I feel as though I did not only get a guide on playing lots of different kind of animal shapechangers, but also a smattering of anthropomorphic style characters as well. The advice on running for or playing as a shapechanger was invaluable, and something that any player or game master should read, whether or not they want to ever involve lycanthropy in their games. The advice is just too good, and is quite applicable to so many role playing topics and options, not just lycanthropy.

I give the book 5 stars, and the king's approval. (That would be my seal of approval).


Community Manager

Now available!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Great to see this compiled and posted. Thanks!

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Review posted! To save you the suspense, I loved it!

Edit: fixed a snafu where I posted the review on the wrong product. It was posted to "meat that screams" for a second, but I think that I have it in order.


To Christina and/or the other Misfit Studios Folks,

My Pathfinder groups and I absolutely love 'Bite Me! Playing Lycanthropes'. As is noted by my 5 star review of the product that I wrote back in July:

http://paizo.com/products/btpy96v9/reviews?Bite-Me-Playing-Lycanthropes#tab s

I'm writing to you in order to get a better understanding of this PDF (which is the largest of the Bite Me! series) in relation to all the other Bite Me! products. I'm reading that this is a compilation book of other Bite Me! PDFs, but not all of them. I'm interested in buying the entire line of the Bite Me! PDFs, but I need to better understand where there's overlap, what books are external to this compilation and my 'Playing Lycanthropes' PDF, etc.

And please, explain it to me like I'm a dummy. :-P Just so I can get all my ducks in a row ASAP and buy all your goodies! Lol.


Crai wrote:

To Christina and/or the other Misfit Studios Folks,

My Pathfinder groups and I absolutely love 'Bite Me! Playing Lycanthropes'. As is noted by my 5 star review of the product that I wrote back in July:

http://paizo.com/products/btpy96v9/reviews?Bite-Me-Playing-Lycanthropes#tab s

I'm writing to you in order to get a better understanding of this PDF (which is the largest of the Bite Me! series) in relation to all the other Bite Me! products. I'm reading that this is a compilation book of other Bite Me! PDFs, but not all of them. I'm interested in buying the entire line of the Bite Me! PDFs, but I need to better understand where there's overlap, what books are external to this compilation and my 'Playing Lycanthropes' PDF, etc.

And please, explain it to me like I'm a dummy. :-P Just so I can get all my ducks in a row ASAP and buy all your goodies! Lol.

This compilation contains Playing A Lycanthrope, Archetypes, Wereblooded, Minor Wereblooded, and Skindancers, Crai.

Products *not* contained within it are: Meat-That-Screams, Weremantises, and Werewolves.

Upcoming products include: Wererats, Werebats, Weretigers, and more.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Speaking of reviews... *Glances towards that tab*

I, too, quite enjoyed reading this book. XD

Contributor

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Thanks for the reviews, guys! I'm glad you enjoyed the book. We are working on releasing advanced races for the lycanthropes at this time. We have weremantises and werewolves out. Werebats is going into layout. Wererats and weretigers will be next. I have plenty of material in the works!


Personally, I'm most looking forward to weretigers. XD I actually built up a weretiger monk once (sadly, never got to play them), so I have a special fondness for that particular variant.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Weretiger monk?

Why did I just get a mental image of such a character using flurry of attacks on a ball of yarn? :)

Silver Crusade Contributor

Is there any sort of werewasp, here or in any of your other products?

Also - longshot, I know, but do you offer any Hero Lab support?

Contributor

Rednal wrote:
Personally, I'm most looking forward to weretigers. XD I actually built up a weretiger monk once (sadly, never got to play them), so I have a special fondness for that particular variant.

I will make sure we have such a character in the PDF!

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kalindlara wrote:

Is there any sort of werewasp, here or in any of your other products?

Also - longshot, I know, but do you offer any Hero Lab support?

We don't currently have a werewasp, but I love the idea! I will see if Robert is up for that. I will check on Hero Lab support.


Steven B Trustrum wrote:

Weretiger monk?

Why did I just get a mental image of such a character using flurry of attacks on a ball of yarn? :)

Amusing image, but no. XD She was a bare-handed type, largely inspired by this image - quiet, contemplative, appreciative of good tea... and in the future of the story I wrote, a major supporter of an effort to create (and protect) a nation of monsters. As Bite Me has astutely pointed out, not all beasts of the night are evil. ^^ Good times.


Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.

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