One of my players got bitten by one of the wererats in the fight in Orak's bathhouse, and did not make his Fort save. No problem, I can handle that...but then I started prepping for Flood Season, and came across another thread where it was stated that since Tongueater is an afflicted lycanthrope rather than a natural one, he cannot confer the curse of lycanthropy through his bite. So how 'bout them wererats? Are they supposed to be afflicted or natural? They are not listed in the HC, other than a note to refer to the Monster Manual. Any help on this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
--Fang
Fang,
When I ran the encounter for my group, I too had a character that was bitten and failed her Fort save. I went with the write up as printed in the Monster Manual that lists the Curse of Lycanthropy as a feat of the creature. Since the SCAP references the MM for the stats, I think you are fine to rule that the wererats have the Curse ability.
Also, the afflicted character should not have too hard a time getting the affliction treated. See page 178 in the MM for the available options.
Good Gaming,
Mark
That's interesting. I've always played that the curse is similiar to a highly infectous disease similiar to mummy rot. I've never heard the infection differiated like that.
You could have a ball with this one and twist it any way you prefer. Perhaps because the Wererat was not natural his infection is not as strong therefore not effecting the character as strongly or not bestowing all of a wererats typical powers.
Perhaps the character gains some of the Wererats benefits but misses out on the alignment change. Perhaps he grows more hairy, twitches his nose continuously and gains the ability to change into the hybrid but not a giant rat.
You could have a lot of fun with this if you went down that path.
Alternatively, if the curse is going to cause you too much work and divert the party too far from the task at hand, you could simply rule exactly as the people did on the thread you mentioned about Tongueeater - that the wererats were afflicted so therefore do not pass on the curse at all.
I don't know about you but I find that ruling a bit hard to believe. If you get a disease then surely you can pass it on...but thats just me.
Good Luck
Delvesdeep
I don't know about you but I find that ruling a bit hard to believe. If you get a disease then surely you can pass it on...but thats just me.
Yeah, it kind of confused me. According to MM, the only difference I can see between a natural and an afflicted lycanthrope is the damage reduction (10/silver for natural and 5/silver for afflicted). I'll have him get the disease, but I probably won't make it too hard for him to find a cure. I have plans for this particular character, and I'd hate to lose him so early on in the campaign...
--Fang
Also, the afflicted character should not have too hard a time getting the affliction treated. See page 178 in the MM for the available options.
How did you handle the cure, Marcos? If I remember right, he has to have heal or break enchantment cast by a 12th level cleric within three days of being bitten...are there any clerics of that level in Cauldron other than Ike Iverson? Otherwise, we wait until the next full moon, at which point he will turn into a rat and I can pretty much guarantee that our paranoid rogue will kill him, no questions asked.
--Fang
Fang,
Just after the attack, I had the druid in the group make a KN: Nature check to know that the belladonna option was available. My group then went immediately to the Church of St Cuthbert and explained that the ranger had been bitten by a wererat. Since I already allow the Shifter race from Eberron, I figured that lycanthropy wasn’t completely unheard of or unprepared for. Jenya administered the belladonna and the ranger made her save. However, she failed the first Fort save for the strength loss, but made the second. The group then paid for a lesser restoration spell and the belladonna treatment.
Obviously, if your player’s character has already passed the magic hour, belladonna will not be an option. So now your group’s option is getting the break enchantment spell cast on the character. Hopefully they will have the spell cast within 3 days of the attack otherwise it will have to wait until the full moon and the afflicted character will need to make a DC20 Will Save.
At this point in the campaign the Church of Wee Jas should not be necessarily indisposed towards casting the spell for the usual fee/donation(10 x Spell Level x Caster Level or 10 x 5 x 12 = 600GPs). Hopefully, the required amount will not be out of the group’s range to raise, even if some equipment would need to be sold. If the characters do not have the necessary funds or do not want to sell their gear, maybe they could trade their services for the spell. This could help get the characters more involved with the Church of Wee Jas so that there is more character investment with the later chapters.
I hope that the above was of some help and let us know how the Curse gets resolved.
Good Gaming,
Mark
Thanks, Marcos. We did actually try the belladonna. He failed the save. If they want to get it resolved within the three days, I will point them to the Church of Wee Jas. Thanks again for helping!
--Fang
...let us know how the Curse gets resolved.
Good Gaming,
Mark
At the beginning of last night's session, both of the players who had been bitten decided that they just didn't trust the belladonna cure (one of them had actually made his Fort save, but the other hadn't). One of them has ties to the church of Wee Jas, and he knew that Ike could probably help them out. They talked to Ike (after havint to make an appointment), and he sighed loudly and rolled his eyes, muttering all the while about careless adventurer types while he cast remove disease on them--for a donation, of course.
Thanks again for your help!
--Fang