Newbies and lycanthropy

[El Ronza]

I'm running LoF for a group of six totally new players, and the game so far is pretty much the scope of my own experience - I'm learning more or less as I go along.

The PCs are in Kelmarane, almost ready to take on the Battle Market. Last session, half the players were no-shows, so I ran the set-piece adventure for those who did show up, to give them a bit more experience and make sure the others didn't miss out on too much. Long story short, during the fight with Haidar, the half-elf druid failed a Fortitude save and was thus afflicted with lycanthropy.

Now I'm wondering what on earth I can do. It's too late for wolfsbane, and none of the characters are capable of casting the necessary spells to remove the curse. Should I let her just become a wereleopard, should I hand-wave it and say she never failed that save, or is there a feasible way to cure her?

[eakratz]

I don't remember if this is how lycanthropy works in Pathfinder, but you could just have the next full moon be a month away. This PCs should be able to finish the first book before a game month is up, then they might have the means to have a Remove Curse cast on them.

I have a player that picked up the punching dagger, but the spellcraft roll only revealed its properties not its curse. I can't wait until he pulls it out and crits with it. He'd totally dig it even though it might mean the end of his character.

[El Ronza]

I'm running it in 3.5 anyway - figured I'd have enough prep on my hands without running conversions. There's a year of downtime at the end of the book, so I COULD say that she spends that year travelling and searching for a means to remove her curse. Now I feel stupid for not thinking of that in the first place...

The other issue is, what if she doesn't want it cured?

[ThreeEyedSloth]

Well, lycanthropes slowly and eventually turn towards an evil alignment. Plus, they can't control their own actions while transformed under the full moon. So they may think twice about keeping it after they unwillingly go on a murderous rampage, killing dozens of innocents. Or the city may go on a manhunt for the beast, causing the player to want to rethink his situation or else be hanged.

Just some ideas.

[catmandrake]

Haidar's statblock is wrong. The set pieces were notoriously poorly edited (it's one of the reasons Paizo stopped including them). Even if Haidar's curse was normal lycanthropy (which it is not), Haidar would be an afflicted lycanthrope (note that he's only got DR 5/silver), and as the 3.5 SRD explicitly states, "Afflicted lycanthropes cannot pass on the curse of lycanthropy." The only way one of your PCs should be contracting lycanthropy is by failing the Fort save after confirming a crit with En-Nebi.

[Lao Xaicho]

As Catmandrake said, just rule that Haidar couldn't transmit lycanthropy. I would keep the party wondering whether their half-elf was going to turn furry: That way they're likely to prepare for the inevitable day when En-Nebi's curse manifests.