Hey all, I have a few questions in regards to the Monstrous and standard Lycanthrope Templates being used for PCs.
So looking at the templates I understand the basic nature of Lycanthropy in the Pathfinder mythos and how it functions mechanically, thanks to a lot of reading of previous posts. First off, is the Monstrous Lycanthrope approved for pathfinder? If so, then I need some help.
Now the Lycanthrope template is simple, you add +1 to the higher CR between the base creature and the animal. Depending on whether it's in humanoid, hybrid, or animal form it gains appropriate bonuses, and while in hybrid form it acquires the individual stats/skills of each form and the higher of any shared stats/skills.
On the other hand, the Monstrous Lycanthrope doesn't seem quite so straight forward. Now I assume the humanoid/hybrid/creature functionality remains the same across the board. However, the CR is catching me up. As opposed to the higher CR+1, the Monstrous Lycanthrope has a CR of the base creature +1/3rd the CR of the base monster. Would this mean that a CR 3 creature would be base CR+1? If so, would that also mean that a monster with a potential CR of 18 would only be base CR+6? And beyond that, would there be a limit to what monsters you could transform into, or would any monster be acceptable? If so, would it therefore be possible to use a creature that is considered a swarm as the added monster? And if not, can you use this template in place of the Lycanthrope Template to reduce the overall CR requirement of certain creatures, i.e. were-dire-wolf?
Assuming that the discretion of the DM is non-existant, what would you say would be the appropriate way to handle this?
I apologize if my English is failing me tonight, but I've been searching for hours. Any information anyone could offer in this regard would be much appreciated.
