Wolfwere vs. Werewolf

[Vannax]

Hey, can anyone advise what is the difference between werewolf and wolfwere? (Or where are any materials describing the wolfweres). Thx

[Jasper]

A (creature)ware is a base creature (wolf, jackel etc: ) that has gained the ability to take the form of a human. They are natural creatures and as such all (creature)wares are born and not created from bites/scratches.

A Were(creature) is a human who has been cursed to take the form of that creature or a hybrid man/creature. In both forms the were(creature) siliva carries the were(creature) virus and can infect others.


Wolfweres are detailed in the 3rd edition Ravenloft book Denisens of Darkness.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

With the appearance of communities of born lycanthropes, the differences between wolfwere and werewolf blur together.

Werewolves are weaker, as a general rule, and don't have magical powers other than transformation. They carry the lycanthropic disease and can spread it to others.
Werewolves are best described as humans who have learned (or are cursed to) transform into aimals.
Alfred Timothy and his crew are the exception to that rule. They tend to live like animals rather than like people.

Wolfweres are more like evil fey creatures - nasty spirits of nature that prey on men. They have the ability to lull victims to sleep with music, and may transform into humanoid males or females.
You might think of wolfweres as animals that learned how to assume human shape to catch prey.

Harkon Lucas is an exception to the wolfwere philosophy. He wants to live like a person, and rule humans and wolfweres. He has a human identity and spends most of his time as a man. In that, he's more like a werewolf.

[Mortepierre]

You forgot to add that the two "species" (so to speak) hate each other.

[alhoon]

Note 1: Lycanthropy is a magical disease (curse)
Note 2: Wolf-weres are not created or recycled like fey but born as natural creatures.

[Joël of the FoS]

You forget the natural lycanthropes

[Rotipher of the FoS]

"Natural" is kind of ambiguous, when applied to supernatural creatures of darkness. "True lycanthrope" is a better term for a person born with the taint of lycanthropy, IMO. A true lycanthrope is the offspring of one or more other lycanthropes; the parents (or parent, if Mom is a lycanthrope and transmits her condition to her unborn offspring) might be either true or afflicted lycanthropes.

A "maladictive lycanthrope", BTW, is someone who contracts lycanthropy by a curse (via the Curse or Powers Check rules or certain evil spells), as opposed to being physically infected by an existing lycanthrope. Such are the rarest variety of werebeasts; maladictives aren't always contagious (though some are), and may possess phenotypes not otherwise seen as true or afflicted lycanthropes, like the "were-gorilla" presented in CotN: Werebeasts.

Wolfweres (and jackalweres) are actually magical beasts that can disguise themselves as humans. In addition to the other qualities mentioned in the previous posts, wolfweres have one additional asset that werewolves do not: they can assume the forms of different humans, not just one. A werebeast's only humanoid guise is the one he or she was born with, but a wolfwere can switch its assumed appearance, age, gender, and so forth each time it dons a human guise. This means that while a werewolf who wants to interact regularly with humans needs to carefully disassociate his or her human identity from that of the monster (e.g. by creating alibis), a wolfwere whose "cover" is blown and its human identity exposed can just pick a new human guise, and go back to infiltrating human society using another name and face.

Thematically, D&D lycanthropes such as werewolves have their origins in Gothic literature and old Hammer horror flicks. Wolfweres are more the products of "trickster animal" folk tales worldwide, from shapeshifting Chinese animal-spirits and malicious breeds of Japanese hengeyokai, to the Native American legends of Coyote, Raven, and their ilk, which Gaz I's references to "Grandfather Wolf" of Kartakass were based upon.