Recovering from lycanthropy

[VAN]

In a game I play, a werewolf has infected a PC. Any ideas of how get the PC normal again?

[cure]

Canon says, off the top of my head, that he must hunt down and kill the natural lycanthrope that inflected him or inflected the line of afflicted werewolves that inflected him. After that, he must, while in werewolf form, receive three spells (remove curse, atonement?, and cure disease (not certain of the order)) and succeed a Will? save DC20? (Bless and luck spells might be in order too). If the save is failed he can't be cured ever.

Still there is the Silver Ring of the Wolf, Vistani Moon Jewelry, and the prestige class Moon Child. The prestige class Moon Bane is useless for this purpose or any purpose (as written).

Equally, the Dark Powers might be presuaded to lift the curse in favour of something worse.

I have always liked the idea of creating and binding one's lycanthropic side into a musical instrument. Just don' play it afterwards and do stipulate in your will that it is to be destroyed after your death.

A kind DM might left a Midnight Cat break the curse sufficently to attempt a second cure.

Finally, and the Dark Powers would like this one, get a paladin to take the burden upon himself and kill him before the spell ends and the burden is returned.

Actually several more . . .

There is the Apparatus. It should be able to seperate the two halves.

In the out of the out-of-the-frying-pan-and-into-the-fire catergory there is transposition. You are cured of lycanthropy but go to Hell and your friends get to deal with a lycanthropic devil.

The stained glass figure of Ezra chuch in the Pont-au-Museau church might be able to transfer the disease to someone else. (Perfect for a sequel.)

Finally, find some way of permenantly possessing the body of someone else.

Incidently, walking into the Death Shroud around Il-Aluk is not recommended. You end up undead and stuck in mid-transformation into a lycanthrope.

[steveflam]

This is in FR cure thank god for that LOL!!!

[The Giamarga]

What about eating belladonna before the first transformation? Wasn't this also a possible cure?

In 2E the 5th level cleric spell water of Eldath can cure lycanthropy. (It's from Faith's & Avatars, I don't know if it has been converted to 3E anywhere.) Clerics of Selune also have a special relation to lycanthropes. In F&A (see link above) Selune is said to create moonfire which can among other things grant control over lycanthropy for seven moons.

I think there's a 3E PrC similar to Ravenloft's Moonchild which is tied to Selune. Or maybe misremember. There definately are the Crescent Moon Knight Substitution levels for Paladins in Champions of Valor.

Crescent Moon Knight
Deity - Clangeddin Silverbeard OR Selune
1st (**) Favored Enemy (Lycanthropes).
6th (*****) Cure Lycanthropy
10th (****) Battlesong

The Silver Blood feat from CoV makes you immune to lycanthropy.

[steveflam]

What about eating belladonna before the first transformation? Wasn't this also a possible cure?

That might work cept she has already transformed twice! The other pc's are rushing around trying to find someone who knbows how to cure it. The only lead they have is a Baelnorn heheheh, so they have to find him/her

[VAN]

I like the idea of the Cleric of Selume, we can say that only he can cast some spells as cure said (remove, curse, cure disease and atonement).

Maybe we can say that eating belladonna can help the PC at least have a Will Save every time before transorming and if success not transform.

Grteat ideas thanks.

[Mangrum]

I wrote a "crunchier" version of the Cleansing Cure for my monster compendium. The general goal is to make the entire process more interactive and dramatic. I haven't had a chance to playtest these rules, however, so take 'em with a grain of salt.

THE CLEANSING CURE

An afflicted character who wishes to be cured of lycanthropy in Ravenloft must fulfill three challenging requirements.

Step One: Atonement

This step is a continuous process that may take place long before, during, and after step two. Each malevolent act the bestial lycanthrope performs—such as the bloody slaughter of blameless victims—soils the afflicted victim’s soul, strengthening the beast’s grip. To have any hope of a cure, an afflicted lycanthrope must prevent her soul from being devoured from within. This takes two forms, flip sides of the same coin: the afflicted victim must prevent the beast within from doing harm, and she must make amends for whatever sins the beast does commit.

Preventing the beast from doing harm is a simple matter, in theory; a victim might have herself securely chained on the nights of her trigger, or she may strenuously avoid any exposure to her trigger, if possible. In practice, however, a solution seldom falls into place so smoothly. Like a repressed emotion, the beast within always seems to find a way out. Keep in mind that a lycanthrope in bestial form still possesses the same mind it has in human form; it’s just bent toward bloody ends. If an afflicted victim knows where the key to her cell is hidden before she changes, she knows after the change as well. Or the beast might be more subtle, working on a subconscious level. An afflicted lycanthrope who frequently imprisons her bestial alter ego may slowly develop a subtle aversion to confinement. Month by month, an urge may creep into her head to face her trigger not in a cramped cell, but under a blessedly open sky deep in the wilderness, far from other people, where surely—surely—she can do no harm.

An afflicted character should atone for all the evil deeds she commits while in bestial form. Religious characters may seek spiritual guidance from their church, while others may simply follow their own conscience. Ultimately, the decision of what to do must be up to the individual afflicted character. The character must be truly repentant and make a heartfelt attempt to remedy the ills she has caused.

Dr. van Richten believed that acts of penance should reflect the crimes committed in nature and severity. Penance may take two forms, determined by their effectiveness: acts of contrition and acts of absolution.

Act of Contrition: More often than not, an afflicted lycanthrope has no way of truly undoing the harm the beast has caused. After all, restoring a slaughtered victim to life is no trivial matter. Any honest (but limited) attempt by an afflicted character to lessen the damage she has dealt is considered an act of contrition. For example, an afflicted character might replace a farmer’s cow after having slaughtered its predecessor.

In many cases, nothing can be done to remedy the beast’s rampages. (Family members cannot be replaced like livestock.) For lack of better options, an afflicted character can perform an act of contrition by punishing herself for the beast’s sins. This punishment may be physical (self-flagellation, for example), spiritual (retreating from friends and loved ones to live as a hermit in the wilds), or societal (admitting your deeds to your victim’s next of kin and submitting yourself to their mercies). All are equally effective, but they must actually cause the character to suffer to be of any use. An afflicted character who is naturally reclusive isn’t punishing herself by opting to live in seclusion.

Act of Absolution: In a few rare cases, an afflicted lycanthrope actually can completely undo the harm she has caused. A prime example would be a lycanthrope who afflicts another victim, extending the bloodline, but then quickly pursues and achieves her victim’s cure before her own, successfully cleansing him of lycanthropy and restoring his normal life.

An atonement spell is of no use in this step; the character’s repentance must come from within. If the afflicted character does too little to atone in this step, or performs these acts callously or selfishly, she guarantees her failure in the final ritual.

The DM should keep track of the bestial rampages, acts of contrition, and acts of absolution an afflicted lycanthrope performs (perhaps in a campaign journal or bit of scrap paper); they all come into play during the Rite of Purification, below.

Step Two: Sever the Bloodline

Before any afflicted lycanthrope in a bloodline can be cured, the progenitor of that bloodline must be destroyed. How the progenitor meets its end is largely unimportant, but for as long as it lives, none of its progeny can be cured. The progenitor is the font from which its bloodline flows; killing the progenitor severs the bloodline from the source of its power, weakening it enough to make a cure possible.

An afflicted lycanthrope seeking a cure need not personally kill her progenitor. Indeed, the bloodline is severed just as effectively if the progenitor dies of natural causes. However, an afflicted lycanthrope who personally slays her progenitor receives a +2 sacred bonus on her ritual saving throws during the Rite of Purification (see below). Only the individual who actually lands the killing blow receives this bonus, even if other members of the bloodline assist her in combat.

A killing blow must drop the progenitor to dying status (between –1 and –9 hit points), quickly causing its death through hit point loss, must kill the progenitor outright (drop it to –10 hit points), or must otherwise kill it (such as with a disintegration spell, Constitution damage, level drain, and so on). A true killing blow overrides a mortal wound. For example, if Celia, an afflicted werewolf, drops her progenitor Yuri to –5 hit points, rendering it unconscious and dying, but her rival Kevin steps in and performs a coup de grace, killing Yuri, it is Kevin—and Kevin only—who ultimately receives the +2 bonus.

If a character was afflicted by another afflicted lycanthrope, it is still just the original progenitor that must die—the “links in the chain” in between are not important, and killing them does not, in itself, help to achieve a cure. In the example above, Yuri, Celia, and Kevin are members of the same bloodline. Yuri the progenitor afflicted Celia, who then afflicted Kevin in turn. Yuri must be dead for either Celia or Kevin to be cured, but Kevin does not need to kill Celia.

Step Three: The Rite of Purification

Once the progenitor is dead and the afflicted character feels she has properly atoned, she can undergo the final ritual to cleanse herself of the lycanthropic curse. This ritual is extremely demanding of both the afflicted subject and those present to help her.

Although some minor details of the rite of purification may differ depending on the faith and traditions of those performing it, all versions of the ritual adhere to the steps described below.

First, the rite must be performed while the afflicted character is in bestial form. This generally means that the purification rite is performed after the subject has been exposed to her trigger (such as the night of a full moon), but any other means of forcing the character into bestial form can suffice. A voluntary transformation is not acceptable; the ritual is largely empowered by the subject’s desire to be rid of the beast within, so it cannot begin with her willing surrender. Once in bestial form, the last thing the beast wants is to be “cured.” (Typically, assistants chain or otherwise securely restrain the character before she changes and the ritual begins.)

With the subject now in bestial form, an attending divine spellcaster must cast three spells on the subject in quick succession: atonement (Clr5, Drd5), remove disease (Clr3, Drd3, Rgr3), and remove curse (Brd3, Clr3, Pal3, Sor/Wiz4). The order of spells is symbolic and significant, though the magic can be supplied by more than one spellcaster (or even from scrolls and the like).

Atonement completes the spiritual revitalization begun by the subject’s own acts of atonement. The moment the atonement spell is cast, the subject regains her own mind and alignment, unclouded by bloodlust and bestial evil, though she remains in bestial form. She must now be freed from all restraints. In addition, she must remain completely motionless throughout the rest of the ritual.

Next, remove disease rids the subject’s body of the physical affliction. It can be cast without difficulty.

Lastly, remove curse erases the contagion’s intangible effects and prevents its return. The moment the attending spellcaster begins the remove curse spell, the afflicted subject’s body is wracked with agony. When the spell is cast, the subject enters a slow metamorphosis, reverting to humanoid form over the course of 2d4 minutes. Regardless of the changes and the burning pain, the subject must remain utterly motionless. This requires succeeding on both a DC 20 Will save and a DC 20 Fortitude save. The Will save represents the subject’s internal battle against spiritual anguish and the thrashing spirit of the beast within, while the Fortitude save is to conquer the sheer physical pain of the slow transformation.

The afflicted can make these saving throws in either order, but both must succeed. The subject can receive no outside aid of any kind (such as painkilling spells or concoctions) on these saving throws; in the end, she must defeat the beast on her own. However, the situations listed on Table 5–2 apply circumstance modifiers to each of the subject’s saving throws. These modifiers stack; include all that apply.

TABLE 5–2: LYCANTHROPIC ATONEMENT MODIFIERS
Situation Rite of Purification Saving Throw Modifier
Lycanthropic Hit Dice –1 per HD
Night of slaughter –1
Innocent killed or afflicted –1
Act of contrition +1
Act of absolution +2
Personally slew progenitor +2

Lycanthropic Hit Dice: The afflicted automatically suffers a penalty on each saving throw equal to the beast’s Hit Dice. For example, a typical werewolf (with a 2 HD base animal) applies a –2 penalty. The more powerful the beast within, the harder it is to shed.

Night of Slaughter: The afflicted suffers a cumulative –1 penalty for each transformative episode in which her lycanthropic alter ego was allowed to kill humanoids or other intelligent, blameless creatures. Apply the penalty per episode, not per killing. In other words, if a werewolf transforms one night and kills two victims, she assumes a –1 penalty. If she gets loose again the next month and kills twenty people in a night, she still only adds another –1 penalty. For the purposes of the ritual, afflicting victims with lycanthropy is as dire as killing them.

Innocent Killed or Afflicted: Innocents (creatures with the innocent quality) are the exception to the above rule. Each individual innocent an afflicted lycanthrope slaughters or afflicts applies a cumulative –1 penalty to the subject’s ritual saving throws.

Act of Contrition: Each act of contrition (see above) the afflicted performed in good faith grants a cumulative +1 bonus on her ritual saving throws.

Act of Absolution: Each act of absolution (see above) the afflicted performed in good faith grants a cumulative +2 bonus on her ritual saving throws.

If the character fails either saving throw, or if she moves for any other reason once the atonement spell is cast, the ritual fails and her humanoid mentality immediately flees. The beast within takes full control once more, and the character’s body lurches back into bestial form as a standard action. Furthermore, the beast is enraged by the pain and automatically flies into bloodlust, attacking everyone it sees.

If the progenitor is not dead at the time of the purification ritual, then the pain in the final stage continues to redouble upon itself until it simply cannot be controlled, resulting in the ritual’s automatic failure.

If the character succeeds on her saving throws but never made any honest attempts to atone for the beast, then the cure may not actually take hold, at the DM’s discretion. Within a few months, the Dread Disease might regain its hold on an unrepentant heart.

An afflicted lycanthrope has only one chance to be rid of the dread disease in Ravenloft. If the Rite of Purification fails, the subject can never be cured of lycanthropy for as long as she remains within the Land of Mists. (If she is cured and later afflicted again, however, she can undergo the cleansing process again for one chance to cure that affliction).

Only afflicted lycanthropes can be cured of lycanthropy. The Dread Disease is as natural to true lycanthropes as breathing.

[steveflam]

Thanks Mangrum although like I stated earlier in this thread it takes place in Faerun(The Shadowdale thread here now called Running against the time) The p.c's are from Rafael's Staunton Bluffs campaign which will start up again in the fall/early winter I believe. We are just passing a few years till the game starts again

[Isabella]

What does a werewolf do for Acts of Contrition and Absolution do if it has managed to keep itself from harming others during its transformations, by chains or intervention by friends? Can it perform acts of general charity instead? Otherwise, it seems like such a person would be at a huge disadvantage when making the saves.

[steveflam]

I agree with you Isabella. We are running with the Lycanthropy theme for a particular reason. Any ideas are welcome as to how to cure the Lycanthropy

[Isabella]

I shall consult the mighty oracle of Guu-Gel!

Stolen/altered from around the internet:

*The lycanthrope must not attack any sentient creatures for 7 years, in any form.

*Cured by Gypsy spells - in return for some price (Gypsies solve everything).

*Another crazy ritual requiring the following:
- A chalice of pure silver;
- The blood of the cursed;
- Wine made of the fruit of the afflicted's homeland;
- The blood of a member of the same family as the afflicted;
- Cure Disease, Purify Blood and Remove Curse potions;
- A true spring of wolvesbane gathered with a silver knife under a full moon at midnight;
- Powdered silver.
What must happen:
- Clean the silver chalice thoroughly. Although it may not be necessary to do so, it might not hurt to cast a Bless spell on it in case that is the meaning of "pure," and it is not a reference to the purity of the metal;
- Pour the wine into the chalice;
- Next, the blood of the afflicted must be poured into the wine;
- "Another of the same family must shed blood" probably means that the person must not only shed blood, but that it must be added into the solution;
- Into this, add the three magical potions;
- Add the true sprig of wolvesbane;
- The powdered silver is added last.
- Although the original cure doesn't say so, presumably, the afflicted has to drink the solution;
- The cure will cause the afflicted to die and resurrect. If a Raise Dead spell is administered, the cure will not be complete, and the curse will remain intact.

*Killing the lycanthrope and casting Reincarnate (a liiiiiiittle evil ).

*From a 1912 book Werwolves:
"[A] werwolf is sprinkled with a compound either of 1/2 ounce of sulphur, 4 drachms of asafoetida, 1/4 ounce of castoreum; or of 3/4 ounce of hypericum in 3 ounces of vinegar; or with a solution of carbolic acid further diluted with a pint of clear spring water. The sprinkling must be done over the head and shoulders, and the werwolf must at the same time be addressed in his Christian name."
If you find little worth in the prospect of sprinkling water on a frenzied man-eating beast who is about to disembowel you, the author agrees: "[A]s to the success or non-success of these various methods of exorcism I cannot make any positive statement.... As far as I know, once a werwolf always a werwolf is the inviolable rule."

Mathematically, I feel there either needs to be a reliable werewolf cure or a powerful order fanatically devoted to hunting the beasts down, even to the point of killing otherwise innocents. Otherwise, every living humanoid creature in existance would either be transformed or killed an a matter of decades.

[VAN]

Very interesting your info!

We can do one of your rituals as well.

[Mangrum]

Otherwise, it seems like such a person would be at a huge disadvantage when making the saves.

Explain how so. A character who hasn't harmed others likewise hasn't accrued the penalties for harming others, and as such, typically has lower save DCs in the Rite than under the current system.

[Isabella]

Mmm, sorry, my mistake. Since the Acts of Contrition specify any act of lessening the damage, and Nights of Slaughter don't differentiate between two or twenty people killed, it could be read that trying to fix the damage for each of the twenty households counted as twenty seperate acts. Add in the +2 for actually righting a wrong, and it means the violent werewolf would come out ahead on the save.

Obviously, the GM wouldn't let it work that way.

I am concerned that an unassisted DC 20 Fort and Will save would mean that no one could ever be cured of lycanthropy, since most PC classes have a bad save for one of those.

[Tadelin]

I am concerned that an unassisted DC 20 Fort and Will save would mean that no one could ever be cured of lycanthropy, since most PC classes have a bad save for one of those.

This is Ravenloft, and as such, that's kind of the point.