Hill Giant Dire Wereboar

Dire wereboars in giant form look much like normal hill giants, though slightly stockier, and with coarser, stiffer hair and stiff. The dire wereboar described here is based on a hill giant and natural lycanthrope with normal ability scores for a hill giant.

Combat

Dire wereboars anger quickly. They usually begin a battle in giant form, then switch to hybrid form to take advantage of their immense strength in that shape. They like to use their Improved Bull Rush and Improved Sunder feats to shove opponents around and smash their weapons and shields.

Alternate Form (Su): A dire wereboar can assume a bipedal hybrid form or the form of a dire boar.

Boar Empathy (Ex): Communicate with boars and dire boars, and +4 racial bonus on Charisma-based checks against boars and dire boars.

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): Any humanoid or giant hit by a dire wereboar’s bite attack in animal or hybrid form must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract lycanthropy.

Ferocity (Ex): A dire wereboar is such a tenacious combatant that it continues to fight without penalty even while disabled or dying.

Creating a Lycanthrope

“Lycanthrope” is a template that can be added to any humanoid or giant (referred to hereafter as the base creature). The lycanthrope template can be inherited (for natural lycanthropes) or acquired (for afflicted lycanthropes). Becoming a lycanthrope is very much like multiclassing as an animal and gaining the appropriate Hit Dice.

Size and Type: The base creature’s type does not change, but the creature gains the shapechanger subtype. The lycanthrope takes on the characteristics of some type of carnivorous or omnivorous creature of the animal type (referred to hereafter as the base animal).

This animal can be any predator, scavenger, or omnivore whose size is within one size category of the base creature’s size (Small, Medium, or Large for a Medium base creature). Lycanthropes can also adopt a hybrid shape that combines features of the base creature and the base animal. A lycanthrope’s hybrid form is the same size as the base animal or the base creature, whichever is larger.

A lycanthrope uses either the base creature’s or the base animal’s statistics and special abilities in addition to those described here.

Hit Dice and Hit Points: Same as the base creature plus those of the base animal. To calculate total hit points, apply Constitution modifiers according to the score the lycanthrope has in each form.

Speed: Same as the base creature or base animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using. Hybrids use the base creature’s speed.

Armor Class: The base creature’s natural armor bonus increases by +2 in all forms. In hybrid form, the lycanthrope’s natural armor bonus is equal to the natural armor bonus of the base animal or the base creature, whichever is better.

Base Attack/Grapple: Add the base attack bonus for the base animal to the base attack bonus for the base creature. The lycanthrope’s grapple bonus uses its attack bonus and modifiers for Strength and size depending on the lycanthrope’s form.

Attacks: Same as the base creature or base animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using. A lycanthrope in hybrid form gains two claw attacks and a bite attack as natural weapons.

These weapons deal damage based on the hybrid form’s size. A hybrid may attack with a weapon and a bite, or may attack with its natural weapons. The bite attack of a hybrid is a secondary attack.

Damage: Same as the base creature or base animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is in.

Special Attacks: A lycanthrope retains the special attacks of the base creature or base animal, depending on which form it is using, and also gains the special attacks described below.

A lycanthrope’s hybrid form does not gain any special attacks of the base animal. A lycanthrope spellcaster cannot cast spells with verbal, somatic, or material components while in animal form, or spells with verbal components while in hybrid form.

Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): Any humanoid or giant hit by a natural lycanthrope’s bite attack in animal or hybrid form must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract lycanthropy. If the victim’s size is not within one size category of the lycanthrope the victim cannot contract lycanthropy from that lycanthrope. Afflicted lycanthropes cannot pass on the curse of lycanthropy.

Special Qualities: A lycanthrope retains all the special qualities of the base creature and the base animal, and also gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su): A lycanthrope can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph spell on itself, though its gear is not affected, it does not regain hit points for changing form, and only the specific animal form indicated for the lycanthrope can be assumed. It does not assume the ability scores of the animal, but instead adds the animal’s physical ability score modifiers to its own ability scores. A lycanthrope also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features.

Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action.

A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retain their animal form, however.

Afflicted lycanthropes find this ability difficult to control (see Lycanthropy as an Affliction, below), but natural lycanthropes have full control over this power.

Damage Reduction (Ex): An afflicted lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 5/silver. A natural lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 10/silver.

Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex): In any form, lycanthropes can communicate and empathize with normal or dire animals of their animal form. This gives them a +4 racial bonus on checks when influencing the animal’s attitude and allows the communication of simple concepts and (if the animal is friendly) commands, such as “friend,” “foe,” “flee,” and “attack.”

Low-Light Vision (Ex): A lycanthrope has low-light vision in any form.

Scent (Ex): A lycanthrope has the scent ability in any form.

Base Save Bonuses: Add the base save bonuses of the base animal to the base save bonuses of the base creature.

Abilities: All lycanthropes gain +2 to Wisdom. In addition, when in animal form, a lycanthrope’s physical ability scores improve according to its kind, as set out in the table below. These adjustments are equal to the animal’s normal ability scores –10 or –11. A lycanthrope in hybrid form modifies its physical ability scores by the same amount.

In addition, a lycanthrope may also gain an additional ability score increase by virtue of its extra Hit Dice.

Skills: A lycanthrope gains skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die of its animal form, as if it had multiclassed into the animal type. (Animal is never its first Hit Die, though, and it does not gain quadruple skill points for any animal Hit Die.) Any skill given in the animal’s description is a class skill for the lycanthrope’s animal levels. In any form, a lycanthrope also has any racial skill bonuses of the base creature and of the base animal, although conditional skill bonuses only apply in the associated form.

Feats: Add the base animal’s feats to the base creature’s. If this results in a lycanthrope having the same feat twice, the lycanthrope gains no additional benefit unless the feat normally can be taken more once, in which case the duplicated feat works as noted in the feat description. This process may give the lycanthrope more feats than a character of its total Hit Dice would normally be entitled to; if this occurs, any “extra” feats are denoted as bonus feats.

It’s possible that a lycanthrope cannot meet the prerequisites for all its feats when in humanoid form. If this occurs, the lycanthrope still has the feats, but cannot use them when in humanoid form. A lycanthrope receives Iron Will as a bonus feat.

Environment: Same as either the base creature or base animal.

Organization: Solitary or pair, sometimes family (3–4), pack (6–10), or troupe (family plus related animals)

Challenge Rating: By class level or base creature, modified according to the HD of the base animal: 1 HD or 2 HD, +2; 3 HD to 5 HD, +3; 6 HD to 10 HD, +4; 11 HD to 20 HD, +5; 21 or more HD, +6.

Treasure: Standard.

Alignment: Any. Noble creatures such as bears, eagles, and lions tend to produce good-aligned lycanthropes. Sinister creatures such as rats, snakes, and wolves tend to produce evil-aligned lycanthropes. This is a reflection of how these animals are perceived, not any innate quality of the animal itself, so the alignment of the animal form can be arbitrarily assigned.

Advancement: By character class.

Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2 (afflicted) or +3 (natural). In addition, a lycanthrope’s character level is increased by the number of racial Hit Dice the base animal has.

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.