A Helpful Guide to picking Characters.Were-Creatures (P.A)

[Saken]

Were-creatures: A helpful guide to help you decide which to play (part A!)


With all the pressure to play a good were-creature, you may be blinded by the media's view on the delightful, horrendous, creatures that either eat people, scare off helpless vampires, or change in the privacy of their own backyard to the call of their beats/the moon. How can you play them, in such a setting? The first key, is to decide which one you wish for.

Lycan.
Were. (Commonly, the werewolf)
Shape-Shifter (Animal type)
Cursed (Forced, via a curse by someone or something)
The 'Loki' (Norse God of Mischief's 'chosen')
Skin-Changer (wiccan, shaman, puts on the skin of a creature and turns into it)
Anthropomorphic
And all the combinations above.

Lycan - This form of Shifter/Were-Creature is one of the basic creatures. Not controlled by the moon, these shifters may shift into their animal form beneath strong pressure, high emotions, fear, or what not. They can shift whenever they like, and are able to, if they are strong enough, only shift parts of their form.

Some Characteristic stemming from their condition:
Sharper Senses (Taste, sight, touch, smell ect)
A more savage outlook
Scary
Stronger
Hairy
A heightened metabolism/healing rate

Common Personality Characteristics:
Gruff-ness, Pack mentality, hatred of outsiders, silent, predatory.
Can also be isolationists, and try to scare/piss people off. Unstable, more so than most.

Some Harms: Silver, Pentagrams, Salt (only if there's a circle, or it's blow right at their face). A cross, much like a vampire.

A note: Although Lycan's are not forced to shift when the moon is full, they are, of course, drawn to it, and many do shift during this time. They are also able to stay in wolf form for extended periods, and when they shift back may retain their wolfish physicality.

- Common (for our case) legend stemming from this:
Lycan's were cursed to be half-beast half man, uncontrollable and savage, destined to hurt those who they surround themselves with while, at the same time, yearning to be close to others. This character may have had a run in with a demon and forced into this condition, or a Gypsy woman, or something of the sort. Lycan's MAY be bitten, but to be turned from such an ordeal (for this particular case) would be grusome and horrible, leaving scaring- mentally and physically.


Were

A Were is simply a standard Shifter/Were-Creature which is usually followed by wolf, cat, boar, bear, or what have you. These types of Were-Creatures range greatly, but nearly all of them respond to the cycle of the moon. They can be turned into such a thing by birth (as such, gaining the rank of pureblood) or by being bitten and turned, like a vampire. (Mixed/unpure) ((Very important if you're wishing to use it for an Rp and want some sort of issue.))

Some common types of weres are: Werewolves, a quite common occurence, and somewhat overused; Werecats, Werebears, and Wereboars. And any sort of other animal, though most are predatory, you can make a not-predatory animal..But be prepared to be prey.
Each were tends to change slightly from animal to animal, but they all shapshift with moon cycles, and they always change into animals.

Common Characteristics:
Shifting on the full moon
Carrying over their animal's traits
Increased Aggressiveness


Common Personality Characteristics: They may be angry, or hard to control. Intuitive, isolationist, loyal to a fault, and hate some of the other player-controlled races. As well as this there is the Alpha personality (attempting to prove themselves the biggest and the baddest) and they can be prone to get into fights.
Classic Harms: Headshots, excessive damage, silver.

Common legends or stories:
Transfered VIA a bite from another were, the poor person is bitten and, next moon, changes into a blood-thirsty, hideous, killing machine beast who can't touch silver or they will burn. Dead.

These are only some of the common thoughts or how to play these. Of course, as a Roleplayer, you will put your own twist on them and do more, but, it's meant to give a helpful guide for a basic character of this sort. This is Part A of a series and, depending on how many words/information is in the other parts, this will have two-three other installments for this particular part of the guide.

[Jag]

Thanks for this! While I tend to stay away from games with such characters and their kin, it's very good to have leading members of the site sharing their insights and allowing others to use a template that provides for solid and stable character creation! Worthy addition to the Academy!