Werewolf

Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger), chaotic evil

Armor Class
11
in humanoid form), 12 (natural armor; in wolf or hybrid form
Hit Points
58
9d8 + 18
Speed
30 ft. (40 ft. in wolf form)
  • STR +2
  • DEX +1
  • CON +2
  • INT 0
  • WIS 0
  • CHA 0
Skills
Perception +4, Stealth +3
Damage Immunities
bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't silvered
Senses
passive Perception 14
Languages
Common (can't speak in wolf form)
Challenge 3 700 XP · Proficiency +2

Traits

Shapechanger

The werewolf can use its action to polymorph into a wolf-humanoid hybrid or into a wolf, or back into its true form, which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its AC, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Keen Hearing and Smell

The werewolf has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Actions

Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only)

The werewolf makes two attacks: two with its spear (humanoid form) or one with its bite and one with its claws (hybrid form).

Bite (Wolf or Hybrid Form Only)

Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werewolf lycanthropy.

Claws (Hybrid Form Only)

Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) slashing damage.

Spear (Humanoid Form Only)

Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage, or 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

How to run it

Immunity to nonmagical, non-silvered weapons is the encounter. A level 3 party with ordinary swords does nothing at all to a werewolf, and finding that out mid-fight is a genuinely frightening moment. Give them an escape route, because a party that cannot hurt it needs somewhere to go.

It fights in hybrid form for the multiattack, and flees in wolf form at 40 feet when hurt. Werewolves should escape and return, which is both correct for the fiction and lets the party come back with silver.

Building the encounter

One werewolf against a party of four at level 3 is a hard fight if they have a way to hurt it and an impossible one if they do not. That is the intended shape, but it means you must seed the solution first.

It suits a mystery more than a battlefield: a village with a killer, a suspect list, and a fight that happens once the party knows who. Rolling initiative on a werewolf without that setup wastes most of what it offers.

What to pair it with

Ordinary wolves, which it can plausibly command and which give the party something they can actually kill. That contrast makes the immunity land harder.

A second werewolf, or a human ally who does not know what their friend is, both work. Anything that complicates the question of who the party is allowed to attack.

Reskins

The mechanic is a shapeshifter your weapons do not hurt. Reflavour as any were-creature, a possessed villager, a fey thing wearing a human shape, or a creature of smoke.

The lycanthropy curse on the bite is the detail with the longest reach: it changes a player character's life rather than their hit points, and players remember it for the rest of the campaign.

Commonly played wrong

The AC changes by form: 11 in humanoid form, 12 in wolf or hybrid. Small, but it is the only stat that varies, and the stat block calls that out specifically.

Multiattack is humanoid or hybrid only, and the bite is wolf or hybrid only. A werewolf in wolf form gets one bite, not a multiattack. Running full attack routines in every form makes it substantially stronger than written.

Compared to others at this CR

At CR 3 the werewolf does less damage than the owlbear and is far more dangerous to the wrong party. Damage immunity is not reflected in challenge rating in any way that matches how it feels at the table.

Against a prepared party it is a moderate fight. Against an unprepared one it is unbeatable. No other CR 3 creature has that spread, and it is worth deciding which fight you want before you place one.

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