Lycanthropy is an ancient curse that changes those afflicted into mindless beasts with a wild hunger for flesh. While some Barbarians seek out this power, many have the curse thrust upon them. Those who follow this Path come to master their bestial curse, dominating it with the wild fury of their Rage.
Animal Form
3rd-level Path of the Lycan feature
You can control your lycanthropy, allowing you to shift your form at will. As an action, you can expend a use of your Rage to transform into the Animal Form of your lycanthropy, much like a Druid transforms using their Wild Shape feature.
Choose a beast of CR 1 or lower to represent the animal that your curse is based on. Common Animal Forms include boars, brown bears, dire wolves, tigers, and rats. Once it is chosen, your Animal Form cannot be changed.
When you transform into your Animal Form, you follow all of the rules of the Wild Shape feature from the Druid class, which can be found in Chapter 3 of the Player’s Handbook.
You can use all of your Barbarian features, including Rage and Savage Exploits, while you are transformed.
You can remain in your Animal Form for up to 1 hour. You then revert to your normal form unless you expend another Rage as a bonus action to extend your transformation. You can also revert to your normal form as an action. You instantly revert to your normal form if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.
Bestial Rage
3rd-level Path of the Lycan feature
When you Rage, you manifest a portion of your bestial power in the form of one of the natural weapons listed below, which lasts for the duration of that Rage. These weapons all count as simple melee weapons which you are proficient with, and use your Strength modifier for their attack and damage rolls:
Bite. You grow fangs that deal 1d8 piercing damage on hit. Once per turn when you hit a creature with this Bite, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier.
Claws. Your hands elongate into savage claws that deal 1d6 slashing damage on hit. Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn and make only Claw attacks, you can make one additional Claw attack as part of that Attack action.
Tail. You sprout a long thick tail that deals 1d8 piercing damage on hit and has the reach property. When a creature within 10 feet that you can see targets you with a weapon attack, you can use your reaction to add one roll of your Exploit Die to your Armor Class against that attack.
Lycan Exploits
3rd-level Path of the Lycan feature
You learn certain Savage Exploits at the Barbarian levels noted in the table below. These don’t count against your number of Exploits Known and can’t be switched upon gaining a level.
| Barbarian Level | Exploit |
|---|---|
| 3rd | cunning instinct, mighty leap |
| 5th | aggressive sprint, bloodthirsty critical |
| 9th | roar of triumph |
Savage Prowess
6th-level Path of the Lycan feature
The ancient curse that flows in your veins greatly increases your physical abilities. You gain the benefits listed below:
- You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
- You can use both cunning instinct and mighty leap at will without expending an Exploit Die (as if you spent 1 Die).
- Your natural weapon attacks in your normal and Animal Form count as magical for overcoming resistances and immunities to non-magical attacks and damage.
Infectious Fury
10th-level Path of the Lycan feature
When you hit a creature with a natural weapon attack while Raging, you can curse your target with rabid fury. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Exploit save DC or suffer one of the following effects of your choice:
- The target must use its reaction to make a melee attack against another creature of your choice that you can see.
- The target takes 2d12 psychic damage.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all uses each time you finish a long rest. If you have no uses left, you can expend an Exploit Die to use this feature again.
Primal Roar
14th-level Path of the Lycan feature
Your roar is fueled by the primal fury of your curse. You are no longer limited to using roar of triumph once per short or long rest, and can use it as long as you have Exploit Dice.
Moreover, while a creature has temporary hit points from roar of triumph it has advantage on the first melee weapon attack that it makes on each of its turns.