Therianthrope

This article is a stub. You can help 1d4chan by expanding it

Therianthrope is a scientific(ish) term thrown around to serve as a general placeholder for the vast array of monsters who boil down to "people who can change into animal form". Like, you're familiar with the werewolf? Replace "wolf" with literally any other animal, and you've got the therianthrope in a nutshell. The term is also used to cover an array of animal shapeshifters who aren't "were(insert species here)", from D&D's "Beastweres" (sapient animals who can take on humanoid forms) to mythical creatures like the Hengeyokai and Selkie.

Dungeons & Dragons has a truly massive array of the things, which Pathfinder has shamelessly followed up on. The most iconic D&D therianthropes are Werebears, Wereboars, Wererats and Weretigers, but a list of other were-beasts that appeared in 2nd edition alone would include:

• Werebadger (mostly dwarven in origin)
• Werebat
• Werecrocodile
• Weredragon (technically a form of "animal bride"; an all-female race of dragons who can assume human shape and breed with human men to propagate)
• Werefox (an all-female race of elven therianthropes; even non-elven women who get infected will change to look like elves in their human form)
• Werehyena
• Werejackal (in default and Ravenloft flavors)
• Werejaguar (in default, Mystara and Ravenloft flavors)
• Wereleopard
• Werelion
• Werepanther
• Wereraven
• Wereray (as in were-manta/stingray)
• Wereshark (in default and Ravenloft flavors)
• Werespider
• Wereswine

And because that wasn't enough, Ravenloft fans invented Werealligators, Werebaboons, Werecheetahs, Werecobras (in normal and spitting varieties), Weremustela (in ermine, mink, polecat, and weasel flavors), Wereopossums, Wereraccoons, and Werewolverines! D&D also includes therianthropic giants, including Hill Giant wereboars and the infamous Buffalogre.

In the World of Darkness, both Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Werewolf: The Forsaken have included therianthropic player's options ranging from Weresharks to Wereravens to Wereboars.... and so on.

Weresharks feature in Pathfinder's Skull and Shackles campaign.