Werefox

Werefoxes are an obscure species of therianthrope native to the cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons, defined by their ability to transform partially or wholly into foxes. In fact, there are actually two distinct species of werefox; the Common and the Mystaran. It's also a term used for Kitsune in Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

Common Werefox

Old-school D&D art... wasn't the best.

With art like this, it's no wonder the furries didn't jump all over this.

The "Common" werefox (a term only used here to distinguish it from its Mystaran counterpart) is also known formally as the Foxwoman and the Vixen; it is a strain of therianthropy only communicable to women, and is formally portrayed as the elven counterpart to the werewolf. In their "human" form, foxwomen appear as exceedingly beautiful silver-haired elf-maids; they can assume the form of silver foxes (a kind of magical silver-furred fox native to fey-touched or elf-inhabited forests that moves tracelessly through the wilderness) or surprisingly beautiful silver-furred anthropomorphic vixens.

The beauty thing isn't a joke. Foxwoman regeneration is so potent it actually causes scars and other blemishes to fade away month by month until they vanish into nothing. That's not the weirdest aspect of foxwoman biology. The "elfin" part of their curse is as infectious as the fox part. What does this mean? It means that any woman infected with this form of therianthropy (originally, only humans, elves and half-elves were susceptible, but in 3e any humanoid can be afflicted) will find themselves changing irrevocably into elf-maids, complete in every detail! Another biological oddity is that foxwomen are sterile; uniquely amongst therianthropes, they cannot bear children, and instead rely on spreading their curse to propagate, and are willing to enact adoption or kidnapping to claim an heiress to raise.

Unlike most therianthropes, foxwomen are little inclined towards brutal rampages. Self-serving, vain and hedonistic, foxwomen only care about appeasing their desire for luxuries and comfort. Between their beauty, their great control over their feral instincts, their bewitching gaze and their propensity to train as bards or enchanters, they have little trouble attaining what they want.

Foxwomen debuted in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition in the Monster Manual II - however, a prototype version, more overtly connected to the Kitsune appeared for OD&D in White Dwarf #19. They gained a patron goddess called Eshebala in Monster Mythology, and were converted to 2nd Edition in first the Monstrous Compendium and then in the Monstrous Manual. In Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition they would not be converted till Ravenloft Gazetteer I.

Precisely why it was Ravenloft 3e that brought the foxwomen back, who can say? Although foxwomen are common in the Demiplane of Dread, they are found in other settings, including the Forgotten Realms, with the splatbook "Elminster's Ecologies" saying they are particularly common in Cormyr, Sembia and the Dalelands.

Mystaran Werefox

Roguishly handsome or handsomely roguish?

On Mystara, werefoxes are basically a vulpine equivalent to the common werewolf, lacking the gender restrictions or elven traits of their counterparts from other worlds. Believed to descend from a Thyatian Rake named Leo Variantia, werefoxes are far more docile in temperament than their lupine counterparts (BECMI Neutral to their BECMI Chaotic); a werefox on the "rampage" is basically out to pull pranks and steal chickens, not kill anyone. They're mostly harmless tricksters and mischief-makers, infatuated with their own cleverness but typically not out to hurt anyone.

This version appeared in the Creature Crucible PC4: Night Howlers, which even provided rules for playing a werefox PC. In Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Lycanthrope can now be applied to any animal, though only small races can become werefox due to size requirements.

BECMI Werefox PC

See the Therianthrope page for a run-down of the special rules for playing a werebeast in BECMI.

Werefox Ability Modifiers: +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, -1 Strength, -1 Constitution

Movement rate is 180' (60') on land and 90' (30') when swimming.

In beast form, a werefox's movement is only slowed to 2/3rds by dense underbrush, instead of the normal 1/2.

Werefoxes can make a Bite Attack 1/round that does 1d6 damage.

Werefox Level Advancement Table

Experience Level	XP	HD	Special Abilities	AC
Cub (-3)	-6,400	1d8	I	7
Whelp (-2)	-3,200	2d8	II, III	7
Scamp (-1)	-1,600	2d8+1	IV, V	6
Normal Monster (0)	0	3d8+2	VI, VII, X	6
1	6,400	4d8+2	-	-
2	19,200	5d8+3	-	-
3	44,800	-	VIII	-
4	96,000	6d8+4	-	-
5	198,400	7d8+4	IX	-
6	403,200	8d8+5	-	-
7	700,000	-	-	-
8	1,000,000	9d8+5	-	-
9	1,300,000	+2 hit points	Fox-Man Form	-
Subsequent	+300,000	+2 hit points	-	-

Werebeast Ability Number	Werebeast Ability Description
I	Must take fox form on the nights of, preceding and following the full moon. Can voluntarily transform at night if the moon is visible.
II	Normal weapons do 1/2 damage (round up). Can voluntarily transform at night without needing the moon.
III	Can speak with foxes and werefoxes while in beast form.
IV	Can voluntarily transform whenever desired.
V	Normal weapons do 1/4 damage (round up).
VI	Immune to normal weapons when in beast or beast-man form.
VII	Can summon 1d2 foxes, which will arrive in 1d4 rounds (if in immediate vicinity) or 1d4 turns (if in the general area). This increases to 1d4 at 2nd level, 1d6 at 4th level, 1d8 at 6th level, and 1d10 at 8th level. Every four levels thereafter, add +1d10 to the foxes summoned.
VIII	Can recover 1d4+1 hit points for every full 24 hours of rest spent in wereform, increasing by +1 for every 3 additional levels.
IX	Can now summon werefoxes when summoning foxes; the total remains unchanged from Ability VII, with DM determining how many are normal and how many are werebeasts.
X	Can Charm Creature 3/day; this affects 1 target (humans in human form, animals in fox form), which is charmed for 2d12 hours (+1 hour per level) if it fails a Save vs. Spells.

Gallery

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