Were-beasts

Howdy! What are some of the limitations, weaknesses, and powers of were-beasts? 

I want to write a were-bull, so they are a minotaur as their mid-form. I think the best way to look at it is examining a werewolf, and a human and canine. Then, using that analysis, apply that to the bull. 

So, wolves have great endurance and are one of the few animals able to keep up with humans during distance hunting. They are smaller than humans, so a werewolf will gain some size benefit, over a normal wolf. Claws and fangs are pretty standard weapons. And canine's sense of smell and hearing is miles away better than a human. 

A bull won't have the endurance of a wolf. Bovines are capable of surprising speed, but it appears to be more of a sprint than a marathon. I think if you can turn into a 9-foot-tall minotaur, any combination of human or bovine hearts just can't keep up with the demands. I would say that a were-bull would be a glass cannon- capable of extreme power and damage but would quickly tire out. 

The horns would make a great weapon, but if you compare it to fangs and claws, it would be a lot harder to land a hit. 

As far as senses are concerned, a bull has better hearing and smell than a human, but not nearly as good as a wolf. Additionally, they can only see blue and yellow, so they are red green colorblind. I don't know how developed a were-beast's senses is when they are in human form. Some stories make it sound like they benefit as a human, like Nigel in the World knows Not. Other stories, like Fire over Pheonix make Fenek not have any enhances senses in human form. 

What about regeneration? Carl in Merry's story seemed to be pissed that he had his leg removed but not because of permanent disfiguration. I think he was able to walk with a limp shortly after that. So they would likely be around Regen3 or so, if I had to guess. Fenek seemed to have enhanced regen but hers seemed closer to 1 or 2. 
I theorize that regeneration would put a lot of strain on the heart. If you were to attack my minotaur character, they would heal pretty effectively but would contribute to more endurance problems. 

Finally, what about specific weaknesses? Most of this post are weaknesses inherent in not being a wolf. But what are general defenses against were-beasts? Silver, mithril, and orichalcum all seem like good weapons if you can get ahold of them, and I think they would do increasing damage to a Were. Fire would likely be a good weapon, mainly because it is hard to heal a burn and most were-beasts are furry. Magic would be effective, but not many beings are good against strong magic. 


 

best character to look at if you would want a better understanding of Weres would be Cyberkitty. She retains her powers as a mutant, but also has were-panther powers. She has the usual were issues. Getting out of control under the full moon, weakness to Mythril. There is some implied information that as a "kitten", shew will gain more control as she ages. Traditional weaknesses like mystical metals have been displayed. Bloodwolf has the "spirit of a werewolf", but isn't one. He still inherits the weakness to Mithril. Another issue to deal with, with weres is that they are infectious. a bite can transmit the were virus. Some things haven't been explored yet, like if they are vulnerable to things like wolfsbane, or other pplants with magical properties. Nor has it been shown what happens to an Exemplar that gets infected. I picture the virus and their BIT being at odds, and possibly causing health issues, if not outright being fatal.

Again, going to Paige, there is nothing I remember about her being bigger than a typical panther that I remember... but she is immature, afterall.
She can manifest cat-ears, claws, and a tail, when angered.. as her control slips...
Another thing to remember about her is that her hand is very SLOWLY regrowing in human form, She seems to be able to get around in panther form and her missing paw might appear in just her panther form. I don't remember. I would go back through all her appearances.

Benoftheflies wrote:

Some stories make it sound like they benefit as a human, like Nigel in the World knows Not. Other stories, like Fire over Pheonix make Fenek not have any enhances senses in human form. 

What about regeneration? Carl in Merry's story seemed to be pissed that he had his leg removed but not because of permanent disfiguration. I think he was able to walk with a limp shortly after that. So they would likely be around Regen3 or so, if I had to guess. Fenek seemed to have enhanced regen but hers seemed closer to 1 or 2. 
 

OK, I don't have much to say about weres, but I have two things that should be helpful.

1. Carl did have his femur removed by Razorback. He was able to heal it so quickly, because he went and found the bone again putting it back in place, so his healing only had to reattach it. Otherwise I recall one of the weres saying it would take weeks or months to heal.

2. Fanak is NOT a were. She's a shifter.
So she has very different rules to her powers, none of the weaknesses, none of the strengths, and no regen. She is just a bit harder to hurt due to denser muscle, bone and fur. All major healing was due to Thulia's magic.
She gets called a were-fox and werewolf because people see someone shift into an animal-human hybrid form, especially a dog-like one and they automatically think, werewolf.

As pointed out to me by Nulltrooper, the species seen are all native species to North America, Cattle were imported. Buffalo would work, but I would talk long and hard with Elrod about using a buffalo... as the Sidhe making Were-buffaloes might be offensive to people that revere them the way Native Americans do.

>best character to look at if you would want a better understanding of Weres would be Cyberkitty. She retains her powers as a mutant, but also has were-panther powers. She has the usual were issues. Getting out of control under the full moon, weakness to Mythril. There is some implied information that as a "kitten", shew will gain more control as she ages.

So her mutant powers were a bit wonky, weren't they? IIRC, with her split into 2 clones, each clone had less technopathic abilities. or maybe that was a specific weakness since they didn't have a ton of time to get used to their bodies. Idk, it has been a while since I read that story but I remember them being weaker than "absolute god of electronics".

I think ShadowedSin is working on a Sara's pack story, so hopefully we will see more. I love Sara, and CyberKitty.

I assume plants with magic properties, especially wolfbane, would be effective.

2) ok, I thought Fenek was a were. thanks for the clarification!