Enterprising rules lawyers at Bell of Lost Souls have discovered an interesting dilemma regarding the physical damage resistances granted to werewolves under D&D 5th edition’s rules: they cannot be damaged by any type of physical attack (Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing) unless it comes from a silvered weapon. Not only does that mean they can’t hurt each other, it also means physical fighters in the party aren’t likely to have any means of defending themselves, unless they’re expecting werewolves and packing silver weapons. No big deal, one might think. We’ll just have the warlock or the sorcerer take care of them.
Picture instead for a moment the less well-rounded parties, wandering the countryside by moonlight without magic weapon or a mage in sight. Even an all-rogue team is going to be abruptly short on luck if they run into one of these physically immune beasts with only steel and iron to hold them off.
Fortunately, there’s still hope. While Werewolves in the 5th edition can’t be harmed by non-silvered attacks, the rules don’t prevent any sort of environmental damage. That means they can still be injured through falling, drowning, poison and burning. Here are a few ways to handle these shapeshifting fiends before your party gets sent packing - or worse - if you lack access to magic, magic weapons, or silver weapons.
First and simplest to achieve is fall damage. Maybe you don’t have a nice vista to toss your enemies off of, but if you don’t mind repeating the action, kicking a werewolf off a roof a time or four should do the trick. If there’s a high place like a rooftop of cliffside to defend, you could take the battle there and pray they don’t decide to toss you off themselves.
Next is drowning. Drowning unfortunately depends on terrain, and it’s not particularly likely to help you unless your characters can breathe underwater themselves, since the werewolves probably won’t sit politely at the bottom of a pond without being restrained there by something. Poison and acid are helpful, but require some advance preparation if they aren’t already a part of your toolkit. So a melee fighter’s next best bet after fall damage is burn damage: most player characters start out with an adventurer’s pack that will contain a tinderbox, lantern, and or some oil. If you have what you need to start a campfire, you can burn a werewolf alive! Fire is handy like that.
NEXT: These Monsters Are Legally Owned By Dungeons & Dragons (So You Can’t Steal Them)
