Werejaguar [Lycanthrope]

Werejaguars are humans or demihumans with three forms: human, jaguar and a blend of the two. As people they are not very distinctive, though their hair may be sandy with black streaks (or the reverse) and they move with a fluid grace. The jaguar is a large one, about 7 feet long, nose to rump. In hybrid form it has a wide snout, a sandy coat marked with black, broad paws that keep working thumbs, and a long tail that twitches with every mood.

As humans they use ordinary weapons. The hybrid can either use a weapon or attack with two claws and a bite, and the jaguar fights only with claws and teeth. In hybrid or jaguar form, a successful bite lets it rake with its hind claws for 1d4 each, at +4 to hit because the victim is half pinned. In those two forms only magical or obsidian weapons can hurt it; other wounds heal too fast to matter. Mercury, even a trace of it, kills a werejaguar at once if swallowed. A dead werejaguar turns human again within one round.

In the wild they are usually solitary. An occasional family has a pair of adults with no more than two young, each 1d6 x 10% grown. Youngsters at half their full size fight as adults; smaller ones are guarded with the parents' lives, and such families steer clear of adventurers and other threats.

Some enjoy small-town or village life but grow uneasy in anything bigger, roughly over 100 people. Within that limit they are skilled at slipping into human life and can put aside their loner habits and work with others as long as needed, though the longer they stay, the more they crave a lonely spot to unwind. They do not marry but keep favored mates. Females mostly mate with werejaguars; males often father children on human women and leave before the mothers learn what they are carrying.

Werejaguars eat nothing but fresh-killed meat. Human and demihuman flesh is their favorite, but animal prey will do.