Wolfwere

A wolfwere's natural shape, and the one it wears most often, is a big wolf almost impossible to tell apart from a dire wolf. It can take a fully human or demihuman shape, or a hybrid half-wolf, half-humanoid form, needing only one round to change. Its humanoid guises are always strikingly attractive, and when it hunts it nearly always picks a form of the victim's race but the opposite sex, so a male elf is approached by a lovely elf maiden.

Wolfweres combine savage strength with sharp cunning, and their intelligence is easy to underrate. On finding unwary people in its lands, a wolfwere takes humanoid form and poses as a minstrel, pilgrim or similar traveler, idly playing a stringed instrument as it walks. That tune is a weapon: listeners who fail a save vs. spell sink into lethargy identical to a slow spell, which cannot be countered once it starts and lasts 5-8 rounds.

To attack, it shifts into its hybrid form, which lets it bite and wield a weapon at once. It can bite in any shape except full humanoid and prefers biting above all else. In humanoid or hybrid form it carries weapons, favoring axes, swords and other blades. Caught in pure humanoid form, it has only its weapon and usually tries to slip away and change before returning.

Only weapons of cold wrought iron or with +1 or greater enchantment can hurt a wolfwere; others glance off its hide. Wolfsbane disgusts it, and it keeps away from the herb whenever it can, giving wary travelers a defense.

Wolfweres mostly live alone, and no more than three are usually found together. Groups are nearly always a mated pair or a few that have joined forces to hunt more effectively.

There is a 75% chance a wolfwere runs with a pack of wild canines: worgs 70% of the time, otherwise common wolves. Either way its presence makes the animals far crueler and more vicious than normal. For all its fondness for wolves, it detests werewolves, and the two often fight on sight.