MM2025 (DnD5.5): How can players tell if a creature is an werewolf if it is in its (true) humanoid shape?
In the "old" 5E MM, werewolves could not be damaged by normal weapons. This lead to the idea that you could use this to spot werewolves in their human shape: cut them with a normal weapon and if they don't show a wound (or it vanishes instantly depending on how you RP it), they are not entirely human. You could also use this to tell fiends or vampires from normal humans. Quite a nice test and loads of RP potential in how to circumvent it.
Now this is gone in MM 2024.
So, are there alternatives to figure out if someone could be a werewolf?
I looked at spells (moonbeam comes to mind) but they only transform shape-shifted creatures into their true form. In case of a werewolf, the true form is human, so if they are already in their human shape, it does nothing.
Also, silvered weapons do crits now, but only to shape-shifted creatures. It doesn't do anything for a werewolf in human shape either.
Are there different possibilities or ideas on how to tell if someone is a werewolf? For fiends and undead, a flask of holy water does the trick, but werewolves? Any ideas?
Posted Jul 17, 2025, 8:31 AM UTC