Lycanthropy (Skyrim)

Lycanthropy is a disease contracted in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Werewolves are men and women who can transform into powerful and monstrous wolves for daytime or night time (but the player will no more gain bonuses on sleeping). Some, such as a few of the Companions in Whiterun, see this as a blessing, a way of drawing on the strength and ferocity of their inner beast. Some, such as the Silver Hand, see it as a curse, a twisting of their wills and nature. For some, it is simply a way of life. It is obvious that werewolves in Skyrim are different from the regular werewolves of Earth legend.

Werebears were another breed of Lycanthrope created during the Skyrim game jam (possibility of release in the future as part of DLC)

Appearance
The appearance of the werewolf in Skyrim is that of a large wolf-like humanoid creature with razor sharp claws and a set of large teeth. Unlike the more wolf-faced look of the Bloodmoon werewolves, the werewolves of Skyrim have monstrous faces and muscular builds. Their coloring ranges from light brown to black depending on race and gender. The male gender is darker and blacker, while females are lighter. Their eyes are yellow (Although the redness of the eyes increase with bloodlust) and the werewolves have less fur than the Bloodmoon werewolves, their arms are long and possess amazing strength.

Becoming a Werewolf
If the player contracts Lycanthropy, he or she will turn into a Werewolf. The only way to get this disease is by progressing through the Companions questline. The process by which the player becomes a werewolf is activated through the Magic menu, Powers tab: Beast Form. This resembles a standard power in that it can be marked as a Favorite and assigned a quick-change number as any other power, spell or shout.

Lycanthropy can easily be contracted as part of the blood ritual that occurs during The Companions Quest: The Silver Hand. Your first transformation through this disease vector is particularly violent, allowing you to prowl outside the Underforge of Whiterun in bestial form; there are two exits, one to the city, and an alternative one-way exit to the Eastern environs. After you "feed" or just wait, you black out,the player turns back to human form, as naked as the game allows, being questioned by Aela. Then a series of quests with her is activated.

Morrowind
Completing "Rite of the Wolf Giver" will cure you of lycanthropy.

Skyrim
At the end of the Companions questline, a radiant quest "Purity" becomes available for those adventurers who wish to rid themselves of the beast within. As part of that quest, you must cut off the head of a Glenmoril Witch, bringing it into the depths of Ysgramor's Tomb, draw the spirit of the wolf from your body, and defeat it. Once the ritual is complete, your cure is permanent, and you cannot contract Lycanthropy again.

In order to remove the curse, the Dragonborn must have killed at least two of the witches, one for Kodlak, one for the Dragonborn,(if you kill all 5 witches you can cure all of the circle except for Aela (who does not want to be cured). WARNING: When the "Want to remove Lycantropy forever" text appears and you choose "no" you won't be able to cure Lycantropy, since the text won't appear again, unless you load a previous save.

Even after you have cured yourself of lycanthropy, guards and other characters will still comment on how you "smell like a wet dog" or "look like you have fur coming out of your ears."

Beast Form
When you become a werewolf, you acquire a new power known as Beast Form. This allows you to transform into a werewolf once a day. Once transformed, you remain a werewolf for 2.5 minutes of real time. You can extend this time by approaching a corpse and feeding on it by activating it as if you were looting it. This restores 50 points of Health and gives you an additional 30 seconds of time as a werewolf. Beast form can be extremely useful in situations where your equipment is removed, such as during the quest No One Escapes Cidhna Mine.

Disease immunity
You gain 100% resistance to all diseases. This effect is permanent as long as you don't cure yourself of Lycanthropy.

Shapeshifted
Your damage is base 20 and levels with you gradually until level 45, where base damage is 80. While as a Werewolf you also gain 100 health and stamina, not to mention a much higher sprint speed that makes you faster than anything else in the game and can be utilized for long periods of time. Your stamina also regenerates much faster, and your power attacks are magnified. The standing and moving power attacks knock back opponents more often, and your sprinting power attack gains a massive damage boost. You also have a chance to maul an opponent after knocking them down. Also, if you have a dagger equipped, your character will still use it in Beast Form.

You can transform at will, during day or night, and under the veil of Beast Form your actions do not count towards your normal self's bounty. The exception is if anyone sees you shifting forms in which case a 1000 coin bounty is added to your head in the appropriate hold. This makes it incredibly useful while doing many Dark Brotherhood missions.

Wolves treat you as an ally unless you strike them. Trolls will also become passive towards you.

It is stated in the Official Skyrim Strategy Guide that due to the strand of Lycanthropy you contract from the Companions Guild, you can change every night instead of waiting until a full moon.

Other
The Hircine's Ring, once obtained through the appropriate quest, will allow you turn into a werewolf anytime you want, having an unlimited number of uses. Equipping it will give you the "Ring of Hircine" power which you technically lose when you use it, giving it to you again when you put the ring on after changing back.

Shifting
As previously stated in the "Other" section above, you have a limited time of changing once per day. When using the power Beast Form, you are able to change whenever you see fit, day or night.

No Sleeping Bonus
You cannot gain any resting bonuses when you have lycanthropy.

You also cannot gain the temporary bonus of Lover's Comfort (normally gained by sleeping in your house when your spouse is present) while you are afflicted. Skill bonuses from Guardian Stones still apply normally.

Shapeshifted
Once transformed, you can return to your humanoid character by waiting 2.5 minutes (or you can just use the wait function). Your large, lumbering form has trouble fitting through narrow passages, and it may not fit or handle delicate equipment like armor, weapons, spells or even maps, much less locks. You can also "sheath" your claws by pressing the sheath button which allows you to pan the camera as normal and causes the werewolf to assume a less aggressive stance.

You cannot speak while shifted, (Unless you reach a part of a quest where a character starts a conversation with you. Then, strangely enough, you can reply to them in your werewolf form). This makes it difficult to explain your situation to anyone unfamiliar with your form, and they will usually flee or try to attack you. Any followers you may have will not leave your service for simply transforming into a werewolf and will still follow you and attack enemies but if you were to use The Scent of Blood or purposely damage your follower they would leave your service and flee, so it is advised to be careful around your companions when in your werewolf form.

You can feed upon your fallen foes by activating them, this allows you to regenerate your health. This is the only way to heal while in this form, as spellcasting and passive health regeneration are disabled. It also increases the duration of your form by thirty seconds per person you feed on. You can only feed on playable races, Falmer (Snow Elves) cannot be fed on.

If you go near a town the guards will attack you, as they see you as a threat being a werewolf, so it's best to find a point near the town and stay until you revert back to your human form and walk into town. The Dragonborn will also receive a 1000 gold bounty in that hold if they are seen transforming into a werewolf in town by a non-hostile NPC.

Since all armor and weapons are unequipped when in Beast Form, you will not gain any skill points (one handed stays the same skill level after clawing things to death).

Weapon loss
When you leave beast form all of your equipment will be unequipped and you will have to re-equip them. Thus you should be wary when in large groups of enemies and turning back. (NOTE: There have been claims that the Daedric Artifacts, Ebony Blade and Sanguine Rose (whilst saying there is no weapon charge, even if fully charged), bugs when you transform and allows you to use them in your wolf form. This has also happened with the Daedric Sword as well as Mehrunes Razor. This has happened on several occasions and the enchantment on the blade also works. On several occasions it has also happened with an Iron Mace. Soul Trap will still trap souls and fill soul gems.(360) (Very rareley you may have a blade in your hand as a werewolf (a glitch) it will have no animation as if it were glued to your paw. It will still count towards one-handed skill. PS3)

Trivia

 * While sprinting, pressing either attack buttons to use a charge attack does 3x the damage of a normal swipe.
 * During the first transformation no bounty will be accumulated, no matter how many people are killed. It will not affect relationships with Characters. (It is rare but Whiterun might be subject to dragon attack during this initial transformation)
 * Werewolves can sprint while over-encumbered.
 * Beast Form can be used as a cheap form of travel as they sprint faster than horses and it costs nothing to use.
 * Werewolves have the power to roar and it is activated by pressing the power button, dismantling large mobs of enemies. This power can be swapped out for alternative powers like Howl of the Pack and Scent of Blood, by praying at the totems in the Underforge. These are acquired by the Radiant quests given by Aela after becoming Harbinger.
 * When in werewolf form, the player cannot search corpses or containers, or open the menu.
 * The feeding animation can be cancelled by roaring as soon as it starts. Health and bloodlust is still regained.
 * Transforming while in water allows the player to keep weapons equipped.
 * Drawing a favorite sword before transforming might allow the player to wield it after transformation, which will give a damage bonus as well as normal One-handed experience.
 * Most people that witness your transformation will attack, no matter what bond is shared with them. This does not affect companions in the player's party. Among the other exceptions to this are the members of the Dark Brotherhood and the NPCs at The Ragged Flagon (if the Dragonborn is a a member of the Thieves Guild). Members of The College of Winterhold will attack you if you transform. Most Daedra worshipers will also accept the werewolf form.
 * If the player goes back into the cave where the ritual was performed during the blood ritual, he can stay in the cave for the first transformation without wreaking havoc in the streets.
 * It is worth noting for an extra advantage, that you can use status changing spells and potions just before tarnsformation (For example spells like Ironflesh, Lightning Cloak, Muffle or a health regeneration potion) and its effects will still remain after you have transformed. This can make your Lycanthropy much more customizable, there are even certain race attributed powers than can prove to be advantageous (Like Dragonskin)

Known Werewolves

 * Aela the Huntress
 * Farkas
 * Sinding
 * Skjor
 * Vilkas
 * Arnbjorn of the Dark Brotherhood, Astrid's husband.
 * Kodlak Whitemane
 * The Dragonborn (If he/she is a member of the circle)

Quests

 * Ill Met By Moonlight
 * Proving Honor
 * The Silver Hand

Bugs

 * If a quiver is worn when transforming, it will stay equipped but will be clipped in your skin
 * It may not be possible to cure the affliction during the course of the companion questline, clicking upon the brazier with a witches head in your inventory has no effect.
 * The brazier may actually function at a later time, as this bug does not seem to be permanent. Check back often to see if it has repaired itself.
 * You can also drop all Glenmoril witch heads in inventory and do a hard save. Load the save, pick up a single witch head, and the flame should activate.
 * Sometimes when in beast form a random one handed weapon will be equipped meaning you can level up in that skill, this also means that the finishing moves will usually glitch which will zoom in on the target they will stay still for several seconds and then collapse after no other animations, it does not crash the game. Known weapons that this happens with are Ebony Blade, Scimitars, Glass Swords, the Axe of Whiterun, Arrows and an Ebony Dagger.
 * Sometimes when you die and load back, your roar won't work.
 * If you use a Dragon Shout before you transform, then you won't be able to use your roar, until it finishes cooling down.
 * During your first time going into Beast form for the companions, if you feed while the screen is going black you will be stuck in third person view.
 * There is a glitch that when you transform into a werewolf your character will never change back to human form.
 * After curing yourself by defeating your wolf spirit, all your specific powers on their respective pages disappear, but on the general stats page where it says how many days you were a werewolf, the days continue to increase.
 * In addition to the above, this bug may also not be limited to just the number of days as a werewolf on the stats page — guards can still periodically make remarks of your character's supposedly cured Lycanthropy, such as the "wolfish grin" or the fur coming out of your character's ears. This also means that you will still be unable to receive the Rested, Well Rested and Lover's Comfort bonuses.
 * It is possible to be both vampire & werewolf at the same time.
 * Sometimes your weapon enchantments will be depleted while using beast form.
 * If you kill a dragon in Werewolf or Lycan form you will not collect its soul.
 * Although 100% disease resistance is listed under Beast Blood in active effects, it is still possible to contract diseases if you sit in a dungeon and get hit repeatedly by traps (i.e. swinging axes etc.).
 * If you have the Ring of Hircine equipped when you are cured of Lycanthropy it can still be possible to change into a werewolf once per day despite the other effects disappearing.
 * Sometimes when running in first person after having reverted back to your normal humanoid form a distinct loping motion can be observed. This doesn't go away with any combination of save/reload actions but will usually be corrected by entering/exiting beast form and is therefore likely linked to the script that puts in place and removes the altered animations used while in beast form.
 * If you become a werewolf while swimming under water you may be able to run like if you were on dry land, but you may not sprint.
 * Sometimes, Argonians will not have Beast Blood listed under active effects
 * There is a bug that changes your character appearance after transforming back to a human form.
 * Lycanthropy may spontaenously cure itself and all related effects will disappear including related dialog from gaurds.

Gallery
Licantropía (Skyrim) Licantropia (Skyrim) Lykanthropie Lycanthropy (Skyrim)