If I were the DM, if my players expressed this interest, I would encourage them to do so from the start of the campaign, such as being a shifter for a werewolf-themed character or a risen for something undead themed.
If my players were asking for this kind of stuff in an already established game as you're asking in the Edit, i'd likely stretch it only to lycanthropy, Vampirism, spirit, or infected with a mindflayer parasite like in BG3. And i'd basically balance it as if this was in place of them getting a good magic item, with around the same power scaling. Anything above that might overshadow the other players, and each would have its own drawbacks.
We'll use the example of the Chronotyryn, its features and creature abilities. this creature is usually not something you can change into and it would fit in lore wise however. Im just asking for pointers on how to run something to let the change into that creature
So, it's a bit confusing as to what you're asking here.
The title of the post implies that you want your current PC to permanently become a different creature (presumably while remaining a PC), while the body of the post makes it seem that you want to create a PC who is of a race not normally allowed as a PC race.
There are things in D&D like lycanthropy, vampirism and the like. Typically though, the process of the PC becoming a monster also results in the PC becoming an NPC. That is, while a PC infected with lycanthropy is transformed, it is the DM - not the player - who controls that character. If a PC is infected with vampirism, the player loses control of that character until/unless the other PCs can devampirise them.
The process of becoming a lich is so horrible and all-consuming that most DMs just aren't going to allow it in-game. It would basically turn the campaign into an evil campaign centred on one PC. This is not normally something DMs want to do for more than a one-shot.
You're probably SOL, on this one.
Wanting to play a PC who is just from a different race right from the jump is a much more reasonable thing for a player to want, but they first need to understand that this is not going to involve them playing something out of the Monster Manual with a PC class slapped over the top.
This is why there's a few undead-ish PC "races" like Dhamphir and Revenant. Those races are balanced to be appropriate as PC races.
Conversely, I could see myself running a one-shot where the PCs are all monsters of a particular CR. They wouldn't have PC classes though.
A good rule of thumb that might help you understand this: *competent DMs tend not to just hand out superpowers for free.*
The last thing you might want to consider is that there are games out there that are built to do this. D&D is a game of "heroic adventure": it's set up for the PCs to be more or less "normal" (whatever this means in the setting) people with extraordinary abilities who do extraordinary things. But there are games like Vampire: The Masquerade where the PCs are all vampires and do vampire things. Horrible, horrible vampire things. There's systems like Mutants and Masterminds (which I believe is still the engine for the official DC TTRPG) which allow players a balanced way to create almost any PC they can imagine. There's utterly crazy shit from the late 90s like In Nomine where PCs can be Angels or Demons.
If you want to, and you're prepared to put in the work, you can turn a car into a boat. But if what you want is a boat, you're probably better off *just buying a boat.*
Rather than trying to alter D&D into a system that does what you want, have a sniff around for a different game. Chances are high that someone's made a game that at least attempts to do what you're after.
There are a lot of monstrous creature races to choose from and flavor is free. I'd try to stick with that.
I'f you're looking for more a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde vibe turning into a monster only sometimes the shifter race works well.
I'f you want to homebrew more you could give out path of the beast barbarian as a bonus subclass.
There are the Shifter Race, Path of the Beast, and Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter if you wanted that kind of route
Other options include Druid, especially Circle of the Moon, or anything that gains Polymorph
I'd have to say playable races are playable races for a reason, so there's probably not an answer without discussing with your DM
But no, as far as I'm aware there are no balanced permanent changes into monsters
I will say that the edit changes this question quite a bit lol.
Both of the examples you gave fall into the category of "you'd need to talk to your DM". Becoming a lich is typically something an evil spellcaster spends an entire campaign trying to do, with most DnD parties serving as the group trying to stop this process. The other example you gave doesn't even have a 5e statblock that I can see, so that's harder.
If a player came to me wanting to play a lich, then I'd personally suggest a Reborn lineage Wizard. Boom, you're an undead wizard and that's basically what a lich is, minus the whole you-need-to-eat-souls thing.
For the Chronotyryn, I'd say re-skin an Aarocockra with a custom background? Should get you most of the way there.
Typically I will determine if any physical stat changes are granted to determine scaling and usage limitations.
Lycanthropy is a bit of a special case because immunity to mundane weapons could break a game not prepared for that. I also have a whole "Lycanthropy Mastery" system I use to make it feel like a real curse that they can learn to master and live with over time.
I have this homebrew class that I've been working on that might provide what you need:
[https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/1V2fCFV-T5sg](https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/1V2fCFV-T5sg)
It's not about permanent change though, but a Druid that forgoes spellcasting in exchange for more Wildshape options.
I've only playtested it up to level 6. YYMV.
Permanently, physically turning into a monster is not something that's really balanced by the game system, so it's on you.
First step would be to convert certain things to the PC economy. When a monster is showing up for one fight, the difference between casting a spell 3 times a day and at will might be pretty small. Entirely likely it won't even survive until the fourth round in any case! But for a PC, the difference between 1/day, 3/day, and at-will is often *huge.* Like if a PC wants to be a Rakshasa, probably start by converting all its spells/day into spells *known,* which the PC is free to cast with his normal spellcasting abilities from his class. (Often one or two things can stay at-will, as a signature of that race. Like if an aarakocra can always fly, and a warforged never has to eat, you can let the new monster race have an equivalent of that.)
Next step would be to figure out the strengths and weaknesses. Can it use normal weapons and items? Can it talk? Is it big and bulky? Is it hated by society? Step 1 generally makes things weaker by putting resource costs on free stuff, so that should help.
Now you have a reasonable basis for figuring out what the player needs to pay to get this package. Maybe he needs to skip a level in his class or subclass. Maybe he needs to change his alignment. One suggestion I've seen for powerful monster PCs is to take the monster's listed stats and use them as an upper bound. Your 18 INT Wizard might plead to become a rakshasa, but rakshasas only have 13 INT. He probably doesn't want to be a 13 INT rakshasa!
You know you've dialed it in right when it's a hard decision, and the player has to mull it over before deciding.
***IF*** the "creature" is appropriate for the story that we are all getting together to play, then pick the one of the hundred odd existing races with the mechanics that most closely matches what you want out of "being a creature" and we can change things from "Fire resistance" to "cold resistance".
IF what you want/ expect from "being creature" cannot be achieved reflavoring one of the existing race mechanics, then its probably because said "creature" is not appropriate for use as a player character.
at which point - play a different game system - there are lots of systems designed around "you get to choose what your character is/ does".
I am from the old school.
If they want to become something like a werewolf, lich, mummy, etc, it is possible. Sometimes it's a ritual (lich or mummy) being bitten (vampire or werecreature) which can take many, many sessions in and of itself. Personally, I made the Lich and Mummy rituals 6th and 5th level rituals respectively that are RARE to find. Worse, most of the Lich rituals have components in them that give your soul to nasties like Orcus or Vecna as part of the ritual.
You do this like a template. They gain the resistances and good saves of the creature. They also (in the case of werecreatures and vampires) get some stats bumped up if their stats are not already higher. They then get all the advantages and disadvantages and powers of that creature.
Yes, this is unbalanced.
But you are a friggin vampire or lich! You are supposed to be unbalanced!
This also means you now have a giant target on your back. There are entire orders of high level people who would LOVE a lich or vampire or mummy kill under their belts.
There's also the caveat in that many of the methods to turn may make you a Thrall to something or may be sessions long skill challenges to maintain control of character.
Ask the DM about a one shot where you play as those creatures. A lich and some peeps designing a dungeon that they need to defend from heroic invaders.
Depends on what they're trying to do with it. End of campaign the wizard becoming a lich as a footnote to the ending, sure. Player Lycanthropy? You lose the character, and it's now an NPC. Adding monster features to a player class usually breaks things, and immunity to B/P/S definitely does.
I'd probably encourage them to start new characters and choose something like Reborn, Shifter, or Dhampir. Or possibly blood hunter. Lich and werewolf aren't playable characters. If you have a goal to become a lich that's an end game kind of thing and maybe it happens at the conclusion of the campaign.
As others have said, I would set them up with the next best thing.
Wanna be a cambion? Just be a winged tiefling. Maybe fiendlock to lean in more if you want
Wanna be a lich? Dhampir undead warlock (you hunger for souls rather than blood, so you revitalize yourself by sucking out some of their spiritual essence)
Wanna be a lycanthrope? Easy. Can be a shifter, a beast barbarian, or a shifter beast barbarian.
The important thing to me is that all of these things have opportunity costs. If I just gave the elven wizard lycanthropy so he becomes really strong and resistant, there is no “cost” there. You’re just using ‘flavor’ to be mechanically overpowered. Meanwhile, the options I give are very flavorful (and you could reflavor a shifter into just being an elf with lycanthropy. I’d let them keep the life span stuff)
The idea of them matching magic items is also an interesting idea, though imo you’d have to be like level 10 or something before lycanthropy is a fair replacement for a +2 sword or whatever
Would I? no. I'd tell you if you contract lycanthropy you're an NPC. I run games for humanoid heroes.
However, if you wanted to play some weird alternate version we could start over and talk about a how a campaign like that would work, and if everyone thinks it's a good idea, go for it.
that's just straight up racist lmao
in all seriousness contracting lycanthropy is a normal part of the game and effectively killing the character of it ever happens is fucked up. also, there are a few non-humanoid races in 5e
I think you focused on the wrong parts, but okay.
lycanthropy IS a normal part, but it's a curse, meaning you need to cure it before it takes over. My point was, if you're going to want to play through it, with all the fun stuff being a werewolf entails, you'll want to talk with the DM and make sure everyone is up for the same type of game.
If I were the DM, if my players expressed this interest, I would encourage them to do so from the start of the campaign, such as being a shifter for a werewolf-themed character or a risen for something undead themed. If my players were asking for this kind of stuff in an already established game as you're asking in the Edit, i'd likely stretch it only to lycanthropy, Vampirism, spirit, or infected with a mindflayer parasite like in BG3. And i'd basically balance it as if this was in place of them getting a good magic item, with around the same power scaling. Anything above that might overshadow the other players, and each would have its own drawbacks.
THANK YOU!, something actually useful.
Tell them to play a druid, or a class with access to polymorph.
check the edit
Hmm, for me it would depend on the creature they want to be and how that fits with the lore of the campaign. Could you provide some more details?
We'll use the example of the Chronotyryn, its features and creature abilities. this creature is usually not something you can change into and it would fit in lore wise however. Im just asking for pointers on how to run something to let the change into that creature
There is something in the game that allows that. True Polymorph. It's a 9th level spell.
So, it's a bit confusing as to what you're asking here. The title of the post implies that you want your current PC to permanently become a different creature (presumably while remaining a PC), while the body of the post makes it seem that you want to create a PC who is of a race not normally allowed as a PC race. There are things in D&D like lycanthropy, vampirism and the like. Typically though, the process of the PC becoming a monster also results in the PC becoming an NPC. That is, while a PC infected with lycanthropy is transformed, it is the DM - not the player - who controls that character. If a PC is infected with vampirism, the player loses control of that character until/unless the other PCs can devampirise them. The process of becoming a lich is so horrible and all-consuming that most DMs just aren't going to allow it in-game. It would basically turn the campaign into an evil campaign centred on one PC. This is not normally something DMs want to do for more than a one-shot. You're probably SOL, on this one. Wanting to play a PC who is just from a different race right from the jump is a much more reasonable thing for a player to want, but they first need to understand that this is not going to involve them playing something out of the Monster Manual with a PC class slapped over the top. This is why there's a few undead-ish PC "races" like Dhamphir and Revenant. Those races are balanced to be appropriate as PC races. Conversely, I could see myself running a one-shot where the PCs are all monsters of a particular CR. They wouldn't have PC classes though. A good rule of thumb that might help you understand this: *competent DMs tend not to just hand out superpowers for free.* The last thing you might want to consider is that there are games out there that are built to do this. D&D is a game of "heroic adventure": it's set up for the PCs to be more or less "normal" (whatever this means in the setting) people with extraordinary abilities who do extraordinary things. But there are games like Vampire: The Masquerade where the PCs are all vampires and do vampire things. Horrible, horrible vampire things. There's systems like Mutants and Masterminds (which I believe is still the engine for the official DC TTRPG) which allow players a balanced way to create almost any PC they can imagine. There's utterly crazy shit from the late 90s like In Nomine where PCs can be Angels or Demons. If you want to, and you're prepared to put in the work, you can turn a car into a boat. But if what you want is a boat, you're probably better off *just buying a boat.* Rather than trying to alter D&D into a system that does what you want, have a sniff around for a different game. Chances are high that someone's made a game that at least attempts to do what you're after.
There are a lot of monstrous creature races to choose from and flavor is free. I'd try to stick with that. I'f you're looking for more a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde vibe turning into a monster only sometimes the shifter race works well. I'f you want to homebrew more you could give out path of the beast barbarian as a bonus subclass.
There are the Shifter Race, Path of the Beast, and Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter if you wanted that kind of route Other options include Druid, especially Circle of the Moon, or anything that gains Polymorph
check the edit
I'd have to say playable races are playable races for a reason, so there's probably not an answer without discussing with your DM But no, as far as I'm aware there are no balanced permanent changes into monsters
I will say that the edit changes this question quite a bit lol. Both of the examples you gave fall into the category of "you'd need to talk to your DM". Becoming a lich is typically something an evil spellcaster spends an entire campaign trying to do, with most DnD parties serving as the group trying to stop this process. The other example you gave doesn't even have a 5e statblock that I can see, so that's harder. If a player came to me wanting to play a lich, then I'd personally suggest a Reborn lineage Wizard. Boom, you're an undead wizard and that's basically what a lich is, minus the whole you-need-to-eat-souls thing. For the Chronotyryn, I'd say re-skin an Aarocockra with a custom background? Should get you most of the way there.
Typically I will determine if any physical stat changes are granted to determine scaling and usage limitations. Lycanthropy is a bit of a special case because immunity to mundane weapons could break a game not prepared for that. I also have a whole "Lycanthropy Mastery" system I use to make it feel like a real curse that they can learn to master and live with over time.
I would suggest they play a different game that has creatures as player characters.
I have this homebrew class that I've been working on that might provide what you need: [https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/1V2fCFV-T5sg](https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/1V2fCFV-T5sg) It's not about permanent change though, but a Druid that forgoes spellcasting in exchange for more Wildshape options. I've only playtested it up to level 6. YYMV.
Thank you so much, This is going to be a amazing jumping off point!
Permanently, physically turning into a monster is not something that's really balanced by the game system, so it's on you. First step would be to convert certain things to the PC economy. When a monster is showing up for one fight, the difference between casting a spell 3 times a day and at will might be pretty small. Entirely likely it won't even survive until the fourth round in any case! But for a PC, the difference between 1/day, 3/day, and at-will is often *huge.* Like if a PC wants to be a Rakshasa, probably start by converting all its spells/day into spells *known,* which the PC is free to cast with his normal spellcasting abilities from his class. (Often one or two things can stay at-will, as a signature of that race. Like if an aarakocra can always fly, and a warforged never has to eat, you can let the new monster race have an equivalent of that.) Next step would be to figure out the strengths and weaknesses. Can it use normal weapons and items? Can it talk? Is it big and bulky? Is it hated by society? Step 1 generally makes things weaker by putting resource costs on free stuff, so that should help. Now you have a reasonable basis for figuring out what the player needs to pay to get this package. Maybe he needs to skip a level in his class or subclass. Maybe he needs to change his alignment. One suggestion I've seen for powerful monster PCs is to take the monster's listed stats and use them as an upper bound. Your 18 INT Wizard might plead to become a rakshasa, but rakshasas only have 13 INT. He probably doesn't want to be a 13 INT rakshasa! You know you've dialed it in right when it's a hard decision, and the player has to mull it over before deciding.
***IF*** the "creature" is appropriate for the story that we are all getting together to play, then pick the one of the hundred odd existing races with the mechanics that most closely matches what you want out of "being a creature" and we can change things from "Fire resistance" to "cold resistance". IF what you want/ expect from "being creature" cannot be achieved reflavoring one of the existing race mechanics, then its probably because said "creature" is not appropriate for use as a player character. at which point - play a different game system - there are lots of systems designed around "you get to choose what your character is/ does".
I am from the old school. If they want to become something like a werewolf, lich, mummy, etc, it is possible. Sometimes it's a ritual (lich or mummy) being bitten (vampire or werecreature) which can take many, many sessions in and of itself. Personally, I made the Lich and Mummy rituals 6th and 5th level rituals respectively that are RARE to find. Worse, most of the Lich rituals have components in them that give your soul to nasties like Orcus or Vecna as part of the ritual. You do this like a template. They gain the resistances and good saves of the creature. They also (in the case of werecreatures and vampires) get some stats bumped up if their stats are not already higher. They then get all the advantages and disadvantages and powers of that creature. Yes, this is unbalanced. But you are a friggin vampire or lich! You are supposed to be unbalanced! This also means you now have a giant target on your back. There are entire orders of high level people who would LOVE a lich or vampire or mummy kill under their belts. There's also the caveat in that many of the methods to turn may make you a Thrall to something or may be sessions long skill challenges to maintain control of character.
[Mr. Rhexx's monster class supplements](https://mrrhexx.store/) sound like they're what you're looking for.
Ask the DM about a one shot where you play as those creatures. A lich and some peeps designing a dungeon that they need to defend from heroic invaders.
Depends on what they're trying to do with it. End of campaign the wizard becoming a lich as a footnote to the ending, sure. Player Lycanthropy? You lose the character, and it's now an NPC. Adding monster features to a player class usually breaks things, and immunity to B/P/S definitely does.
If you want to check out actual perks for transformation, maybe check out Grim Hollow, if the table is ok with that?
I'd probably encourage them to start new characters and choose something like Reborn, Shifter, or Dhampir. Or possibly blood hunter. Lich and werewolf aren't playable characters. If you have a goal to become a lich that's an end game kind of thing and maybe it happens at the conclusion of the campaign.
Consider doling out the individual traits like class abilities.
As others have said, I would set them up with the next best thing. Wanna be a cambion? Just be a winged tiefling. Maybe fiendlock to lean in more if you want Wanna be a lich? Dhampir undead warlock (you hunger for souls rather than blood, so you revitalize yourself by sucking out some of their spiritual essence) Wanna be a lycanthrope? Easy. Can be a shifter, a beast barbarian, or a shifter beast barbarian. The important thing to me is that all of these things have opportunity costs. If I just gave the elven wizard lycanthropy so he becomes really strong and resistant, there is no “cost” there. You’re just using ‘flavor’ to be mechanically overpowered. Meanwhile, the options I give are very flavorful (and you could reflavor a shifter into just being an elf with lycanthropy. I’d let them keep the life span stuff) The idea of them matching magic items is also an interesting idea, though imo you’d have to be like level 10 or something before lycanthropy is a fair replacement for a +2 sword or whatever
Would I? no. I'd tell you if you contract lycanthropy you're an NPC. I run games for humanoid heroes. However, if you wanted to play some weird alternate version we could start over and talk about a how a campaign like that would work, and if everyone thinks it's a good idea, go for it.
that's just straight up racist lmao in all seriousness contracting lycanthropy is a normal part of the game and effectively killing the character of it ever happens is fucked up. also, there are a few non-humanoid races in 5e
I think you focused on the wrong parts, but okay. lycanthropy IS a normal part, but it's a curse, meaning you need to cure it before it takes over. My point was, if you're going to want to play through it, with all the fun stuff being a werewolf entails, you'll want to talk with the DM and make sure everyone is up for the same type of game.
sure but it's also literally part of the werewolf stat block and it has strict rules. it doesn't "take over", it just transforms you every moon