Wereswine

Wereswine, also known as Devil Swine, are a therianthrope species from the dim and dusty days of Dungeons & Dragons. Native to Mystara, these gluttonous monsters are obese humans cursed to assume the form of giant flesh-eating pigs. Yes, as in the pudgy pink pig of any kindergardener's book on farm animals-- or rather, the ravenous creatures sometimes used by gangsters and serial killers for body disposal. Not to be confused with the wereboar; in fact, the two races are said to absolutely despise one another. One major difference is that wereswine have a weird ability to mesmerize other people and turn them into helpless puppets, which manifests as a potent Charm Person spell that, in AD&D, they can use thrice per day and which is so powerful its targets suffer a -2 penalty to their saving throw.

In their human form, wereswine are extremely fat by choice. Their appearance helps lull would-be victims into a state of incautious behaviour. In this form, the males have bald heads and no facial hair. In pig form, wereswine look like pink, smooth-skinned hogs of large girth. Only when victims get close enough to the mouth of such a beast do they realize it has fangs. Wereswine take no hybrid form. Although they can shapechange freely during the night, unaffected by the moon cycle, they must keep one shape throughout the daylight hours – usually their human form.

In comparison to wereboars, wereswine are relatively cunning and devious creatures. Though certainly hardy brutes, they prefer indirect means of combat, relying on ambushes to throw their victims off balance. If a wereswine has gone without food for too long (two days), its hunger can interfere with usual intellect; a starving were casts aside all sense of tactics, rushing headlong at victims to sate its ravenous appetite. They freely exploit their mesmeric powers; in addition to snaring easy meals, a wereswine usually uses this power to reate a small posse of expendable thugs and exploitable lackies, typically controlling between 1 and 3 victims at a time. Another part of the reason for their discretion is that wereswine in human form are clumsy and ill-equipped to fight, so they usually prefer to poison others and flee direct conflict. In their porcine form, wereswine are much more aggressive, using their massive tusks to rend, gore and disembowel their victims.

Wereswine fit the stereotypical role of the dirty, greedy, lazy pig. In their human form, they tend to be slow, unkempt, avaricious, and always hungry. Many wereswine once lived as merchants or farmers, ambushed on the outskirts of towns or attacked on their farms and infected with lycanthropy. Those who used to be merchants still can keep their businesses going, using their charmed victims as loyal lackeys and spies.

Wereswine feel obsessed with creature comforts such as rich food, plentiful wine, soft beds, nice furniture, and the like. They make their lairs in comfortable cabins and manors a bit removed from the bustle of towns and cities, but close enough to civilization to keep them well fed. The life of a wereswine is filled with decadence, and the creatures wallow in it. In fact, wereswine prefer to stay in their human state, changing into pigs only to attack or mate.

Wereswine must be in pig form to mate. The average litter consists of 2d4 piglets. The young can shapechange at six months, taking the form of fat human adolescents.

If a wereswine has been infected with lycanthropy (not born a were-creature), a special situation triggers its change into pig form. The creature must make an Intelligence check to resist. This trigger might be something like watching someone eat a large meal.

In Mystara lore, Orcus began his mortal existence as a wereswine before he died and ultimately became a Demon Prince.

Whilst Oinkbane is officially a wereboar, his devious nature and mastery of subtlety suggest he may instead be a wereswine.

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