Werebears can shift form between "human," bear, & mixed forms. Each form has advantages: "human" form blends with society, bear form has all the advantages the bear has (enormous strength, sense of smell, fur), & the mixed form combines the two (smell, strength, fur, & the ability to blend).

During a fight, werebears can reach a state of trance-like fury called berserking. During this battle-trance, they involuntarily take their bear or mixed form, and they do not stop until either every non-werebear/mundane bear around them is dead, or until someone they recognize succeeds in commanding them to stop (WIL).

Werebears are connected to the White Moon. On the full moon, they grow slightly stronger and more susceptible to berserking.

During the new moon phase of the White Moon, they cannot reach berserk.

Werebears have heigtened smelling and weak willpower. They are very skilled at fighting & climbing & tend to be belligerent, in accordance with their nature. They have powerful claws and teeth as well. Strong werebears have been known to bite through average, mundane shields.

If a wound is not made by silver, it will heal quickly. They are extremely resistant to disease & poisons. They are immune to mundane fire, and if they eat hot coals, it quickens the onset of the berserk. During berserk, they are immune to edged weapons, and iron weapons take a -3 to damage. Blunt instruments are still effective.

While in human form, powerful werebears can blunt sharp weapons with their gaze. The weapons can still be dangerous (they are just turning a sword into a big metal club), but in their more vulnerable human form, it can save the werebears' lives.

Werebears also have the ability to control bears by speaking their tongue and having a commanding presence around them.

In the distant past, priests of the WAR GOD would bless warriors before they went into battle by giving them special potions. These warriors revered bears as powerful beasts, and wore their skins as signs of their own prowess. During battle, the potions would cause the warriors to lose control, but would bind them to the souls of the bears whose skin they wore. The after effects of this left the warriors forever bound to the bear souls, and this passed on to their descendants.

There are many nations of werebears in the world. The two most prevalent are the Urskofians and the Maskovians. The Urskofians are viking raiders and warriors in northern Ranu who take the form of polar bears, and they have a legendary thirst for mead. The Maskovians are central Ranic peoples who take the form of vermilion bears. Maskovian werebears are reputed to be excellent night-fighters, and their warriors are known to dye their furs pitch black and paint their weapons and armor the same to raid their enemies' camps.

Others include the central Dabusenese werebears who take the form of moon bears; central Palhuric werebears who take the form of black bears; southern Palhuric werebears who take the form of Palhuric [see: kodiak] bears, grizzlies, or cinnamon bears; isolated groups of werebears throughout Jesenya, Ranu, Dabusen, and Palhur that take brown bear form; Ansulymic werebears that take cave bear form; the Taggaran werebears who take the form of titanic bears [see: atlas bear]; Matian werebears that take the form of spectacled bears; extremely rare Unbulese werebears that take panda form, or even rarer, cat-bear form; southeastern Dabusenese werebears that take honey bear form [see also: sun bear]; south central werebears take sloth bear form; in the Reever Sea, islanders take kolponomian bear form; Majonese werebears take blue bear form; Idangarian werebears, which take great bear form; Genesian werebears, which take minor bear form; Fasunic werebears, now possibly extinct, who took draconic bear form; Lyrillan werebears that take storm bear form; and rare subterranean werebears that take phosphoric bear form. There are no moonbear werebears nor ro'tuuriq werebears.

A hybrid of brown and polar bear werebears has been rumored in polar regions of the world, but these are generally the result of a romance between the werebears of both kinds.

Some common themes exist across werebear societies. They are almost always warriors or warrior-centric societies. They are either shamanistic or had shamanistic pasts, and there is a general trend toward outlawry in their histories (or present) as well.