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Paladins get the Divine Health feature at level 3:

By 3rd level, the divine magic flowing through you makes you immune to disease.

If a were-animal bites a paladin of level 3 or higher, would they be immune to turning into a lycanthrope themselves? I know people say lycanthropy is a curse, but is it also considered a disease?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @Ruse I meant the edit made by sharp which it says was approved by the community, who is "community" here \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 3:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Medix2 I get your question now, the situation might be similar to this one \$\endgroup\$
    – Ruse
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 3:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ sharp8322 and garyroach seem to be the same person, so I'm voting to reopen and deleting my comment. If that's not correct, gary, please flag the post and we can disentangle it. \$\endgroup\$
    – nitsua60
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 4:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, since no-one has said so yet - "gary roach" and "sharp8322", if you are indeed the same person, it would be good to merge your accounts (following this guide here). Until you do, the question is considered to belong to the "gary roach" account, and you (as "sharp8322") will not be able to comment on this question, select an answer as your favourite answer (once some answers have come in), or make edits without it going through a review queue (as you've discovered already) as the system considers you to be editing someone else's post. \$\endgroup\$
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1 Answer 1

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Paladins aren't immune, because lycanthropy isn't a disease.

Lycanthropes and lycanthropy are described in the Monster Manual (p. 206):

One of the most ancient and feared of all curses, lycanthropy can transform the most civilized humanoid into a ravening beast. In its natural humanoid form, a creature cursed by lycanthropy appears as its normal self.

[...]

Curse of Lycanthropy. A humanoid creature can be afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy after being wounded by a lycanthrope, or if one or both of its parents are lycanthropes. A remove curse spell can rid an afflicted lycanthrope of the curse, but a natural born lycanthrope can be freed of the curse only with a wish.

The description continues in much the same way. As you can see, lycanthropy is repeatedly described as a "curse", not as a "disease". As such, the paladin's Divine Health feature provides no protection against it.

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