Increased Healing

[Set]

Ok, alot of people have mentioned the increased healing abilities in werewolves. I'm askin' you if you think they should have them. Abilities like being able to "push" bullets out of their skin and heal almost instantly like the Underworld werewolves. Don't snap at me for the mention of that movie, the healing ability is what I'm talking about. And that's exactly the kind of thing people imply when mentioning it.

Now for my opinion. Wolves don't heal any faster than a human does, so I think werewolves should not have this ability in the movie. If you want a realistic were then leave it out. If you want to cheesify them up then go ahead and give them "t3h s00p3r l337 h3al".

[CrewWolf]

Personally I don't much like the idea of enhanced healing. A werewolf already has the ability to turn into a wolf (or some kind of part wolf or something), they don't need any extra powers. The only drawback to that is that if werewolf packs are anything like real wolf packs, a few playful nips, asserts of dominance, or even a kick in the nose by aggresive prey might become a bit more obvious when a werewolf transforms back into a human.

[ChaosWolf]

I think they should - but only to a very limited degree. Not major wounds (like gunshots) but minor injuries like cuts and scrapes and bruises, those should heal faster, but heavier damage should take longer to heal... Granted, it would still be a slightly-faster rate than humans, but nothing instant.

Like, for example, a werewolf gets knifed by some mugger - he gets a shallow gash in the arm or chest, then it'd heal within several minutes to an hour maybe, since it's still a minor wound. But if said mugger decides to shoot them in the leg or chest or something, then, yeah, they'll be out-of-commision for a couple weeks until they finish healing and are back to full strength.

Basically, they DO heal at a somewhat faster rate than humans, but exactly how much is depending on how badly they are wounded. The less severe the injury, the faster it heals. The more severe the injury, the slower it heals.

[SGrayWolf]

I tend to agree with ChaosWolf, I mean they are supernatural creatures and as such, should have slightly improved healing capabilities. Nothing to make them super-wolf of course, but minor injuries should be able to heal after a short while.

Major injuries, will put them out of commission for awhile. (while they heal and if the injury doesn't kill them) *nod*

[Baphnedia]

For anything that has taken serious injury, let the Wolves not think that just because faster healing isn't along the same lines as an increased survival rate.

When a subject has taken a wound, there are several factors that become very important that (any of them) could cause death from the injury. Shock (through trauma or blood / fluid loss), infection, exposure (to the outdoor weather, heat or cold, insects, any other environmental factors, etc), and psychological factors (the will to live, the 'fight' for life, etc - this kind of thing is 'played out' on TV for patients who are in a coma).

Any wound taken (while I agree that it would heal faster - it wouldn't be much faster than it normally takes), 'should' be taken with just as much seriousness as a similar wound would be in real life, of course, keeping context in mind.

A scratch from a knife on a battlefield of Bradleys and M1A1 Abrahms taking on T-72s and other armor has a different context than the same cut from not being careful enough to slice the vegetables in the kitchen. The sad thing is, I've been in both situations. I just wish I had the scars to tell the stories by. The good news is that both marks healed well and didn't scar.

[Vuldari]

"Pushing bullets out of their skin"?...No.

However, I do think that werewolves would have some enhanced healing abilities, and here is why:

Just think about what their body is doing when they transform. To do what they do, a Werewolfs body must change and grow faster than any normal humans cell structure would allow. Werewolf cells grow fater than human ones. Therefore, wounds would heal faster.

This does not mean they are impervious to injury,(in my opinion). As I see it:

...dirty wounds should still get infected.

...broken bones should NOT magically re-set themselves, (or heal without scar tissue.)

...severed limbs should NOT grow back, (exept maybe the tip of a finger)

...Bullets hurt. Enhanced healing or not, if a werewolf is shot through the heart, brain, or any other vital organ, they will die. (though maybe with a slightly higher chance of survival .)

...Werewolves DO get scars if the wound is severe.

Basicly, if faster cell division or a Wolfs natural immunities can not heal it, it can kill a werewolf. (IE: Poison, disease, severe burns, drowning, decapitation, blood-loss, etc.)

[Figarou]

"Pushing bullets out of their skin"?...No.

However, I do think that werewolves would have some enhanced healing abilities, and here is why:

Just think about what their body is doing when they transform. To do what they do, a Werewolfs body must change and grow faster than any normal humans cell structure would allow. Werewolf cells grow fater than human ones. Therefore, wounds would heal faster.

This does not mean they are impervious to injury,(in my opinion). As I see it:

...dirty wounds should still get infected.

...broken bones should NOT magically re-set themselves, (or heal without scar tissue.)

...severed limbs should NOT grow back, (exept maybe the tip of a finger)

...Bullets hurt. Enhanced healing or not, if a werewolf is shot through the heart, brain, or any other vital organ, they will die. (though maybe with a slightly higher chance of survival .)

...Werewolves DO get scars if the wound is severe.

Basicly, if faster cell division or a Wolfs natural immunities can not heal it, it can kill a werewolf. (IE: Poison, disease, severe burns, drowning, decapitation, blood-loss, etc.)

Vuldari is right. I'd hate to see a werewolf re-grow a head if it gets blown off.

Abilities like being able to "push" bullets out of their skin and heal almost instantly like the Underworld werewolves.

If I remember, that scene was done by an elder werewolf. He was also in human form when he chased after the car and caught up with it.

[Terastas]

Werewolves are creatures that can completely alter the shape of their physical form. Compared to this, increased healing wouldn't be so strange.

The only clarrification one would need to make is that, though they do heal faster than humans do, that does not mean they are immortal. A werewolf's bones would elongate when shifting into were form and shrink back down when reverting, so theoretically even a missing limb could regenerate, but a shot to the head or heart would still be just as fatal to a werewolf as it would be for us.

[CrewWolf]

How fast should a werewolf heal then? If it took a human a month to fully recover from an injury, would it take a werewolf a week or two? Less? Would a paper cut heal instantaneously? Would they be less likely to become ill?

[ChaosWolf]

Yeah, that sounds like a nice even balance for matters, to make the rate about double a normal human's rate of healing... something that would take a human a month to recover from would heal in a couple weeks, a week's recovery time would be cut to just three or four days, and minimal things like small scraps and nicks would be gone practically instantly.

[Terastas]

How fast should a werewolf heal then? If it took a human a month to fully recover from an injury, would it take a werewolf a week or two? Less? Would a paper cut heal instantaneously? Would they be less likely to become ill?

I think it would depend on what parts of the body were injured, skin being the fastest to rejuvenate (probably a minute) and bones taking the longest (probably a month).

[Vuldari]

... A werewolf's bones would elongate when shifting into were form and shrink back down when reverting, so theoretically even a missing limb could regenerate...

I don't think that entire limbs could grow back, despite the extrordinary capacity to both enlarge AND shrink bones.

The way I see it is, it is one thing to modify a body part that is allready there, but something else entirely to grow a new one from scratch.

(...though, now that I think about it, that would complicate the whole "then where does the TAIL come from/ Go to?" issue.)

I suppose Maybe it would be possible....but it would take a VERY, VERY long time. A year or two minimum. Just consuming enough calcium, protien and all the other essential building blocks of a limb would take a long time, as the body can only take in and process so much of those things at a time.
A Werewolves, (presumed), higher motabolism would acclelerate the process some, but I don't see any results appearing very early.

If this was the case, I could see serious complications for a werewolf who had a missing limb. A few months down the line, when the "stub" is beginning to become more than a dead stub, the werewolf would be faced with a difficult decision. Do they let it continue to grow back and try to explain it away, (risking their exposure), or do they regularly cut it off again to maintain the ruse?
As hard as it would be to stop a lost limb from growing back, it would be very hard to explain how your leg is mysteriously regenerating. Though I doubt anyones first reaction to it would be, "...he must be a werewolf...", the re-growth of a limb would attract a great deal of medical and media attention, which would lead to a forced medical exam...

"...this mans biology is extrordinary. If I didn't know better, I would think he wasn't human..."

[Baphnedia]

Speaking of healing, I am thinking that the transfer of injury from form to form would also be something to look at.

I am of the opinion that injuries to the ears is about as common in wolves as broken noses are to humans, though if something took a chomp out of a ww's ear, the human ear should be missing the same area. Just as if a limb were taken off in either form, the other form(s) of the ww should reflect it.

The tail is a fun issue, in that case. Since the tail bone resides down towards the pelvis, I'd say that a ww that was either given a bob cut (the horror! the horror!) or lost his tail entirely, would translate to missing his tailbone in human form. The experience would be somewhat like having a broken tail bone (anyone who's fallen really hard on their arse knows what I'm talking about), except that a portion of the tailbone would be missing altogether.

I just can't see too many ww's living in the suburbs.

Oh, speaking of suburbia and trendy things... here's a fun one: Surgery. Specifically, Plastic Surgery and Breast Implants. Ok ok. Never mind. I think I went a little too far on that one. Unless we're going to do a ww version of Nip Tuck, I'm not sure that we'd need to ponder cosmetic surgery. Any surguries that do not implant artifical parts, but require a donor would probably be fine for the ww... but anything artifical (fake hearts, cosmetic surgery, etc) would be anything from extremely painful to deadly if the ww does any Changing after the surgery, since it's the body, not what's implanted in it, that changes.

[ShadowFang]

Should werewolves regenerate missing libs? Absolutley not. That dosen't make any sense! Of course they can change the shape of their bones during the change. But you cannot re-grow something that is not there. Werewolves are not sea stars. However, by now most of you are thinking "well, what about the tail?" and thats a very good point. What about the tail? Many of you have suggested that the tail is something that "falls off" when a werewolf reverts to his human form. That would kind of contradict the whole "can't regrow body parts" statement just made. However, if we are to keep with the whole notion that werewolves cannot regrow body parts then when a werewolf grow a tail, it should be permanent even in human form.

I dunno, its kind of a toss up. I'm sure the goal of this movie is to make werewolves appear as realistic as possible. I personally would like to stray away from the idea that werewolves can re-grow body parts. I mean, you'll have another "Dog Soldiers" type flick then. The cost of this is that the tail would have to remain as a permanent limb even i human form. Though hairless and small, it should hide away quite easy down the pants leg.

[Figarou]

Should werewolves regenerate missing libs? Absolutley not. That dosen't make any sense! Of course they can change the shape of their bones during the change. But you cannot re-grow something that is not there. Werewolves are not sea stars. However, by now most of you are thinking "well, what about the tail?" and thats a very good point. What about the tail? Many of you have suggested that the tail is something that "falls off" when a werewolf reverts to his human form. That would kind of contradict the whole "can't regrow body parts" statement just made. However, if we are to keep with the whole notion that werewolves cannot regrow body parts then when a werewolf grow a tail, it should be permanent even in human form.

I dunno, its kind of a toss up. I'm sure the goal of this movie is to make werewolves appear as realistic as possible. I personally would like to stray away from the idea that werewolves can re-grow body parts. I mean, you'll have another "Dog Soldiers" type flick then. The cost of this is that the tail would have to remain as a permanent limb even i human form. Though hairless and small, it should hide away quite easy down the pants leg.

Good point ShadowFang.

Thats exactly what I think about the tail. Still being there in human form. Only a bit smaller and furless. Not shriveled up inside the body or it falling off.

[Silver]

My vote would be the traditional mythos view on this one. Enhanced healing. Like Tarastas and others who pointed out that wws basically need enhanced healing to TF

Now the bit about pushing bullets out of the skin? Heads and limbs growing back? That is going too far for this humble writer. The tail is a tricky matter. Remember, we humans DO have a tail. It’s almost non-existent, but it’s there. I envision the ww tail falling off; it just returns to human proportions like the rest of the body. If a tail gets removed, even partially, shouldn’t it be the same as a foot/arm/leg? Which is to say, not regrown? I can’t picture it growing completely back.

But I would have small wounds heal in minutes to hours serious wounds heal in a few days, again in agreement with the traditional mythos.

[ANTIcarrot.]

If you want to werewolf to be able to take a gunshot to the chest and still be able to kick a**, rapid healing might not be the best way to go around it. A better way for the were to manage pain and physical trauma might be better.

Instead of healing the damage instantly (which would be difficult) why not simply stem blood loss, flip the pain circuit breaker, and disable shock? The were will still be knocked back on their ase, but as long as nothing truly vital was hit, it would just get back up again.

Another method of looking at it is 'quick correct cheap'. Maybe the were has two levels of self-repair; proper healing and emergency/rapid 'duct tape' healing. The bone mends quickly, but not straight, or the wound closes, but the skin is too tight for full movement until healed properly at a more conventional speed.

WoD weres can heal instantly because they're essentially designed super-soldiers and they *need* it because of what they're made to fight; and because it makes for a fun RPG. I think it would be over kill for this film though.

Personally I favor the 'heal through change' method, as changing seems to break the laws of physics anyway. The way I figure it, a change would generate so much waste heat that the werewolf would either cook or set things alight near by. Best way round this is to think along the lines of a 'magic spell' that's bound to the were's body and which takes care of all such pesky problems.

ANTIcarrot.

[madmann135]

Ever play Hunter: The Recconing game for the X-box or PS2... the werewolves in the scenes have extremely short tails. Why can't the werewolves in this story have short tails that shrink when they transform into their human form.

Now for the healing...
Since werewolves are Supernatural creatures why can't they have the best of both worlds, in a sense, and have an enhanced healing factor.
I know regenerating a limb is a bit extreme but why not reserve that for elder wolves that are extremely old and therefore more powerful but it still be slow.
Lets not forget that an encreased regenerative factor means reduced ageing, think Wolverine from X-Men. No one knows how old he really is, no one knows how long he will live till he dies from old age because of his mutant healing factor.

Lets not forget that there are people out there that are living false lives so why not elder WW's or newer WW's start a new life as someone else in a remote area where people will not ask questions about someone's past.

[ShadowWolf]

I'm going to have to go with public opinion here and say, "Yes they heal faster, but only to an extent."

If a werewolf were to, say, get clawed in the arm, I'd expect said werewolf to need time to recover. All be it less time than Joe Schmo. If it were bad enough that a normal human would need a week to a week and a half with stitches, maybe the werewolf would only need five or six days without them. Now, if a werewolf were to loose an arm, than that's it, his new nickname is 'Lefty' (or 'Righty' respectivly). If the limb is gone, the body would do what it needed to in order to survive. In this case, it's faster and easier for the body to heal over the missing area, then to try and completely regrow it all together. Now if the werewolves had some kind of friend who was a skilled surgen, than maybe he could reattach the limb, but that's a different topic all together. And I don't care what kind of super natural bad a** you are, if you're shot in the head, you're screwed. And has far has the whole tail issue, it has all ready been stated here that humans do have tails, just extremely under developed ones. I say it's reasonable to say that has the bones in the body are enlarging and shortening in accordence to the change, so to are the tail bones.

[Senajit]

After reading all the posts listed so far, I think it's safe to say the film will not be using AD&D rules for werewolves. I agree with some of the things and and disagree with others, while being in the middle on the rest. I do like the idea of increased healing, though definately not in the extreme that we see from Wolverine in X-Men. Pain will be felt from any cut, but it would be able to take a punch or kick better than a world class kick-boxer and come right back for more. I haven't heard anyone bring up the thought 'But I thought only silver bullets killed werewolves'. What about the silver bullet issue? A regular bullet would knock it on its a** and hurt like hell but not kill it. Being hit in a vital organ by a regular bullet I agree should slow it down considerably and take the fight right out of it, but not kill it. From the way I've witnessed them being role played, silver is one of two ways to kill a were, the second one is if it loses its head.

[madmann135]

well... If werewolves are supernatural then there has got to be magic related to the beast. Since there is magic then there must be spell casters to cast magic. (spends too much time reading comics)


We all know that Silver is a conductor of electricity in adition I herd somewhere that precious metals (like silver) conduct magic (online comic actually).

It would be more intresting if silver caused a slight alergic reaction but not a fatal one.
Therefore silver wold not be necessary to kill a Were, therefore any bullet that can kill a creature of similar size and build can kill a werewolf if aimed in the proper area's.

[Bete]

I voted "yes" (yea, I am finally in the majority here). I voted "yes" because of an artistic sense of prtraying "power" in film.

[Fenrir]

Think about it for a second if ww have incresed adreniline, wouldnt that all the bodies functions are sped up, including the ability to heal oneself. But the regenerations of limbs wouldnt happen. But that is purly from my opinion, however stupid it may be.

[mielikkishunt]

Ok, alot of people have mentioned the increased healing abilities in werewolves. I'm askin' you if you think they should have them. Abilities like being able to "push" bullets out of their skin and heal almost instantly like the Underworld werewolves. .

No, not like that, just heal like twice as fast. . pushing bullets out of their skin was STUPID!

[Akugarou]

Wolves don't heal any faster than a human does, so I think werewolves should not have this ability in the movie. If you want a realistic were then leave it out. If you want to cheesify them up then go ahead and give them "t3h s00p3r l337 h3al".

Super healing ability..? No. I agree with the other PACK members who have already replied to this thread; some enhanced healing ability is normal and reasonable in this genre, and would be expected in any modern werewolf tale. Movie or otherwise.

On a side note: And I hope that nobody takes offense with this, but I have read a number of posts which proclaim, "Wolves don't do this... Wolves wouldn't do that.. so werewolves shouldn't either." Huh?

When did werewolves become synonymous with RL wolves? Werewolves are supernatural creatures (and no, that doesn't mean magical), and their attributes should never be confused with that of the wolf.

Sorry for the rant, but I believe the qualities of a werewolf, and RL wolf has been too often confused. Also, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm bashing Reilune, which I would never do to a PACK member.