Up front, let me just suggest that this character is offensively devastating, but is frighteningly vulnerable (LA does that), and useless outside of combat. Moreover, these low levels are very much the best time to be playing this character. Depending on the pace of the game, it may be best to let him just enjoy it while it lasts. Unfortunately, it likely won’t last long. See an earlier answer about an overly strong barbarian.
But I think we can do better than you have here. You see, being devastating offensively, but shockingly vulnerable and useless out of combat, does cause a lot of problems. LA causes a lot of problems, but the biggest one is exactly this: skew.
A simple improvement, in both directions, by suggesting the LA +1 goliath from Races of Stone—less LA, less power, and the character is less skewed and causes fewer problems. The goliath isn’t Large, but has powerful build that lets them count as Large in many ways—and then the goliath barbarian substitution level, also in Races of Stone, offers mountain rage, and truly-Large size for a limited amount of time per day. Having the player use the goliath’s stats, despite being a “half-ogre,” would be a straightforward solution with WotC support.
But really, I think we can do even better than that. The goliath isn’t a half-ogre, and powerful build isn’t Large size, and while mountain rage can cover most uses, it still isn’t quite the same. And in my experience, having played, played alongside, or run games for goliath barbarians in the past... the goliath doesn’t really earn its LA either, even with mountain rage. So what I propose is an LA +0 half-ogre. True Large size, while very very good, might be possible on an LA +0 race.
Therefore, I present an LA +0, Large size, half-ogre race. Races are relatively simple parts of the game, and I have designed races professionally for 3.5e and Pathfinder; I am reasonably confident in my design here. It goes off the established rails some (LA +0 Large size is verboten under WotC design guidelines, and even powerful build always came with LA +1), but I’m going to build in a lot of downside. Moreover, I have played (with) plenty of characters that were Large—it isn’t that big a deal. Even in gestalt games where the LA could all be put on one side (greatly mitigating the effect of the LA and making half-ogre et al. far cheaper to use), the Large size was only “good,” not “broken.” (The large ability score adjustments were far more problematic.) I am confident that the drawbacks of this race are at least as costly as the effort expended by those characters in becoming Large.
Half-Ogre Racial Traits
Starting Ability Score Adjustment: +2 Str, −2 Dex, −2 Int, −2 Cha.
Large: As Large creatures, half-ogres have a −1 penalty to Armor Class and a −1 penalty on all attack rolls. They also have a reach of 10 feet.
Speed: Half-ogre land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Half-ogres have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Giant Blood: For all special abilities and effects, a half-ogre is considered a giant. Half-ogres can use giant weapons and magic items with racially-specific giant powers as if they were giants.
Automatic Languages: Giant and Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, and Abyssal.
Favored Class: Barbarian.
Level Adjustment: +0.
By drastically reducing the ability score bonuses and removing the natural armor, we reduce a lot of the skew in the character. And because the ability score adjustments turn out sharply negative, and the race really doesn’t have much of anything else going on, we attach some very heavy drawbacks on the Large size. I considered losing the darkvision (after all, ogres have both that and low-light vision, and Savage Species saw fit to toss out the low-light vision), but in my experience darkvision is minor in most cases, and the race block just looked bare without it. But it might be a target if you want to remove more.
Ultimately, this race ends up being very, very good for a barbarian, and several other classes (the lack of Wisdom penalty opens up interesting opportunities for, say, psychic warrior), but it doesn’t end up being necessarily the best option every time. That is, it joins the top tier of race options for melee characters, but it doesn’t establish an entirely new tier over and above a few of the best existing options. Dragonborn, human (and human variants), warforged, water orc are each competitive, for examples. A dragonborn half-ogre could be a problem (since you keep the best thing about half-ogre and then get real racial features from dragonborn), but no more so than a dragonborn warforged—so you should probably just ban both of those combinations (or allow both, but recognize that they start to look like the only reasonable melee options).
I'll dissect this homebrew race on a per-trait basis, and then offer an overall evaluation at the end:
Neutral traits
These are the traits I find are neither over or underpowered:
Ability Score Increases. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Pretty standard, nothing under or overpowered here.
Age. Lycanthropes mature at the same rate as Humans, and live up to around 150 years.
Alignment. A Lycanthrope is typically of a Chaotic Alignment.
Size. Lycanthropes stand 6 to 7 feet tall just as a Human. Your size is Medium.
All fluff.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet in your humanoid and hybrid forms, and 50 feet in wolf form.
This is better than what most races get, but it's situational enough to not be anything of note.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray and red.
Pretty standard. I like the addition of the red color.
Tracking. You can detect opponents within 15 feet by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 40 feet; if downwind, it drops to 10 feet. Strong scents can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents can be detected at triple normal range. When a creature detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range.
This is a cool trait, but I'm doubtful as to its actual usefulness in-game. The range is so short that you're still going to get surprised, and tracking whether you're upwind or if the creature is smelly sounds like it will quickly get tedious. Consider giving the Werewolf Keen Smell or Keen Senses (Proficiency in Perception), like an Elf.
Shapeshifter. You can take 1 action to change into your Hybrid or Wolf Form. While in Hybrid Form you can not wield weapons, or wear armor. While in wolf form you cannot wear armour or wield weapons. You are able to wear certain equipment at the DM's discretion, such as circlets and robes. You can choose to have equipment you are wearing to either merge into your form or be dropped to the ground. You gain no benefit from equipment that is merged into your form.
The ability to change, itself, is pretty standard, however, the restriction on weapons and armor are weird (They can wield Foci and Holy Symbols, but not weapons?) This trait is probably the biggest counter-balance to all the positive traits because of the limitation on what you can hold in your hand.
Languages. You know Common, Wolf and one extra language. You can only speak in Human and Hybrid forms.
Pretty Standard, though I wonder why you can't speak Wolf in Wolf form.
Wolf Empathy. You can communicate with wolves and dire wolves.
Exceptional but not overpowered. Gnomes can speak with small animals, which I've seen can be useful at times, this trait is going to be a lot more useful than its gnomish counterpart.
Positive Traits
These are the traits that your Werewolf race gains as benefits, which I rate as over or underpowered based on comparison with existing traits from other published races:
Regeneration. You have resistance to damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered. At the start of each of your turns, you regain hit points equal to 1d4 + your Constitution modifier if you have no more than half your hit points left, and have at least 1 hit point.
Overpowered. This trait effectively gives the Werewolf race 1.5x to double HP, with the resistance alone. Similar races with resistance such as the Dragonborn (1 element), Dwarf (poison) and the Aasimar (radiant, necrotic), grant only 1 or 2 types of resistances and only for situational damage types- a resistance to the three most common damage types is too strong.
The actual regeneration trait is also very strong. The only race I found with regeneration is the UA-Gothic Heroes Revenant subrace, and the Revenant only regenerates 1 HP per turn, your homebrew has the potential to regenerate 5 HP, with a +3 Con, at 1st-level.
Natural Weapons. While in your hybrid or wolf forms, you have a 1D6 Bite and 1D8 Claw attack. Increase damage at level 5 to Bite 1D8 and Claw 1D10. On a successful melee attack you may use your bonus action to make a claw attack on the same target.
This is tricksy. The d6 Bite is ok, but the claw attack basically grants you access to a non-light one-hand Martial weapon you can use to attack with a Bonus Action, normally you'd need Dual Wielder to pull that off. Taken in conjunction with the Shapeshifter trait where you can't wield anything in your hands when you transform, it sounds ok, but then there's gonna be the powergamer who will want to play a Monk in order to get the early d10 unarmed strikes, with flurry of blows.
Then again, if this race will be paired with any class that isn't a monk, he's gonna have no access to magical weaponry, and be forever at the mercy of creatures with resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage.
Trip Attack. While in Wolf or Hybrid form you can attempt to trip the opponent as a bonus action after a bite attack. The opponent must make a Strength saving throw equal to 10+ your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Flavorful and only slightly overpowered- most save DCs are computed as 8 + modifier + proficiency.
Skills. You are Proficient in Survival, Nature, Intimidation and Perception rolls. You have disadvantage on Persuasion checks.
Overpowered. A Half Elf with Skill Versatility only gets 2 skills, this trait grants four. The Disadvantage with Persuasion doesn't counter balance this enough (nor does it make much sense, do you still get Disadvantage in Human Form?).
Saving Throws. You are proficient with Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
Overpowered. No race grants Proficiency in saving throws. These are strictly benefits from picking a class.
Tough Hide. While you are not wearing any Armour or shields your AC becomes 10+ Strength Modifier + Proficiency Bonus (All Forms)
Overpowered. Unarmored Defenses usually don't include Proficiency Bonus as a component. This is because Proficiency is "free" as the character levels up, and it will quickly get out of hand at higher levels. Consider that at 17th-level, and at +5 strength, this character will have 22 AC, even before items that boost strength like a Belt of Giant Strength.
Negative Traits
These traits would be the counter-balancing factors for the Werewolf race. I will say, in advance, that these traits are not effective counter-balancers (it's not as discouraging as, say, Sunlight Sensitivity) for all the Positive Traits above. I'll explain why below each one.
Silver Weakness. You are vulnerable to damage from silvered weapons.
Vulnerability is normally really punishing, but in this very specific case, when the vulnerability comes into play, it will feel like you're specifically targeting the PC, As Erik puts so well in another answer.
Also consider that not even actual Lycanthropes in the MM are vulnerable to silvered weapons, and no official race gives you vulnerability to anything.
Full Moon Rage. At the start of a night with a Full Moon you must make a DC13 Wisdom save or lose control of yourself. During this time the DM has Control over what your character does, however every hour you may reroll your saving throw to take back control. Once you make the correct saving throw you retain control for the rest of the night.
Not a huge counter-balance, it will only come up once a month, and the DC is set pretty low (with a chance to break it every hour). What's more, smart players will make preparations if they know the full moon is coming up. They're going to tie themselves to trees or manacle themselves to a cell, which negates what this is supposed to accomplish.
New Moon. During a new moon, you cannot transform, and are damaged normally (without resistances and weaknesses).
As above, it's not a huge counter-balance. Smart players will avoid adventuring at this time of weakness. If you force them to adventure in this scenario, it will feel antagonistic.
Overall, this race is overpowered, almost broken. What's really glaringly overpowered are the Regeneration, Saving Throws, Tough Hide, Skills, and how the Natural Weapons scale so fast. The Werewolf race will outshine just about anything at low-to-mid-levels, and be powerless against higher-level opponents with resistances.
The race has too many things going for it, if you take a look at other races, they usually have 3 or 4 defining traits (not including ability score bonuses, darkvision, languages, etc), this race has a whopping 8.
Using this race power-level analyzer, from reddit's /u/aranim and /u/JamesMusicus, this Werewolf scores:
- Ability Score Increase +3
- Silver Weakness -1
- Regeneration +2 (from regeneration) +1.5 (from resistances) = +3.5
- Natural Weapons +1
- Tracking +0.5
- Darkvision +0.5
- Shapeshifter +0
- Trip Attack +0.5
- Wolf Empathy +0.5
- Skills +2
- Saving Throws +2
- Full Moon/New Moon weakness -2
- Tough Hide +2 (being conservative)
- Language +0.5
Total 13 points, nearly triple the score of the poor Dragonborn (4.5), and eclipsing the highest-rated Mountain Dwarf (8).
Best Answer
Creature Type
Let me begin by pointing out everyone seem to be ignoring: Creature Type: Giant is a strong trait. RAW, this excludes you from being targeted by any spell that only targets "humanoids". If that's unintended, there are races with different types which specify you also count as humanoid for spell targeting purposes.
Size
From what you wrote I feel like you are giving a lot of value to its Large size, so I'll start from there:
Large: Pros vs Cons
Let's start with the Pros:
To these we can add some circumstantial bonuses, like:
You can fully block most corridors (*to Medium and larger creatures only)
In open areas, a reach weapon + Sentinel feat would still let you block most enemies from moving around due to your increased reach (even with the 5ft. standard reach, you threaten a 20x20 square instead of a 15x15 one)
Now the Cons:
It's harder to find cover
Can't use most mounts, which could severely hinder your party's ability to travel faster
To these we can add some circumstantial flaws, like:
You will often have to squeeze through doors, staircases, and plenty of corridors
At DM's discretion, you might give three-quarter or total cover to enemies against ranged attacks coming from behind you. (this could work the other way around too, but I classify it as Cons since you're making an ally less effective, which also means the game less fun for them)
I'm sure there's a few more things I missed, but this should be most of it.
Now let's look at some numbers, in particular what the average damage output for a Fighter would be during a 4 rounds combat with your 1d4 extra damage.
To make things easier, we're going to take the average number (2.5 for 1d4) and a 70% chance to hit.
Levels 1st to 4th: one attack each round, plus one due to Action Surge (AS). An average of 3.5 attacks will hit, which means 8.75 + 0.44 (crit) = 9.19 extra dmg
Levels 5th to 10th: two attacks each round, plus two (AS). Avg 7 attacks, 17.5 + 0.88 (crit) = 18.38 extra dmg
Levels 11th to 19th: three attacks each round, plus 3 (AS). Avg 10.5 attacks, 26.25 + 1.31 (crit) = 27.56 extra dmg
Level 20th: four attacks each round, plus four (AS). Avg 14 attacks, 35 + 1.75 (crit) = 36.75 extra dmg
That's assuming you hit 70% of the time, on a 4 rounds combat, and always using AS to attack.
Let's compare it to the Burbear's Surprise Attack, which deals 2d6 extra damage if the target hasn't taken a turn yet in the current combat. Due to its limitation, we'll only consider the first turn of combat, and take the average of 8 damage: [Adding the results with 7 as average]
Levels 1st to 4th: one attack, plus one due to Action Surge (AS). An average of 1.4 attacks will hit, which means 9.8 + 0.49 (crit) = 10.29 extra dmg
Levels 5th to 10th: two attacks, plus two (AS). Avg 2.8 attacks, 19.6 + 0.98 (crit) = 20.58 extra dmg
Levels 11th to 19th: three attacks, plus 3 (AS). Avg 4.2 attacks, 29.4 + 1.47 (crit) = 30.87 extra dmg
Level 20th: four attacks, plus four (AS). Avg 5.6 attacks, 39.2 + 1.96 (crit) = 41.16 extra dmg
Taking average damage and considering critical hits, the difference isn't that significant (a bit more at level 20), BUT this still assumes the Bugbear always acts first (some feats/spells can help, but it's no guarantee) and at higher levels has an enemy strong enough to withstand all of his attacks (or multiple enemies that qualify)
Conclusion
Being Large (without the double damage from large weapons) can be beneficial or inconvenient, depending on the campaign. The DM will need to design dungeons for Large creatures, or they'll be forced to constantly squeeze (with all the consequences).
As for the extra damage, lengths of fights and character class play a big role in determining how strong it is. As shown above, during an average fight (4 rounds, 70% hits) a Fighter (thanks to Action Surge) gets a very strong output; but every other class will enjoy the bonus while not getting more out of it than a Bugbear would from Surprise Attack, unless we start considering fights that last 5 or more rounds.
Assuming the DM doesn't work against you, the benefits from Large and the Extra Damage make for a strong race. What brings it over the top, making it unbalanced (IMO) is the Creature Type (even taking into account the +2 -1 ASI). This race hits hard, is hard to handle with manoeuvres, and is immune (or require higher level equivalents) to a bunch of control spells due to not being a humanoid.
I think either removing the extra damage or changing the type would result in a strong but balanced race.