Atavic Shapechanging (5e Feat)
Atavic Shapechanging
Prerequisites: Intelligence and Constitution 15 or higher, Changeling
It may have come to you as a flash of insight, or it might have been the result of a prolonged period of reflection upon the relation between your own race and its ancestors, the Doppelganger. In the end, you reached a simple conclusion: you shape your body by willing your flesh to change, reconfiguring its constituent materials...and yet this it mostly an automatic process, that happens without your conscious control - you will it to happen, and your body makes it happen.
So What would happen if you were to take this process a step further, and take conscious control of this process?
The result? An abomination, since you lacked the necessary knowledge to direct the changes that were happening inside your body. But it got better with time - at first you were only able to finetune the changes that happened when you made use of your power to imitate others, but with time you learned how to slightly compress or expand the spaces inside (and between) the cells that make up your body, as well as how to give more specific instructions to the processes responsible for the transformation, enabling you take on forms that would be impossible to imitate for your peers.
This is how you managed, through an induction process born out of endless trial-and-errors, to extract a general framework to directly manipulate the processes that allow you to transform, and showed the world an ability that has made you a living legend among your peers that know about it.
When you make use of your Shapechanger ability, you may choose to assume the form of creatures that lack the basic configuration of limbs of your original form (for example, you could assume the form of a wolf), as well as expand or reduce your size to an extent - this allows you to take up the appearance of creatures up to two sizes smaller than yours, as well as creatures of a size larger than yours (Tiny/Small/Medium/Large size). You may also assume the form of a creature and alter its size within these limitations.
You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, sex, height and weight. Note that while you can make yourself appear as a member of another race or species, none of your game statistics change (ability scores, current and maximum hit points, AC if determined by other abilities such as the Monk class feature "Unarmored Defense", class features, etc), nor do you acquire abilities that your new form would have, with the specific exception of the following abilities which are related to the purely physical characteristics of the form you have chosen:
- If the form you have taken would be unable to speak, you lose the ability to speak; on the other hand, if you are unable to speak in your original form due to physical reasons (e.g. damage to your voice box), changing to a form that possesses the ability to speak will allow you to do so, as long as you remain in said form.
- If the form you have taken would be unable to manipulate its environment in certain ways (for example by lacking opposable thumbs), you lose said ability, unless you find a way to replicate it in another way (for example by pushing an object out of the way using your whole body, instead of pushing it using your arms, if your new form lacks them)
- If the form you have taken has a different mode(s) of movement that was unavailable to your original form (such as climbing, flying, etc), you may make use of it, but in order to represent your intrinsic unfamiliarity with it you need to cut in half the speed of movement when using said move of movement (e.g. the Hawk has a flying speed of 60 ft - you would then be able to fly at a speed of up to 30 ft).
- Any gear or equipment you were wearing either drops to the ground or melds into your new form, with the only exception to this rule being if the equipment could be conceivably worn (or made us of) by your new form, in which case you may decide to transform while leaving said equipment on your (transformed) body.
- If the form you have taken possesses a form of attack that is tied to its physical body (e.g. a Hawk would be able to use its Talons) you may make use of them, but when you do so you have to apply your standard ability modifiers instead of the one listed in the form's statblock (e.g. the Hawk would be able to make use of its Talons attack, but instead of the +5 to hit you would apply your ability modifier). If you assume the form of a creature and do not alter its natural size, you apply your normal ability modifiers; see next point if you wish to alter its size
- If you do attempt to alter the size of a creature outside of its natural size (e.g. you decided to transform into a Hawk and attempted to make it Large), roll 1D6 for each size category that you "cross" (e.g. the Hawk is a Tiny beast; if you wish to make it Medium-sized, you'd roll 2D6, while if you wished to make it Large-sized, you'd roll 3D6). On any result below 5, you take 2D6 damage as you stretch/compress your form in an utterly unnatural way, pushing your ability to its limits. Once you have resolved this, apply the following modifiers: if you made your new form larger than its natural size, apply -2 to Stealth checks for each size category you crossed, apply Advantage to Strength checks/saving throws, and add 1D2 extra damage to its melee attacks (e.g. a Large Hawk would apply -6 to Stealth checks, Advantage on Strength checks/saving throws, and an extra 3D2 to its melee attack). On the other hand, if you made your new form smaller than its natural size, apply +2 to Stealth checks for each size category you crossed, apply Disadvantage to Strength checks/saving throws, and apply 1D3 less damage to its melee attacks (e.g. a Tiny Elf would apply +4 to its Stealth checks, would have Disadvantage on Strength checks/saving throws, and inflict -2D2 to its melee attacks). This reduction can never reduce the damage inflicted below 0. The ability modifiers are not modified by the size change.
You can attempt to duplicate the appearance of a creature you've never seen (within the restrictions mentioned above), but if you do so roll 1D6 - on any result other than a 6, you fail the transformation and waste your action. The trauma deriving from repeated (failed) attempts in close succession inflicts compounding damage on your body - the first failed attempt inflicts 2 hit points of damage, the second inflicts 4 hit points, the third inflicts 16 hit points and so on. For the purpose of determining whether an attempt falls within the "repeated failed attempts in close succession" category or not, consider said category to represent any failed attempt made between two long rests (in other words the first failed attempt made after a long rest would inflict 2 hit points of damage, restarting the cycle). Once you manage to assume the form you desire, this restriction is lifted for that specific form.
Regardless of the previously mentioned rule, your transformation is a purely physical one - you may not take up forms whose physical composition would diverge too much from a purely physical transformation. For example, you cannot turn into a construct, an ooze, a swarm or an undead. Moreover, if you were to transform in a form possessing mystical properties that are innate to it, you would be unable to make use of them. To make an example you could assume the form of a succubus, but you would lack any of its innate abilities (Charm, Draining Kiss, Etherealness, Telepathic Bond and Shapechanger) save those mentioned in thr previous paragraph (if you transformed in its Fiend Form, you would be able to use its "Claw" melee attack, applying your ability modifier instead of the flat +5 that is written on the Succubus' statblock).
Note I The ability name "Shapechanger" is also called "Change Appearance" in the UA version of the Changeling. Regardless of the name used, it refers to the ability that allows the Changeling to alter his/her appearance
Note II - Atavic Shapechanging vc Polymorph This feat is meant to represent a Changeling that took its Shapechanger ability to its limit in terms of development. I envisioned this feat as a way to enable such a master to assume almost any conceivable form by directing the process of transformation, but still limit him/her to what a physical body can and can't do: it's not a true transformation such as Polymorph, in that it does not confer any of the abilities that your new form would possess, unlike the spell. On the other hand, it would be silly if you transformed into a form with sharp talons and could not make use of them, or if you transformed into a fish and couldn't breathe underwater. Hence the distinction in power between this feat and spells like Polymorph - this feat gives you the physical appearance of a beast (as well as abilities intrinsically tied to said form) but doesn't force upon you any other change, thus putting you at a net disadvantage in a direct confrontation against someone who transformed using Polymorph.
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