Changeling, 2nd Variant (5e Race)
Changeling
Changelings are a playable race in the Eberron campaign setting. In the 3.5 edition, they are a race descended from half-human/half-Doppelgangers.
Physical Description
Changelings can look like anyone at any given time though they do have a true form. Their natural look can be scary to some due to their lack of detail and distinctive features. Their skin tone is always pale, the darkest tone some have is a light grey. They have large white eyes but have no pupils and are circled by thick black rings. Their noses are small and subtle with no detail.
The changeling's natural body structures are slender, even more so than elves and border on being frail. Their hair colour is most commonly a light shade of silver followed by platinum and blonde. In rarer cases, their hair can be pale shades of green, pink and blue. Also similar to elves the changeling lack body and facial hair.
History
Due to their nature Changelings do not have much-recorded history however what is known is that their evolution was a result of many years of interbreeding between humans and doppelgangers which led to the birth of the first changelings.
During the Last War, the changeling were often employed as spies and assassins which only reinforced the stigma they receive in the present day.Changelings have long been persecuted by other races, seen at best as tricksters and con-artists, at worst as thieves and assassins. Many people find it hard to trust changelings, and while their talents make them natural spies and criminals, in reality, a changeling is just as likely as any creature to turn to good or evil. Some changelings work hard to remove this stigma, but each time a changeling is caught robbing from a wealthy merchant or sneaking about where they are not welcome, it only perpetuates the stereotype.
Society
Virtually all changelings take up one of three philosophical beliefs when it comes to their mutable forms and these philosophies guide many aspects of a changeling's day to day life.
Passers are changelings who wish to fit in with conventional society and live life in only one form or at the least suppress their shape-changing abilities to better fit in with those around them. Other changelings will often view passers with contempt and use slang words such as "pretender" or "actor" to mock them.
Becomers believe that to be a changeling is to possess many different shapes and often different identities and lives altogether. A becomer takes the concept of a dual life to a whole new degree and some will successfully live as several "different people" for many years.
Seekers or "reality seekers" are convinced that a great truth exists which only the changelings can discover; they suppress their shapechanging abilities even more than passers and prefer to live or socialize with other changelings.
Personality
Changelings are commonly harmless, passive people and are uninterested in politics and social affairs. Due to their capricious ways of life, many people have come to distrust the changelings which have led to them becoming social recluses or more commonly has pushed them to create fake identities to escape persecution.
Having no culture of their own the changeling slip into other's societies and blend in. Rather than creating their own art and achievements, the Changeling are happy with claiming other societies' as their own. This nomadic lifestyle has led the changeling to become exceptionally adaptable people. Changeling will not simply shapeshift into a new person but rather create a new whole one. Most changeling will set up a handful of personas so if one is compromised they can disappear and switch to one of their others. Their personas that they create are incredibly realistic and have their own personality traits, backgrounds and network of friends. The changeling can be evasive and will often try to avoid confrontation or anything that will draw attention to themselves.
Changeling Names
Most changeling names are unisex and are very short, usually being only one syllable. This is largely due to the fact that their gender is functionally fluid and depends on their own identification, given that they have any.
Name: Ayc, Bin, Dox, Fie, Hars, Jin, Lam, Nit, Ot, Paik, Ruz, Sim, Toox, Yog.
Changeling Traits
Half-Human, Half-Doppelganger - the changeling is the master of disguise and intrigue.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Changelings reach maturity at 15 and live to be around 400.
Alignment. Changelings are generally a diverse people. This too extends itself to their values and ideals. Although some may argue that they usually have chaotic tendencies, it is most often observed that changelings can be any alignment.
Size. Changelings are built much like humans, but a little leaner. Your size is Medium
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Duplicity. You have proficiency in the Deception skill.
Inborn Actor. You are a natural actor with skills in mimicry and dramatics, you gain the following benefits:
- You have an advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma(Performance) checks when trying to pass yourself off as a different person.
- You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma(Deception) check allows a listener to determine that the effect is faked.
Shapechanger. As an action, you can polymorph into any humanoid of your size that you have seen, or back into your true form. However, your equipment does not change with you. If you die, you revert to your true form. You retain all of your normal statistics while in this form. You may use this feature once without issue, however, additional uses after the first incur one level of exhaustion. You must complete a long rest to use this trait again without issue.
Polyglot. You may learn a new language in 1/2 the time (Standard rules is 250 days, you do it in 125 days).
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.
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