Shapechanger (5e Race)

Shapechanger

Physical Description

Being a Shapechanger, you can look however you want, but in your natural form you are a slightly cloudy clear body of sentient water that’s about a half gallon in size.

Lore

Shapechangers don’t really have a history, so there’s lore instead. Shapechangers, usually known as shapeshifters but that was taken so I called them Shapechangers instead, are a mass of water and a special kind of stem cells that are magically supported and can rapidly evolve and devolve into cells that resemble what the Shapechanger is trying to change into.

When they haven’t shifted into any particular form, their form is called their natural form Their lifespan is determined by the water they’re made out of, as the more they evaporate the shorter their lifespan is. If they get too angered, they can do a thing called boiling, where they boil away some of their lifespan, steam will pour out of their mouths or whatever orifices they have, they start bubbling up and often look extremely angered. If they are impacted too harsh, whether physically or emotionally, they may begin turning back to their natural form, whether they slowly melt or half their body splatters into a liquid against the ground.

Attitudes and Beliefs

Shapechangers don’t have a super interconnected society, and Shapechangers are hardly known about by anyone. With a natural form that is a liquid, they usually appear in a form more comfortable and acceptable by the greater world. They can communicate in their natural form by swirling in a spiral and transmitting hormones, which help them understand each other, and they can send a telepathic message to other Shapechangers, it must be very simple, often just one word, but Shapechangers are taught that if they receive that kind of message, it’s urgent. Shapechangers often have more than one form they shift into. Whether or not it’s a different identity is selective. They don’t have much of their own culture, often learning and living in other communities and cultures and take a form to match (sometimes being born and raised in a culture and living as the race they are surrounded by).

Shapechanger Names

Shapechangers are named by their parents, with no solid concept of gender. There's no specific language or standard, it's usually just whatever noises the parent thinks sound nice. It doesn't have to mean anything, but it could also be a traditional name, such as a common name.

Names: Siz, Grim, Arhk, Norix, Cynthia, Null, Sweet

Shapechanger Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. Shapechangers age oddly, maturing extremely quickly when they’re young and slowing down over time, and once they reach 30-40, their age rate slows down drastically and living up to 2 centuries.
Alignment. Shapechangers vary widely in alignment, although they are usually neutral or chaotic.
Size. In your standard form, you are tiny, but otherwise you are the size of whatever form you are in.
Speed. Your base moving speed is 40 feet.
Burst of speed. In your natural form during combat, you can roll a DC14 dex check use a burst of energy to burrow 20 feet, move 55 feet, swim 20 feet, or glide 35 feet. If you fail, you get one level of exhaustion. This doesn’t take an action, and cannot be stacked with the Dash action.
Shapechanging. Being a Shapechanger, you can shapechange into another form, similar to wildshape, you can learn how to change into other things over the course of the campaign, but you already know 1d6+ your Wisdom (minimum of one) forms to change into that you can discuss with your dm or pick from this list

Human

You take the form of a human. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a human and the humanoid creature type. You can look and sound however you want.

Any humanoid race

I don’t wanna type all these out, so. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a humanoid race of your choosing (elf, dwarf, teifling, etc).

Cat

You take the form of a cat. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a cat, and the beast creature type. You can use a claw attack for 1d4+Str slashing damage and you get advantage on climbing and grappling checks. Again, you can look and sound however you want. Also, often Shapechangers choose to give themselves the ability to speak despite being in a form that traditionally doesn’t. I’m gonna stop adding these ending sentences, but they do apply to the rest of these.

Dog

You take the form of a dog. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a dog and the beast creature type. Your size may vary depending on the dog breed. You can use a bite attack for 1d4+Str piercing damage and you can grapple someone with said bite.

Frog

You take the form of a frog. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a frog and the beast creature type. You can breath in water and air.

Gator/Croc

You take the form of an Aligator of Crocodile. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a Gator/Croc and the beast creature type. You can use a bite attack for 1d6+Str piercing damage and you can grapple someone with said bite.

Reptile

You take the form of a reptile (snake, lizard, legless lizard, etc). You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a reptile of your choosing and the beast creature type. You can use a bite attack for 1d4+Str piercing damage and 1d2 poison damage.

Bovine

You take the form of a bovine, Caprine, Equine, Ovine, etc. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of one of these of your choosing and the beast creature type. You can kick with your hind legs as an attack for 1d6+Str bludgeoning damage.

Dragon

You take the form of a tiny dragon (pseudodragon, faerie dragon, etc). You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a tiny dragon and the dragon creature type. You can use a bite attack for 1d6+Str piercing damage. You also gain a flying speed of 20 feet.

Fiend

You take the form of a tiny fiend. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a tiny fiend and the fiend creature type. You can use a magical fire attack for 1d4+Wis fire damage.

Fey

You take the form of a fairy. You gain the size, speed, and appearance of a fairy and the fey creature type. You can use a magical beam attack for 1d4+Wis force damage.

Additionally, you can take form of objects and plants that would make sense for your character to know about.
Reproduction. Shapechangers reproduce asexually by copying themselves in their natural form, since they’re just a mass of cells and water, of course. You can spend 6d2 months sitting in place to create offspring. If you move more than 10 feet, you roll a dc15 constitution save or lose your child.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

You are about half a gallon of liquid in your natural form. You can use random height and weight table for whatever form you’re in.

5.00

(one vote)

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