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View Full Version : How do YOU roleplay a shapeshifter?



Wyntonian
2011-08-08, 05:27 PM
I know this type of thread has already been done, but I'm actually hardcore pondering this.

Just to help streamline the discussion, by "Shapeshifters" I mean druids with wildshape (/anything else with wildshape), a shifter (the race), or a lycanthrope.

The issue that comes up for me is that it would be hard for anything that can change one of the most immutable aspects of itself could become easily uncomfortable in any form. How do you define yourself as anything concrete when you can just as easily define yourself as something completely different?

Anyway, knock yourselves out on this one.

Cespenar
2011-08-08, 05:39 PM
I play mine as a hermit, an eternal traveler, someone who can adapt to any situation. Somewhat jaded, with a hint of Zen.

rayne_dragon
2011-08-08, 05:49 PM
How do you define yourself as anything concrete when you can just as easily define yourself as something completely different?


You don't. You just go cRaZY! That's why doppelgangers are always trying to kill people. :smallwink:

I usually have my druids and lycanthropes either take a shamanistic bent or adopt characteristics of their favoured forms. Another option is to have them develop extremely rigid self-control over the chaotic shifting of their inner self. Then there's the opposite of that: a playful drifter who goes and does whatever the wind or their whim takes them. Which is more often what I do with shifters.

Ralcos
2011-08-08, 05:51 PM
I would just have a mutterer (a person who mutters to himself). To me, that makes for great inter-party relations with the shapechanger.

Wyntonian
2011-08-08, 05:57 PM
The reason I asked is that I'm playing a wildshape ranger, currently level 2, and I'm getting ready for the big unveiling of wildshape at level 5. Right now I'm leaning towards the "Humans are the most versatile animal, but we're not the best at many things. A human who can change forms though..." I'm open to plenty of other options, though.

One Step Two
2011-08-08, 05:58 PM
I played an Irda (High Ogre) in a Dragonlance campaign, their natural shapechange was a fun aspect. For a very long time I was thought to be just human, even the other characters thought so for a very long time, but there was one player who had their suspicions, the Kender player no less.

The role was largely based on the backstory of the Irda, where their race was in decline in the majority of Krynn. So I was reserved and always made note of the fact that I was forever observing strange behaviours and learning to mimic them as humans, even making the mistake of thinking that drinking contests were a social norm, and ending up drunk a few times by pitting my reasonably weak constitution against our Solamnic Knight.
Because I was hiding as a human specifically, I made a point to avoid changing form in anyones view, or at all if I could help it.

I think in the end it came down to be what sort of shapeshifter I wanted to be, in this case it was a survival mechanism, done out of necessity. I was forever forgetting my psudeonym name, and even refering to others by race as if there was a distinct difference from mine. Leaving clues for others to guess at was the point.
If I were playing a stealth expert, a rogue instead of a wizard, for example, I would have been much more subtle about it, even going to the legnths of changing forms a couple of times a day for escapades, and avoiding notice.

Mando Knight
2011-08-08, 06:45 PM
I generally play changeling/doppelganger-type shapeshifters as actors, playing their parts as well as they can and being comfortable slipping into another's shoes.

Regardless of type, I like to slip in a little of the mind being the body's plaything (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody) as well as a bit of habit-bleedover: the person's actions and personality are generally altered by their current form, but if they have a preferred form and change shapes frequently, their habits from the preferred form will show through a little when in a different form.

Ravens_cry
2011-08-08, 08:18 PM
Depends on the type and how I want to play it.
I like the idea of a doppelgänger or Eberron changeling being a perpetual actor, changing roles and apparent personality like clothes.
A were-beast that doesn't know its true nature is going to be probably very confused at the blackouts, or they might might subconsciously ignore them, that occur every month, while one who does might be conflicted by their duel nature, or they might revel in the strengths of both.
Either way is fun.
In both Discworld and Earthsea, taking on the form of an animal can be very dangerous to the magic user doing it. If one spends too long, one can forget their human nature, making transforming back difficult and eventually impossible. This is one way that is rather intriguing to play a Wildshaper in D&D in my opinion, adding an element of risk to playing a Druid or other Wildshaper.

Lord Raziere
2011-08-08, 08:19 PM
"I am everything and nothing.

I can be anything I want, be any nothing I want. Why should I tie myself down to your concept of identity? I have a freedom, a birthright you lack. If I feel like identifying myself as a dwarf, I am a dwarf. If I feel like being an elf, I'm an elf, if I want to be a human, voila I'm human. Your forms are clothes to me. You only cling to your forms because you have never known anything else, and have no idea what the form of another would feel like.
If you could become anything you want, would you not experiment? See not just one person you can be, but all the people you can be? I have the wisdom of many different viewpoints, of many lives speaking to me, advising me. Why should I limit myself to this or that? Why not be everyone? Walk a mile in someone else's shoes? See all that can be seen?
Why not do all of this? No one else can, and therefore it falls to me to use this freedom of form. Why waste such opportunities? Why be only one thing? You are just as complex- there are many you's inside of you- the only difference between you and me, is that I can show my inner me's to everyone I like- and make more along the way.

Why be one thing, when you have the freedom to be anything?"

Dr.Epic
2011-08-08, 08:20 PM
I max out bluff, take a class with a ton of illusion/enchantment spells, and proceed to do whatever I please.:smallbiggrin:

Cerlis
2011-08-08, 10:22 PM
I dont think shifters and lycanthropes would have this issue, since they always turn into the same thing. expessially shifters since all they do is grow fangs (basically)

I'd think most shapeshifters would always go the "actor" route. Playing different roles, trying new personalities each city or "lifetime" or would gravitate to a single personality. This is true for changlings, who i bet many grow up as a "human" and find out at some point they can change forms at will.

in the case of your Ranger i'd go the World of warcraft route. in it, before druids would gain their animal form they would go speak with the spirit (overlord) of that animal. I think it would be both fun and interesting for your ranger to either ask certian totem spirits to grant him their form for battle or stealth (even so far as venerating them as Loa), or even go as far as have it so that the Spirits Possess you. Giving you the chance of playing an effectively Multiple personalitied character. Naturally it would hard to point out that personality without speaking, but actions speak as loud as words and it would be particularly telling when dealing with telepathy, or Speak with Animal spells.

Nero24200
2011-08-09, 07:06 AM
I roleplay them the same way I roleplay everything else....usually all at the same time.

Though I once played a changeling monk/assassin who had an unusual code of honour. If he fought a foe he deemed honourable he would assume their form during the fight and make any quick alterations to his clothes that he could to help match (for instance, in one fight he fought a topless monk, so he took off his own top for the fight).

Chineselegolas
2011-08-09, 07:20 AM
Only played an innate shapeshifter once, a changeling. To it, gender was something that meant nothing to him, and a slight cluelessness about the inappropriateness of situations relating to gender (Female in male church, etc).


Have also played Druid, to which changing shape was merely a use of form, taking on strength needed and it was merely a tool used. Not a very traditional druid.

Traab
2011-08-09, 09:20 AM
Wild shape types, I tend to imagine as taking on certain behaviors of their animal form. For instance a druid that shifts into a bear form alot may be generally quiet, but fiercly protective of whoever is in their party. As for a shifter race? Id say it should be an evolving character. Basically, at the start, think Data from star trek tng. The shifter is trying to understand the behavior of the various forms it is taking, but isnt very good at it yet, so it is a bit stilted and wooden in human form. Perhaps add fluff to its description about how it has trouble remembering to blink properly and as often as it should. As the shifter levels up, it gets more and more smooth and better skilled at acting just how whatever form it takes is supposed to act.

Pokonic
2011-08-09, 10:36 AM
For a world in which shapeshifters are naturaly born, I would play them as creatures that are normal looking to the point where the fact that many of there behavers are even more unnerving.Ex. The werewolf seems perfictly normal at first, but then you realise his crippling need to know the feelings of his "pack" and how he tends towords fighting to solve social issues. The weretiger is a loner and outcast for the decidedly inhuman movements he is capiable of, and the wererat has a severe case of kleptomania.

For a world in which werebeasthood are more of a affliction, I would play up the shame associated with having what is basicly a uncureable problem that is pretty much a threat to the whole community. For one who knows they are a werebeast, they may ether attempt to control themselves somehow, possiably with a sort of "happy place" that they go into to calm themselves down. On the other hand, some might snape under the pressure and simply dedicate themselves to spreading it.

Aneurin
2011-08-09, 10:52 AM
I played a druid once that was losing her sense of humanity (of half-elfity, anyway) as she grew more powerful. To match the increase in uses/power of the Wild Shape ability. She would sometimes lose control of her shape, and change accidentally into a form that most closely suited her temperament at the time. The eventual plan was for her to eventually lose the ability to come back - to just go completely over to the wild.

To fit with the struggle to maintain an identity, she was also quite unpredictable in her responses to situations.

She was quite a fun character to play, especially when she started having issues remembering how to work doorknobs with humanoid hands.

Azernak0
2011-08-10, 01:39 PM
I played mine as the stereotypical warrior who believed that true strength of arms comes from within and through his dedication of inner focus, they can cause their physical appearance to match their inner ferocity. I tried to play them as someone who was well aware of their abilities, confident, but not one to hold themselves over. "If the body is canvas, than the mind is the brush."

Heliomance
2011-08-11, 04:52 PM
I played a WoD Changeling Mirrorskin that was quite fun. He/she had no sense of self, couldn't remember what his/her original form had been. If using a female body, she was female, and if using a male body, he was male. He/she used whatever form was most useful at the time, shifted constantly. Went by the name Nemo, Latin for "nobody". Nemo's mien was entirely blank and featureless, as generic as it was possible to be and still look humanoid.

Dr.Epic
2011-08-11, 06:48 PM
I roleplay them the same way I roleplay everything else....usually all at the same time.

But, when do you get around to being a munchkin?:smallconfused:

Bluepaw
2011-08-11, 11:28 PM
I've been playing a shifter avenger (I realize the avatar doesn't quite fit the bill, but it was the best available!), where I've made the racial aspect the primary character development arc, backstory and all. E.g: abandoned by the tribe as a runt infant, taken in by monastery of Melora, rapidly begins to outstrip the human monks in agility, perception, all the shifty things -- but therefore comes to believe that he's specially touched by the wild goddess. Starts becoming hard-line, fundamentalist...

From here my plan is to multiclass to druid -- so that increasing control over his shapeshifting nature becomes an extension of his religious commitment and holy-warrior training. It's been a fun roleplaying challenge to have a shifter with a particularly skewed impression of the significance of his own race, due to his sheltered and eventually indoctrinated upbringing: he hasn't yet met other shifters, and if he did, he might take them automatically as similarly anointed champions of Melora... maybe there's a crisis of faith coming?

Hatchet91
2011-08-12, 04:31 PM
i personaly love playing changelings and i take it upon my self to be something of a comic relief to the group, things like in our last session i took it upon my self to look exactly like the assasin in our group (both are rogue based chars) and we decide work as a team to be an epic duo of assasins.


at one point last session we played we killed several lizard folk who had alchemist fires on them, which then proceeded to the argument of me the changeling and the human assasin standing over the body arguing "i make traps with these!" and the human yelling "no i dont" and going back and forth which led to a confusion from the other members trying to figure who was the assasin and who was the changeling.

also in one campaign i took the alternet class feature for druid where they lose wilde shape but gain specific animal shapes at first lvl (cant rember name of variant) and i decided to roleplay a druid with vop who forsook society and lived in wolf form, for many years until after a nasty fight with a bear that almost ended my char's life when the groups "paladin" showed up and instead of killing the wolf on the ground decided to heal it, i soon became his freind/companion and even would ocasionaly go to human form when eating so that i could participate in conversations with him. but except for this char my druid stayed in wolf form and often just sat their and watched the party like they where idiots.

Greenish
2011-08-12, 09:13 PM
Eberron's changelings who can change their appearance have developed three distinct philosophies related to their abilities:

Becomers adopt one form of another common race and stick to it, pretending to be that person for their whole life, seeking to integrate in the society.

Passers want to have multiple lives, multiple personalities and facades, and to embrace their natural shapechange abilities.

Reality seekers are certain there is Ultimate Truth, and the deception only keeps one away from it. They tend to stay in their natural form.


For example:
"I am everything and nothing.

I can be anything I want, be any nothing I want. Why should I tie myself down to your concept of identity? I have a freedom, a birthright you lack. If I feel like identifying myself as a dwarf, I am a dwarf. If I feel like being an elf, I'm an elf, if I want to be a human, voila I'm human. Your forms are clothes to me. You only cling to your forms because you have never known anything else, and have no idea what the form of another would feel like.
If you could become anything you want, would you not experiment? See not just one person you can be, but all the people you can be? I have the wisdom of many different viewpoints, of many lives speaking to me, advising me. Why should I limit myself to this or that? Why not be everyone? Walk a mile in someone else's shoes? See all that can be seen?
Why not do all of this? No one else can, and therefore it falls to me to use this freedom of form. Why waste such opportunities? Why be only one thing? You are just as complex- there are many you's inside of you- the only difference between you and me, is that I can show my inner me's to everyone I like- and make more along the way.

Why be one thing, when you have the freedom to be anything?"That's a Passer.

TheJohn
2011-08-12, 10:06 PM
As a changeling I like the aproach of Aunn in James Wyatts Draconic Prophecies. But when playing a druid the wild shape ability is not as natural, though it's more attuned to nature. As a druid you are using your abilities to wildshape to perform better where your natural body is lacking. Changelings are more suited to, and should make the most of, living anothers life.

Absol197
2011-08-13, 01:53 AM
One of the best shapeshifter characters in my group was a changeling. Unfortunately, he had a problem: he had multiple personality disorder to a very high degree. He started the game with five separate personalities, all of which "knew" each other, but thought they were different people. Some of them were good, a couple were evil.

As the campaign went on, more and more personalities were incorporated into him: first was the ghost of an evil cleric they killed, who wanted to possess someone in the party for revenge, and was drawn towards the "weakest" mind. Unfortunately for him, that got him stuck as another of the revolving personalities. As other major events happened in the game, more and more splinters appeared in the changeling's mind, creating more and more personalities.

It all came to a head when he was hit by a confusion spell. Instead of making him temporarily insane, it made him temporarily sane, able to finally take his true form, and think clearly for the duration of the spell.
Unfortunately for Lilith, the personality that was hit by the confusion spell, this damaged her sense of being, and she stopped showing up as much (which was not a problem, because the party didn't like her, but...)

TurtleKing
2011-08-13, 01:38 PM
@Absol197: What? That first paragraph sounds just like a Doppleganger Factotum I did with Multiple Presonality Disorder. Mine also had 5 but were caused by a heartbreak from an Elf maiden that resulted in his personality cracking. After that it just got easier and easier adding a new one over time till had 5. The list of the personalities as well as the alignment, playstyle, and obsession are:

CE Fighter/ Barbarian focusing on "Pain", very sadistic/ primitive in all aspects
NE Rogue/ Sorcerer focusing on "Toys", played very spoiled child like
TN Druid/ Ranger focusing on "Balance", original personality
NG Bard/ Wizard focusing on "Knowledge", quite studious/ investigative
LG Cleric/ Paladin focusing on "Order", pro-law

All of my spells and abilities were used accordingly based on the personality in play. Such as "Toys" would get Reduce Person and one other spell that effectively made the targets dolls/ action figures for "Toys" to play with. Was even allowed to switch my mental stats around to reflect the personality. The process of changing the personality was roll a d10 at the beginning of the day, and if things got stressful roll to see which one steps in. One example is in the first session I started off with the "Knowledge" personality, but when things got hairy with a Balor (a lesser demon was posing but still nasty) I freaked and ended up with "Order".

It wasn't until the last session I became "Toys" and changed into a girl instead of my regular form that it came out that I am a Doppleganger. The Wizard suspected that I also have Multiple Personality Disorder, but wasn't confirmed until the day after when I was mimicing Lina Inverse all the way through Dragon Slave as "Pain" being a jack***.

Absol197
2011-08-13, 04:03 PM
@Absol197: What? That first paragraph sounds just like a Doppleganger Factotum I did with Multiple Presonality Disorder. Mine also had 5 but were caused by a heartbreak from an Elf maiden that resulted in his personality cracking. After that it just got easier and easier adding a new one over time till had 5.

It sounds very similar. It wasn't my character, I was the DM, but we never figured out exactly how he got all broken, he just was.

The main five personalities were:

Mary, a human healer, who was CG and never fought, and always wanted to heal every injury she saw;
Lillith, a teifling rogue, CE who had a nasty habit of spinning a dagger in her hand while staring at someone, and talking to someone else;
A dwarf wizard who's name I forget, LN;
A Human fighter, LG who hated dragons;
and Erek, the deceased cleric of Omut (homebrew deity of Annihilation) that tried to possess the changeling and got incorporated.

We also roll a die to determine which personality showed up, but it wasn't based on the character's emotions, but more on the situation, and which personality would be the one to most want to influence what was going on. Also, the changeling never transformed in front of others, and when he was alone, all the different personalities would talk and argue amongst themselves. Add in some glamoured armor and a shifting weapon, and our low-Wisdom half-averial took half the game to realize that they were all the same perosn. :smallbiggrin:

deuxhero
2011-08-13, 08:24 PM
Just what the character DOES, not who they are.

NoldorForce
2011-08-14, 01:32 PM
Becomers adopt one form of another common race and stick to it, pretending to be that person for their whole life, seeking to integrate in the society.

Passers want to have multiple lives, multiple personalities and facades, and to embrace their natural shapechange abilities.You've got the two reversed. Passers are the ones with a single identity; becomers are the ones who embrace shapeshifting.

On that topic, I recall playing a changeling (years ago) who was somewhere between the two concepts. She had a single primary identity that could always be depended upon (due to backstory), and multiple secondary identities that were more fluid. (Several were one-shots that were constructed on the spot.)

Cerlis
2011-08-14, 08:27 PM
i think it would be interesting to have someone who saw themselves as multiple people. Not with multiple personalities, as in its not an affliction where the identies see themselves as different people or something, but like a single entity who has multiple bodies. The changling is just as commited to the identity of the Ex barbarian Baker who makes bread for the townsfolk as it is the Lawful Warrior woman Guard who patrols at night. They are two different people both both the changling. In instances in which more than one person would seek to control a situation it might revert to its normal form since thats the medium between the two.

not sure if i explained that well enough. But basically closer to that psionic race with 3 minds, rather than someone who is nutso. Though there effectively may be little difference.

Greenish
2011-08-15, 09:17 PM
You've got the two reversed. Passers are the ones with a single identity; becomers are the ones who embrace shapeshifting.Right you are, the names confused me.