Is Shapechanger a Trap?

[golentan]

Transmutation wizards. The 10th level power lets you polymorph yourself without using a spell slot. But... as written, you gain the target form's mental characteristics, are unable to cast spells, etc. If you go from int 20 to int 2, are you even capable of remembering the reason you changed into the new shape, or interpreting a conversation you eavesdrop on? And it requires concentration, so taking damage will likely knock you out of your new shape in combat. Am I missing something here? Is there some utility this can be put to, or is it a power that turns loose one more idiot pigeon on the city for an hour without real benefit to the party, keep your fingers crossed you're not flying when it wears off?

[Townopolis]

Oh wow. Yes, it looks like shapechanger is, by RAW, a trap. Now, if only you could get it before level 10, it would be a great way to quickly figure out if/how much of a tool your DM is.

[SaintRidley]

Aren't these all things true of polymorphing in this edition anyway?

[golentan]

Aren't these all things true of polymorphing in this edition anyway?

Casting it as a normal spell, you can target an enemy. Put them in the form of a bunny, make them sit out the fight, deal with them after you've dealt with the rest. But with this class feature, you can only target yourself. Which seems like shooting yourself in the foot. Kind of like the one witch girl in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, turned herself into a rat and wound up ruining her own situation because she was now a rat.

[Fable Wright]

Perhaps, to make it less broken (i.e. not working as intended), assume that the character retains access to their thoughts and memories, but has much more trouble making new connections in their new form? For example, they understand language, and could overhear and memorize conversations if that's what the character set out to do before using Shapechanger, but they wouldn't be able to make the connections to understand what the conversation was about until they got humanoid-level intelligence scores back.

At least, that's how I'd run it.

[SaintRidley]

Quickly reading it over, it's basically self-only polymorph, limited to beasts CR 1 and less.

That doesn't mean Int 2, though, nor does that mean you lose your sense of self -> you keep your personality explicitly, and you might look at Wis and Cha scores to figure out how you might roleplay how much you retain yourself. I'd say you don't lose your ability to remember why you changed or understand what you're hearing, just you're not in much of a position to interpret it well until you're back to you. For Int >2 beasts, here's a list from the back of the PHB: Giant Eagle (Int 8), Cat (Int 3), Dire Wolf (Int 3), Lion (Int 3), Mastiff (Int 3), Panther (Int 3), Tiger (Int 3), and Wolf (Int 3) as already above Int 2 options.

So you might polymorph more for the ability to track based on smell (Wolf's keen hearing and smell ability), flight and keen sight (giant eagle), the ability to jump better (Lion), or to spider climb (Giant spider).

This ability seems more about granting some utility out of having a bunch of animal forms available than it is about transforming and ripping face better than the fighter. I'm all for that.

[hymer]

If you want to use this 4 fite, having a temporary int of 2 need not be much of a hindrance. Casting it for free means you get an extra hp pool and a fight-capable body without expending resources (well, you have to Concentrate, so there's that). Polymorph being slightly less versatile than in 3.X is a good thing in my opinion.
As a DM, I'd probably rule that you can't follow conversations of complexity with Int 2, so this wouldn't be a great way to eavesdrop on its own. But you can scout, get a sense of what you're up against, and then report back, and I wouldn't rule that you lose all drive. If your intention is to get across the room, this is still the intention after you shift. How you handle it should be appropriate to the form, the cat slinking along the edges, the bear threatening anyone who doesn't scamper off immediately, and the dog just going past, maybe stopping to pick up a morsel that dropped from the table. If/when stumped, you know enough to change to your human form to think clearly again, at least by the time you can cast the spell at will.
Seems to me there's some considerable RP potential here if played right.