Why are draconian abilities mismatched?

[gloryblaze]

Because WotC has no respect for Dragonlance's lore whatsoever? I dunno.

Originally, Baaz turned to stone (trapping your weapon inside if they were piercing or slashing), Bozaks exploded, Kapaks melted into acid puddles, Sivaks transformed into a corpse of whoever killed them, and Auraks went on a berserk rampage and then exploded.

Sivaks still can shapeshift to sow confusion, they just do it while they're alive now as a sort of kill-and-replace ability that they can use as a reaction. Which honestly seems more useful/practical?

Shape Theft. After the draconian kills a Medium or smaller Humanoid, the draconian can magically transform itself to look and feel like that creature while retaining its game statistics (other than its size). This transformation lasts until the draconian dies or uses an action to end it.

I imagine the designers thought that the corpse shapeshifting lacked mechanical "combat oomph" in comparison with the other death throes, so they changed the death throes into the explosion and moved the shapeshifting to an ability they can use while they're alive.