Shifters

No stat bonus

Max Unaltered Lifespan: 70

Max Height for Avian: 5’10”

Max Height for Reptilian: 6’1”

Max Height for Mammals: 6’6”

Languages: Common, Beastspeech

Long ago, in the earliest days of life the Painter created a mixture of what he believed to be animal and man. These beings were the earliest ancestors to the shifters, unfortunately they were seen as hideous creatures by their creator. Cast aside as an imperfection, they were left to fend for themselves within our world.

Shifters are an ancient race of human-like people that possess traits similar to an animal. Shifters are organized in clans, each clan being a unique type of animal they are capable of shifting into. While in their “human” form, they still possess some physical characteristics of their animal, such as feathers in their hair for birds, or scales on their necks and arms for reptiles.

Shifters have always been associated with nature, and their clans often live in isolated regions of the world where they may be closer to nature itself. Most clans are not very large, the largest only being a couple hundred. An ancient people, isolating themselves from almost every other race due to the racism that came with being cast aside by The Painter. Still embedded deep within their peoples culture, that racism still stands to this day towards outsiders.

The Avian clan would prioritize knowledge, spreading it as the main learning factor within their clan. This would lead to a higher count of libraries and schools within their society, with the training of warriors coming second in priority. Oftentimes these warriors would train for either aerial combat or quick blows, leaving the brutish attacks to their mammal counterparts.

The Reptilians are cunning over all others, holding it to be the most important trait. They typically find themselves profiting the most out of ordeals by playing all sides or “having hands in all jars”. Political espionage would be a very popular art from these societies, often creating the closest “nobility” the shifters would have compared to those of humans or elves.

The Mammal clan considers strength to be of utmost importance to its members, the strongest of them born to be leaders of the tribe. Within their lands children are trained in combat from a young age and most warriors die a young and honourable death, lending to their history being orally recorded. As a warrior society would prevail, the elders discouraged the killing of their own and introduced a new method of claiming victory over another. All men within the Mammal Clans would grow their hair out, braiding it at it’s length. If an individual bested another, they’d be forced to cut the braid to show the shame of losing to another.

Appearance

Depending on the specific animal, each type of Shifter may appear different. There is a clan of Shifters associated with nearly every type of animal there is. With these appearance benefits, their ability to transform into that animal also gives them unique abilities. 

 They appear as humans that are marked by traits of their animal, be it feathers, scales, tufts of fur, or other animalistic characteristics that their counterpart might bear.

Traits

Uncanny - All mortal races will have an innate foreboding feeling when viewing a Shifter, no matter what form they take, as if something is not quite right. This extends to animals of all kinds as well, as they will treat Shifters as a predator to avoid.

Bane of the Almighty - After being cast aside by the Almighty, the Shifters have since never found themselves within the eyes of the new gods. Shifters are unable to be blessed at this time

Transformation - Shifters are capable of transformation between a human-like form with beast characteristics, and a specific natural animal. All transformations take 2 turns. Shifters are able to pick only one from the following lists:

The following traits are only in effect while in their animal form.

Flight - This Shifter is capable of flight.

Great Strength - This Shifter is capable of great strength. This gives advantage on all strength checks.

Venomous - This Shifter is capable of a venomous bite, dealing up to a moderate wound.

Great Speed - This Shifter is capable of moving very fast. This doubles their movement speed.

Tough Hide - This Shifter thick skin, in the form of scales or toughened hide, giving the equivalent to leather armour.

The following traits are always in effect.

Enhanced Senses - This Shifter has enhanced senses of smell and hearing.

Night Vision - This Shifter is capable of perfect vision at night.

Examples:

King Cobra Shifter

Appearance

Human - The Shifter has the scales of a King Cobra along their neck and spine, as well as along the back of their forearms.

Animal - The Shifter appears like a typical adult male King Cobra.

Traits

Venomous - The Shifter is capable of a venomous bite while in animal form.

Golden Eagle Shifter

Appearance

Humanoid - The Shifter has Golden Eagle feathers in their hair, as well as on their shoulders and shoulder blades.

Animal - The Shifter appears like a typical adult female Golden Eagle.

Traits

Flight - The Shifter is capable of flight while in animal form.

It should be noted that Shifters can only transform into regular common occurring animals, not into special fauna. All animal forms are the regular life-sized form of the animal that could be found in nature. All Shifters are capable of one special trait. That is to say, one could have a Hawk Shifter, but the Hawk is only capable of Flight, not having better vision than a human is normally capable of.

If a player is uncertain of if a specific type of animal is allowed or not, they can reach out to the story team to confirm. All rejected animals will be listed as time goes on, subject to change. These animals will be identical to their real world counterparts, so as to say they cannot have fantastical colouring that could not reasonably be found.

While in their animal form, shifters are unable to wear armour or use any form of tools.

Restricted Animals

Whales

Giraffes

Grizzly or polar bears

Hippos

Elephants

Ostriches or similar family

Anything considered extinct in real life.

Sizing Restrictions:

For mammals:

Nothing smaller than a chihuahua

Nothing larger than a black bear

For reptiles:

Nothing smaller than a rat

For avians:

Nothing larger than a turkey vulture