What happened to Shapeshifter? Remember him?

fantasyjoker · July 2012

I am just curious, in nwn (1st one) that was a class although I enjoyed it but I was wondering why the idea of it wasn't used in nwn2.

I am not suggesting to make this class again but to simply find out if its still viable to become one.

My question is can it become a class again? if so what happened to it?

gillrmn · July 2012

Shifter is a race in 4e. They cannot fully change like werewolves can (werewolves are enemies not PC) but they get those bestial powers.
Among enemies, more were- exist. e.g. wereserpents, wererats etc.

Even though it is racial it may not be available to those who leave the tribes. e.g. Vellosk werewolves who leave tribe become shifters instead of werewolves. Going more into detail may spoil the lore for you so I will drop it here.

EDIT: I may be partly wrong here. I was told by a friend that the PC who can change to werewolves are possible.

endingdawn · July 2012

Well there is always making a mistake with a spell and ending up to Bidderdoo Harpel.

borello · July 2012

The Shifter from the first Neverwinter Nights was a prestige class, and to unlock it you had to put levels into druid first and unlock the feets Alertness and Wild Shape, in addition to having level 3 or higher spellcasting. I haven't read much about this game, but with the current way things are, I'm guessing that this would stem off of wizard somehow, unless they release more classes. I personally think this would be an interesting class.

aeroth001 · August 2012

gillrmn wrote: »

Shifter is a race in 4e. They cannot fully change like werewolves can (werewolves are enemies not PC) but they get those bestial powers.
Among enemies, more were- exist. e.g. wereserpents, wererats etc.

Even though it is racial it may not be available to those who leave the tribes. e.g. Vellosk werewolves who leave tribe become shifters instead of werewolves. Going more into detail may spoil the lore for you so I will drop it here.

EDIT: I may be partly wrong here. I was told by a friend that the PC who can change to werewolves are possible.

this comment has nothing to do with the subject.

The best werewolfs were in icewind dale 2.b:dirty

gillrmn · August 2012

borello wrote: »

The Shifter from the first Neverwinter Nights was a prestige class, and to unlock it you had to put levels into druid first and unlock the feets Alertness and Wild Shape, in addition to having level 3 or higher spellcasting. I haven't read much about this game, but with the current way things are, I'm guessing that this would stem off of wizard somehow, unless they release more classes. I personally think this would be an interesting class.

4e has lot more classes with lot more specialisations. Many prestige classes of 3e are full classes in 4e with many paragon paths. Swordmage, assassin, vampire are few such examples.
Shifter is a race with a paragon of its own - moonstalker. There are many and more organized options in 4e for anything possible in 3e.

xristopherrobin · August 2012

"Shifter" the race was in 3E, too, guys. He's talking about "Shifter" the prestige class, which built off the Druid's wildshape, which doesn't exist in 4E.

iamtruthseeker · August 2012

Trying to cover all sides here:

Shifter is am prestige class which they don't do in 4e, but do it as a prestige class which means you have to exit the first ten levels of a thirty level progression (or get to level 11) to get to that paragon tier (or in the MMO have to advance thirty levels of the sixty levels being released.)
The other problem is it's linked to the druid class which is not in the game's planned release. The closest Shifter 3 ed Prestige class comes in 4e as a Paragon Path is called "Formless Predator" which using the form of chaos, allows you to bend and shape your body have bonuses to your attack and use animal attacks in a special attack form now considered an attack power. Long story short, you become a chaos beast.

And yes, shifter is a race as mentioned above. gillrmn did a great job detailing it, so we'll leave it there.

A SHAPESHIFTER race also exists in the book/tabletop form called "Changling" (thank Eberron's campaign setting and DDO for this option even though the race is not in the DDO game) which I'll list below.

Changeling
Anyone, anywhere, hidden in plain sight
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5'7" - 6'0"
Average Weight: 120 - 160

Ability scores: +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity or +2 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares.
Vision: Normal

Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 Bluff, +2 Insight.
Change Shape: You have the changeling disguise power.
Changeling Trick: You have the changeling trick power.
Mental Defense: You have a +1 racial bonus to Will.
Shapechanger: You have the shapechanger subtype; you can alter your appearance. As such, you are subject to effects and conditions that affect shapechangers.

Changeling Racial PowerChangeling Disguise
You alter your form to look like another person.
At-Will Polymorph
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You alter your physical form to take on the appearance of any Medium humanoid. You retain your statistics in your new form, and your clothing, armor, and possessions do not change. The new form lasts until you change form again.
Any creature that attempts to see through your ruse makes an Insight check opposed by your Bluff check, and you gain a +5 bonus to your check.

Changeling Racial PowerChangeling Trick
Your feint tricks a foe into giving you an advantage.
Encounter
Minor Action Melee 1
Target: One creature
Effect: You make a Bluff check opposed by the target’s passive Insight. If your check succeeds, you gain combat advantage against the target until the end of your next turn.

Changelings are shapechangers, a people able to assume the features of other humanoids. Known also as doppelgangers, changelings’ talents breed mistrust and fear, leading many changelings to hide their true nature from even their closest companions. Many changelings seek only to avoid unwanted attention and to find a place in the world.

Play a Changeling if you want...
- to excel at deception, misdirection, and trickery.
- to fit in wherever you go.
- to be a member of a race that favors the bard, rogue, sorcerer, and warlock classes.

PHYSICAL QUALITIES
Changelings wear many masks, concealing their true identities behind false faces. As shape changers, changelings can appear to be members of any humanoid race, playing the part of a dwarf one day and a dragonborn the next. This propensity for disguise leads people to distrust changelings, so most keep their true nature hidden.

Although changelings can adopt any persona, most rely on a few established guises, each with a developed history and a network of friends and acquaintances. These guises provide a changeling with backup identities should one persona become compromised. A changeling who travels frequently might change identities from town to town, swapping genders, appearances, and voices to blend in within each new community.

In true form, a changeling has a startling yet vague appearance. A changeling’s skin is uniformly pale with white or light gray tones. Its oversized eyes are often sunken in dark rings, between which lies a subtle nose. Changelings are slender, bordering on frail. Their hair tends to have light coloring with hints of blue, green, and even pink; pale silver is the most common hair color, followed by platinum and blond. Aside from the hair on their heads, changelings have little or no hair.

Changelings reach maturity at about fifteen years of age, and they live about as long as humans do.

PLAYING A CHANGELING
Lacking a culture or a civilization to call their own, changelings adopt other races’ societies. They seek out communities that have values and interests that parallel their own. Changelings prefer cities because they are ideal places to blend in with others or to vanish if necessary. Cities also contain people too interested in their own affairs to notice the oddities of strangers.

Changelings are inoffensive and peaceful by nature, and they have few concerns about political and social affairs. Their mercurial nature breeds distrust and suspicion in other races. People are intent on seeing the worst in changelings; they assume the race uses its shapechanging ability for malicious ends. Some changelings do use their talents for evil, but such individuals exist in no greater numbers than among other races.

In a way, changelings are parasitic in their relationships
with other races. Rather than constructing grand civilizations and sweeping edifices devoted to their people, changelings are content to treat the works of other races as their own. Their willingness to identify with a variety of societal structures is vital to maintaining their false identities. For most changelings, the arts, customs, and practices they uphold are more than tools to reinforce their identities. These aspects of society and culture are a part of their beliefs and values, just as they are for other members of their adopted communities.

Changeling Characteristics: Adaptable, compelling,cunning, devious, evasive, furtive, insightful, mysterious, prudent, sly, subtle

Changeling Names: Bin, Dox, Fie, Hars, Jin, Lam, Nit, Ot, Paik, Ruz, Sim, Toox, Yog
Published in Eberron Player's Guide, page(s) 29.

Finally, you're possibly confusing the 3e druid's shifter MC with the wizard's POLYMORPH "shifting" into ANY form, since the above have nothing to do with this class which this topic is under. Even though my favored class is wizard however unlike the 3.5 Prestige class "Master Transmogrifist," I do not know of any 4e "polymorph" Paragon path or Epic Destiny (from levels 21 to 30 in the book or tabletop version, not implemented in the MMO conversion as of this time but would be levels 61 through 90 if they did.) But if somebody does know of a "polymorph" PP/ED that works (well) for wizards, do list it or them here!

Hope this clears up a lot from this ole' sage.

gillrmn · August 2012

iamtruthseeker wrote: »

Trying to cover all sides here:

... I do not know of any 4e "polymorph" Paragon path or Epic Destiny (
...
[/LIST]

My fiend told me that Outcasts of Gray wolf tribe can use polymorphing abilities to polymorph as wolves (PC). If that is true, there is no reason to not believe that dead-rat PC can use polymorph too. I was going to look into it, but I misplaced my FR books somewhere today.

I was originally of opinion that they loose their abilities to polymorph when they leave the tribe (as their polymorphing powers are tied to totem of the tribe). So I need to check this part myself once(once I find my books).

And thanks truthseeker, I completely forgot about changelings (partly because I don't like Eberron a lot so I don't study it either).

Regarding polymorphing mages, nothing comes to mind except spellscarred ones(but they are monsters anyways, lol)

thunderspanker · August 2012

i really appreciate you guys sharing this stuff.. i took a LONG time off, and i gots me some catching up to do. so keep it coming..

trigger2391 · September 2012

Actually as far back as original 3rd Ed you could play as a Were of any particular type. There is a caveat in the Monster Manual for playing certain monsters as PC's.

Eg, Weres, Vampires, and Lich's all are templates which are added onto the players race when the transformation happens. Though most DM's (myself included) really were horrid about the in game realities of adding said template. Simply because parties with evil characters require alot more energy from both the players and the DM to make them work.

Only ever had it happen to me once where my party went up against a werewolf lord about 5 levels too low for the encounter despite my dire warnings. I was all set to wipe them out with glee for a TPK until one of my players basically used his Barbarian as a grappling rope, lowering the AC of the werewolf lord down to where my players could hit him. As a very annoyed DM I cursed said barbarian with Lycanthropy for his heroic efforts. Turned out to be one of the best campaigns' I've ever run b:victory

iamtruthseeker · September 2012

trigger2391 wrote: »

Actually as far back as original 3rd Ed you could play as a Were of any particular type. There is a caveat in the Monster Manual for playing certain monsters as PC's.

Eg, Weres, Vampires, and Lich's all are templates which are added onto the players race when the transformation happens. Though most DM's (myself included) really were horrid about the in game realities of adding said template. Simply because parties with evil characters require alot more energy from both the players and the DM to make them work.

Only ever had it happen to me once where my party went up against a werewolf lord about 5 levels too low for the encounter despite my dire warnings. I was all set to wipe them out with glee for a TPK until one of my players basically used his Barbarian as a grappling rope, lowering the AC of the werewolf lord down to where my players could hit him. As a very annoyed DM I cursed said barbarian with Lycanthropy for his heroic efforts. Turned out to be one of the best campaigns' I've ever run b:victory

Templates aren't used in 4th ed as class roles are. Vampire is also a class and werewolf is not. However, players may be shifters.

darkstorn42 · September 2012

So, if you are referring to the shifter PRC from NWN I, the closest relation in DnD 4e is the druid class, which there has been no info yet about it being in NWO.

The druid class in 4e gets the ability to change into many different animals, being in animal form has advantages and disadvantages, manly that you have access to entirely different powers in either form.

Also, there is the warden class, all of their daily abilities are shapeshifting abilities of the nature like variety. This is another similar like thing. I cant really say if there will be anything like the shifter class in this game though, as the game only appears to be loosely based off 4e, and no where near as much pnp as NWN I was.

rakcus · May 2015

But in my opinion lets add a new class to neverwinter "Bloodhound Shapeshifter"???? the players steals blood for an enemy which lets it to transform (cant steal from bosses, and does not give u the same strentgh or so of the enemy to avoid abuse)

commanderdata001 · May 2015

Loved werewolf shapeshifter in Baldur's Gate

lewstelamon01 · May 2015

Guys, please, no need to continue summoning Vilithrax. If more than 30 days have passed (and this is nearly three years old) then please start a new discussion thread or look for a more recent one.

What happened to Shapeshifter? Remember him?

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