Shape Changer
Merit: 3/5/8 pts
Description: Some beasts shift forms even more dramatically than the barnacle goose, which transforms from clam to bird, and that only once. Many of the greater mystical creatures — dragons, unicorns, even some exceptional "normal" animals — can change their forms as easily as humans change their clothes. Although you bear no relation to the so- called "Changing Breeds," you are able to shift forms.
In game terms, switching forms usually takes one turn, although the nature of your change may indicate a slower (or faster) change. Barding, weapons, gear and clothing do not shift; if your forms have differing numbers of limbs or different arrangements of them, you'll probably want to transform while naked (not that being naked is an issue for beasts...).
This Advantage only grants you the ability to change shape; any extra Advantages or special characteristics of the new form must be purchased separately. An ape who wished to transform into a falcon, for example, must purchase wings, claws and reduced size. Unless your new form dictates otherwise (see Size, and the templates elsewhere in this Bestiary), your Attributes and Abilities remain unchanged. The Storyteller may rule, however, that if a human transforms into a pig, for example, he must purchase Human Speech (page 115) to retain the ability to talk. The Storyteller may allow you to buy Talents, Skills or Knowledges unique to one of your forms; she may even allow you to buy them at a discount if they support an excellent character concept (a celestial dragon who has spent lifetimes walking among men, for example).
To those who notice such things (Perception + Awareness, difficulty 7, or any number of magicks), shapeshifters can be easily seen as the magical beings that they are. Your smell may either shift with your form or remain the same (or you may always smell like all of your forms) at the Storyteller's discretion. The point cost for shapechanging depends on the number of forms you can shift into:
3 pts -- One alternate form (a hawk, woman, lynx, or shark).
5 pts -- You may take any form within a certain range (birds, humans, cats, fish).
8 pts -- You may change into anything, assuming that you have the necessary Advantages.
