I have a changeling in my game. In the Eberron rules, it says the following, with emphasis on an important line:
"As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait."
On the character sheet, it says:
"As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, sex, height and weight. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait."
According to this character sheet wording, you could create a character who could shrink themselves down to like an inch tall and go wherever they wanted. I naturally have ruled that impermissible at my table, but my player, while understanding why, was clearly disappointed; they had selected this sheet from a few ready-made character sheets I had put together for a relatively new group of players because they really liked this feature and built a character concept around it.
It would be great if the wording as it appears on character sheets would be adjusted to reflect the actual rules in the book and not suggest the existence of a level of versatility that isn't intended by the trait.
The intent behind the Changeling is while they can change their outward appearance, there's limits on how far their body can stretch and shrink. In the highlighted line, "Size" refers to a defined "size range". From the Basic Rules:
Size
Characters of most races are Medium, a size category including creatures that are roughly 4 to 8 feet tall. Members of a few races are Small (between 2 and 4 feet tall), which means that certain rules of the game affect them differently. The most important of these rules is that Small characters have trouble wielding heavy weapons, as explained in theEquipment section.
The limits for a Changeling are that you must stay within your "creature size" of medium, which range from about 4 feet tall to about 8 feet. That means you can change into something as small as a Dwarf (Medium, 4-5) to a Goliath (Medium, 7-8 feet), but Gnomes, Halflings, etc. are not allowed because they are classed as "Small" creatures.
From your quote from the character sheet, "none of your game statistics change." That includes your size.
Given that the official sourcebook uses the same verbiage yet still stipulates size while the text on the sheet does not, it's apparent from plain language that "game statistics" suggests reference to things like modifiers and skill checks. Context provides additional clues as the meaning here, and establishes specific reference to racial characteristics -- you don't pick up stonecunning when you change your appearance to be dwarf-like. In fact, the erroneous text's specification of "height and weight," without reference to size, in fact would lead many to believe that this is a specific rule overriding a general rule.
It is risible to suggest a distinction between height and weight and size; on such an argument, a player might argue that they might simply make themselves 1 inch tall but still remain a medium creature; after all, the table for sizing on PHB 191 suggests merely how many feet a creature controls, rather than any sort of reference to its dimensions. Perhaps their inch-tall creature, since they are retaining their game statistics, retains a speed of 30 feet and therefore can run really fast to stab at the enemies they encounter. Naturally a DM would rule such an argument silly, but the ruling would be based off the plain understanding of what words mean in English and how reality operates, not any appeal to what size is actually defined as within the game. That the erroneous text suggests height and weight can be changed directly suggests that size can too -- that the text later says game statistics don't change would merely suggest that those statistics *not already mentioned* by the text would not alter. Height and weight change because a specific rule is trumping a general one, and a player or a DM could be excused quite easily if they misinterpreted the rule as listed on the character sheet, because the text directly lends itself to misinterpretation.
Even if the phrasing "game statistics" is somehow the legal loophole here, it's not the kind of English that prizes clarity. The official sourcebook makes the issue of sizing plain. The character sheet text does not. The text needs updating.
I have a changeling in my game. In the Eberron rules, it says the following, with emphasis on an important line:
"As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait."
On the character sheet, it says:
"As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, sex, height and weight. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait."
According to this character sheet wording, you could create a character who could shrink themselves down to like an inch tall and go wherever they wanted. I naturally have ruled that impermissible at my table, but my player, while understanding why, was clearly disappointed; they had selected this sheet from a few ready-made character sheets I had put together for a relatively new group of players because they really liked this feature and built a character concept around it.
It would be great if the wording as it appears on character sheets would be adjusted to reflect the actual rules in the book and not suggest the existence of a level of versatility that isn't intended by the trait.
From your quote from the character sheet, "none of your game statistics change." That includes your size.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
The intent behind the Changeling is while they can change their outward appearance, there's limits on how far their body can stretch and shrink. In the highlighted line, "Size" refers to a defined "size range". From the Basic Rules:
The limits for a Changeling are that you must stay within your "creature size" of medium, which range from about 4 feet tall to about 8 feet. That means you can change into something as small as a Dwarf (Medium, 4-5) to a Goliath (Medium, 7-8 feet), but Gnomes, Halflings, etc. are not allowed because they are classed as "Small" creatures.
Given that the official sourcebook uses the same verbiage yet still stipulates size while the text on the sheet does not, it's apparent from plain language that "game statistics" suggests reference to things like modifiers and skill checks. Context provides additional clues as the meaning here, and establishes specific reference to racial characteristics -- you don't pick up stonecunning when you change your appearance to be dwarf-like. In fact, the erroneous text's specification of "height and weight," without reference to size, in fact would lead many to believe that this is a specific rule overriding a general rule.
It is risible to suggest a distinction between height and weight and size; on such an argument, a player might argue that they might simply make themselves 1 inch tall but still remain a medium creature; after all, the table for sizing on PHB 191 suggests merely how many feet a creature controls, rather than any sort of reference to its dimensions. Perhaps their inch-tall creature, since they are retaining their game statistics, retains a speed of 30 feet and therefore can run really fast to stab at the enemies they encounter. Naturally a DM would rule such an argument silly, but the ruling would be based off the plain understanding of what words mean in English and how reality operates, not any appeal to what size is actually defined as within the game. That the erroneous text suggests height and weight can be changed directly suggests that size can too -- that the text later says game statistics don't change would merely suggest that those statistics *not already mentioned* by the text would not alter. Height and weight change because a specific rule is trumping a general one, and a player or a DM could be excused quite easily if they misinterpreted the rule as listed on the character sheet, because the text directly lends itself to misinterpretation.
Even if the phrasing "game statistics" is somehow the legal loophole here, it's not the kind of English that prizes clarity. The official sourcebook makes the issue of sizing plain. The character sheet text does not. The text needs updating.
The text on the character sheet is a snippet. It's shorter and thus removes some text. But size is a game statistic. End of story.