I hear people describe the Changelings as being able to turn into medium humanoids, however, the way the Change Form ability of Changelings is written, it doesn't actually say 'Humanoid" as a keyword. A changeling could turn into anything with a generally humanlike body plan, but it doesn't actually invoke the keyword 'Humanoid' per se.
So the way I'm reading this, a Changeling could alter their appearance to look like non-humanoid creatures that nonetheless look like humanoids. So that would include vampires, illithids, ghouls, and other things that are medium, have two arms and two legs and a head, but are not 'humanoids' in their statblocks.
I don't see anything in Sage Advice that contradicts this reading. Of course, a DM could always restrict it, but the way it's currently done, there is nothing stopping a changeling from taking these other forms, as long as they've seen them.
Here is the text from the statblock:
Change Appearance
As an action, you can transform your appearance or revert to your natural form. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you revert to your natural form if you die.
You decide what you look like, including your height, weight, facial features, the sound of your voice, coloration, hair length, sex, and any other distinguishing characteristics. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You also can’t appear as a creature of a different size than you, and your basic shape stays the same; if you’re bipedal, you can’t use this trait to become quadrupedal, for instance. Your clothing and other equipment don’t change in appearance, size, or shape to match your new form, requiring you to keep a few extra outfits on hand to make the most compelling disguise possible.
Even to the most astute observers, your ruse is usually indiscernible. If you rouse suspicion, or if a wary creature suspects something is amiss, you have advantage on any Charisma (Deception) check you make to avoid detection.
Yeah, of course it doesn't say humanoid. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to turn into an orc or an eladrin or mind flayer. The idea is that you can assume the appearance of anything human shaped.
The only reason it doesn't use the word 'humanoid' is because, as you mentioned, it's a keyword. As Davedamon mentioned, you could realistically turn into anything humanoid (in the IRL sense) that's within a foot in height of your character. This really does open up your options, as you could technically create completely different humanoid creatures for your changeling to turn into. You could look like an orc with a cat head or a rainbow goblin. It seems like they intentionally left it open (especially with the mention of "any distinguishing features") to creativity, which I appreciate.
While not humanoid, it does say race. I'm taking the word race as literal in RAW as possible. Meaning you can only turn into things on the list of races. Even the weiiiiiirrrrrd Locathah.
Yeah, of course it doesn't say humanoid. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to turn into an orc or an eladrin or mind flayer. The idea is that you can assume the appearance of anything human shaped.
Orcs and playable Eladrin are humanoids and a Mind Flayer is still a stretch considering the prehensile tentacles attached to their face deviates a fair bit from your basic shape.
Ah, my mistake on the first one I was getting confused with their subtype, and I was talking about non-playable Eladrin (fey)
But you could still transform into a nimbleright (construct), a vampire (undead), a thornblight (plant), cambion (fiend), hag (fey) or empyrian (celestial),
There are lots of reasonable human like shaped creatures outside of humanoid
You can turn I to any creature that is the same size and shape (as long as the DM is cool with it).
This mostly applies to humanoids, but there are a handful of fey, fiends, and undead that could fit. A few plants and monstrosities that are a stretch, but loosely fit. As long as they dont have any extra or missing limbs.
Of course, the changling is still playtest (this is the reason there are no official sage advice), so it may get more specific/restrictive when it is printed.
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I hear people describe the Changelings as being able to turn into medium humanoids, however, the way the Change Form ability of Changelings is written, it doesn't actually say 'Humanoid" as a keyword. A changeling could turn into anything with a generally humanlike body plan, but it doesn't actually invoke the keyword 'Humanoid' per se.
So the way I'm reading this, a Changeling could alter their appearance to look like non-humanoid creatures that nonetheless look like humanoids. So that would include vampires, illithids, ghouls, and other things that are medium, have two arms and two legs and a head, but are not 'humanoids' in their statblocks.
I don't see anything in Sage Advice that contradicts this reading. Of course, a DM could always restrict it, but the way it's currently done, there is nothing stopping a changeling from taking these other forms, as long as they've seen them.
Here is the text from the statblock:
Yeah, of course it doesn't say humanoid. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to turn into an orc or an eladrin or mind flayer. The idea is that you can assume the appearance of anything human shaped.
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The only reason it doesn't use the word 'humanoid' is because, as you mentioned, it's a keyword. As Davedamon mentioned, you could realistically turn into anything humanoid (in the IRL sense) that's within a foot in height of your character. This really does open up your options, as you could technically create completely different humanoid creatures for your changeling to turn into. You could look like an orc with a cat head or a rainbow goblin. It seems like they intentionally left it open (especially with the mention of "any distinguishing features") to creativity, which I appreciate.
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While not humanoid, it does say race. I'm taking the word race as literal in RAW as possible. Meaning you can only turn into things on the list of races. Even the weiiiiiirrrrrd Locathah.
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Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
Orcs and playable Eladrin are humanoids and a Mind Flayer is still a stretch considering the prehensile tentacles attached to their face deviates a fair bit from your basic shape.
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Ah, my mistake on the first one I was getting confused with their subtype, and I was talking about non-playable Eladrin (fey)
But you could still transform into a nimbleright (construct), a vampire (undead), a thornblight (plant), cambion (fiend), hag (fey) or empyrian (celestial),
There are lots of reasonable human like shaped creatures outside of humanoid
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Cambion's have wings and a tail and Empyrean's are huge.
You can turn I to any creature that is the same size and shape (as long as the DM is cool with it).
This mostly applies to humanoids, but there are a handful of fey, fiends, and undead that could fit. A few plants and monstrosities that are a stretch, but loosely fit. As long as they dont have any extra or missing limbs.
Of course, the changling is still playtest (this is the reason there are no official sage advice), so it may get more specific/restrictive when it is printed.