The choice to make changelings fey may have a huge impact on changelings being detectable in society. Would you interpret that a first level spell, Detect Evil and Good can immediately and without fail or saving throw identify a changeling character as a fey creature, since they can only change their appearance and their voice with their shapechanger abilities? That is how it reads to me.
The ability to change your size between medium and small is a significant new ability, but this change to actually being fey rather than related to the fey and feywilds seems a much more significant change, depending on how the DM effects it in game and how the changeling PC attempts to deceive others if discovered to be Fey. For example, I'm guessing changeling children would be trained by their parents to avoid temples and churches at all times, and perhaps any caster that can heal, by association?
With magic options that were already available like True Sight and Witch Sight it was already somewhat difficult for low level changeling PCs to remain undetected in societies, as they are still described. Now with two additional classes having a 1st level detection that is at minimum a good indicator, changelings could have a rapidly shrinking habitat. Their deception advantage to remain undetected will still be very helpful. But I'm not sure how a changeling spy would fare now, and that seems like a highly desirable role for a changeling.
How will DMs ensure that being a changeling PC remains feasible in their worlds?
It's worth keeping in mind that even in heavily magical settings even 1st-level magic isn't necessarily all that common; not every priest is a Cleric like a player might be, they might know a little healing magic and nothing else and so-on, so unless you're going somewhere secure you shouldn't expect to get scanned by someone using spells like these. Those are the kind of scenarios where it's a good idea to get more info about defences, and find a way to avoid them if you can.
Otherwise there's only really nondetection as a counter, but that's a 3rd-level spell (so a minimum 5th level character to get it normally), a DM could grant a magic item or potion that does something similar at an earlier level, e.g- causes the wearer to appear as humanoid to divination spells only but that'd be homebrew as I don't believe such an item already exists (could be wrong though).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
With the caveat that it’s extremely easy to just say they’re still humanoids instead of fey (remember that the MMM changeling is the one that’s universal to all D&D settings; it’s not relevant to Eberron specifically unless you actively make it so), I don’t see this change as in any way making it infeasible to play a changeling? Like, if they’re trying to pass themselves off as an elf and they fail a skill check and someone suspects them of being a changeling, that someone can now cast detect evil and good to learn that they’re a fey. So what? They failed, the consequence is that the ruse is uncovered. That seems like perfectly normal D&D to me. Never mind that even in Eberron, all it takes is a pair of finder’s goggles to reveal that they’re a “Humanoid (changeling, shapechanger).”
Yes, thanks, that is where I am headed in my game. I would probably warn a new player choosing to play a changeling that there are these circumstances that occur relatively rarely unless they are trying to deceive/infiltrate/spy and give them an idea of what they would have been taught (depending on their background) and learned to avoid.
The implications of the rule changes vary significantly depending on your setting. If changelings are not persecuted or otherwise looked down upon, then discovery of their true heritage only matters if they are doing something they are not supposed to be doing, like everyone else. Personally I've always found their Shapechanger feature much too useful in campaigns with a lot of social interaction. And even if this change of race can be considered to nerf their Shapechanger trait, it is still a powerful tool that would work as previously in most situations.
In my own setting, the change from humanoid to fey has a major impact because fey creatures and changelings are being persecuted by a certain organisation. Some members of the organisation carry a homebrewed Spell Gem containing a Detect Evil and Good spell whose effect slowly bleeds from the gem and create a passive effect. As you can imagine, this makes it slightly more difficult to be a changeling in my setting, but also gives a changeling PC a sense of danger and level of involvement they never really had before.
So if I were to answer your question, I'd say that a changeling PC is still very feasible, but the degree of impact this change of race has depends on the individual world and how changelings are regarded in said world. If everyone has a strong dislike of changelings and casts Detect Evil and Good all the time for no reason, then your changeling PCs will likely have a hard time. The solution might be to limit the amount of NPCs that has access to magical abilities such as Detect Evil and Good, and have them use these abilities only when they suspect something.
Thanks @BeyondMisty, good thoughts. I am considering adding changelings to my game in one of three ways right now:
- Make them humanoid, rather than fey, as suggested by @SagaTympana.
- Make them fey, very rare and not even the subject of stories and myths as yet.
- Make them fey, accepted in one or two locations, and when recruited as infiltrators for their abilities, prepared for some of the scenarios they may face.
I considered just continuing to leave them out of my settings, but they are too tempting from a roleplay perspective. :)
Thanks @BeyondMisty, good thoughts. I am considering adding changelings to my game in one of three ways right now:
- Make them humanoid, rather than fey, as suggested by @SagaTympana.
- Make them fey, very rare and not even the subject of stories and myths as yet.
- Make them fey, accepted in one or two locations, and when recruited as infiltrators for their abilities, prepared for some of the scenarios they may face.
I considered just continuing to leave them out of my settings, but they are too tempting from a roleplay perspective. :)
An example of Fey vs Humanoid genuinely mattering is what happens when a Changeling Paladin of the Ancients standing next to an ally who is a Changeling Swashbuckler uses their Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless.
It's worth keeping in mind that even in heavily magical settings even 1st-level magic isn't necessarily all that common; not every priest is a Cleric like a player might be, they might know a little healing magic and nothing else and so-on, so unless you're going somewhere secure you shouldn't expect to get scanned by someone using spells like these. Those are the kind of scenarios where it's a good idea to get more info about defences, and find a way to avoid them if you can.
Otherwise there's only really nondetection as a counter, but that's a 3rd-level spell (so a minimum 5th level character to get it normally), a DM could grant a magic item or potion that does something similar at an earlier level, e.g- causes the wearer to appear as humanoid to divination spells only but that'd be homebrew as I don't believe such an item already exists (could be wrong though).
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Nystul's/Arcanist's Magic Aura would also work for making a Fey changeling read as Humanoid to divination magic, and the aura can become permanent (until dispelled) if applied each day for 30 days.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
A Changeling Paladin of the Ancients [walks into a bar with] a Changeling Swashbuckler. The paladin uses their Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless [oath feature and...]
Good point - I haven't thought through all of the class features that might have surprising results given this change. I kind of like this surprising reveal that would occur when neither of the players are likely to expect it! LOL
There are several spells just in the PHB that specifically affect extraplanar creatures. This means that if your party is fighting Fey, for example, their use of the Forbiddance or Hallow spell would then force the changeling PC to be elsewhere while the spell is active. A spell like Magic Circle could also be used against a Changeling PC.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The choice to make changelings fey may have a huge impact on changelings being detectable in society. Would you interpret that a first level spell, Detect Evil and Good can immediately and without fail or saving throw identify a changeling character as a fey creature, since they can only change their appearance and their voice with their shapechanger abilities? That is how it reads to me.
The ability to change your size between medium and small is a significant new ability, but this change to actually being fey rather than related to the fey and feywilds seems a much more significant change, depending on how the DM effects it in game and how the changeling PC attempts to deceive others if discovered to be Fey. For example, I'm guessing changeling children would be trained by their parents to avoid temples and churches at all times, and perhaps any caster that can heal, by association?
With magic options that were already available like True Sight and Witch Sight it was already somewhat difficult for low level changeling PCs to remain undetected in societies, as they are still described. Now with two additional classes having a 1st level detection that is at minimum a good indicator, changelings could have a rapidly shrinking habitat. Their deception advantage to remain undetected will still be very helpful. But I'm not sure how a changeling spy would fare now, and that seems like a highly desirable role for a changeling.
How will DMs ensure that being a changeling PC remains feasible in their worlds?
Don't use detect evil and good on player characters?
It's worth keeping in mind that even in heavily magical settings even 1st-level magic isn't necessarily all that common; not every priest is a Cleric like a player might be, they might know a little healing magic and nothing else and so-on, so unless you're going somewhere secure you shouldn't expect to get scanned by someone using spells like these. Those are the kind of scenarios where it's a good idea to get more info about defences, and find a way to avoid them if you can.
Otherwise there's only really nondetection as a counter, but that's a 3rd-level spell (so a minimum 5th level character to get it normally), a DM could grant a magic item or potion that does something similar at an earlier level, e.g- causes the wearer to appear as humanoid to divination spells only but that'd be homebrew as I don't believe such an item already exists (could be wrong though).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
With the caveat that it’s extremely easy to just say they’re still humanoids instead of fey (remember that the MMM changeling is the one that’s universal to all D&D settings; it’s not relevant to Eberron specifically unless you actively make it so), I don’t see this change as in any way making it infeasible to play a changeling? Like, if they’re trying to pass themselves off as an elf and they fail a skill check and someone suspects them of being a changeling, that someone can now cast detect evil and good to learn that they’re a fey. So what? They failed, the consequence is that the ruse is uncovered. That seems like perfectly normal D&D to me. Never mind that even in Eberron, all it takes is a pair of finder’s goggles to reveal that they’re a “Humanoid (changeling, shapechanger).”
This is just a non-issue.
Yes, thanks, that is where I am headed in my game. I would probably warn a new player choosing to play a changeling that there are these circumstances that occur relatively rarely unless they are trying to deceive/infiltrate/spy and give them an idea of what they would have been taught (depending on their background) and learned to avoid.
The point of the post was asking how DMs plan to make it a non-issue. But thanks for your willingness to share your assessment of my question.
I can see where you are headed so let me cut to the chase and make your day: "You win. Congratulations." :)
The implications of the rule changes vary significantly depending on your setting. If changelings are not persecuted or otherwise looked down upon, then discovery of their true heritage only matters if they are doing something they are not supposed to be doing, like everyone else. Personally I've always found their Shapechanger feature much too useful in campaigns with a lot of social interaction. And even if this change of race can be considered to nerf their Shapechanger trait, it is still a powerful tool that would work as previously in most situations.
In my own setting, the change from humanoid to fey has a major impact because fey creatures and changelings are being persecuted by a certain organisation. Some members of the organisation carry a homebrewed Spell Gem containing a Detect Evil and Good spell whose effect slowly bleeds from the gem and create a passive effect. As you can imagine, this makes it slightly more difficult to be a changeling in my setting, but also gives a changeling PC a sense of danger and level of involvement they never really had before.
So if I were to answer your question, I'd say that a changeling PC is still very feasible, but the degree of impact this change of race has depends on the individual world and how changelings are regarded in said world. If everyone has a strong dislike of changelings and casts Detect Evil and Good all the time for no reason, then your changeling PCs will likely have a hard time. The solution might be to limit the amount of NPCs that has access to magical abilities such as Detect Evil and Good, and have them use these abilities only when they suspect something.
Thanks @BeyondMisty, good thoughts. I am considering adding changelings to my game in one of three ways right now:
- Make them humanoid, rather than fey, as suggested by @SagaTympana.
- Make them fey, very rare and not even the subject of stories and myths as yet.
- Make them fey, accepted in one or two locations, and when recruited as infiltrators for their abilities, prepared for some of the scenarios they may face.
I considered just continuing to leave them out of my settings, but they are too tempting from a roleplay perspective. :)
An example of Fey vs Humanoid genuinely mattering is what happens when a Changeling Paladin of the Ancients standing next to an ally who is a Changeling Swashbuckler uses their Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless.
The item you are thinking of is the brooch of living essence
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Nystul's/Arcanist's Magic Aura would also work for making a Fey changeling read as Humanoid to divination magic, and the aura can become permanent (until dispelled) if applied each day for 30 days.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Good point - I haven't thought through all of the class features that might have surprising results given this change. I kind of like this surprising reveal that would occur when neither of the players are likely to expect it! LOL
There are several spells just in the PHB that specifically affect extraplanar creatures. This means that if your party is fighting Fey, for example, their use of the Forbiddance or Hallow spell would then force the changeling PC to be elsewhere while the spell is active. A spell like Magic Circle could also be used against a Changeling PC.