ive got a changeling character that I was wonder the limits on, specifically are tails allowed? The description says same basic shape and size ie cant become a quadruped which I’ve no problem with but say I wanted to become a tiefling or tabaxi? Would the tail be usable or even formablw?
This is going to be a npc that pops up every so often in my plays campaign and just wanted to get a few more specifics before I started to let them catch on
NPC's are not limited to what player characters are limited to. If you want it to be able to grow a tail when it changes into a tiefling or tabaxi, it is your choice. It is also your choice if you want the tail to be prehensile and able to grab and hold stuff.
You can appear as a member of another humanoid race which will include things like tails, frills, gills, wings, horns, etc. However, your stats do not change so you cannot use the tail prehensively, cannot breathe underwater with the gills and cannot fly with the wings. The only other limitation is you cannot change your size category: as a Medium creature you cannot become a Large or Small creature - you can become a dwarf, you cannot become a gnome. Well, you can but you'll be much bigger. It's just appearance that changes not your race. You can give yourself claws but they're not real claws: just skin resembling them: they'll look real but will not be hard/strong/sharp enough to actually scratch somebody.
The part about shape and bipedal and stuff is basically their way of saying you can't become a wolf or cat or turn into a giant owl or something. You still have the main overall shape of a humanoid - you cant make yourself seem headless, have six arms, or look like a spider or something. You can do other cool things like give yourself fake eyes, tattoos, and while you cannot make the jewellery you can put holes in ears for piercings, give yourself any skin, hair, eye, whatever colourations you want, and so on.
Think of it like Disguise Self spell except: it lasts untl you change or die, can change your voice, cannot change clothes and is actually your skin shifted around changing colour and texture and not an illusion.
Is there any sage advice article confirming this? I have a real stickler DM who thinks because it says you have to have the same basic shape you cant look like a race with wings or tails regardless of functionality.
Is there any sage advice article confirming this? I have a real stickler DM who thinks because it says you have to have the same basic shape you cant look like a race with wings or tails regardless of functionality.
Not sure but with a Dm like that I would probably just use disguise kit to make a costume tail and call it a day(also adds roleplay fun explaining why a tibaxi has a fake tail)
I'm new to D&D and have created a Changeling character for my first campaign (yay!)
I was just wondering what exactly is meant by the fact that your game statistics change when you change your appearance - I presume it means that you are just taking on the appearance of another humanoid and not their abilities, but please feel free to correct me on this.
Also, how does that work in regards to persona? It's written almost like it's a completely separate character that you become, or do you just take on their appearance and skills (I have a drow rogue as my first Persona).
I'm new to D&D and have created a Changeling character for my first campaign (yay!)
I was just wondering what exactly is meant by the fact that your game statistics change when you change your appearance - I presume it means that you are just taking on the appearance of another humanoid and not their abilities, but please feel free to correct me on this.
Also, how does that work in regards to persona? It's written almost like it's a completely separate character that you become, or do you just take on their appearance and skills (I have a drow rogue as my first Persona).
It's simply that your Charisma, Dexterity, etc don't change when you change. For example if you change into an Elf you don't gain their racial +dex bonuses or racial traits like dark vision or perception proficiency.
That's what I thought, thank you for clarifying :)
May I just ask a follow-up question? How does it work when you switch to a Persona that is a different class? I know that your chosen proficiency gets doubled, but do you get any of the other class perks (ie sneak attack) or knowledge?
Also, how many persons can you create and switch between?
You only get one of those and you can never change your class with it. It is just a particular person (race, gender, age, appearance, etc) you become that has a tool proficiency.
You can have as many personas or masks as you want but only one of them has the proficiency (and always the same one).
The personas are mainly a role-playing tool. As in "I learned how to pick locks as Sneaky McSneak, so now I turn into him whenever I pick locks." Your personas are still you and don't have any abilities that you don't have beyond the bonus to that one proficiency.
I'm new to D&D and I am creating a changeling from my first campaign (I'm so excited! :D). I was wondering as an adult (the character is 17 years old) would it be possible for me to shift down into say a 10-year-old human child or younger what do you guys think is the limitations on height and age for a changeling? Based on what I'm reading I am under the impression that the range is about 4 ft (2 foot of natural height in either direction) and the limit looks to be about a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds (again approximately 75 lb to 100 pounds in either direction) my thought process as that I should be able to shift down to about 75 lb 4’3”ish appearing as a 10 year old (again starting as 120 lb 5’2”). The purpose for this is being able to be more sneaky allowing me to get into places that an adult would not be able to fit.
The only restriction that I can see is that you remain a Medium creature. Since Dwarfs are medium and start at roughly 4' tall, that should be about the minimum - which could allow you to change to the appearance of about 8-12 years old depending on race and gender. I don't know how tall or heavy you'd have to be to reach a Large creature though, maybe 8'+? I know Loxodon can go up to 8 and they're still Medium.
All that said - you'd have to run it by your DM. They have final say and it'd be best to have their approval before you try it in-game.
You only get one of those and you can never change your class with it. It is just a particular person (race, gender, age, appearance, etc) you become that has a tool proficiency.
You can have as many personas or masks as you want but only one of them has the proficiency (and always the same one).
This may be a nit-pick, but can't you gain more Divergent Personas by spending downtime learning skills with a trainer? It will most likely take longer to develop the Persona/expertise than just the proficiency of a normal character, but my understanding of that racial trait was that you can gain more. It just didn't specify how.
You can gain more proficiencies during downtime no matter what race or character you create. But the Divergent Persona feature only gives you one proficiency and you never get more that way.
As a Changeling you can RP your downtime proficiency gain as developing a new persona but mechanically that's not what is happening. The proficiency would be available to you no matter your current appearance.
I have another question, Can a changeling child take a life and create a persona and grow with that persona (without seeing that original person again)? My character is a child in its backstory. If I were to take the life of a child (dark I know, there's a reason I promise) and pretend to be that child for a period of say 10 years. Would the persona grow and change like a natural being or would it be stuck at the age that it was taken, like a photograph? I feel like it should be able to grow and change, but I was posed the question by another player. It doesn't say that I can't do that, at least not anywhere that I found, and I feel as though this would be an excellent way to earn your first persona, especially the one that you get that has the proficiency in your first tool, from your racial bonus, (mine would be forgery kit in this case).
Is a host person or personality even necessary? could I say pull together a persona out of features that my Character has seen in the past, give it a name and develop a past & future for that persona?
The blurb says personas can be passed down generations so it’s clearly possible to avoid aging them but I don’t think that means you can’t age them. The whole point of a Changeling is to blend in and an apparent immortal child would get attention quickly.
I think at worst (if your DM says they don’t age) the key would be that you have other children of the same race around or at least have seen people of that race at many ages so you know how to make slight changes to look as if that persona is aging. In this case you wouldn’t need the host you mentioned.
Otherwise I personally don’t see a problem with your idea - especially if the child you’re appearing as is your Divergent Persona - and because your Changeling itself is also a child.
I know this is months too late, but changelings can actually have more than one persona. The proficiency bonus is always there, but when you get shift into the persona, the bonus is doubled. Changelings can have multiple personas to channel different emotions or skills, it says so under the "Masks and Personas" section:
"However, many changelings develop identities that have more depth. They build an identity over time, crafting a persona with a history and beliefs. This focused identity helps a changeling pinpoint a particular skill or emotion. A changeling adventurer might have personas for many situations, including negotiation, investigation, and combat."
Yea I mentioned they can have as many masks or personas as they want but I was mistaken in thinking the Divergent Persona was the only one to get the proficiency bonus. You're right - the Divergent Persona gets the skill with expertise while all other masks/personas get the skill with just standard proficiency.
It still means though that other personas don't get to expertise in any skill of their choice. It's only the one skill expertise and explicitly only for the Divergent Persona.
ive got a changeling character that I was wonder the limits on, specifically are tails allowed? The description says same basic shape and size ie cant become a quadruped which I’ve no problem with but say I wanted to become a tiefling or tabaxi? Would the tail be usable or even formablw?
This is going to be a npc that pops up every so often in my plays campaign and just wanted to get a few more specifics before I started to let them catch on
NPC's are not limited to what player characters are limited to. If you want it to be able to grow a tail when it changes into a tiefling or tabaxi, it is your choice. It is also your choice if you want the tail to be prehensile and able to grab and hold stuff.
You can appear as a member of another humanoid race which will include things like tails, frills, gills, wings, horns, etc. However, your stats do not change so you cannot use the tail prehensively, cannot breathe underwater with the gills and cannot fly with the wings. The only other limitation is you cannot change your size category: as a Medium creature you cannot become a Large or Small creature - you can become a dwarf, you cannot become a gnome. Well, you can but you'll be much bigger. It's just appearance that changes not your race. You can give yourself claws but they're not real claws: just skin resembling them: they'll look real but will not be hard/strong/sharp enough to actually scratch somebody.
The part about shape and bipedal and stuff is basically their way of saying you can't become a wolf or cat or turn into a giant owl or something. You still have the main overall shape of a humanoid - you cant make yourself seem headless, have six arms, or look like a spider or something. You can do other cool things like give yourself fake eyes, tattoos, and while you cannot make the jewellery you can put holes in ears for piercings, give yourself any skin, hair, eye, whatever colourations you want, and so on.
Think of it like Disguise Self spell except: it lasts untl you change or die, can change your voice, cannot change clothes and is actually your skin shifted around changing colour and texture and not an illusion.
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Cyber, that’s what I was figuring.
Is there any sage advice article confirming this? I have a real stickler DM who thinks because it says you have to have the same basic shape you cant look like a race with wings or tails regardless of functionality.
Not sure but with a Dm like that I would probably just use disguise kit to make a costume tail and call it a day(also adds roleplay fun explaining why a tibaxi has a fake tail)
I'm new to D&D and have created a Changeling character for my first campaign (yay!)
I was just wondering what exactly is meant by the fact that your game statistics change when you change your appearance - I presume it means that you are just taking on the appearance of another humanoid and not their abilities, but please feel free to correct me on this.
Also, how does that work in regards to persona? It's written almost like it's a completely separate character that you become, or do you just take on their appearance and skills (I have a drow rogue as my first Persona).
It's simply that your Charisma, Dexterity, etc don't change when you change. For example if you change into an Elf you don't gain their racial +dex bonuses or racial traits like dark vision or perception proficiency.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
That's what I thought, thank you for clarifying :)
May I just ask a follow-up question? How does it work when you switch to a Persona that is a different class? I know that your chosen proficiency gets doubled, but do you get any of the other class perks (ie sneak attack) or knowledge?
Also, how many persons can you create and switch between?
You mean the ‘Divergent Persona’?
You only get one of those and you can never change your class with it. It is just a particular person (race, gender, age, appearance, etc) you become that has a tool proficiency.
You can have as many personas or masks as you want but only one of them has the proficiency (and always the same one).
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
The personas are mainly a role-playing tool. As in "I learned how to pick locks as Sneaky McSneak, so now I turn into him whenever I pick locks." Your personas are still you and don't have any abilities that you don't have beyond the bonus to that one proficiency.
I'm new to D&D and I am creating a changeling from my first campaign (I'm so excited! :D). I was wondering as an adult (the character is 17 years old) would it be possible for me to shift down into say a 10-year-old human child or younger what do you guys think is the limitations on height and age for a changeling? Based on what I'm reading I am under the impression that the range is about 4 ft (2 foot of natural height in either direction) and the limit looks to be about a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds (again approximately 75 lb to 100 pounds in either direction) my thought process as that I should be able to shift down to about 75 lb 4’3”ish appearing as a 10 year old (again starting as 120 lb 5’2”). The purpose for this is being able to be more sneaky allowing me to get into places that an adult would not be able to fit.
The only restriction that I can see is that you remain a Medium creature. Since Dwarfs are medium and start at roughly 4' tall, that should be about the minimum - which could allow you to change to the appearance of about 8-12 years old depending on race and gender. I don't know how tall or heavy you'd have to be to reach a Large creature though, maybe 8'+? I know Loxodon can go up to 8 and they're still Medium.
All that said - you'd have to run it by your DM. They have final say and it'd be best to have their approval before you try it in-game.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Thank you very much!
This may be a nit-pick, but can't you gain more Divergent Personas by spending downtime learning skills with a trainer? It will most likely take longer to develop the Persona/expertise than just the proficiency of a normal character, but my understanding of that racial trait was that you can gain more. It just didn't specify how.
You can gain more proficiencies during downtime no matter what race or character you create. But the Divergent Persona feature only gives you one proficiency and you never get more that way.
As a Changeling you can RP your downtime proficiency gain as developing a new persona but mechanically that's not what is happening. The proficiency would be available to you no matter your current appearance.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
I have another question, Can a changeling child take a life and create a persona and grow with that persona (without seeing that original person again)? My character is a child in its backstory. If I were to take the life of a child (dark I know, there's a reason I promise) and pretend to be that child for a period of say 10 years. Would the persona grow and change like a natural being or would it be stuck at the age that it was taken, like a photograph? I feel like it should be able to grow and change, but I was posed the question by another player. It doesn't say that I can't do that, at least not anywhere that I found, and I feel as though this would be an excellent way to earn your first persona, especially the one that you get that has the proficiency in your first tool, from your racial bonus, (mine would be forgery kit in this case).
Is a host person or personality even necessary? could I say pull together a persona out of features that my Character has seen in the past, give it a name and develop a past & future for that persona?
I don’t see why you couldn’t.
The blurb says personas can be passed down generations so it’s clearly possible to avoid aging them but I don’t think that means you can’t age them. The whole point of a Changeling is to blend in and an apparent immortal child would get attention quickly.
I think at worst (if your DM says they don’t age) the key would be that you have other children of the same race around or at least have seen people of that race at many ages so you know how to make slight changes to look as if that persona is aging. In this case you wouldn’t need the host you mentioned.
Otherwise I personally don’t see a problem with your idea - especially if the child you’re appearing as is your Divergent Persona - and because your Changeling itself is also a child.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
I know this is months too late, but changelings can actually have more than one persona. The proficiency bonus is always there, but when you get shift into the persona, the bonus is doubled. Changelings can have multiple personas to channel different emotions or skills, it says so under the "Masks and Personas" section:
Yea I mentioned they can have as many masks or personas as they want but I was mistaken in thinking the Divergent Persona was the only one to get the proficiency bonus. You're right - the Divergent Persona gets the skill with expertise while all other masks/personas get the skill with just standard proficiency.
It still means though that other personas don't get to expertise in any skill of their choice. It's only the one skill expertise and explicitly only for the Divergent Persona.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).