Your Wisdom Score increases by 2. You may choose to increase either your Strength score or Dexterity score by 1.

As a Beast Soul you reach maturity differently depending on whether you were born as a beast or as a humanoid. If born as a beast you reach maturity at the same rate as the beast you were born as while as if born as a humanoid you reach maturity in your late teens. Once you have matured into adulthood you age the same as all adult Beast Soul regardless of birth form. You can live to be over 400 years old, those over 300 are considered Elders in Beast Soul tribes.

You tend toward no particular alignment.

As a beast your size will change depending on the beast form. As a human your size may vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall but you will be Medium as a human.

As a human your speed is 30 ft. As a beast your speed will vary depending on the beast form.

With an action you can transform. As a human you transform into a beast and as a beast you transform either into another beast or into a human. Alternatively you can change into the same form you are already in but make minor cosmetic changes (see Appearance in the Race Details). When you choose to transform into a beast you must choose a beast you have seen before that has a CR of 1/4 or less and you become a unique, individual, member of that beast species. You cannot change if you are encumbered. Anything you are wearing or carrying upon your person that is not a living creature is merged into your form. The statistics of the beast replace your own except for: hit points and hit dice, personality, alignment and the mental statistics of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. You also keep your skill and saving throw proficiencies while adding the beast's and where both you and the beast form has proficiency in the same skill you adopt the higher of the two. The beast form reflects your age in that if you are a child as a human then you are a puppy as a wolf or a kitten as a cat, for example. You also retain your class features (ncluding abilty score increases and Feats) and racial traits except for Size and Speed: for example your Ability Score Increase racial trait will apply to the beast forms as well.

Barring any cosmetic changes you will always have the same form when changing into a beast form you have used before or human form. How you appear as a human will remain the same whenever you transform into a human, for example. You cannot use this ability to look like another individual beast or human - you have your own unique form as any beast (if you change into a wolf then you always change into the same wolf form each time you do, for instance) and as a human.

The transformation is permanent until you choose to change again. Although this is magical it is the same magic that makes a dragon fly and breathe fire - it is natural and inherent and not the same magic of spells and spell effects. Your transformation ability is immune to effects like Dispel Magic, spell]Counterspell[/spell] and spell]Antimagic Field[/spell] and such as.

Due to your connection to beast forms you gain proficiency with Animal Handling, Perception and Survival skills.

You can still perform magic while in beast form. Since you can talk in beast form you can still provide verbal components. In beast form you may ignore somatic components - you can use a paw, claw, nose, mouth or eyesight in place of fingers or gestures required by the spell (you could have spell like Burning Hands come out from a single paw or from your mouth, for example). You are considered to be using a relevant focus for the spellcasting if you had one on your person when you adopted the beast form. You also can maintain the benefit of material components if they were merged into your form as well: for instance if you had a diamond worth 50 gp on your person when you transformed into a beast then as a beast you could still cast Chromatic Orb spell. Material components that are consumed by a spell cannot be used in this way, however.

Although you do not benefit from shield or armour bonuses if merged into the new form any that had magical bonuses, such as a +1 armour or the +2 AC bonus from bracers of defense, will still apply to your new form if they were worn while you transformed. Magic items can be used by simply being worn, like a Cloak of Elvenkind or on your person, like a Pearl of Power, can still be used or benefited from. Items that required active handling like a Wand of Fireballs or Bag of Holding cannot be accessed or used while merged into your form.

When you reach 3rd level you can use your Transform racial trait to transform into a beast you have seen of a CR that is one third of your character level rounded up. This transformation lasts 1 hour, you cannot benefit from a short or long rest while in this transformed state and once used you cannot use it again until you have completed a short rest. You revert to the prevous human or beast form you were in before using this trait if you fall unconscious, are incapacitated or drop to 0 HP. You have two uses of this trait and regain all uses after completing a long rest. This transformation otherwise follows all other rules as your normal transformation and other racial traits.

You can read, write, speak and understand Common and one other language of your choice. You retain the power to speak these languages in any form even if the form normally would not be able to. In addition you know the spell Speak With Animals and may cast it at-will as a bonus action ignoring all component requirements. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.