A mélange of possibility, chimerans are as changeable as the day. They require only a night’s rest to gain the attributes of some other species, if not in outlook, then at least physically, as long as they have a bit of hair or blood to work with. Rumored to be the mortal spawn of a demon lord or a variety of doppelganger, chimerans are often feared by people who realize what they can do. However, given the chimerans’ ability to radically alter themselves, most of the time they can pass among others without arousing any suspicion that they’re anything other than what they appear as that day. On the other hand, chimerans embodying a particular species don’t gain any cultural knowledge, including the language. So others of the species that a chimeran is posing as may begin to suspect that something is off about the stranger among them.

ALWAYS DIFFERENT, ALWAYS THE SAME

When a chimeran takes on a new form, they might go from human embodiment to that of an elf, a dragonborn, or a gnome, gaining the gross physical attributes of the new species. But anyone who knows the chimeran can see the resemblance between their previous embodiment and their newest one. If a given chimeran has large eyes, an expressive mouth, and a high forehead when embodied as a human, they have something of those features as an elf, dwarf, or tiefling, too, just translated accordingly. And if they ever return to a previous form, they regain the same features as their last embodiment of that species, including height and weight. Even if they vary their gender from their previous embodiment, some resemblance remains.

MERCURIAL AND MEDITATIVE

Perhaps it has to do with their changeable embodiments, but chimerans can be moody. Those who don’t learn to get a handle on this trait find themselves going through friends and opportunities at an alarming pace. These individuals can end up living mean lives of deceit and criminality. However, chimerans understand that changing forms so often can be a shock to their mental equilibrium, so they often practice daily meditation where they seek to concentrate on compassion and equanimity. Those who master these techniques seem anything but moody, but instead contemplative and kind.

MADE, NOT BORN

A chimeran comes into their ability to embody other species later in life. They’re originally born as a halfling, dwarf, tiefling, elf, or some other known species. It’s only years later that they learn the secret of embodiment, gather their first samples of another kind of creature, and switch their form to gain an advantage in a specific circumstance. Once someone embodies a different species for the first time using this secret, they’re no longer part of their original species; they’ve become a chimeran, even if they later predominantly choose to embody their original species.

DIVINE HERITAGE

According to one legend that chimerans pass among themselves, the children of Proteus, a long-vanished god of change, were drowned in the sea by a divine rival. Grief-stricken, Proteus faded away, presumably finding his final peace. However, his children survived, taking on the shapes of sea beings, but forgetting themselves in so doing. That heritage was passed down the ages to the present. Chimerans are not deviants; they are the heirs to Proteus.

CHIMERAN NAMES

Chimeran birth names are those of their birth species. Later, a chimeran could end up using different names to match the species they are currently living as, if their purpose is to fool others. However, many chimerans keep their original names. 

CHIMERAN TRAITS

Chimerans share a unique trait after learning the secret of embodiment.

Embody Species

Changing into another kind of creature requires preparation. First you must collect a bit of skin, hair, blood, nail clippings, or some other portion of once-living flesh from the humanoid species you wish to embody. Then, anytime you finish a long rest, you can ingest a shred of this material. You need to ingest only a single hair, a drop of blood, or a nibble of flesh. Over the course of about ten minutes, you lose the form and traits of whatever species you were previously embodying and gain the new form and traits associated with the sample you ingested. During this period, you are unconscious.

Once the process is complete, you have exchanged physical traits from the old species and the new one. These include ability score adjustments, size, speed, darkvision, special resistances, breath weapons, skill versatility, and so on. You don’t gain the exact likeness of the creature from whom you obtained the bit of flesh; you instead retain recognizable facial and other features translated into your new form. In addition, you don’t gain culturally derived knowledge such as language, nor is your alignment affected. You don’t learn any secrets or special knowledge that the creature from which you obtained the sample may have possessed. Any equipment you’re wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. If you die, you die as whatever species of creature you are embodying at the time.

SECRET OF EMBODIMENT

The secret of embodiment that makes a chimeran what they are is truly a deep and mysterious one, possibly something that even a chimeran doesn’t fully understand. In addition to having a sample of another creature’s body, the secret involves meditating in a particular way when consuming the sample. But the heart of the secret is that only certain people seem capable of acting on it. Even if the process were fully explained on a pamphlet that was widely distributed, maybe only one among hundreds reading it might be able to act on the knowledge. To everyone else, it’s just so much empty wishing.

The options for how a PC learned the secret are many, including the following.

Nightmare: The character had an especially vivid dream in which they snipped a bit of beard hair from a passed-out dwarf. Then, following the logic of dreams, they of course consumed the hair and became a dwarf in body, though not mind. Upon waking, the chimeran eventually tried the process, just to see.

Whispered by a Demon: While on an adventure, the character got separated from the others. During that time, a horned shadow, a disturbing bloodstain on the wall, a scroll the character picked up, or some other corrupted source imparted the secret of becoming a chimeran.

Library Visit: Deep in the stacks of the Library of Worlds in Timeborne, the character found a treatise on “self” as a slippery concept, with a particularly exhaustive example of that principle. This provided an impetus for the character to learn the secret.

Accident: During a particularly vicious combat, a spray of blood sheeted the character’s face. After a long rest, the character woke up as an apparent member of the same species that they’d just fought