Homebrew Ćhángeling Species Details

Physical Description

Changelings are a race of humanoids whose arms and legs are slightly longer than it would fit their appearance, with skin tones ranging from the palest grey to varying shades of very light blue. Changelings also usually don't grow body hair, but it is rumored that if a dwarf was one of the parents they possibly could. Their eyes are dark as the night, which makes it difficult to see the iris and pupil. If transformed, a changeling's eyes appear normal to others according to what is imitated, but on a closer examination, the conjunctiva around the iris is slightly tinted in a weak yellowish tone. On their forehead, they have two small horns above the eyes on the hairline. The base color of the hair is based on the skin color, but includes an other color in varying intensity, commonly violet. Their ears tend towards a double pointed form, like an elves ear, but with a split-tip and the noses can range from flat and slitted like a skeleton to subtle or even beautiful button noses.

In contrast to their distant appetence, the doppelgänger, changelings can be male or female, but are bound to the one sex they were born with and are omnivores. They can tolerate eating raw meat, but most can't digest raw fruits and plants well. A changeling's body features are often described as a bit strange or even off-putting by the common folk.

History

Changelings, because of their ability to change into any person they want or need just like their distant relatives the doppelgänger, have a long history in numerous different activities including but not limited to acting, working in the business of lust, and conducting stealth and espionage missions. Some of the more popular changelings have managed to gather so much fame in their career, that they were known in the whole land and acclaimed by their fans for their talent on the stage. But as it is, bad times are remembered longer.

In times of conflict, it wasn't uncommon to fall victim to a changeling spy of the other faction. The fear was ever-present and unbearable in most circumstances. The thought that one of your closest comrades or friends could suddenly slice your throat drove many people into insanity. Just as scary is the thought that any travelers or strangers you meet might in truth be wanted criminal changelings from a well known dangerous bandit band, scouting out the streets to plan their next raid.

In larger cities, however, many people find something irresistible about changelings for their potential to grant someone their most desired fantasies. However, due to several changelings prominently working in less than savory jobs outside of their communities a certain stigma has stuck to them over time with most considered to be untrustworthy and having too many secrets, despite the fact that those who make their living with these unsavory jobs only represent a small part of the whole species similar to whatever else could be found in any other culture per se. The ever-changing nature of changelings and their experiments with new looks and personalities, however, tend to only feed the prejudices held against them. But most of the aversion directed towards changelings from other races is due to the fact that changelings are and have been by nature not interested in raising of their own young and often switch out their children with other races.

The history of the species itself and how it came to be is little known. It is theorised, that the now known race of the changelings was in earlier days a collection of halfbreeds between doppelgänger, humans and half-humans of all kind, which overlapped at some point and formed the modern changelings. But unfortunately, these were happenings long before the recording of history. Maybe some very old dragons or an aboleth may know, but it can also easily be nothing but hearsay.

Society

Changelings are commonly known to be friendly and welcoming in their societies, but some changelings that moved in from the outside might be afraid or hold a grudge against members of the common folk, based on personal experiences in their lives. Outsiders who are not used to changeling society might be afraid based on what they have heard, due to the prejudices held against the changelings, or hold a grudge, based on their experiences and are likely to mistake friendliness as false safety. Changelings also tend to ask a bit too personal questions, because they like to share with each other what kind of transformations, looks or behaviors they prefer to use and what transformations and behaviors they have tried out before.

Members of races that are not capable of shape-changing but still live in changeling communities long term are mostly called "permanents" due to their tendency to stick to doing the same job, living in the same place, and having slowly changing personalities. In regards to food, changelings' cooking tends to be a very common topic of exchange. In general, changelings preferer cooked meat to enhance the taste of it, followed by cooked veggies, as these fit many changelings taste buds while also being easier to digest. Due to this, their society has developed a number of different meat centred recipes on how to cook and spice it along with what dishes go the best with it.

Changelings are one of the few races that can have offspring with other compatible humanoid races, and in such cases, the changeling blood will be dominant and a changeling with uncommon traits will be born. Strangely, however, changelings tend to be less interested in the raising of their own young and develop a strong interest in taking care of the newborns of other races. If such an urge becomes overwhelming, a changeling mother might give in to the temptation and swap out her own child with that of a mother of another race. When such a swap occurs, the changeling baby instinctually takes on the form of the child of the other race. This transformation tends to be so strong that, besides reaching maturity, only death can revert it. Because many races view such an act as evil, changelings have a hard time finding work outside of their close-knit groups, sometimes forcing them to resort to mercenary work or other questionable methods of income.

Often the replacement with the changeling baby won't be noticed until they reach the 15th year of age when the young changeling's ability to shapeshift switches from instinctive to conscious control in a matter of minutes. As a consequence of this, and not being used to keep the transformation up by them selfs, the changeling child reverts to their true form. This moment is usually referred to as the "turnout" and is associated with a young changeling's discovery of shapeshifting and becoming a true changeling. But because changelings are very social beings and don't seek to leave their family or friends, it is understandable that in most cases, turnouts result in a very traumatic experience for them, and for the whole family in general. Often this leads to the young changeling being outcasted by their former family, if nothing worse.

Not knowing where to go, and what to seek for to learn about their origin, these outcasted children tend to go to and join changeling societies, where they are first considered outsiders until they learn more about themselves. However, sometimes these changelings don't turn to changeling societies and instead decide to remain in the place they were raised, despite the contempt they might now receive in their environment after their turnout. There are also cases known where the real child of a family returns home, and willingly or not, exposes the false child as being a changeling. After such an event happens, the changeling child would again be kicked out of the house, but rarely the parents choose to raise both children as their own.

Due to all the uncertainties changeling youth faces, it is not uncommon to find at least one young changeling in an orphanage. However, the changeling, as a race, are aware that this behavior of child-swapping can't stay a part of their culture forever, but fighting against your own nature is infinitely harder than most other things in life. Because of this, most changeling societies have set up some form of childcare system, where instinct-driven mothers can hand over their children to be raised by others until they are ready to take them back again if the instinctual drive weakens later. Progress has been slow, but the advent of such childcare systems has made it so that the cases of child swapping or child thievery by changelings are slowly going down with each passing year.

In the places where changelings band together, they tend towards a meritocracy, where the most skilled and intelligent take the lead. Other features of these societies depend upon what kind of larger society they fall under. Within these larger societies or out on the wilds, the common changeling typically falls into one of four subsets of personal beliefs: polysubsist, monosubsist, truthseeker, or plasticer.

 

Ćhángeling Traits

height, weight, size, etc.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2.

Age

Changelings mature slightly faster than humans but share a similar lifespan – typically a century or less. While a changeling can shapeshift to conceal their age, the effects of aging still catch up to them.

Alignment

Changelings hate to be bound in any way, and those who follow the path of the Traveler believe that chaos and change are important aspects of life. Most tend toward pragmatic neutrality as opposed to being concerned with lofty ideals. Despite common fears, few changelings embrace evil.

Size

In their natural forms, changelings average between 5 to 6 feet in height, with a slender build. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Changeling Instincts

You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Change Appearance

As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change.

• You can't duplicate the appearance of a creature you've never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren't changed by this trait.
• You stay in the new form until you use an action to revert to your true form or until you die.