1.5.15 The Skinshifter
The Skinshifter is a partial Mage class that grants the user shapeshifting abilities, whether to adopt the form of beasts or configurations of their own devising.
Skinshifter Benefits
Skinshifter is a partial Mage class, meant to be taken by an Adventurer in conjunction with another partial class. A partial Warrior/Skinshifter might be a shapeshifting assassin or feral savage warrior, while a Partial Expert/Skinshifter could be an undetectable impostor or con artist.
All Skinshifters gain Survive-0 as a bonus skill, or Survive-1 if they already have Survive-0 as a skill.
Skinshifter Forms
The Arts Of a Skinshifter Revolve Around Improving Or Adjusting Their Alternate Forms. These Alternate Forms Have a Few Basic Rules That Apply To All Their Permutations.
A Skinshifter can master one alternate form per character level. A Skinshifter who wants to change a form selection can do so with a day of careful practice and adjustment. Skinshifter PCs should note down the special powers or traits of their alternate forms and keep in mind which of them they have available at any one time.
A Skinshifter’s alternate forms use the same hit points, character attributes, and movement speed as their normal form, unless modified by particular arts. Thus, a Skinshifter shifted into a wolf’s shape would do no more damage with its bite than the human’s unarmed attack would do without some augmenting art. Alternate forms do grant a minimum level of combat competence, however, and so the “Form Bonus” hit bonus is used in place of the PC’s basic class hit bonus when in a non-humanoid shape, assuming they don’t already have a better basic bonus from their other partial class.
Arts that improve the alternate forms can apply their benefits even if the creature’s natural shape wouldn’t normally grant it. Thus, a Skinshifter with the Manifest Wings art could have a wolf-form that had wings and a flying speed if they wished. A given form can have no more than three arts applied to it.
A Skinshifter’s alternate forms can be any size between a horse and a kitten, barring modification by some art. They do not need to emulate a specific type of creature; a Skinshifter could have a clawed and winged humanoid form as an alternate shape, or a dog with the head of a man, or a cat with razor-sharp mandibles.
The belongings carried by a Skinshifter meld into any new form unless the PC decides otherwise, granting any benefit to Armor Class or other worn advantage they may normally give. Melded objects can be manifested and dropped as an On Turn action, but cannot be re-melded again unless the PC changes form with them again.
Skinshifter forms cannot perfectly duplicate another individual creature without an appropriate art.
1.5.15.1 Skinshifter Arts
Skinshifter Effort is based on Survive, and is equal to the PC’s Survive skill level plus the highest of their Constitution or Charisma modifiers, to a minimum of one point. All Skinshifters begin play with the Change Form art and one more of their choice. Additional arts are learned as the PC advances in experience.
- Change Form: Commit Effort for the day as a Main Action to transform into an available Alternate form. This shift persists until you die, shift to a new form, or end the transformation as an On Turn action. Your hit points, System Strain, and other scores remain the same in any new form, but in a non-humanoid form your class’ base attack bonus can be no worse than the one listed on the table. If your shape is quadrupedal, its Move is 10’ faster than your base.
Other Skinshifter Arts
- Eyes Of The Hawk: This Shape Has Remarkably Acute Senses. You Can Scent Trails And Objects Like a Dog, Hear Very Faint Noises, See Objects Clearly Enough To Identify Faces At a Thousand Feet Of Distance, And See Clearly In Anything Short Of Complete Darkness. You Gain a +2 bonus on all sensory Notice checks.
- Feline Leap: This form can vault great distances. You can jump your full Move rating as a Move action, crossing the full distance horizontally or up to half the distance vertically. You subtract your Move rating from fall distance for damage calculations.
- Feral Prowess: This form has an augmented degree of speed, strength, or hardiness. For this form, pick either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution; that attribute modifier is improved by +1 in this form, to a maximum of +2. These alterations are obvious and extreme; it is impossible to masquerade as a normal baseline human if using this art. Hit points gained from Con improvements are lost when shifting back.
- Intrinsic Armor: This shape has tough scales, hide, shell, or other defensive integuments. Your base Armor Class is 14 plus half your character level, rounded down. This AC can be modified by your Dexterity modifier, and by shields if the shape can hold one.
- Manifest Wings: This shape can form usable wings. You can’t effectively attack while concentrating on remaining aloft, but you can fly at your normal movement rate +10’ per action. If unhindered and flying overland you can travel up to ten miles an hour and fly up to five hours a day.
- Octopus’ Embrace: This shape can have more than four usable limbs. These additional tentacles, arms, legs, or grippers can hold and manipulate things; up to four Stowed objects can be held Ready by these limbs without counting against your Readied Encumbrance limit. These extra limbs cannot effectively employ extra shields, perform additional attacks or actions, or do other things that require significant focus beyond your current action.
- Perfect Mimicry: This alternate form can exactly duplicate another creature, provided you either have a lock of their hair, a still-liquid drop of their blood, or ten minutes of observation of them from within five feet. Once learned, you need no further samples.
- Pliant Flesh: You’ve mastered your shapeshifting skills, and Change Form can be used as an On Turn action, albeit only once per round. Alternately, it can take as long as a minute but cost no Effort. When ever you spend Effort to shift shape, you heal lost hit points equal to 1d6 plus your level; this does not apply when merely reverting a form’s change. This art is intrinsic to you, and doesn’t count against the total number of arts allowed to apply to a form.
- Savage Talons: This shape has extremely dangerous claws, fangs, pincers, or other body weapons. At first level these weapons do 1d8 damage, use either Str or Dex as the modifying attribute, Punch as the combat skill, and have a Shock value of 2/AC 13. At level 3 the damage and Shock increase by +1, at level 6 they increase to +2, and at level 9 they increase to +3. These weapons can harm even creatures immune to non-magical weaponry.
- Sculptor’s Beauty: You’ve developed a refined aesthetic sense that can directly appeal to the subconscious beauty preferences of viewers. This shape improves your Charisma modifier by +1, to a maximum of +2. There is always something alien about this beauty, and such forms can never be mistaken for an entirely normal human or animal, though they may be taken for some exotic demihuman or altered baseline.
- Serpent’s Kiss: This shape can exude a venom on its claws or fangs. Successful hits allow you to Commit Effort for the scene as an Instant action to inflict an additional 1d8 damage plus your Survive skill. You can elect to make the toxin paralytic rather than fatal; foes reduced to zero hit points by such a blow are paralyzed and helpless for an hour rather than mortally wounded.
- The Monkey’s Road: This shape has an arboreal agility when it comes to climbing. You can travel up sheer surfaces at your usual movement rate provided at least three limbs are available for use and the surface is not glassily smooth. If you fall, you can halt your plunge without damage so long as a serviceable surface to cling to is within ten feet of you.
- Warform: You gain a flat +2 bonus to all melee hit rolls in this shape and can use your form hit bonus even in a humanoid body. This shape is blatantly martial in appearance, however, and cannot pass as anything harmless or wholly human.
- Wisdom of Fin and Scale: This shape can breathe water, swim at double your usual Move rate, and is impervious to any normal climatic extreme of cold or undersea pressure. It can see up to sixty feet while underwater even in the absence of normal light.
Partial Expert/Skinshifter
| Level | Hit Dice | Base Attack | Focus Picks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d6 | +0 | 1 Expert +1 Any |
| 2 | 2d6 | +1 | +1 Any |
| 3 | 3d6 | +1 | |
| 4 | 4d6 | +2 | |
| 5 | 5d6 | +2 | +1 Any |
| 6 | 6d6 | +3 | |
| 7 | 7d6 | +3 | +1 Any |
| 8 | 8d6 | +4 | |
| 9 | 9d6 | +4 | |
| 10 | 10d6 | +5 | +1 Any |
Partial Other Mage/Skinshifter
| Level | Hit Dice | Attack Bonus | Focus Picks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d6-1 | +0 | 1 Any |
| 2 | 2d6-2 | +0 | +1 Any |
| 3 | 3d6-3 | +0 | |
| 4 | 4d6-4 | +0 | |
| 5 | 5d6-5 | +1 | +1 Any |
| 6 | 6d6-6 | +1 | |
| 7 | 7d6-7 | +1 | +1 Any |
| 8 | 8d6-8 | +1 | |
| 9 | 9d6-9 | +1 | |
| 10 | 10d6-10 | +2 | +1 Any |
Partial Warrior/Skinshifter
| Level | Hit Dice | Base Attack | Focus Picks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d6+2 | +1 | 1 Warrior +1 Any |
| 2 | 2d6+4 | +2 | +1 Any |
| 3 | 3d6+6 | +2 | |
| 4 | 4d6+8 | +3 | |
| 5 | 5d6+10 | +4 | +1 Any |
| 6 | 6d6+12 | +5 | |
| 7 | 7d6+14 | +5 | +1 Any |
| 8 | 8d6+16 | +6 | |
| 9 | 9d6+18 | +6 | |
| 10 | 10d6+20 | +7 | +1 Any |
Skinshifter Arts and Form Bonus
| Level | Form Bonus | Arts Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +1 | Change Form and Any One |
| 2 | +1 | Any One |
| 3 | +2 | |
| 4 | +2 | Any One |
| 5 | +3 | Any One |
| 6 | +3 | Any One |
| 7 | +4 | |
| 8 | +4 | Any One |
| 9 | +5 | |
| 10 | +6 | Any One |