Oriental Prestige Class : Shapeshifter
The lands of Oriental Adventures are full of shapechangers; animals who take the shape of humans (hengeyokai), fiends and spirits in human guise, and sorcerers who take animal form. Shapeshifters are masters of these transforming powers, whose natural forms eventually become as fluid as water.
Shapeshifters must already have some means of changing their form before learning to master that change. Some shapeshifters are spellcasters (wu jen, sorcerers, or shamans) who first learn polymorph self and then move on to greater mastery. Others are hengeyokai, lycanthropes, rakshasas, ogre mages, or other creatures with natural shapechanging ability. A very few high-level ninja (with their thousand faces supernatural ability) manage to acquire at least a few levels of shapeshifter. Shapeshifters are not found in Rokugan.
NPC shapeshifters are often loners, haunting the wilderness in animal form. Others live in the midst of civilized society, using their abilities to become spies, thieves, or even assassins.
Class Requirements
To qualify to become a Shapeshifter, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Concentration 10 ranks
- Base Attack Bonus: +3
- Special: Alternate Form - Must either know polymorph self or have a natural alternate form, alter self, polymorph self, or shapechange ability
Class Skills
The shape shifter's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Knowledge (nature), Profession, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the shapeshifter.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shapeshifters are proficient with all simple weapons. They do not gain any additional proficiency with armor or shields.
Wild Shape (Sp): At 1st level, a shapeshifter gains the ability to change form into a Small or Medium-size animal (but not a dire animal) and back again three times per day. This ability works exactly like the druid's wild shape ability
The shapeshifter can use wild shape more times per day at 4th and 8th level, as noted on the table below. In addition, the shapeshifter gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 3rd level, a Tiny animal at 5th level, and a Huge animal at 9th level. At 7th level or higher, she can take the form of a dire animal.
At 10th level, the shapeshifter may use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium-size, or Large air, earth, fire, or water elemental once per day She gains all the elemental's special abilities when she does so.
Extra Shifting (Ex): A shapeshifter with a natural ability to change shape (such as a hengeyokai's alternate form ability) adds her shapeshifter level to the number of times per day that she can normally change form. Thus, a hengeyokai 7th-level wu jen/3rd-level shapeshifter could change form fourteen times per day instead of the eleven transformations normally allowed a 10th-level hengeyokai character.
Spells per Day: A shapeshifter continues her magical training while mastering the powers of wild shape. At 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th level, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if she had also gained one level in a spellcasting class. She does nor, however, gain any other benefit of the spellcasting class. This essentially means that she adds half her shapeshifter levels to her other class levels, then determines spells per day and spells known accordingly For example, if Jengu Tori, a 7th-level wu jen/1st-level shapeshifter, gains a level in shapeshifter, she gains new spells as if she had risen to 8th level in wu jen, but uses the other shapeshifter aspects of level progression such as attack bonus and save bonus. If she next gains a level of wu jen, making her an 8th-level wu jen/2nd-level shapeshifter, she gains spells as if she had risen to 9th level in wu jen.
If a character adopts the shapeshifter prestige class without having a spellcasting class, he does not gain any spell ability as he increases his shapeshifter levels.
Thousand Faces (Su): At 6th level, a shapeshifter gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the spell alter self.
Natural Shapechanger: At 10th level, a shapeshifter changes form so naturally that her type changes to shapechanger rather than humanoid. (Hengeyokai are already shapechangers; their type is not affected.) She becomes immune to spells and effects that specifically target humanoids, such as charm person.
| Shapeshifter | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +2 | Wild shape (3/day), extra shifting | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +3 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing class |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Wild shape (Large) | - |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Wild shape (4/day) | +1 level of existing class |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Wild shape (Tiny) | - |
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Thousand faces | +1 level of existing class |
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Wild shape (dire) | - |
| 8th | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Wild shape (5/day) | +1 level of existing class |
| 9th | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Wild shape (Huge) | - |
| 10th | +7 | +7 | +7 | +7 | Wild shape (elemental 1/day), natural shapechanger | +1 level of existing class |
Source: Oriental Adventures