Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DreadArchon 04-11-07, 01:36 PM	I've decided that my PC's need to be a bit more paranoid. I've also decided that there should be more Fey (villains) in my campaign. Wikipedia gave me a good way to get both... This template is intended to help me stat the antagonists easily. Check for balance, mostly, though I'm actually interested in "accuracy" as compared to historical fairy mythos as well, if anyone is familiar with such. (It's my understanding that Changelings are usually the result of fairies attempting to acquire human children. This template puts emphasis on fairies infiltrating other societies to bring them down from within. The shift in focus away from the kidnap victim and towards the replacement is intentional.) CREATING A CHANGELING "Changeling" is an inherited template that can be added to any creature with an Intelligence score, though the vast majority of Changelings are Humanoids and it is unusual for a changeling to end up with any stat lower than 8. (For example, Animal Changelings, while technically possible, are unheard of.) The addition of the Changeling template does not actually indicate a modification of the base creature in the game world; rather, Fey of some sort have, for whatever reason, replaced the base creature with an impostor. As the impostors are designed to be very similar to the originals, the process is represented by this template. The replacement nearly always occurs while the base creature is an infant (such that most creatures with this template will have always had it for practical purposes), but rare examples of swaps among older members of the population have been found. If this is the case, the Changeling is treated much like any impostor would be in the game (e.g. it does not have the memories or experience of the subject being impersonated and must thus make Disguise checks, etc.). Very nearly all Changelings are aware of their origin, though situations have arisen where some are not. Size and Type: The creature becomes a Fey. The creature retains features and abilities dependant on its original type, however, as a lack of these would sometimes be too obvious for the Changeling to have any chance of going unnoticed. Size is unchanged. Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day: Speak with Animals, Speak with Plants, Barkskin; 3/day: Invisibility, Charm Person; At Will: Feather Fall, Know Direction, Lullaby, Message; DC's are Charisma based Special Qualities: As base creature, plus the following: - Low-Light Vision (due to being Fey) - Proficient with all simple weapons (due to being Fey) - Damage Reduction 10/Cold Iron Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2; Changelings are made to be physically indistinguishable from the kidnap victim on which they are based, but (even as infants) they have been specially trained to keep a step ahead of those around them. Skills: Changelings always know Sylvan. Changelings receive a +5 bonus to Bluff and Disguise checks, and they may always Take 10 on Bluff or Disguise checks, regardless of circumstances. Alignment: Always Chaotic Neutral. Challenge Rating: As base creature +1 Level Adjustment: As base creature +2
Warforged Goblin 04-11-07, 02:38 PM	Keep the CR the same, but this is at least a +2 LA, if not a +3. Other than that, looks good.
DreadArchon 04-11-07, 06:38 PM	Oops, yes, I see that +1 is certainly too little. I don't think +3 would be reasonable, though. Compare to, say, a Half-Dragon. That said, I also gave them a few less spell-likes per day. I didn't really intend for them to be shooting off spells all over the place, even if only those limited spells in the original description.
DreadArchon 04-13-07, 01:30 PM	:bump:
Domriso 04-13-07, 06:15 PM	This looks good to me. I can't really find anything wrong with it. You might want to change the name of it, though. It makes me think of the Changelings.
DreadArchon 04-14-07, 05:39 PM	This looks good to me. I can't really find anything wrong with it. You might want to change the name of it, though. It makes me think of the Changelings. Don't shapeshifting "Changelings" exist exclusively in Eberron, though? (We aren't in Eberron.) At any rate, I didn't name it. Outside of Eberron, "Changeling (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/changeling)" has only ever meant a few specific things, and I wanted a template for one such thing.
DebiHuman 04-19-07, 11:50 AM	It strikes me that you have this template backwards. The fairytale version of changelings is pretty dark. Fey creatures sneak into nurseries to steal infants and replace them with their own sickly children (glamored to resemble sickly versions of the baby they kidnapped). The "changeling" isn't the kidnapped child, but rather the ugly sickly child left in its place. This was done in Ravenloft's Denizens of Dread where Changlings are constructs made from the shadows of the victims (left as mindless shells known as "elf-shot" with no intelligence and no shadow either) and transformed into a variety of fey minions but that's Ravenloft for you. I guess I'm of the opinion that changlings should have inferior stats not superior stats and that the child stolen by the fey would reap the benefits. Debby Debby
Domriso 04-19-07, 10:34 PM	Changelings are not strictly Eberron at all. While they were originally released as a standard player race in the Eberron campaign setting they were then released two months later in the Monster Manual III, along with the shifter and warforged. They are an eberron icon but in no way are they strictly Eberron. Also, this isn't meant to sound condescending. I know that I have the MMIII, and I'm willing to bet quite a few others are in possession of one as well.
Runepriest 04-20-07, 10:52 AM	I thought this was a template for the MM3 creature actually!