How is a changeling socialized? Humans generally don't steal because they can get caught or because they believe it's wrong, for instance. But what if you couldn't get caught? It's a simple matter for a changeling to take a random appearance, commit a crime and flee, then revert to another form once out of site. As long as they aren't followed constantly by the same person, they'll be able to get away with such pretty crimes.
What's to stop changelings from growing up without caring for the law or such social norms? I expect they do want to blend in, but they are at almost no risk in compromising their primary identities so long as they take other forms for their crimes.
Remember the Ring of Gyges? Socrates used it as a thought exercise explore the behavior of people who didn't fear consequences because they could become invisible.
How is a changeling socialized? Humans generally don't steal because they can get caught or because they believe it's wrong, for instance. But what if you couldn't get caught? It's a simple matter for a changeling to take a random appearance, commit a crime and flee, then revert to another form once out of site. As long as they aren't followed constantly by the same person, they'll be able to get away with such pretty crimes.
What's to stop changelings from growing up without caring for the law or such social norms? I expect they do want to blend in, but they are at almost no risk in compromising their primary identities so long as they take other forms for their crimes.
That's interesting. Brings up the age old question of nature vs. nurture. Are some changelings born with some morality (a sickly feeling inside when they act immoral)? Or does it all have to be taught? It may be that changeling culture is more lax against the law believing if someone is naive enough to be stolen from or swindled, they deserve it. But I tend to believe certain morals most people are born with, like violent crimes. Then there is the occasional psychopath.
Looking at their writeup, sounds like they are descended from dopplegangers, have no homeland of their own, and fit seemlessly into the background of other cultures. There is also a tendency toward theivery. So in a way they are a blank slate, assuming the morals and tendencies of other cultures. And the way some of them have been written in the novels their beliefs are as fluid as their shape, actually taking on a new personality and set of beliefs with each form.
You could also go by the Races of Eberron roles: Passer, Becomer, or Seeker. Passers would probably take on the morals of the culture they are in, most likely taught by their parents if they were also Passers. Becomers would seem to have the fluidity of morals like above, taking on and becoming each role completely.
Seekers on the other hand, seem to prefer to be neutral. This seems to be the changelings trying to create their own culture and could really be anything. It could be something like Vulcans, impassive and logical, but it says many worship the Traveler and his ever changing nature. Which sounds more CN to me.
Well like most discussions of philosphy, no real answer and bunch more questions
EDIT: Actually thinking about it, D&D alignment could reflect nature versus nurture. Law-Chaos is prescribed morals/learning society and Good-Evil is inate nature.
I expect they do want to blend in, but they are at almost no risk in compromising their primary identities so long as they take other forms for their crimes.
Enter NPC psions. I don't know how 4th ed or 3.5e psionic classes work. But IMO there would be telepathic NPCs. If the thief got too big or too public, a cracksquad of telepaths would be unleashed to hunt down this criminal.
Even as beings universally able to take on other identities, a changeling still feels the need for friends, family and even just associates who see them at the store every day and give them a curt nod.
Amoung changelings there's bound to be a higher-than-human-norms subset of those who have learned to manage in deep cover or walking from one identity to another, but for most of them, a social life is a nescessity. And where you have friends, you have things yo do for them, things you do not do for them and the underlying "social contract".
Most changelings will probably tell white lies and indulge in polite fictions to smooth over their daily dealings, just like humans, but most understand the value of polite society.
(Also of course, the watch/guards of the five nations are not chumps and are perfectly aware of face-shifting thieves and burglars who can spider climb through windows. They have their own methods for dealing with them.)
Remember the Ring of Gyges? Socrates used it as a thought exercise explore the behavior of people who didn't fear consequences because they could become invisible.
It may be that changeling culture is more lax against the law believing if someone is naive enough to be stolen from or swindled, they deserve it.
It's certainly an interesting question. While in many places changelings are too few in number to have a "culture", you have well-established communities in places like Sharn and actual changeling settlements in Droaam and the Lhazaar Principalities.
I see three scenarios right off the bat that would be very different:
1. Changelings as a hidden extreme minority in a society of others - the single changeling hidden among humans. The changeling will not be learning morals from other changelings, nor is the community likely to have tools specifically in place to deal with the changelings (any more than every culture will, in a world with changelings, doppelgangers, rakshasa, lycanthropes, etc).
2. The Sharn scenario: Changelings are a visible and recognized minority in another society.
3. The Gray Tide: A society entirely comprised of changelings.
The basic question revolves around "fear of consequences". The issue is that I can shift my form and commit a quick crime - shoplift, mug, etc - run off and shift to a new form before I can be caught.
One immediate thought: changelings don't have absolute invisibility. Remember that changelings can't change their clothes when they shapeshift. If we're talking about snatch-and-grab crime, the clothes may actually be more recognizable than the face -"It was a man in a red jacket". You'd have to scrap the usual line-up, but if you're a pursesnatcher in Sharn, you're caught, and the old lady says "I remember that jacket, but he's an elf and I THOUGHT he was human" - well, in scenario #2 or #3, I'd expect the watch to EXPECT this sort of crime and have different ways of handling line-ups than relying on facial recognition. Of course, an interesting side element is that it means the changeling would want to create an identity so colorful that it draws attention AWAY from his clothes; so the old woman can't remember what he was wearing because all she remembers is the red mohawk.
Anyhow, in scenario one, I think the situation is ripe for changeling sociopaths. The people don't expect changeling predation and aren't prepared to deal with it. The changeling has no changeling community around him.
In scenario two, I'd see it being about changelings policing themselves. If changelings are a recognized minority with a recognized area of town that they live in, and petty crime is constantly laid at their feet, then the majority race could quickly come to take it out on the changelings who have nothing to do with the crimes. Frequent sociopathic behavior on the part of young changelings would threaten the entire community. As such, it would be on the parents to teach the children not to take advantage of the outsiders in obvious, trivial ways. The Cabinet of Faces is all about deception so subtle the deceived never even realized it occurred - as opposed to the idea that "Anyone who goes down there will get mugged." The Tyrants of Sharn specialize in con games and similar schemes - using their powers for deception, but again, not in the simple blunt snatch-and-grab that could foster a public image of "We should just drive those changelings out of the city."
So essentially, I see it as being on the parent to find a way to shape the child and to find another outlet for those impulses.
Scenario three takes scenario two one step farther. In a society of shapechangers, how do we recognize one another? I'd expect Insight to be a highly developed skill - that members of the peace-keeping force would be INCREDIBLY skilled at reading body language, and again the idea of a police line up would be completely different. As 4E Changelings & Doppelgangers are one and the same, latent telepathy is present in the species; I'd expect telepaths to be recruited into the governing force, and instead of a sketch artist you'd have the telepath who studies your memories to examine the body language of the person you were dealing with... or reads their aura and uses that to track them. A culture of shapeshifters won't have the same approach to physical appearance that we do, and it's interesting to think about what would take its place.
An alternate approach would be absolute social Darwinism; there is no law enforcement, and if you can't hold onto your goods you deserve to lose them. That would certainly be more chaotic, and would produce far more ruthless people. The question is which direction you want to take it - a more Zil society, where the lawkeepers can read your intent just by looking at you, and where you don't steal because you think they'll pluck the thought from your mind... or a wilder and more chaotic society, where the very idea of property ownership may be different because theft is so commonplace. I think both are interesting; I could see yusing one model for Lost in Droaam and the other for the Gray Tide in Lhazaar just to explore both.
Anyhow, just some random thoughts... it's certainly an interesting question.
One immediate thought: changelings don't have absolute invisibility. Remember that changelings can't change their clothes when they shapeshift.
Certainly, but going from "trench-cloaked hobgoblin" to "shirtless half-elf" in two second's time is going to make identification quite difficult. A changeling simply needs to have a portion of his outfit disposable (a cheap heavy cloak, a big hat) or alterable (a reversible jacket) to complete the disguise.
In integrated places like Sharn (with its 3% changeling population), I imagine most store owners, etc. learn to watch behavior and concrete features as much as faces. Trying to track identity via mannerisms is going to be hard (changelings have a racial Bluff bonus, after all), but looking specifically at boots, weapons, or jewelry can improve their odds. Still, if a changeling is plotting a crime, he probably won't be stopped by observation.
In scenario two, I'd see it being about changelings policing themselves.
It seems reasonable, but changelings aren't really better at spotting another changeling than anyone else. A changeling sub-culture has the same problem as the larger community: you can't identify someone as a changeling, nor can you easily track a particular changeling criminal. "Clee" might live near other changelings somewhere in Middle Dura and do most of her work as a shapechanging performance artist - but once every few weeks, she robs visitors to the city. How would anyone know?
The changelings don't have a way to stop Clee from doing this, unless they are constantly monitoring each other like Zil gnomes. But why would they? True, no one wants the wrath of the Sharn watch to come down on changelings, but how could it? First, no one can prove that a given crime was committed by a changeling. Second, even if some witness sees someone shoplift and then change shape, you can't identify that individual. If crime gets so bad that people want to hunt all changelings down, how can they find them? Any worried changeling can simply not look like a changeling, and there's no way to prove otherwise.
Scenario three takes scenario two one step farther. In a society of shapechangers, how do we recognize one another? I'd expect Insight to be a highly developed skill.
I imagine that would be part of it, too, but if identity is important, things like passwords and phrases are probably utilized, too.
The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that changelings really can't be stopped (by themselves or others) from committing crimes at a certain "tolerable" level. Crime control is going to have to be about initial prevention for most goods, such as Kundarak alarms, or secure storage: customers have to come to a special area to handle goods before purchase - nothing is simply sitting on a shelf. People probably don't carry too much cash on them, preferring invoices to draw on bank accounts to pay for items. For people like street vendors, though, they'll just have to live with the fact that changelings are probably stealing their stuff.
For anything really important, there's Tharashk. They can help track down the very important stuff. I also imagine that, once in a while, the big cities hire Tharashk and Medani to do a sweep for big-time changeling criminals, just to keep the small-time guys in line. Heck, cities might even hire changelings for this: they hire a changeling to pretend to be a criminal and arrest him, claiming that they have some special magic that can reveal a shapechanger's true form, and other changelings don't know if that's true or not.
It seems reasonable, but changelings aren't really better at spotting another changeling than anyone else. A changeling sub-culture has the same problem as the larger community: you can't identify someone as a changeling, nor can you easily track a particular changeling criminal.
Maybe yes... maybe no. Essentially, this depends whether you're in 3E or 4E.
In 3.5, it's true, changelings are out of luck. At one point the "Recognize Imposter" feat (page 58 of the ECS) was aimed at changelings to represent exactly this - but it's such a odd corner case feat that it's hard to justify using a feat slot on it.
In 4E, we've got a number of different things going on.
First, changelings and doppelgangers are now two different names for the same species. This was actually the ORIGINAL plan for them in the initial Eberron submission; my thought was that base characters would have the limited shapeshift, with a Savage Species-style monster class that developed the stronger abilities of the doppelganger - notably, the telepathic abilities of the doppelganger. When I wrote The Complete Guide to Doppelgangers for Goodman Games, I made the telepathic element a crucial part of a doppelganger community. The idea of a species unable to identify its own members seems odd, but doppelgangers can detect thoughts - hence, my thought was that they understand identity in a different way than non-telepathic, single-form people. Mind you, the doppelgangers of TCGTD are different from those of Eberron in many ways... but I've always thought that telepathy would be a critical sense for inter-doppelganger interaction.
In 4E, changelings aren't telepathic by default. As a PC, you may never develop telepathic abilities. But the doppelganger assassin can still cloud minds... so it's something that I see as a latent ability that can be developed by the race (something seen in both The Queen of Stone and The Fading Dream... and something I personally use to justify the racial bonus to Bluff and Insight).
So... that lone changeling on his own in a human culture might not develop telepathic abilities. But in a changeling culture - like the Gray Tide - the people may have harnessed these innate gifts. For NPCs, well, NPCs do what you want them to do. You can just say that a Doppelganger Monitor has an impressive Insight, Telepathy 10, and automatically recognizes changelings within his telepathy range. This is like vision for a human, which is to say that he recognizes the person by their thoughts. For other races it's not as precise, and is just reflected by the Insight. Then I'd add a racial ritual (IE treated as a ritual, but not using a ritual book and something that can only be learned by changelings... or potentially kalashtar or other telepaths) allowing the character to make an Insight check to track this "psychic scent" (only to track changelings, so not eliminating the value of Tharashk). And there you have one of the lawkeepers of the Gray Tide. One could develop this as a feat chain or paragon path for players who wanted to harness these abilities... and certainly let them just learn the ritual as a ritual.
So... by RAW, there's no way for a changeling to recognize another changeling. I find that a little odd for a species and a culture, so I'd offer an alternative for the changeling cultures. But again, I could see having one culture that makes this effort to polices its own... and another that embraces the social darwinism of it.
On the toss-the-trench-coat issue, by the time you've got yourself a reversible trench coat, it seems to me you've already learned about right and wrong. The five year old changeling who's still learning how to use his power probably doesn't have the perfect props for a crime. Given that, I'd think you'd see a lot of changeling children running around naked. Because that's how you get your invisibility. Sure, the naked halfling was a changeling kid, but which one?
With THAT said... a critical question is when the changeling child masters his power. How long does it take him to actually form a convincing disguise? Technically, the power lets you look like a medium creature; you could read this as "a creature of the same size as the changeling"... as the changeling baby being able to look like a baby of a medium race... or that the ability doesn't become fully functional until the changeling is medium sized.
And what kind of circumstance bonus does a mother get for recognizing her own child?
If the issue is changeling moral development as children, any of these could be factors.
For me, I find it slightly odd to posit a species that has no way innately recognize its own members - and utilizing the telepathic ability of the traditional doppelganger was always the thing that made sense to me.
I don't disagree; for 3.5 I wrote up a counterpart race called Swipes that were effectively the telepathic half of the changeling equation - humanoids that exactly resembled humanoids of a "normal" species, but able to read mind. I like the telepathy angle.
Still, even if there are elite changeling psychics who can pick out members of their race and identify criminals, there remain two problems. First, their uncommon nature means that they are, at best, a limited tool for social control among changelings. Second, why should they turn in their own kind? A significant changeling minority is only a problem for the society upon which it preys. If it takes a changeling pyshic spy to find a changeling criminal, then the changeling community at large has no concern if their members steal/kill humans.
Still, even if there are elite changeling psychics who can pick out members of their race and identify criminals, there remain two problems. First, their uncommon nature means that they are, at best, a limited tool for social control among changelings. Second, why should they turn in their own kind? A significant changeling minority is only a problem for the society upon which it preys...
Right. In my "Changeling monitor" example, I was speaking specifically to a situation like the Gray Tide: a community that's almost entirely changelings. My point is that in such a society - a culture developed by changelings for changelings - they'd be more likely to have developed ways to police their own members. Meanwhile, the places where there are just a few changelings might never have developed these abilities, even if the latent potential is there. Going by the "NPCs can do what the story requires", as long as all PC changelings are from somewhere like Sharn, you could simply say that Changelings from Lost or the Gray Tide or similar places at least have the ability to recognize changelings as changelings, even if they can't track.
In a place like Sharn, I wouldn't expect the standard changeling to have the tracking ability. However, an organization like the Tyrants might very well develop specialists like the Monitor described above. You're quite right: he wouldn't rat changelings out to the Watch. But he WOULD use those abilities to track down and deal with any changeling who threatens the goals of the Tyrants themselves. So it wouldn't be like the Trust and it wouldn't stop minor crime; but it would be a good reason not to bring too much trouble back home.
I imagine that would be part of it, too, but if identity is important, things like passwords and phrases are probably utilized, too.
So, I was suggesting telepathic recognizition within those major changeling cultures... but going back to changelings in the Five Nations, I could also see physical things. Tattoos. Hairstyle and color combinations. For that matter, a family might share certain identities. When traveler to a new place, use the peddler Jonas; if another member of your family is in town, they'll approach you and identify themselves and give you information about the lay of the land based on the things they ask you for. "Do you have any fireground tal?" means "Go to ground, now!" Jonas is an elf, and the family can keep using him for at least another century...
Changelings have always been one of my favorite aspects of Eberron, so I’ve thought a lot about “how they work” (and play, and live) in my campaign. They have an unusual nature-- so how are they nurtured?
In my take, until it’s weaned a changeling child instinctively Changes Shape to mimic its mother’s racial profile. For changelings raised by a non-changeling mother, this instinct provides cover from the non-changeling community. For changelings raised by a changeling mother, this instinct prevents the child from breaking mother’s cover. Technically speaking it’s a defensive mechanism that developed over time; narratively, it’s a way for changelings to start off with something resembling a human childhood (the only sort I’m qualified to discuss).
Once a changeling is older (say, ages three and up), Change Shape requires a conscious effort. For changelings raised to pass, the urge to Change Shape is infrequent. They have the ability--they just don’t practice it. For changelings raised by deceiver parents, that urge will come up all the time. They’ll impersonate their parents, their friends, passersby... and may even try random objects and animals. They’re kids, after all--fantasy and reality are miscible up to a certain age. They won’t always get the image they’re after right of course: they’re still learning about proportion, and display age and gender signifiers without really knowing their purpose. In my Eberron, changeling children are the source of sightings of “Little People” like killmoulis, house brownies, leprechauns, and the like. (That's why they're not in the MM anymore!)
The “play” phase of using Change Shape ends about the time the changeling learns the concepts of persistent identity, social contract, and consequence. Once they start getting slapped on the wrist by their parents--or beaten by their peers--for using Change Shape at the wrong time, changelings start being picky about whom they impersonate, and how. These lessons will tend to come earlier for changelings raised to pass; for changelings encouraged to deceive by deceptive parents, these lessons come later and/or milder. The grab-and-dash changelings are stealing, yes, but in a way they’re also just playing, like they always have been.
What's the audio sample from that Ministry song? "Juvenile delinquency is always rooted in adult delinquency."
In my take, until it’s weaned a changeling child instinctively Changes Shape to mimic its mother’s racial profile. For changelings raised by a non-changeling mother, this instinct provides cover from the non-changeling community. For changelings raised by a changeling mother, this instinct prevents the child from breaking mother’s cover.
That's a very cool idea. I've had similar views about the developmental cycle of changelings but hadn't considered the survival element of changing shape while young. The farthest I got was with my first Eberron character, a changeling with a medusa mother; his lateny psychic abilities communicated to him from birth that he shouldn't see his family, so he shaped his eyes away except while alone.
Your idea that changelings mimic their mothers makes perfect sense, for two cases. First, if the changeling is raised by its changeling mother, it keeps both mother and baby safe. Second, if the changeling is raised by someone else, such as a human mother with a changeling father, the baby's shifting might even prevent the mother from knowing her baby's race.
In fact, if the ability works well enough, and using latent psychic abilities, a changeling in the womb might naturally mimic its mother's appearance without having seen it; when it's born, it then strongly resembles its mother, regardless of her race. If it was conceived through deception (a changeling replacing the human father for a night), then it might incorporate it's alleged "father's" appearance as it ages - all by instinct. This wouldn't be unlike human infants, who, when born, often resemble their fathers more than their mothers so that their parentage isn't in question.
This being the case I think Changeling culture would be around nudging the various pawns (ie non-changelings) into social actions and stances that seem to suit their own needs. In a place like Sharn you have the Cabinet of Faces. They probably aren't sure whom amongst their members uses their real appearance. So half the fun would be playing in various social gatherings, trying to get a desired result. I can imagine all these different changelings just bouncing the clueless off one another and enjoying the results. Every social gathering would be their form of jousting and engagement. Never get lethal, that's just no fun. But socially embarass another changeling (whom everyone else doesn't know is one), get them into the spotlight, that's the sort of playful and sneaky world they live in.
Just my 2 cents worth.
They have a sort of latent telepathy. Not enough to discern thoughts, but enough to sense then. They do not listen to or hear thoughts. They smells then. That's the source of their Skill bonuses. While other races thoughts are very random or similar, changelings minds are more unique. They an discern this uniqueness in a thought pattern. It don't allow then to recognize other changelings, but remembers the thought pattern of a changeling. So if Changeling A meets an elf, that it reality is a disguised changeling, then he meets a dwarf, he will recognized the elf pattern in the dwarf.
This way, a changeling can only see into disguises of changelings he already met AND CHANGED shapes. Deep cover changelings don't like to change shapes because of that.
This ability can be trained to sense any disguised changeling, but it only reach this level of perfection in changeling societies, it's similar to learning a language. So in changeling societies, you don't only see their physical form, but also her though print.
On child changelings:
Changelings always take the form of the mother. Changelings can reproduce with any race they can change shape into, but he chances of a changelings being born are low. A male changeling with a non-changeling mon can spend his whole life without learning he is a changeling. A changeling born of a changeling mother will always assume the form of the mother, he will do so until late teens. Only a changeling born of two changelings have full control of his ability since birth.
Latent Telepathy
Prerequisites: Changeling
Benefit: You have developed your latent telepathic abilities to the point where you can communicate with other telepathic or latently telepathic creatures. You gain telepathy 5. You can communicate with any other changeling or telepathic creature that has a language, is within line of sight and within 5 squares of you. This allows for two-way communication.
Telepathic Recognition
Prerequisites: Ability to communicate telepathically
Benefit: You have developed your telepathic talents to the point where you can recognize a person by their mental pattern as easily as you could by their face. You gain a +5 feat bonus to insight checks made to pierce the disguises of creatures within range of your telepathy.
Evolved Telepathy
Prerequisites: 11th level, Changeling
Benefit: You have developed your latent telepathic abilities to their natural potential. You gain telepathy 5. You can communicate with any other creature that has a language and is within line of sight and within 5 squares of you; this allows for two-way communication.
I could also see allowing telepathic changelings to take the kalashtar feats Extended Telepathy and Telepathic Sensitivity.
Well, one of the things that i remember reading is that Changelings might not necessarily have all the cultural knowledge to blend in. For example, when people sneeze, the polite thing to do is say, "Bless you" or "Gesundheit." Cultural things. If somebody doesn't, well, they kinda stand out.
It's hard to think though that a changeling wouldn't get that because their racial skill bonuses cover both ends of that equation: +2 Insight to figure out what appropriate behavior is, and +2 Bluff when trying to come across as a natural with it.
Certainly, but going from "trench-cloaked hobgoblin" to "shirtless half-elf" in two second's time is going to make identification quite difficult. A changeling simply needs to have a portion of his outfit disposable (a cheap heavy cloak, a big hat) or alterable (a reversible jacket) to complete the disguise.
I can imagine a Daredevil/Sherlock Holmes type setup where they can easily change their outfits within a few moments and look to be completely different people.
I'd say there's nothing to stop the master criminals. But then, they'd be master criminals even if they weren't changelings
It seems reasonable, but changelings aren't really better at spotting another changeling than anyone else.
That you know of. I can imagine a secret organisation that by most people is believed to simply be a bard's tale. But among the criminal changeling society they're feared as a very real and potent threat. In a world with magic, psionics and prophecy who knows what tools this society might have at their disposal. Of course, they only really target criminals who don't follow The Code of Conduct. If you follow that code, you can get by quite fine. You break it, you'll simply disappear and no-one will know for sure whatever happened to you. Maybe you were simply mugged by an ordinary thief. Maybe you were caught and killed. Maybe you decided to leave town for your own reasons. Or maybe, just maybe, the secret organisation got you.
Of course, the above is just a much more vague way of saying what Hellcow did.
Second, why should they turn in their own kind? A significant changeling minority is only a problem for the society upon which it preys. If it takes a changeling pyshic spy to find a changeling criminal, then the changeling community at large has no concern if their members steal/kill humans.
In my Secret Society I haven't outlined WHO its members are. It could be it was founded by a Changeling centuries ago who saw his kind being persecuted and hunted into extinction. By developing tools to identify changelings, keep tabs on them and deal with them when they get out of hand. S/he then signed a deal with the King of Galifar to protect changelings and foster a society that is amenable to them. In return the Secret Society would deal with the real troublemakers.
Of course changelings don't need to be the dominant race of this Society. But if they are, perhaps they're given much more power then they could ever hope for otherwise. What if any Changeling can develop these psionic abilities as long as they're given the correct training (either through hardwork, mental probing and developing or a ritual). In this version of the Secret Society, they would probably have it set up so that members that graduate can move into society with power, wealth and whatever else they could possibly dream of.
Of course, the society also probably keeps tabs on anyone whose research might lead to them rediscovering the tools the Secret Society uses. Anyone that looks like they're on the road of rediscovering these tools would have to be dealt with.
Of course, if any Secret Society member went rogue it would bring the entire organisation into jeopardy. So they would police themselves even more strictly then they'd police changelings at large.