Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 caleb_101 Aug 29, 2009 8:51:55	I was wonder about the idea of a ritual similar to Change Shape racial power. I don't have much, but I thought I would post what I have and get community help for the rest Name: Change Shape Effect: As Change Shape racial power, targets ritual user or willing subject. User can shift between the chosen form and their own at-will while this ritual is in effect. You can extend this power indefinately by designating an object the time of casting. As long the object is within 5 feet of the target, the ritual persists.
#2 slobo777a Aug 29, 2009 15:55:56	A ritual that grants a racial power can somewhat cheapen the racial power in question - you need to ensure that there is some cost or difference to the "natural" power such that the racial ability is still cool to have. At the very least make it a body slot magic item, so that there is a persistent cost that characters pay to be ritually enhanced in this way. Granting a permanent, at-will use ability should be a high level effect. I'd probably put this somewhere after level 15. Making it a 1/day ability lasting 5 minutes would reduce the level significantly. Similarly, making it a one off change during the ritual that lasts x days would be quite reasonable and something you could place at a Heroic level.
#3 caleb_101 Aug 29, 2009 16:08:01	How about:   Name: Change Shape Effect: As Change Shape racial power, targets ritual user or willing subject. User can shift between the chosen form and their own at-will while this ritual is in effect. You can extend this power indefinately by designating an object the time of casting. As long the object is within 5 feet of the target, the ritual persists. Make an arcana check. Result | Ritual Length    ???  | 7 days    ???  | 5 days    ???  | 3 days    ???  | 1 day   Now I just need to think of some of the other stats...
#4 MrCelsius Aug 29, 2009 21:59:44	Try a scale more like 10 minutes (low heroic check) / 30 minutes (average heroic check) / 1 hour (high heroic/low paragon check) / 3 hours (average paragon check) / 6 hours (high paragon/low epic check) / 12 hours (average epic check) / 24 hours (high epic check).  The casting cost shouldn't be insignificant either.  This ability emulates almost the entire value of a player character race, one which has virtually nothing else going for it.  Anything less than a significant expenditure renders that race virtually worthless (granted, it's rendered virtually worthless at level 10 by the Hat of Disguise, but there's no reason to pile on).
#5 caleb_101 Aug 31, 2009 11:46:19	Like this? Name: Change Shape Cost: 150 gp Effect: As Change Shape racial power, targets ritual user or willing subject. User can shift between the chosen form and their own at-will while this ritual is in effect. You can extend this power indefinately by designating an object the time of casting. As long the object is within 5 feet of the target, the ritual persists. Make an arcana check. Result | Ritual Length    ???  | 24 hours    ???  | 12 hours    ???  | 6 hours    ???  | 3 hours    ???  | 1 hour    ???  | 30 minutes    ???  | 10 minutes
#6 Neutronium_Dragon Sep 01, 2009 6:24:23	If the ritual does not allow the subject to freely shift back and forth then it's not nearly as problematic as the original version which did. Likewise, this ritual apparently only grants one specific alternate appearance, unlike the racial which (generally) allows you to change your appearance to whatever you want whenever you feel like it (within the bounds of medium humanoid, of course). If you really want to eliminate the obsoletes-the-racial problem then it's very simple: The ritual's effects are broken as soon as the subject engages in more than basic interactions with the environment. If it attacks, uses powers, or the like, the effect ends immediately for that subject. I'd suggest changing the Arcana result to determine the duration of the effect rather than the length of time that the ritual takes, too.
#7 AbdulAlhazred Sep 02, 2009 15:30:58	This later version doesn't sound bad. For the vast majority of potential uses one change is really all the character is going to need, but it does still mean a doppleganger is more flexible. Plus the 150 gp cost is not entirely trivial and even a 10 minute casting time can be a significant issue at times. So it certainly isn't going to remove the value of having a racial shape changing ability, and yet it seems like a useful ritual. Considering that the target of the ritual may well also need to be able to bluff, speak some specific language, etc in order to pass effectively in some situations I don't see it creating too many headaches or being liable to serious abuse. In any case its definitely the sort of thing which could well be quite fun and open up some interesting options for a party that lacks another way to do this. I kind of like the general concept of rituals that give benefits similar to special purpose items because often the DM is otherwise stuck with the need to hand out the item in order to open up certain plot possibilities. Then they're stuck dealing with the fact that the party now has said super handy item for the rest of the campaign. Another way to handle this kind of thing which has slightly different trade offs is to create a consumable item like a potion. It may in some cases fit in a bit better with the intended use, though it probably needs to have a bit higher cost since it could potentially be practically as good as the full item.