Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 JohnLynch Jan 27, 2015 23:07:44	I know playing changelings is quite a popular option in Eberron and that Ed Greenwood has made regular use of doppelgangers in his Forgotten Realms campaigns. I personally made a place place for them in my own homebrew setting and I've finally gotten around to statting them up. I'm following the 4th ed line of thought in that changeling is just another name for a doppelganger.   Changeling Racial Traits Changelings have the following racial traits. Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma increases by 2 and your Intelligence increases by 1. Age. Doppelgangers mature at the same rate as humans and live roughly the same number of years. Alignment. Changelings can be of any alignment. Size. changelings are of the same proportions as their mother’s race and so almost always have a size of Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision. Thanks to your celestial you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light up to 60 feet as if it was bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colours in darkness, only shades of grey. Shapechanger. As an action you can assume the appearance of any medium humanoid and may choose to appear as a specific person. Depending on the familiarity someone has with a specific identity they may or may not have advantage to spot your disguise. When you change your appearance your equipment stays as it's original size. If you die you revert to your true form. Silver Tongue. You are proficient in the deception skill. Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and one other language.   --- My thinking is thus: Charisma is pretty important and intelligence feels like a good backup ability score for someone taking on multiple personas. Darkvision: Neither the 3.5e or 4th ed version of Eberron's changelings had darkvision. For me darkvision is critical for impersonating dwarves, elves and half-orcs and the doppelganger monster has it so I threw put it into my changeling/doppelganger PC race. Shapechanger: Fairly standard shapechanger trait. Identical to the doppelganger one. I added the sentence that some NPCs may have advantage to see through the disguise so that DMs feel comfortable doing so and players don't feel blind-sided when they do. IMO it's a common sense ruling. It was important to me that this be compatible with other abilities to disguise yourself, in particular the rogue's abilities. Silver Tongue is a fairly important skill for a shapechanger and seems like a no-brainer. A second language is also important when assuming the shape of non-humans. I balanced the race around the variant human, seeing shapechanger as equitable to a feat.   So where's the read thoughts ability that the CR 3 doppelganger has? In my view that's way too overpowered for a PC race. So why does the MM doppelganger get it if PC changelings don't? I'd assume the MM doppelganger has some levels in an NPC-only class that grants psionic abilities. In my view not all doppelgangers need to have read thoughts, just as not all orcs are born with a greataxe in their hand.
#2 LuisCarlos17f Jan 28, 2015 7:54:28	My suggestion is to mixture the racial parangon classes from 3.5 "Unearthed Arcane" and the doppelganger monster class from "Races of destiny".   The first level PC is a changelling normal, but she could get levels of "doppelganger class".
#3 Devils-Advocate Jan 28, 2015 10:52:27	Seems pretty balanced. Personally I'd go for +1 DEX over +1 INT, since their favored class was Rogue in 3E and in 4E they got a bonus to DEX and CHA.   I don't like Darkvision on Changelings, because like you said, they've never had it before. But it sounds like a "must have" for you, so I'll leave it at that.   I like shapechanger, but I don't think the clause about people familiar with the character you're impersonating getting advantage is necessary. In fact, I would have the feature grant the Changeling Advantage on Charisma (Deception) rolls to pass as their assumed identity. This would replace Silver Tongue in my own version.   I agree on the second language, and might even say a third is in order, since this race is pretty feature-light. Alternatively, maybe grant Proficiency with the Disguise Kit, or a greater stat boost.    EDIT: Here's my take.   Changeling Ability Score Adjustment. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1. Changeling Resilience. You have advantage on Wisdom saves to avoid being charmed or put to sleep. Changeling Skill Training. You are proficient in the Deception and Insight skills. Natural Linguist. The gold and time you must spend to learn a new language is halved, and you do not require an instructor. Shapechanger. You can use your action to change your appearance to that of any other medium sized humanoid race, of any gender. While your appearance is altered in this way, you have advantage on all Charisma (Deception) checks to pass as a member of the race you are impersonating. If you attempt to impersonate a specific individual, you do not gain this advantage on checks made to imitate their voice and mannerisms. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and your choice of one other language.
#4 seti Jan 28, 2015 11:40:33	I really like it. It's succint, fits the idea of the race, and I agree with the OP on darkvision.   I am torn between a +1 to INT or a +1 to DEX, though. (+2 CHA is a no-brainer.) Maybe give it +1 to INT or DEX?   Great job though. Lots of posters/DMs/rule crafters often make stuff too complicated (myself included). You nailed it down, kept it simple, and balanced to what we know is core.
(Reply to #4) The_Stray	seti wrote:
(Reply to #2) JohnLynch	Thanks for the feedback guys.   LuisCarlos17f wrote:
#7 rampant Jan 29, 2015 9:45:29	Actually having darkvision would make it harder for them to pass as races without it. A lot of how we interact with the world is based on our senses afterall.   Too bad lowlight vision doesn't ssemm to be a thing anymore.
#8 Cyber-Dave Jan 29, 2015 9:46:53	rampant wrote:
(Reply to #8) Timborama	Cyber-Dave wrote:
#10 Devils-Advocate Jan 29, 2015 18:58:37	JohnLynch wrote:
(Reply to #10) JohnLynch	Devils-Advocate wrote:
#12 Devils-Advocate Feb 02, 2015 23:10:04	Well, the version in Unearthed Arcana: Eberron is almost identical to yours. Nicely done.
#13 JohnLynch Feb 02, 2015 23:15:12	Thanks. I'll be interested to see what the final form looks like. As I mentioned in the other thread I still want darkvision (this is largely so I can use it as a doppelganger PC race). I'm using the official version as the changeling race and my version above as a doppelganger race (although I've removed the two bonus languages. Darkvision seems on par for 2 extra languages).
(Reply to #3) Pokegeek151	Devils-Advocate wrote: