Hengeyokai

Each hengeyokai belongs to one animal type and can take three shapes: that animal, an upright hybrid, or a human. Common types include the rat, sparrow, crane, carp, crab, fox, cat, dog, hare, monkey, drake and raccoon dog, and each type has its own alignment limits and gifts. The animal shape is real, not an illusion, so magic that reveals illusions shows nothing odd. The hybrid stands man-high with hands in place of paws, wings or fins, but keeps fur or feathers, tail and other animal features. The human shape is equally real yet always betrays some trace of the animal, such as a sparrow's pointed nose or a rat's beady eyes and whiskers, as the GM decides.

All types share one language, usable in any form. They can also talk with animals and know the trade tongue and local human speech, the latter only in human or hybrid form. Hengeyokai may become wandering eastern priests, sword-masters, eastern warriors or eastern sorcerers, but never samurai or ninja, which are human callings.

Their shapeshifting is natural, not lycanthropy: the moon has no hold on them, silver is no special threat, wounds do not pass the trait on, and changing shape heals nothing. A hengeyokai may change once per day per level, so a 1st-level one stays in its new shape until the next day. Each change takes a full round with no other action, and armor and gear drop to the ground.

Level and ability scores are identical in all forms, and 0 hit points kills it in any form. In animal shape its maximum is half its normal total, rounded up, and damage carries over exactly. Thus a hengeyokai with 23 hit points has 12 as an animal; after taking 8 as a human it has 15, and becoming an animal would leave it 4. It cannot change to animal form if that would bring it to 0 or less.

As an animal it uses its type's movement, AC and damage, has 120-foot infravision and speaks with animals, usually in simple phrases. It cannot use armor, gear, weapons or spells, may be hunted as game, and speaks only its own and animal tongues while still understanding all its languages. Natural attacks work only in this form, and its AC cannot be improved by armor or shields.

As a hybrid it has full hit points, 120-foot infravision, all its languages, spells, weapons, armor and gear, but none of the animal's special movement (a sparrow cannot fly, a carp swims normally), a movement rate of 12, and an unmistakable look. As a human it has full hit points, spells and gear and passes easily among people, but has no infravision and cannot speak to animals, though it understands them. Alignment limits are strict and apply to all forms, and type modifiers may lower scores below racial minimums but never raise them past the maximums.

Hengeyokai live worldwide on the margins of human lands, in loose bands sheltering in rough, sturdy huts of wood and stone. They build no villages, clans, formal families or strongholds and avoid long contact with humans. Good ones may become guardians of a family or village, defending it and seeing to its welfare in return for food, gifts and services that cover all their needs. Most are chaotic and keep apart. Nearby humans generally know a band's forms and the typical temperament of each, and behave accordingly, steering clear of foxes, which are usually evil.

Bands rarely exceed 20 adults, equal in number and ability between the sexes. A 2nd- or 3rd-level warrior (even chance) of either sex leads. A 1st- or 2nd-level priest appears 20% of the time, and a sorcerer or a sword-master of those levels 10% each; the rest are 1st-level warriors. Stronger individuals usually live alone.

They keep life simple, rarely hold more than a handful of coins, and swap or give away anything beyond basic needs. Storytelling, gardening, running, climbing and swimming are favorite pastimes. Suspicious of outsiders, they still form deep friendships with anyone kind to them.

Their diet resembles a human's but leans toward their animal's, so a cat may eat only meat and a sparrow only seed and grain. A few are fine artists, known for colored woodblock prints that collectors have paid up to 1,000 coins for and for carved guardian figures placed at temple entrances.