Shapeshifter

Plenty of creatures can change shape, from werewolves and werejaguars to oozes, jellies, puddings and the scamille. A true shapeshifter species is narrower: every member has the power, it cannot be passed to anyone else, the creature changes by deliberate choice, and shapechanging is its main means of attack and defense. Besides the four described here, doppelgangers and mimics fit this definition.

An ancient, intelligent people found on every plane, adaptors keep to themselves, collecting knowledge and trading it only among their own kind. Their true form is a muscular, androgynous humanoid of shining gold with a smooth, blank oval face. They can take the shape of any creature roughly the size of a human or demihuman, but unlike doppelgangers cannot copy a particular person. Their minds pick up any language they hear, and each speaks Common and several others fluently.

Skilled swordsmen who prefer long swords and rapiers, adaptors strike twice per round with +4 to attack and damage when using a sword. Their great power is adaptation to magic. The first time a given type of magical attack hits one, it takes full effect (a fireball deals full damage, or half on a save), but then the adaptor is briefly immune to all magic of that kind, such as every magical fire attack. The protection lasts 1d10 turns unless triggered again, and an adaptor can hold several such immunities at once.

Each adaptor knows more than any sage, yet their philosophy forbids sharing great knowledge with other cultures. They watch rather than meddle, talk only of philosophy or ask about local people and places, and may answer one question for polite folk, perhaps the history of an obscure magic item or the location of a lost ruin. They work in small cells, each devoted to one field and mostly isolated from the rest. Their own origin is lost, and the few sages aware of them suspect the adaptors are searching for it too. They try not to disturb places they visit, and may carry strange devices beyond local understanding, such as energy neutralizers, trance inducers or flame tubes, whose effects the DM decides.

Distant relatives of humans, metamorphs live in harmony with nature and help keep its balance. In their own form they are handsome men and women with slightly pointed ears and pure white eyes. They speak Common, and 90% also speak elvish and the halfling tongue.

They prefer to change shape and slip away rather than fight, but fight hard when cornered, favoring the weapons druids use: clubs, sickles, daggers, slings and spears. They wear no armor, which shapechanging would ruin. They save as 11th-level wizards. Any group of ten or more has a 5+2 HD leader, who raises morale to 12 but often leads the others out of the fight.

Their nonmagical shapechanging works up to 11 times a day and grants every ability of the new form, special attacks included, but giant-sized and monstrous forms are off limits. The allowed categories are mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, insect, spider, centipede, crustacean, worm and leech, and each category can be used only once per day, so a metamorph might be a dog today and a cat tomorrow, but only one mammal per day. Each shape holds for at most an hour or until it chooses to change back. Metamorphs breed like humans and dwell in clan fortresses well away from human towns, each led by a 5+2 HD chief, on good terms with elves, halflings and druids. They guard the land within five miles of home.

Polymars are moderately intelligent brown blobs, sociable cousins of the mimic, that change shape to lure prey. They cannot speak, but each pack shares constant telepathic contact, and a few rare packs are said to have learned sign language or writing. A polymar can mimic any creature of 10 HD or less or any object under 100 cubic feet, without gaining its special abilities. The pack's leader is simply whichever polymar has the highest hit point total, and when it dies the next strongest takes over.

The leader's form sets the theme for everyone: if it becomes wooden furniture, the rest do too, matching in style, so a pack might pose as a matched parlor set: table, couch, coat rack and a pair of chairs. The disguises are imperfect, with humanoid copies shuffling oddly and wood grain looking subtly wrong, and opponents notice something amiss on a 1 on 1d6. Whatever its shape, a fighting polymar pushes out three pseudopods for 1d6 each, and the whole pack strikes in unison, focusing on one foe when the leader chooses.

They feed by engulfing dead plants and animals, and a slain victim is fully digested within 2d4 hours, with nothing but inorganic material left behind. They reproduce by fission, all at once after the pack has eaten enough. A small pack stays together; if the area cannot feed more, half split off to find new ground. Alchemists and wizards prize their tissue for items and potions of shapechanging or polymorphing.

These are wicked beings whose power is the stuff of legend, and no one knows their true appearance. They usually pose as humans or humanoids, or as small, appealing animals, always size S or M. They attack according to the form they wear, with weapons as a human or a bite as a dog, using the damage of the creature imitated. Changing takes a full round with no other action. The new form gives only movement and normal attacks; the randara keeps its own Armor Class and gains no special abilities.

A randara casts charm person once a day and ESP at will, both at 11th level. It is immune to spells of 1st through 3rd level, takes half damage from magical weapons and none from normal ones.

Randaras crave human and demihuman flesh and have no known natural foes. A favorite ploy is to find a settlement, pick a moderately powerful, respected person, and stalk that target for weeks with ESP to learn everything about them. Then it kills the victim, takes their place, and uses that trusted position to draw in more meals.