Shifter

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A Longtooth and Razorclaw Shifter.

Shifters are one of the races to come out of the Eberron setting, alongside the Changeling and Warforged and oft-forgotten Kalashtar. The basic idea is that they are werebeasts-lite, having similar shapeshifting into beast powers without being as utterly broken as true lycanthropes. It's commonly believed that they are the descendants of humans and lycanthropes, hence the watered down shapeshifting power. In truth it's the other way around: Lycanthropes of Eberron are corrupted shifters created by either Dealkyr or one of the Overlords, depending on whom you believe (or maybe both). As usual with Eberron, there's no hard canon on that, only speculations and researches of characters in-setting, with actual truth left for each DM to set.

On their own world, they suffer from something of a bad reputation; this is because Eberron has twelve moons (and used to have 13), which means that, originally, werebeasts were A Big Fucking Problem. It got so bad that the Church of the Silver Flame, the resident "uber-good church", led a genocidal anti-lycanthrope crusade that pretty much wiped them all out. However, since this is Eberron and thusly squeaky-clean black 'n' white alignment isn't a thing, the Silver Flame also got trigger happy and massacred thousands of innocent, harmless shifters in the process. The shifters have never really forgiven the Silver Flame for this and tend to be some of its most zealous criticizers, if not full-fledged anti-church terrorists in the most hard-up cases. And in case you think you could be bros with werewolves tough luck, because were-creatures were even bigger dicks than the church and actively set Inquisition on shifters in order to get them involved in the war and get some heat off themselves, so to these days there's a lot of bad blood between shifters and lycanthropes.

Initially, they weren't very popular, perhaps because the art made them absolutely butt-fuck ugly. Seriously, even your typical furry wouldn't bang the Eberron corebook shifters. Perhaps noting the attempts by fans to redraw them as monstergirls, WoTC prettied them up in subsequent art and they steadily grew more popular, though Warforged have always beaten them out.

Shifters are known to be native to two settings; Eberron, which is where they started, and the Nentir Vale. They also became a thing in the Forgotten Realms during the post-Spellplague era, but presumably they've been retconned out of the setting with how much fans hated that edition.

On Eberron, shifters are divided into many different subraces, with the precise number based on edition. Subraces are based on which "element" of their therianthropic ancestors they are able to manifest, although certain manifestations are generally considered more associated with specific ancestries than others. For example, Beasthides are able to manifest therianthropic durability and resilience, but are likely to be descended from or associated with werebeast strains particularly known for their toughness, such as werebears, wereboars and werebadgers.

In the Nentir Vale, only two shifter subraces are known to exist; longtooths and razorclaws, who are explicitly descendants of werewolf and werecat ancestry respectively.

3e Stats

Humanoid (Shapechanger)

+2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma

Medium

Base land speed 30

Shifting (SU): 1/day for 3 + Con modifier rounds, a shifter can enter a transformed state superficially similar to a barbarian rage, gaining a benefit and a +2 bonus to one ability score based on their shifter subrace. For every Shifter feat, their transformation time per day increases by +1 round, and for every 2 such feats, they can transform +1 time per day.

Beasthide: +2 Constitution, +2 natural AC

Longtooth: +2 Strength, bite attack 1d6+1/4 levels damage

Cliffwalk: +2 Dexterity, Climb speed 20 feet

Razorclaw: +2 Dexterity, 2 claw attacks 1d4+1/4 levels damage

Longstride: +2 Dexterity, +10ft speed

Wildhunt: +2 Constitution, Scent

Low-light Vision

+2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, and Jump checks.

Favored Class: Ranger

3.5 Variant

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Saurian Shifters

Although Shifters kind of got ignored for most of Eberron's publication, Dragon Magazine did throw them a few bones. Perhaps the biggest of which was the Saurian Shifter variant race in Dragon #328, which replaces the mammalian traits/origins of the classic shifter with saurian ones. Or, in other words, it turns the shifter race into a way to play your choice of were-dinosaurs, which is either awesome or the stupidest thing you ever heard of, depending on who you ask.

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma

Racial Classification: Humanoid (Reptilian, Shapechanger)

Size: Medium

Base Land Speed: 30ft

Low-Light Vision

Racial Skill Bonus: +2 to Balance, Climb and Jump checks.

Shifting (Su): Each saurian shifter has one dinothropic lineage, chosen from the list of seven below. This choice is set at character creation and cannot be changed afterwards. Once per day, the saurian shifter can tap into this lineage, gaining bonuses dependent on their lineage. Shifting is a free action and lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the saurian shifter's Constitution bonus (using the increased bonus caused by any Constitution boost gained from shifted form, if appropriate). As with normal shifters, a saurian shifter can increase this duration and how readily it may take shifted form by taking Shifting Feats; shifting duration increases by +1 round per Shifting Feat taken, whilst every 2 Shifting Feats taken increases the amount of times a saurian shifter can shift each day by +1. If shifting grants a natural attack option, a saurian shifter may only make one natural attack each round, even if they have a base attack bonus high enough to grant multiple attacks.

Favored Class: Ranger

Saurian Shifter Lineages:

• Beasthide: +2 Constitution and +2 natural armor bonus.
• Broadwing: +2 Dexterity, ignore the first 40 feet of a fall.
• Junglerunner: +2 Dexterity and increase base land speed by +20 feet.
• Longtooth: +2 Strength, grow fangs that bestow a natural attack (bite) that inflicts 1D6 + 1 per 4 character levels damage. A shifted Longtooth can make its bite attack as a secondary attack with a -5 penalty.
• Raptorleap: +2 Strength, +4 to all Jump checks, always counts as having a running start for Jump checks.
• Razorclaw: +2 Strength, grow claws that bestow a natural attack (claw) that inflicts 1D4 + 1 per 4 character levels damage. A shifted Razorclaw can make an attack with one claw as a standard action or with both claws as a full-round action (in both cases as a primary natural weapon). They can also use their claw as a secondary attack (light off-hand weapon), with a -2 penalty.
• Widetail: +2 Constitution, grow a powerful tail that bestows a natural attack (tail slap) that inflicts 1D6 + 1 per 4 character levels damage. A shifted Widetail can make its tail slap attack as a secondary attack with a -5 penalty.

4e Stats

Ability Scores: Longtooths get +2 Strength/+2 Wisdom, Razorclaws get +2 Dexterity/+2 Wisdom - they didn't even get flexible stats in Dragon #397!

Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)

Vision: Low-Light

Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics and +2 Endurance for Longtooths, +2 Acrobatics and +2 Stealth for Razorclaws

Racial Power - Shifting: When bloodied, as a minor action, you can Shift into a more bestial form until the end of the encounter. The precise bonuses you get from your shifted form depend on your subrace. Longtooths gain +2 damage and Regeneration (2/4/6) whilst bloodied, and Razorclaws gain +2 Speed, +1 AC and +1 Reflex.

5e

Shifters first made it into 5e in the early "Eberron Update" Unearthed Arcana, before Keith Baker put out his own glorified playtest version in the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron. The final version appeared in Eberron: Rising from the Last War and was mostly identical to Baker's version... save for replacing his "+1 Dexterity is the shifter core racial trait" so the Beasthide shifter could have a +2 Constitution/+1 Strength racial ability modifier, and stripping out all racial traits other than the Shifting feature and the subrace-based skill bonus. Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse wouldn't change much from this aside from making the skill proficiencies independent from the subrace and switching some things about shifting itself, limiting its uses per day and changing the temp HP to a more amenable 2xProficiency Bonus.

Ability Scores: Depends on subrace.

Size: Medium

Darkvision 60 feet

Shifting: As a bonus action, you can assume a more bestial appearance. This transformation lasts for 1 minute, until you die, or until you revert to your normal appearance as a bonus action. When you shift, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point). You also gain additional benefits that depend on your shifter subrace, described below. Once you shift, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Languages: Common

Subraces

Beasthide

• Ability Scores: +2 to Constitution, +1 to Strength
• Natural Athlete: You have proficiency in Athletics.
• Shifting Feature: Whenever you shift, you gain 1d6 additional temporary hit points, and while shifted, you have a +1 bonus to your AC.

Longtooth

• Ability Scores: +2 to Strength, +1 to Dexterity
• Fierce: You have proficiency in Intimidation.
• Shifting Feature: While shifted, you can use your elongated fangs to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. If you hit with your fangs, you can deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Swiftstride

• Ability Scores: +2 to Dexterity, +1 to Charisma
• Graceful: You have proficiency in Acrobatics.
• Shifting Feature. While shifted, your walking speed increases by +10 feet. Additionally, you can move up to 10 feet as a reaction when an enemy ends its turn within 5 feet of you. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

Wildhunt

• Ability Scores: +2 to Wisdom, +1 to Dexterity
• Natural Tracker: You have proficiency in Survival.
• Shifting Feature. While shifted, you have advantage on Wisdom checks, and enemies within 30 feet of you can't attack you with advantage unless you're incapacitated.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder has two versions of the Shifter. The first, literally the same thing as the Shifter here, is the Skinwalker race. Secondly, just to make things more confusing, the splatbook Ultimate Wilderness introduced the Shifter as a Pathfinder class. This is a kind of hybrid fighter-druid, and has some vague similarities to the Warden; a melee warrior character whose identity revolves around its ability to shapeshift at will, invoking animal "aspects" that grant different abilities. Unlike the druid, it gains only a few different "aspects" - 5 in total, by 20th level. Initially, it can only invoke Minor Forms, but at 4th level it gains its own version of the Wild Shape feature, which lets it invoke a Major Form - that's shifting into the animal into the animal in question. For example, the Bat Aspect grants Darkvision as a Minor Form, and the form of a Dire Bat as a Major Form. In all cases, the potency of both Minor and Major Forms increases as the Shifter levels. It can combine minor forms with its Chimeric Aspect class feature, produce Shifter Claws as a defensive weapon, and its Defensive Instinct ability encourages it to embrace its theme of forsaking metal armor by letting its Wisdom modifier affect its Armor Class and CMD.

For the full run-down, see Shifter (Pathfinder).

The Races of Pathfinder
Player's Handbook:	Dwarf - Elf - Gnome - Half-Elf - Half-Orc - Halfling - Human
Advanced Race Guide:	Aasimar - Catfolk - Changeling - Dhampir - Duergar Drow - Fetchling - Gillman - Goblin - Grippli - Hobgoblin Ifrit - Kitsune - Kobold - Merfolk - Nagaji - Orc - Oread Ratfolk - Samsaran - Strix - Suli - Svirfneblin - Sylph Tengu - Tiefling - Undine - Vanara - Vishkanya - Wayang
Bestiaries:	Android - Astomoi - Caligni - Deep One Hybrid - Gathlain Gnoll - Kasatha - Munavri - Naiad - Orang-Pendak Reptoid - Rougarou - Shabti - Trox - Yaddithian
Adventure Paths:	Being of Ib - Kuru
Inner Sea Races:	Ghoran - Monkey Goblin - Lashunta - Skinwalker Syrinx - Triaxian - Wyrwood - Wyvaran
Ultimate Wilderness:	Vine Leshy
Blood of the Sea:	Adaro - Cecaelia - Grindylow - Locathah - Sahuagin - Triton
Planar Adventures:	Aphorite - Duskwalker - Ganzi