Skinwalker

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Pathfinder's Skinwalker

Skinwalkers are evil sorcerers from Navajo folklore with the ability to turn into animals (or possess animals, its not too clear). The Navajo themselves call them yee naaldlooshii which literally means "by means of it, it goes on all fours".

Pathfinder

In Pathfinder, skinwalkers are a type of beastkin, a sort of Half-Werebeast. Descended from true therianthropes, they have weaker shapeshifting abilities, and are not able to take a completely animal form. Basically, they're Pathfinder's OGL-free version of shifters. The skinwalker is unique in that it is the generic beastkin, not based on any particular animal, but there's also distinct subraces based on the actual therianthrope lineages.

In Pathfinder 2e, "beastkin" is now a blanket term for all therianthropes.

Pathfinder

Called Skinwalkers in Pathfinder. The basic Skinwalker is the product of a tryst between a lycanthrope and an intelligent humanoid. The vast majority of Skinwalkers are half-human, although halfling, dwarf, orc or elven (and possibly even gnome) Skinwalkers are said to be possible. Deciding to RP as a non-human Skinwalker does not affect their base stats, the only thing it might effect is your size and thus the things that your size would effect (such as the size of the damage dice you would roll for natural attacks, and since Skinwalkers are natural attack machines, choosing to be a small race is gimping yourself).

The bog-standard Skinwalker is descended from a non-descript werebeastie, but with variant bloodlines rules released in later splatbooks you can say who's your daddy. Complete with different modifiers to Ability Scores, skills and unique spell-like abilities. Some are absurd and niche, but some are pretty awesome. New options include:

• Aerieborn: Wereraptors. Of the predatory bird variety, not the "Clever girl" variety. Wise and perceptive and one of the few "nice" Skinwalkers. They can't fly naturally, at best they can only feather fall, which is lame.
• Bloodmarked: Descended from werebats! They are like quasi-vampires, valuing their flock hierarchy and having a thirst for blood. Can turn into bats to fly around and do bat things.
• Coldborn: The only truly good Skinwalker, the were-bear derived Coldborn is a stoic and powerful defender of the natural order of things.
• Fanglord: Arrogant tiger assholes. They are strong and agile, capable of great cunning and tend to rise to the top of human organizations by means of charisma, intimidation and treachery.
• Nightskulk: Sneaky wererat spawn which typically infest urban areas and cities. Physically underwhelming (compared to other Skinwalkers), but they can sicken with a natural attack.
• Ragebred: The spawn of a wereboar. They will fuck you up with natural attacks, making them a perfect choice for a barbarian in a race that already makes a stupendous choice for a barbarian.
• Scaleheart: Cold and patient swamp-dwellers. Somehow said to be the most common type of Skinwalker, because I know when I see a crocodile the first thing that runs through my mind is "I wanna fuck that!"
• Seascarred: Fuckin' were-sharks! They tend to think highly of themselves as kings of the sea, with their ferocity they can continue to fight on the brink of death. Most of their ability is tied to the water and aquatic life, but they can survive on land indefinitely.
• Witchwolf: Werewolf? Were- is a masculine prefix. Wyfwolf. Savage and cunning as their sires, they tend to be found near forest and field, often in the service of witches. They get 1/day Magic Fang to add a little more bite to their bite.

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