Changeling
A Changeling is a creature of fantasy, generally an offspring of an otherworldly species left to be raised by parents of a more mundane sort.
Folklore
Being folklore there are many variations, but they all follow the same pattern: a fairy kidnaps a child and replaces it with something known as a changeling. What the changeling is, how it behaves, how long the parent is stuck with it, and how you get rid of it sooner than that, depends on the version. In some versions it's the fairy's offspring; in others, it's a piece of wood with glamor on it. Sometimes to get rid of it you throw it in the oven, other times you be abusive to it and the faerie switches the children again because you aren't taking good care of its child. In Ireland it was common to dress up boys as girls up to the age of 12 or 13 because their fairies had a preference of kidnapping boys, and items like iron scissors would often be left where the child sleeps to ward off the fairy.
World of Darkness
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The World of Darkness gamelines Changeling: The Dreaming and Changeling: The Lost use this definition.
Dungeons & Dragons
Changelings are a race introduced in the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 campaign setting, Eberron as humanoids with a hint of doppelganger in their ancestry which gives them limited shapeshifting abilities. In their debuting edition this takes the form of their supernatural signature racial feature is A Thousand Faces Minor Change Shape, which is based of disguise self, but is not an illusion.
| Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Player's Handbook 1 | Dragonborn • Dwarf • Eladrin • Elf • Half-Elf • Halfling • Human • Tiefling |
| Player's Handbook 2 | Deva • Gnome • Goliath • Half-Orc • Shifter |
| Player's Handbook 3 | Githzerai • Minotaur • Shardmind • Wilden |
| Monster Manual 1: | Bugbear • Doppelganger • Githyanki • Goblin • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Orc |
| Monster Manual 2 | Bullywug • Duergar • Kenku |
| Dragon Magazine | Gnoll • Shadar-kai |
| Heroes of Shadow | Revenant • Shade • Vryloka |
| Heroes of the Feywild | Hamadryad • Pixie • Satyr |
| Eberron's Player's Guide | Changeling • Kalashtar • Warforged |
| The Manual of the Planes | Bladeling |
| Dark Sun Campaign Setting | Mul • Thri-kreen |
| Forgotten Realms Player's Guide | Drow • Genasi |
Warhammer 40,000
The Changeling is one of Tzeentch's Servants, and is a total dick. It has the ability to disguise itself as anything, and uses that ability to wreak all manner of mischief.
However, because it has shifted forms so many times, most changelings have forgotten their original form. Only Tzeentch knows what each changeling originally looks like and commonly uses this as a bargaining tool to bind their loyalty to him.
My Little Pony
Insectoid shapeshifters that feed on love. In their natural forms changelings have gaunt bodies covered in holes and are equipped with insect like wings and a horn. After their debut, the fans decided that when ever a pony was animated wrong (and it happens quite a lot [1]), appeared multiple times in one scene, or was acting in a manner that goes against the fanon, it was actually a changeling.