Shapeshifting for non-Theoi

[Aristarkos]

How would you advise me to handle a player who wants to be able to shapeshift into a tiger form every now and then?

His character is not Theoi so Metamorphosis is out. The Monster Calling might have worked but it comes with the baggage of monstrous urges and my player's character is much more of a stoic, calm and regal guardian type rather than a monstrous lycanthrope.

Beasts seems like the most obvious venue so far but the Boons given as examples seem to only allow partial shiftings or more symbolic effects. We wonder if if would be alright by the rules as written and rules as intended to simply copy the Change Shape Boon from Metamorphosis on page 270? This is because it is a much more wholesale shifting effect at a higher cost and seems like it could totally work with the Beasts purview.

[LaughingGull]

For the OP, since the player just wants one Alternate form, I'd suggest taking it as a relic, maybe with a cost equal to the relevant Creature cost. The ability to change shape is often tied to objects in myth, often a pelt of the relevant animal.

And changing shape is a pretty common theme in classical myth, so much so that Ovid compiled a whole book of the Metamorphoses. The gods are always making people into trees or birds or snakes or disembodied voices. What seems out of place, honestly, is the changing back for anyone who isn't a god.

[glamourweaver]

Which is not something I recall being in greek mythology.

Frankly, I'd much rather see someone take the notion of the original game's Arete and turn it into a viable PSP in 2e. Something like having the Theoi be to Scion as Talents are to TC: Arete Knacks that function like Talent Gifts, for example.

well keep in mind that the Theoi Motif is pleading to the gods, so while you’d take Metamorphosis Boons at Hero level if you’re Circe or Periclymenus, but otherwise it plays out as a favor from the gods if it’s a Marvel.

that said, there are some good Arete updates to 2e out there as an alternative PSP

[Aristarkos]

Maybe I'm a bit rusty, but why couldn't you just replicate the Theoi PSP boon as a marvel of another purview?

That is exactly what I will do when push comes to shove. I don't see any problems with it, especiallyt as the book itself says that Boons can be replicated.

[ZipDrive]

Maybe I'm a bit rusty, but why couldn't you just replicate the Theoi PSP boon as a marvel of another purview?

[notMidas]

A solution to the OP's problem is presented in the Hero book under the Teotl 'nagual' creature birthright - you can either have a nagual as a spirit animal OR transform into it.

This means that the ability to transform into one creature is a birthright that can be bought with XP or at character gen, the cost dependent on the number of dots in the creature - a standard tiger is likely to be a 2-dot beast.

There is, however, no guidance on how you would play this (do you switch out your character sheet for the beast stat block while transformed, or are you presumed to have your other powers while transformed? What health do you use?)

I would personally rule that you gain the beast's skills, drives and tags, but cannot do things that that beast form could not, as in a DnD druid's wild shape e.g. talk, play the piano, hold a shield. And also that when the beast's health drops to 0, you revert to human form having taken the same hit point loss.

[Kyman201]

That one was really awesome, thank you!

*Emerges*

That was me. I thought it up while wrangling shopping carts at one of my old jobs. Glad you like it.

[Mateus Luz]

Well, you're in luck!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

Really good approach!

[Aristarkos]

Well, you're in luck!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

That one was really awesome, thank you!

[PXGentleman]

Which is not something I recall being in greek mythology.

Frankly, I'd much rather see someone take the notion of the original game's Arete and turn it into a viable PSP in 2e. Something like having the Theoi be to Scion as Talents are to TC: Arete Knacks that function like Talent Gifts, for example.

Well, you're in luck!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Mateus Luz]

Which is not something I recall being in greek mythology.

Except for the gods themselves that manifest on Earth in all kinds of shapes (including golden shower... rain, golden rain).

Frankly, I'd much rather see someone take the notion of the original game's Arete and turn it into a viable PSP in 2e. Something like having the Theoi be to Scion as Talents are to TC: Arete Knacks that function like Talent Gifts, for example.

This one is the real thing! Arete was a bit overpowered in 1e, but it can be much easier to create based on the other purviews.

[Dataweaver]

Zeus for the former, and a few one-offs where men were turned into pigs or women were turned into spiders as punishment. But those tend to be the exception, not the rule.

[Florin]

Which is not something I recall being in greek mythology.

Zeus was the big one for this. He appeared to one woman as a cow and another as a shower of gold. The Shapeshifting PSP lets you change other beings as well, which is fairly common in Greek mythology, I believe.

[Dataweaver]

Which is not something I recall being in greek mythology.

Frankly, I'd much rather see someone take the notion of the original game's Arete and turn it into a viable PSP in 2e. Something like having the Theoi be to Scion as Talents are to TC: Arete Knacks that function like Talent Gifts, for example.

[Mateus Luz]

Honestly, transforming oneself or others into an animal is such a common theme in myth that they shouldn't have made it the Theoi-only PSP in the first place.

Shapeshift is not a Theoi thing, all the heroes can shift into a form related to their purviews with easy. If you have Fire purview you can do a marvel to become fire, or a salamander, or a dragon, or lava, it can be a boom if you prefere to make it more often, but you can’t shift to water, for example.

What Theoi do is shifting into anything. thought? Rain? Animals? Rainbow? What ever, no limits, that is the Theoi thing, any of them can have absolutely any shape.