D&D 5E How to handle a shapechanging Mermaid

[Remathilis]

Okay, I have a friend who is interested in playing a merfolk. Rather than tell her about how bad tails are for dungeon crawling, I've opted to resurrect and idea I had before: a merfolk who change change her fins to feet and back. (A moderately common notion for merfolk). Problem is, I don't know what to do about some complications that arise from that kind of change: everytime she shifts, what would happen to the clothes and armor she wears below her waist. Right now, I have some ideas, but I want some feedback.

1.) Everything below her waist merges magically into her tail and back again: akin to a druid's shapechanging. Its non-functional, but when she returns to human form, she still has it.
2.) Same as above, but doesn't apply to her feet: she can't wear boots/shoes and shapeshift without ruining them.
3.) Everything below her waist automatically falls off on the ground. Any armor worn on her legs, boots or shoes, and pants ends up on a pile on the floor. Its probably more "realistic" than trying to explain how her gear merges into her, but everytime she shifts back; she's naked from the waist down. (I suppose a robe or dress would still work though).
4.) As 3, but unless she takes the time to take off said items, they could be ruined. (Clothes ripped, buckles break, shoes tatter). Most "realistic" type of transformation, but least "fun".

So I'm looking for some advice on how to handle this transformation in the most logical (yet fair) way.

 

[GSHamster]

What are you doing for werewolves? Waking up naked is pretty traditional for werewolves.

I would do Option 4, with the caveat that the mermaid does not automatically transform in water. She can swim with human legs. That gives her the time to kick off her clothes and shoes, and then consciously transform.

The thing is that the mermaid transform is likely to be rare. It's not usual for a PC to switch between water and land multiple times in a day. So most of the time the nature of the transform won't matter. The few times it does, it will emphasis the "uniqueness" of being mermaid, and probably actually gratify the player. After all, there's not much point in playing a mermaid if being a mermaid is pretty much the same as everyone else.

 

[Remathilis]

What are you doing for werewolves? Waking up naked is pretty traditional for werewolves.

I would do Option 4, with the caveat that the mermaid does not automatically transform in water. She can swim with human legs. That gives her the time to kick off her clothes and shoes, and then consciously transform.

The thing is that the mermaid transform is likely to pretty rare. It's not usual for a PC to switch between water and land multiple times in a day. So most of the time the nature of the transform won't matter. The few times it does, it will emphasis the "uniqueness" of being mermaid, and probably actually gratify the player. After all, there's not much point in playing a mermaid if being a mermaid is pretty much the same as everyone else.

Just after I posted this, I looked through the MM for every monster with the "shapechanger" trait and every one (except vampires) lose their gear. ("does not transform")

I was going to make shifting an action that could only happen in water, but still required the PC's desire to. If she wants to play a mermaid, she will have to make sure to wear shift-appropriate clothes and shoes, I guess. ;-)

Though that does raise a valid point: for the mermaid to feel useful, she's going to need to be able to use her power moderately often. Hmmm... Something to think about...

 

[Leatherhead]

I would crib stats from the water genasi. Water spells outside of the water, having a tail mostly fluff. As for the gear problem, consider if you want this girl to walk around bottomless regularly.

 

[Savage Wombat]

As it so happens, my wife played a "landwalking" mermaid in a 3.5 campaign of mine. She did not wear any magical footgear, and in fact avoided leg covering issues altogether. She wore half-plate armor (made of coral) and a chiton (Greek tunic) long enough to cover her rear when out of the water. She kept boots in her backpack for long overland treks.

I also let her have (I think I made it a feat or something) the ability to kiss someone to give them water breathing.

 

[Tormyr]

Watch Splash, H2O: Just Add Water, and Mako Mermaids for ideas. I would go with the H20/Mako route rather than Splash.

In H2O/Mako Mermaids, the girls become mermaids whenever they come in contact with water aside from drinking it through a straw. They revert to human when they are completely dry. In mermaid form, they have a mermaid tail and a sort of halter top made of scales. When they revert to human, they are fully clothed with whatever they were wearing before.

 

[Sunseeker]

I would have it all drop to the ground and/or be destroyed when shifting. Encourage the player to wear long dresses (or very short ones!) and no footwear/legwraps. Optionally if you don't want the ability to destroy/drop gear, make the ability time-limited, similar to the Dragonborn breath attack.

 

[Stormonu]

I would go that they have to "attune" to items for them to transform with them. So, if they have the items on for a day or more through a long rest, it shifts with them, but I'd probably make it non-functional (though you may want to make a ritual or feat that allows the items to work in fin-form).

 

[nomotog]

Let the player pick what happens. A some of theses options basically leave them half naked and that's not the kind of thing you want to push on a player unless they are cool with it.

Another idea is to just not include legs. Some mermaid descriptions give them long snake like tails that could be used to move on land. You could also play around with magic, or mundane solutions to let them move on land with a fish tail. (Bucket of water on wheels ) Players can be more inventive then you think and solving a logistic problem like this might be fun.

 

[Kikuras]

The curmudgeon in me demands to be heard (also, this is all half-jest):

I would never tell a player they can't make a mermaid... but I would tell a player that their mermaid doesn't have legs and will find it very difficult to travel with the rest of the party. For every cool mermaid concept there's a dozen, "I just want to be a mermaid because I don't give a crap about the game, isn't it supposed to be about fantasy anyway?!" It's like merchant-bards... enough already.

Anyhow, most of the other folk made good suggestions and gave great ideas, which I would support. Personal restrictions for the sake of a character gives a character depth. I will warn you that if the mermaid also has a gluten allergy, I'd get rid of the player FAST.