D&D 5E Changeling (from the UA article): crazy broken?

[ZombieRoboNinja]

So here's one of the racial abilities for the Changeling race in the new Unearthed Arcana article:

Shapechanger. As an action, you can polymorph into any humanoid of your size that you have seen, or
back into your true form. However, your equipment does not change with you. If you die, you revert to
your natural appearance.

Now, at first this seemed kind of nice and elegant to me. Good for disguises, etc.

Then I thought of the "onion druid" problem. RAW, you might think the term "polymorph" suggests this works like the spell, giving you extra HP. But familiarity with the race, and the last sentence about dying, make it clear that the intent is that you don't gain extra HP from shifting this way. So, okay. Maybe work on that wording before any "official" release.

Then I thought about that restriction again.

any humanoid of your size that you have seen

Hmm.

Aarakocra: Medium humanoid. Flying.
Merfolk: Medium humanoid. Amphibious. Swim speed 40ft.
Thri-kreen: Speed 40ft, super jumps, darkvision 60ft, advantage on stealth checks

I could go on. Shapechanger clearly lets you take any of these forms, and any reasonable interpretation of the ability would probably let you fly, breathe water, jump high, etc. if the new form can do those things. And since shapechanger doesn't mention concentration, you can use those new abilities in conjunction with concentration spells.

So basically, the changeling gets the level 14 draconic sorcerer ability (fly at will without concentration), along with various utility spells like Darkvision, Jump, and Water Breathing, all at will from level 1. (Assuming the character has met at least one member of the appropriate race, which could make for an interesting Final Fantasy Blue Mage-style powerup system.)

Am I missing something?

EDIT: Changeling, not shifter!

 

[Imaro]

Isn't this the Changeling's ability?

 

[Paraxis]

It needs work, lots of work the whole document does. That is kind of why it is a work in progress.

By the way the race in question is the Changeling not the Shifter, you might want to see about changing the thread title.

 

[iserith]

Am I missing something?

Players that won't abuse it because they know doing so would cause them to fail to achieve the goals of play? Because if you got those, then concerns like this just go away.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Isn't this the Changeling's ability?

It was disguised as a shifter. >.>

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Players that won't abuse it because they know doing so would cause them to fail to achieve the goals of play? Because if you got those, then concerns like this just go away.

That's the thing, though. If I were playing a changeling, it would seem perfectly appropriate to turn into a mermaid if my ship sank or something. The document doesn't even give you enough fluff details to suggest whether or not this should work RAI. I mean, CAN Eberron changelings grow wings and fly? I honestly don't know.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Misread

 

[jayoungr]

I think the restriction that the changeling has to have seen members of these races is (or could be) the balancing factor.

 

[iserith]

That's the thing, though. If I were playing a changeling, it would seem perfectly appropriate to turn into a mermaid if my ship sank or something. The document doesn't even give you enough fluff details to suggest whether or not this should work RAI. I mean, CAN Eberron changelings grow wings and fly? I honestly don't know.

Like any other decisions, pursuing and achieving the default goals of play require us to ask, "Is this going to be fun for everyone at the table?" and "Is this going to lead to the creation of an exciting, memorable story?" On its own, turning into a mermaid does sound pretty cool and might lead to a fun story. But turning into a mermaid every single time water is a challenge? That gets a little old and the player, I believe, should be more creative than that so as to better achieve the goals of play.

The other limitation is whether the character had seen a mermaid before. Personally I wouldn't police that very much, except to ask players the context in which their character had seen a particular thing into which they shapeshift. That would add depth and back story to the character during play which helps create a memorable story, so it's all good in my view.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I suspect that when the polished Changeling gets released, the shapechange will be defined in purely cosmetic, skin-level "disguise self" types of terms, and that you gain no physical features or abilities that come with your new form. No flying, no swimming, no additional perception or breathing types, etc. And were I to have a player select changeling for their PC, that's also pretty much how I would rule that ability of theirs right now.

Their skin is malleable and can change color and stretch... but their actual physical body on the whole (inside and out) doesn't morph.