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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 6044417" data-attributes="member: 3192">In part you should let him do it and have it work. He wanted to be a Thief Changeling for a reason. Part of that is likely breaking the law and getting away with it.What makes up the law enforcement he will be attempting to thwart is going to depend upon your campaign. Usually D&D settings are diverse, so different legal systems and enforcements need to be accounted for in each area. However, just detail wherever your PCs are now and build for other easily accessible communities later. Illicit acts may also fall under jurisdiction of crime organizations like Thieves' Guilds or the Assassin's Guild. Think of it like gangs in our world. You don't come into our neighborhood and "reap" our proverbial crops. In more expensive neighborhoods these territories may be entirely made up of police forces and/or private security personnel. Either way, if a series of repeat crimes are committed, people with power and varying skill sets are going to investigate. The exceptions are probably the Beggar's Quarter and whatever shacks lie outside the city gates (but then again these places have their own law).The challenge for your player is thwarting standard patrolling and investigations as well as dedicated teams created to fighting serious and long term threats. Determine the power structure's standard procedures for whatever laws are in place. It doesn't matter if there are no repeat offenders spotted or caught. If an area is experiencing heavy crime, more enforcement will make it more difficult to perpetrate crime there even if the changeling looks like a first timer. In a crime diseased city committing crime may be easier, but less wealth will be available to steal too as crime as outstretched the coffers and wealthy and wise have begun to seek prosperity elsewhere.For your own purposes as DM I'd track the individual identities used by the Changeling for when he reuses them. Running as a completely unknown and unverifiable identity can be dangerous and lead to everything from long term lock up, vagrancy enforcement, or even simply killing someone off due to lack of serious consequences. Of course, different factions have different M.O.s (strategies) regarding all enforcement, not to mention crimes and punishments. The city guard isn't the assassin's guild. If the PC actually wants to pawn illegal wares, then he faces more challenges. If he's walking around as a known fugitive, that's one thing. If he's walking around with the loot he stole, then he stands a chance of having it recognized and be arrested or attacked. If it is ever discovered that the PC is a Changeling, then news of this status is going to change how enforcement groups are going to operate until he is caught. Information wants to be free they say, and rumors have a way of leaking out. So make rules for how rumors occur due to PC actions.  They might form if being a changeling is talked of in public, or if NPCs aren't told to stay quiet about it or aren't loyal, if he changes form in a public place, and so on.Catching a changeling is as simple as catching a normal humanoid usually, but let your player get creative about how he avoids capture. Leave him mental space to do so in other words. If he's ever chased, then Pursuit & Evasion contains the bog standard Recognition rules, so his clothing will still give him away. However, his sort of "Change Self" at will can be used to advantage. Having fewer uses per day would be a useful limiter here for your sake. Balance it upon how it changes evasion odds. Not just to your taste, but so Changelings face some challenge when attempting to take control over a populace.Determining a creature is really a Changeling should have some successful methods already laid out, so they aren't impossible to identify. Do NOT let these be known to the players (like pretty much everything else) before play begins. Let them get creative and learn as they go. Smart players will devise schemes you didn't even think of. And, of course, they can always learn some of these methods if they are used on them ...just like any "Watch how the NPCs do it" strategy. Magic is the easiest counter to Changelings, but magic is always balanced according to its difficulty. High level magic is rare to purchase services for and not easily found. There should be other methods though. Perhaps a Changeling's internal organs aren't the same as the creature it is changed into? Perhaps they bleed green blood when cut? Perhaps they don't drown in water? (A tricky tell that is and costly for certain, but some groups may be willing to use it, especially if killing isn't against their own law). As I see others have already advised, a Changeling is kind of monster/race with an extraordinary disguise ability. This doesn't mean they can't be caught, tried, imprisoned, or even identified as a Changeling. However, that last does alter the situation irrevocably when dealing with him, so be very careful in detailing how NPCs can discover it from your PC. Keeping this secret is a major area of defensive game play for the player. Don't dismiss his attempts to remain so, but have your legal traps designed and in place too. Rule #1 for a Changeling is "Don't get found out" Plenty of NPCs already operate under this goal, so that realm of play should be addressed anyways.</blockquote>

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