Shapechangers in Rhoive, my world, fall into three groups; fighters, fliers, or runners. This is determined by the sort of animal forms they can become; fighters tend to have bigger and stronger forms, fliers have more bird forms, and runners have forms built for speed. All of them will have at least one form from each category.

Physical Appearance:
Shapechangers have bronze eyes with vertical slit pupils, like cats’ eyes. With some effort, they can learn to more or less shorten the pupil, allowing them to have almost completely round pupils, helping them pass as human. Typically, shapechangers have brown or black hair and tanned skin. Body type varies depending on which sort of shapechanger one is; fighters tend to have broader shoulders and heavier builds, while fliers tend to be small, and runners are usually long-legged and slender.
At one point, I gave shapechangers the ability to adjust the amount of melanin in their body, changing their skin tone. I don’t know if that will stay or not.

Abilities:
Obviously enough, shapechangers can take the form of an animal. Each shapechanger has a variety of animals he can become. Wounds taken in one form do not transfer to another, but changing to a new form doesn’t heal the wounded form. The way to heal wounds is to take on the wounded form until it heals, or wait for a very long time while it slowly heals while not used.
Shapechangers are resistant or immune to most poisons.

Other:
There aren’t many shapechangers at any given time, in large part because they aren’t a true race. Rather, they are half-lorvald, half-berserker. No one is quite sure why that particular combination results in a shapechanger.


I may be editing this after I get a chance to look at what I first wrote down about the shapechangers, but that would probably only be to add information, not take any out.

If they're wounded in one form do they still suffer weakness from that wound despite what shape they're in?

That sounds really useful though, you get your sword arm hacked through and you can change shape and still have a perfectly fine arm?

I love shapeshifters. I have an unexplained fascination with them.

I think when I've written them, there haven't been any ill effects from the wounds of other forms. They may still have some pain to deal with, but for the most part, wounds and their effects are exclusive to the form. There's a reason behind all of that, but every time I've tried to type it out to explain it, I get stuck. It makes sense in my head, at least.




Yes, except since only one form is human, the "perfectly fine arm" is probably actually a perfectly fine leg and can't hold a sword.

Yeah, minor detail...

How many forms do they typically have and how are their forms determined? What if they receive a mortal wound in one form, but shift before they die?

Hey they sound pretty cool!

Thanks for your questions, Griffin!

I haven't decided how many forms they have yet. Somewhere I have a list of possible forms; I should probably look at that and figure out a reasonable number. The forms are determined partly based on what I happen to want ( ) and mostly based on whether the shapechanger is a runner, a fighter, or a flier. Runners will commonly get forms like a cheetah, a horse (more likely to be a fast type of horse, not a Clydesdale or something), a peregrin falcon, and other fast animals. Fighters get things like panthers, lions, tigers, eagles, and such. Fliers get a lot of bird forms. Pretty much everyone gets a wolf form. I don't think I planned it that way, but I think just about every shapechanger I've written about has a wolf form.

If they shift before dying, they survive, but the form that took the wound is going to be essentially useless for a very long time. Even mortal wounds will heal over time, but very slowly.

Elmirza: Thanks! I like them a lot.

How do they know when they have healed and what happens if they shift too early?

I'll have to think about that. It hasn't come up in-story yet, so I'm not sure. If they shift too early, they start to die again, unless the wound has healed enough that it's not fatal, just severe. In that case, if they can get the wound cared for or just shift again, they'll be fine.

You mentioned that they're a hybrid race. Are they able to have shapechanger children with other shapechangers? If they marry one of the parent races, is the resultant child (if there is any) a shapechanger?

If they are only born from lorvald and berserker unions, how does this impact their acceptance among those two races? Are they outcasts? Do they congregate with other shapechangers?

Here's a question that most fantasy authors don't consider when writing shapeshifters, how do they acquire the forms that they can change into? For instance, in the Sci-fi series Animorphs, the characters had to touch an animal in order to be able to turn into it. I know yours are probably born with their alternate forms, but it would be cool if they could increase their pool of possible forms in some way.

Well, that's all the unsolicited meddling that I could think of for the moment. Guess I'll leave you alone

Yes: shapechangers who marry other shapechangers have shapechanger children. Marrying someone from one of the parent races results in both shapechanger and parent race children.



They tend to be outcasts, although close family usually accepts them (assuming this is the result of marriage, not rape). The lorvald might be more accepting, but I'm not sure about that. Shapechangers will group together if they can find each other.



They usually gain more forms as they age, actually. At least, that was what I was thinking at one point. Haven't specifically decided against it yet, so for the moment it stands.



Hehe, meddling is welcome.

How young are they when they first shape change? Is it from birth, or a little bit older?

I think they're capable of shapechanging from birth. Makes it hard for the poor mothers sometimes, I'm sure.