The Power of Shapeshifting

The Nature of Shapeshifting

"All whose origins involve Chaos are shapeshifters," Dara tells Corwin. Curiously we see very few shapeshifters in the Corwin saga though, for all the Chaos forces that we see. It makes one wonder if the bulk of the "Chaos forces" invading Amber are not the equivalent of the shadow troops that the Amberites recruit for their use. We also know that Dara herself is something of a freak - the product of a calculated breeding program.

Shapeshifting is associated with the element of Earth. The higher your Earth score, the better you can endure the rigors and dangers of the power.

Buying Shapeshifting

As Dara suggests to Corwin, it is possible for Amberites and Chaosites to shapeshift. But they develop the power from two different directions. Broadly, shapeshifting involves calibrating stability as well as change. Stability comes hard for the Chaosite, change for the shapeshifter from Amber. Thus there are two different power progressions. While every ability level costs a single point, in each case the abilities must be purchased in the order they are listed.

Chaosite Shapeshifting

  1. Stabilize form - the body settles in a particular shape until the character wills change.
  2. Shapeshift parts - the character can selectively change parts of himself.
  3. Imitate creature type - the character can imitate a type of creature he is familiar with - canines, manticores, humanoids etc. appropriate to his experience.
  4. Imitate specific being - the character can disguise himself as a specific member of a species he thoroughly understands.

Amberite Shapeshifting

  1. Shapeshifting Patron
  2. Imitate creature type
  3. Imitate specific being
  4. Shapeshift parts
  5. Automatic shapeshift

Automatic shapeshifting entails continuing adjustment of somatic form in response to ongoing environmental stimuli. It doesn't appear on the Chaos list because Chaosites get it free - it's the evolutionary default for the Courts. Similarly, Amberites don't pay for "Stable form." Amberites start sane and get crazy. Chaosites start crazy and get sane.

Amberites also start clueless. Shapeshifting is different and strange to most of Corwin's generation - there may even be some prejudice against it. Hence Amberite shapeshifters need someone to help them unlock their potential. This costs a point and buys you nothing but the right to spend more points to actually use the power.

Using Shapeshifting

Chaosites have little experience of stable species. They are used to creatures as collections of parts - goat head, bat wings, humanoid torso etc. To take "wolf form" or "human form" a Chaosite must first have seen such things. They are not initially likely to have much sense of the fine distinctions that make wolves wolves or humans human.

Contrariwise, Amberites tend to have seen a lot of goats and bats and people. It's easier for an Amberite shapeshifter to turn herself into a big wolf than to simply grow a wolf's pelt on her existing frame.

Shapeshifting takes time. The higher your earth score and the more points you have spent on shapeshifting, the faster you can do it. The more complex and unfamiliar the transformation, the slower. The more rapidly one shapeshifts, the less likely one can maintain conscious control. Trying to use shapeshifting in the middle of a melee presents genuine dangers that the process takes over. The body is the clay into which the spirit is poured. The spirit can be baffled by too-rapid changes to its vessel.

More Amber Powers

  1. Pattern
  2. Trump
  3. Shapeshifting
  4. Sorcery

The Stages of Character Creation

  1. The Vision stage
  2. The Powers stage
  3. The Elements stage
  4. The Magic stage

Next