Talk:Shapeshifter

Non-shapeshifter shapechangers

Note that some 1E creatures with the shapechanger subtype are not shapeshifters, such as blood hag, which "changes shape" by physically donning and shedding a skin suit, which is a disguise rather than a shapeshifting ability. -Oznogon (talk) 05:18, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

Odd that it has the shapechanger subtype at all in that case, good to know. --Rexert (talk) 11:31, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

It suits the SRD/PRD/Bestiary subtype definition fine:

A shapechanger has the supernatural ability to assume one or more alternative forms. Many magical effects allow some kind of shapeshifting, and not every creature that can change shapes has the shapechanger subtype.

The blood hag ability, and other similar abilities, are supernatural shape-changing abilities by that definition, but they don't align with the definition of a shapeshifter used here or elsewhere.

Likewise, not all shapechanger-subtype creatures are shapeshifters, and apparently not all shapeshifters have the shapechanger subtype, probably because "supernatural ability" was itself a mechanical term that meant the ability could be disabled via things like antimagic. (There's a big nasty and now overly cited teardown of that at Supernatural (disambiguation). Perils of relying on unreliable, edition-specific, game-focused mechanics for consistent, non-mechanical, edition-agnostic classification.) -Oznogon (talk) 20:58, 16 March 2025 (UTC)