Shape Shifting

Basic Information

Shape shifting occurs when characters transform from one shape to another. This may be a result of magic, lycanthropy, or the "natural" powers of shape-shifting races or individuals. It may be a painful and horrible curse (see Body Horror) or just another useful supernatural power to scrawl on the "skills & powers" section of your character sheet.

List of Shape Shifting Tropes

• Voluntary Shapeshifting - Generally a good power to have.
  • Animorphism - Animal-specific Voluntary Shapeshifting
  • Shapeshifting Lover
  • Our Werewolves Are Different
• Involuntary Shapeshifting - Generally not a good power to have.
  • Freaky Friday - Not so much as a shift as a trade, but still a change in one's body.
  • Attack Of The 50 Foot Whatever
  • Baleful Polymorph
  • Biological Mash Up - Two heads are better than one.
  • Gender Bender - And its consequences:
    • Attractive Bent Gender
    • Man I Feel Like A Woman
    • Mandys Law Of Anime Gender Bending
  • Fountain Of Youth
  • Humanity Ensues
  • Incredible Shrinking Man
  • Karmic Transformation
  • Thirteen Going On Thirty
  • Wolf Man
• Magic Pants - To secure modesty after your Transformation Sequence.
• Metamorphosis - A one-way, permanent change.
• The Mind Is A Plaything Of The Body - Your personality is changed by your new form.
• Mode Lock - Shape Shifting runs the risk of you getting stuck that way.
• Morphic Resonance - When your other forms still look like you in some way.
• Pinocchio Syndrome - A non-human wants to become human.
• Sense Freak
• Shape Shifter Baggage
  • Shapeshifting Squick
• Shape Shifter Showdown
  • One Winged Angel
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip
  • Shapeshifter Weapon
  • Super Mode
  • Tricking The Shapeshifter
• Shape Shifter Swan Song
  • This Was His True Form
• Transformation Comic
• Transformation Conventions - A new shape to match the personality.
• Transformation Sequence - Sometimes involves a physical change during the activation of one's powers.
• Transformation Trauma - Sometimes changing shape ain't pretty.
  • Painful Transformation - Taking another form hurts like the dickens.

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki entry

2. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• Shape shifting player characters can vastly extend the range of their abilities, though their alternate forms might come with drawbacks of their own.
• Shape shifting enemies can be vastly more dangerous than normal foes, especially if the player characters don't know all the forms their enemies can shift into.