How to be a True Shapeshifter?

[cybertier]

Forumites i need your help.
I am introducing my group into DFRPG and i'll use a storyteller-playercharacter to tag along with the group so i can teach them the game from player perspective.
We will be playing at Submerged level.

My idea is for something support-ish, without a huge amount of social skills since that would end with me talking with myself.
I also have a good idea of *who* i want to play but not *what*.
What i got:

Template: ?
Aspects: Nickname "Squirrel", Acrobat/Gymnast (Maybe worked at a Circus)
Powers: True Shapeshifter, Modular Abilities (4 Points to shuffle around), Human Form
She's supposed to have a very lively nature and might sometimes seem childish or alienating to others.

Now what i came up with before was a Half-Naglooshii, who was trained by Listens-to-Wind to prevent her from joining her ancestors corrupted path. Sure it could justify her happy nature in a bi-polar way, but it feels kinda "meh..." to me.

Now what ideas do you have for a truly true shifter (including objects) and what possible backgrounds could you think of for Squirrel?
Did you play a True Shapeshifter before?
Also how far would you go with possible options for your True Shapeshifter. Would you allow a waterbed? Motorbike? Car? (If you could pay for inhuman/supernatural speed, hulking size and inhuman/supernatural strength) Dinosaurs? Mechanical Features? Electronic Features? Mystic Strength/Speed/Toughness?
Or any cool ideas or warnings about this power in general.
(though i don't fear that it'll ruin my game since the character will just play a support role anyway)

While about this post i got another idea for a True Shifter: Scion of Loki.
In the storys Loki could do various shapeshifting tricks. afaik he even mothered the children of Odins horse.
I think this heritage would make a good background for a stealthy Shapeshifter and one wouldn't even need Powers like Marked By Power, since Loki was all about subtlety and cunning and not raw Power.
What do you think?


tl;dr:
Your thoughts about True Shapeshifters.

[ARedthorn]

I think the Loki idea could be great fun... particularly since we already know Odin's still kicking around.

I had a player who hadn't yet read any of the books come to me, very early in play, and tell me how he'd like his character to develop... first, multiple forms shapeshifting, then freeform (animal only, possibly human), then some limited magic, and last, he said... is there any way he could pick up the ability to eat magic?
He'd also left his childhood a blank slate for me to play with. Since he'd essentially just described a naagloshi, I decided to run with it, since the books describe there being two kinds of them: True Naagloshi (the immortal sort-of-fallen-angel-but-native-american), and the skin-walkers, who were just humans who learned from a naagloshi (very long lived, but not truly immortal).
His parents had once helped a shaman bind a true naagloshi into a prison- a tree, think "Running w/ the Demon" if you've read it... and were responsible for keeping the bindings up... he followed them one day, and the naagloshi was able to touch his mind. He got a new imaginary friend who taught him all this stuff, and he eventually wore the binding thin. It broke out, killed his parents, and left him. As he's started remembering what happened, he's also started remembering the talents the naagloshi taught him before it broke out.

It's been... interesting. We've barely gotten started on the freeform shapeshifting, and let me tell you... if you want this to be a support role, it might not be the best idea. Sure, you can fill in wherever the group needs help... but even with only 4 points, you're looking at being able to handle just about anything you want. Be careful not to relegate any other players to back-seat positions because of your "Jack of all Trades, Master of whatever-needs-done" build, and you might be fine... but it's worth keeping an eye on.

To be honest, I might recommend playing something a little more knowledgeable and a lot less powerful- provide a link for the players into the world without even being able to carry them through it. White-Court Virgin who refuses to give in or even risk it (cause what if they don't love me too?).

[The Mighty Buzzard]

For starters, Submerged is going to be slower to learn the basics on because they'll have significantly more skills/stunts/powers to remember in addition to aspects.  If you're not worried about that though...

Use the Plain Mortal template, take whatever powers you like, and drop the +2 refresh for taking them.  If you're just looking for a race, quite a lot of gods from Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology could shapeshift at will.  A otherwise ordinary human also could with enough time and effort put in to learning how from an able teacher.  American Indian, African, or Austrailian shamans could likely pick the power up.  A species of Fae that you made up on the spot.  Dopplegangers.  And of course the Vermicious Knids.

And remember, she's not your character, she's an NPC that you're controlling.  A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client; same goes for a PC who GMs himself.  It may sound fun in theory but in practice it's almost always disappointingly masturbatory.

Personally, I wouldn't allow the True Shapshifter power to be taken by PCs until everyone is solid on most aspects of the game.  It can get really complicated, really fast compared to almost any other power.  If they're willing to put in the time though, have them line out a minimum of half a dozen living forms beforehand and stick to them for that session;  you don't want to slow play to look up powers of an awesome form you just thought of.

I don't have an opinion on what to do about inanimate objects.  I really dislike that the power allows shifting into them at all for some reason, so I don't allow it.

[cybertier]

@ARedthorn
The issue that the character might be to adaptable is something that also came to my mind, but i think i can offset this with a rather cowardish nature when it comes to combat.
On the other hand the same character might be a good lever in combat situations when i messed up with matching the opposition to the group.
But i'll definitly keep an eye on that issue, thanks for the warning.

I totally forgot about the Naagloshi and naagloshi difference, and i like your story idea about the naagloshi. Also i consider it awesome how perfectly clear the player was about what he wanted, i wish mine were like that.

The problem with more knowledge and less power (read more fatepoints) is that the Wizard will probably be there for information-dumping and that most low powered concepts (especially WCVirgin) are better suited for social characters which i want to avoid. Also i am undecided about the advantages about a low or high refresh character. With high refresh i could bring far more examples for usage of fate points through the character but also i would have to constantly think about how to use those fate points to provide good examples, while also avoiding to give the character to much spotlight.

@The Mighty Buzzard
Submerged came from my approach to character generation. Since most of them had hard time about finding a template they wanted to play i didn't bother them with refresh limits till they said me what they wanted and put the powerlevel at a level where all ideas would fit into. With Wizard and Tiger-Shapeshifter thats settled at Submerged.
I was more looking for idea what "race" could be a True Shapeshifter, like Shaman (Which is no race, but the term template wouldn't fit either).

I know about the GM with a PC issues but i is kinda common in our groups, because in most systems we have frequently changing GMs, so we keep a character in the group for each possible player. Also we often spend a lot of time just roleplaying character interaction so i will feel little less "masturbatory".

I wouldn't like to see it in the hands of an inexperienced player either unless this person had spend some time looking at each possible power and knowing them. Gladly i already did that and the first thing i did was printing lots of reference material so i can look up stuff on the fly.

The inanimate objects thing is something i also don't truly know what to think about. The idea is kinda funny, but i can't think of a lot of sources for this power that would justify that ability. (Magically-Enhanced-Nanite-Cyborg!  )

[Haru]

She's supposed to have a very lively nature and might sometimes seem childish or alienating to others.

I like characters like that. You could go the "I went crazy to protect my sanity" route to justify the nature you described above. Shapeshifters with multiple forms seem to suffer from something like that more often than others, so it would fit quite good. Also, if she ever gets into the sane part of her insanity, she can become a pretty good villain or simply scare the other characters for a moment before she returns to her childish state. I'd probably create the character as a mixture of With Great Power comes great insanity, Cloud Cuckoo Lander and Beware the Nice ones.

As a backstory, how about a Mogli approach? A magically talented kid that grows up in the wild, learning to mimic and eventually become different animals. That would definitely put a dent in her social skills and would establish her shapeshifting abilities at the same time. When she was a bit older, she was found by circus folk and she grew up with them, learning to speak. The Nickname "Squirrel" could be her cloud cuckoo lander aspect, establishing that she is easily distracted. Or she actually lived with squirrels. Not every Mogli needs to be raised by wolves. She probably won't be much help, but would still be a fun character to interact with, I guess.

Loci is a trickster and should be quite formidable in social situations, so I don't see that to be the best option here.

I would probably work shifting into inanimate objects at an angle similar to the description about wizards blind spots. If you have a concept that allows this (and I can't think of one at the moment), go for it. But mostly it is going to be multiple animal forms, I think. It might even be appropriate to refund a fate point and treat it like channeling to evocation.

[Sanctaphrax]

I've got a player character with True Shapeshifting in my PbP game.

His name's wyvern. If you're interested to see how his character works, I recommend you shoot him a PM or look at the OOC thread for Enduring The Apocalypse on the PbP board.

You may want to bear in mind that True Shapeshifting effectively gives you every physical skill at the cap rating. It's very strong, and Squirrel there is going to be a capable combatant as long as you don't intentionally take aspects to prevent that.

In fact, you could easily end up being the strongest fighter in the group. No joke.

[wyvern]

Ah, yes.  The one thing I'd strongly suggest for a True Shapeshifter in an actual pencil and paper style game, is to limit the available forms to ones that the player has pre-generated (and gotten individual approval for), or ones that simply don't need stats (like a waterbed).  That's a big limit, but it's also a necessary one - trying to work out on the fly the skill stack / powers / stunts for a hawk (for an example, pun intended), is liable to bring game to a grinding halt while you run numbers.

Alternatively, I'd suggest a -1 version of "true shapeshifting" that doesn't allow you to change your skills, just your appearance.  (Why is that only -1?  Compare to Glamours, which costs two refresh, and allows you to change your appearance, make yourself invisible, and apply both effects to objects you own, other people you have some connection to, etc.)  Back that up with a slightly larger modular power pool, allow the power pool to contain the occasional form-appropriate stunt or three, and you've got something that's going to be a lot less fuss to adjudicate on the fly.

I went with the former option for my character in Sanctaphrax's game; you can see the character sheet here.  Though, it being a PbP game, I may well stat the occasional form on the fly and then make a declaration that the character "knew it all along" - since, say, a two hour delay to research the abilities of the desert tortoise is unlikely to meaningfully slow down a PbP game.

[Sanctaphrax]

I'd charge -2 for the appearance shifting, personally. Glamours doesn't provide a bonus, while True Shapeshifting does IIRC.

[wyvern]

You are correct!  And I'd totally forgotten about that bonus.  Yes, -2 is appropriate then.

[ARedthorn]

-2 for appearance shifting only? You mean like Mimic Form [-2]?
Take a look at it, for your benchmark.

[CBIrish]

My group has played our first game in Dresden and I played a changeling that was descended from Dopplegangers.  I initially took the mimic form power along with Inhuman Recovery and Speed and Lesser Glamours.  The point was to play a stealthy, tech using character to support the rest of the group, who are all White Council wizards.  Afterwards, I sat down with the GM and decided to switch over to True Shapeshifting with Modular Abilities to better suit what I, as a PC, wanted from the character.

My character specialized in stealth, recon and surveillance.  In combat I usually veiled and then stabbed/shot targets in the back or hung back and used a rifle to back up the wizards.  I was alos able to use the glamours to help them blend in in certain situations ( if they agreed to let me do it).  I played him as vaguely sociopathic (humorously) and I had a lot of luck slipping in and filling gaps where needed during the course of the story.  Something like this may be workable given what you described of your needs - easy to fade back and lend support when needed and more than able to vanish for extended periods to collect info as needed.

Anywho - I hope at least some of this helps.  Have fun man.

[Sanctaphrax]

How much refresh did you have?

By my math, you could only manage one form point for Modular Abilities at Submerged.

Was this a very high-powered game?

[CBIrish]

I don't have my sheet with me, but as I recall, I think we were in the Submerged level.  By the time we'd finished, we were well in to that level, with each of us having had the chance to earn a few extra refresh points by the time all was said and done.  Our GM might have been a little generous, but given what we ended up facing (a voodoo cult in New Orleans capable of working up some serious mojo to fuel a magical arms race -- along with a few Red Court vamps and a very nasty Winter Changeling), he certainly didn't take it easy on us. 

When we talked about switching to True Shapeshifting - he was allowing me to 'cash in' all of my powers except Lesser Glamours so that I could upgrade to True Shapeshifting and had some points to put in to Modular Abilities.  Since this was our first time playing, he allowed us to go back and make alterations once the story was finished.  Ultimately, I ended up light on stunts (as in, I think I might have had one) but with the ability to modify my physical abilities pretty widely and still maintain my role as surveillance and support while giving me a little more physical ability.