Aspect Codex
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is an imported aspect from the Jericha Aspect Data sheet. Its full lore and named powers can be expanded here as the canon text is added.
What This Aspect Does
Shapeshifting defines a character's supernatural focus, training profile, resource model, and power family. This page is structured so each separate power can become its own linked entry instead of being buried inside a character sheet.
Power Links
Mutable Face
Alter minor humanoid features such as hair, eyes, skin tone, scars, voice pitch, apparent age, or height by a few inches. This does not copy a specific person perfectly, change clothing, or alter size category.
Borrowed Mannerism
Shift posture, gait, facial tension, hand movements, accent placement, or breathing rhythm. Add 1d4 to one Deception, Performance, Persuasion, or Stealth check made to support a humanoid persona.
False Build
Change apparent humanoid build: height within 1 foot, weight, muscle, posture, sex traits, facial structure, and voice. You remain the same size category. Physical inspection allows an INT (Investigation) check against your power save DC.
Change of Face
Rapidly alter your face, hair, voice, and expression. You have advantage on the next Deception or Performance check made before the effect ends to conceal your identity, misdirect recognition, or create a brief persona.
Worker's Body
Shift your humanoid body toward a practiced role: porter, dancer, climber, runner, guard, noble, or laborer. Choose Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, or Performance. Add 1d4 to checks with that skill for the duration.
Blend In
Adopt the average visible traits and body language of a local humanoid crowd. Existing clothing seems worn naturally. You have advantage on Stealth checks made to avoid notice in crowds or routine public spaces.
Impersonating Face
Copy the visible face, voice, scent, posture, and build of a specific humanoid you have studied for at least 1 minute. A creature familiar with the original may make Insight or Investigation against your power save DC when something seems off.
Sculpted Voice
Reshape your throat, mouth, and resonance. You can imitate a humanoid voice you have studied, speak in a different apparent age or sex, or remove your accent. A suspicious listener may make an Insight check against your power save DC.
Body Language Theft
When you see a humanoid make a social check, trained movement, formal gesture, or melee feint, copy its posture and rhythm. Before your next turn, add 1d6 to one Deception, Insight, Performance, Persuasion, Stealth, or melee attack roll using the copied manner.
Social Camouflage
Shift into the expected body language and presentation of a role: servant, guard, merchant, pilgrim, noble, sailor, student, soldier, or official. Creatures not already suspicious treat you as belonging to that role until contradicted.
Humanoid Shape
Transform into the general form of another humanoid ancestry or species of your size category. Your statistics remain yours, but visible anatomy, voice, scent, hair, skin, ears, teeth, and proportions match the chosen ancestry for casual inspection.
Quick Disguise
Assume a prepared humanoid disguise instantly: face, voice, body shape, gait, and apparent age. The disguise must be one you have rehearsed for at least 10 minutes before. You have advantage on your first Deception check to maintain it.
Combat Build
Shift muscle, reach, stance, and leverage toward a humanoid combat role. Choose bruiser, duelist, guard, archer, or skirmisher. For the duration, once per turn add 1d6 to one weapon damage roll or reduce weapon damage taken by 1d6.
Passing Details
Create fine biological details needed for a convincing humanoid identity: fingerprints, dental pattern, scars, old injuries, freckles, scent profile, pulse rhythm, or blood color within natural limits. These details pass casual mundane inspection.
Deep Cover Body
Build a complete humanoid cover identity in your body: face, build, voice, scent, hands, scars, and minor anatomical tells. The form withstands casual physical inspection. Detailed medical or magical inspection can contest it with Investigation, Medicine, or Insight.
Body Double
Become a near-duplicate of a humanoid you have studied closely or touched. You do not gain memories, powers, or equipment. Creatures familiar with the original have disadvantage on first-glance recognition checks unless your behavior gives you away.
Professional Frame
Reshape your humanoid body for one trained profession or lifestyle. Choose two skills from Athletics, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Performance, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, or Insight. Add 1d6 to checks with those skills when your body presentation supports the role.
Face Slip
When a creature identifies, targets, marks, or tracks you by appearance, voice, scent, or body pattern, immediately alter that identifying trait. The creature must make a WIS save or lose the identification until it observes you again for at least 1 minute.
Perfect Voice and Face
Perfectly copy the visible face, voice, scent, surface body, and manner of one humanoid you have touched or studied for 10 minutes. Mundane inspection cannot detect the shift unless your behavior or knowledge fails the role.
Crowd of One
Prepare up to three humanoid appearances and switch between them as a bonus action for the duration. Each appearance must share your size category and general body plan. You have advantage on checks to lose pursuit in crowds or confuse eyewitnesses.
Commanding Presence
Shape yourself into a socially dominant humanoid presentation: noble, officer, priest, celebrity, elder, enforcer, or official. For the duration, add 1d8 to Persuasion or Intimidation checks where presence, posture, and voice matter.
Hidden Biology
Alter blood, fingerprints, scent, pulse, scars, hair roots, and superficial medical signs to match or conceal a humanoid identity. For the duration, nonmagical forensic checks against your identity have disadvantage.
Shapeshifting Dominion
Your Shapeshifting powers focus on humanoid forms. You have advantage on saves against unwanted changes to your humanoid identity, and you can maintain one harmless cosmetic humanoid alteration indefinitely.
Read the Room
Your features subtly shift toward what nearby humanoids expect. For the duration, you can sense which humanoid social role would be least suspicious in the area and add 1d8 to Deception, Insight, or Persuasion checks tied to adopting it.
Role Mastery
Assume the body, stance, and physical habits of one humanoid role. Choose three related skills or tools. For the duration, add 1d8 to checks with them if your assumed body and role plausibly help.
Identity Shedding
When you are recognized, named by a tracking effect, marked by appearance, or targeted by a humanoid-identity curse of Tier 6 or lower, shed the relevant identity. The effect fails unless it can target your true self through nonphysical means.
Living Alias
Create a stable humanoid alias with consistent face, body, voice, scent, pulse, minor scars, and habitual tells. You can return to this alias exactly whenever you use Shapeshifting. Mundane records made while in the alias consistently identify that persona.
Perfect Infiltrator
Choose a humanoid group, profession, household, faction, or crowd. Your body and mannerisms shift to match its common expectations. Until you act against the role or fail a required credential check, casual observers assume you belong.
Borrowed Authority
Assume the physical presence of a commanding humanoid role. For the duration, when you make a Deception, Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion check based on authority, roll 1d10 and add it to the result.
Medical Counterfeit
Counterfeit biological evidence of a humanoid state: fever, pregnancy, age, wound history, disease signs, blood type, surgical marks, or deathlike pallor. Nonmagical Medicine checks against the counterfeit have disadvantage unless the examiner knows what to suspect.
Master of Faces
Store up to ten humanoid faces, voices, and builds you have used before. For the duration, you may switch among stored faces as a bonus action. You retain exact details, including scars, fingerprints, scent, and vocal timbre.
Unperson
Become a deliberately forgettable humanoid. Creatures that interact with you must make a WIS save afterward or remember only generic details unless you harmed them, revealed your name, or acted dramatically. Records and magic are unaffected.
Paragon Body
Shape your humanoid form into a physical ideal: athletic, graceful, imposing, delicate, tireless, or commanding. Choose two ability checks from STR, DEX, CON, or CHA-based checks. For the duration, add 1d10 to those checks when your body presentation applies.
Identity Lock
When magic or scrutiny of Tier 8 or lower would reveal your original form, true face, biological tells, or previous identities, force the observer or effect to make an INT save. On a failure, it reads only your current humanoid identity.
Sovereign Persona
Your humanoid forms are stable and difficult to pierce. Effects below Tier 9 cannot force you back to an original humanoid appearance unless they suppress Shapeshifting entirely. You have advantage on saves against identity revelation and unwanted transformation.
Replace the Target
Touch a willing, unconscious, restrained, or absent humanoid's fresh biological trace and become a perfect physical replacement for that humanoid. You do not gain memories or powers. Creatures familiar with the original have disadvantage on checks to notice the substitution unless behavior exposes you.
Mass Passing
Choose up to six willing humanoids within range. Each target takes on a coordinated cover identity, uniform body language, and plausible shared role. The effect does not change clothing, but makes the group read as a unit such as staff, guards, pilgrims, mourners, or officials.
Perfect Human Instrument
Refine your humanoid form for precision. Choose STR, DEX, CON, or CHA. For the duration, add 1d10 to ability checks using that ability, and once per turn add your STR modifier to one melee damage roll or your CHA modifier to one social check.
Thousand Faces
Identity mastery. You maintain a library of unlimited humanoid faces, voices, scents, fingerprints, and surface biological tells. You may switch current humanoid identity as a bonus action, and mundane inspection cannot identify an original face unless you choose.
Perfect Role
Role/body mastery. Become the physical embodiment of one humanoid role, profession, or social station. Choose four relevant skills or tools; add 1d12 to checks with them when your assumed body, voice, posture, and presentation support the role.
Ghost in the Crowd
Infiltration mastery. Become the person no one questions. For the duration, casual observers rationalize your presence in any humanoid crowd, staff, procession, household, or bureaucracy unless you commit obvious violence, contradiction, or magic in front of them.
The True Mask
Perfected persona mastery. Create or become one mythic humanoid identity with its own name, appearance, biological tells, legal/social traces, and story weight. It can found a dynasty, replace a lost person, erase a former face, or become a legendary alias. It ends only by Tier 10 identity magic, divine intervention, or a story condition set when created.
Characters With This Aspect
Constantine
M.A.I.C.N.
Imported character from the Character Data sheet.
Masquerade
Nora Rabe von Queef
Nora Rabe von Queef, known as Masquerade, is a shapeshifting noble, political architect, and co-founder of Centrum whose greatest weapon has always been identity. Wife to Magala and mother to Baron von Queef, she helped shape Jericha’s post-war order through strategy, infiltration, negotiation, and carefully chosen lies. Nora defeated Baron Fangapor, later revived her son through the Phoenix Circuit, and ultimately polymorphed Albert Rallus into a rat during Centrum’s collapse. Whether appearing as ruler, ally, enemy, or stranger, Nora survives by understanding that power is not only held—it is performed.