I'd have thought the -4 dice sustaining penalty would put paid to such behaviour, but I guess he could have loaded up on foci.

But then I like to have 'things man was not meant to wot of' being attracted to obvious magic users.

The shapeshifting is quickened.

The illusion is a focus item.

So a human could shapeshift into a troll provided they have the min body to do so?

is that allowed?
i thought only CRITTERS?

No, it's not.

Trolls are Paranormal Critters however you choose to slice it...

in that case, it'll last roughly until he has to pass the first ward. which shouldn't be very long. after that either the quickened effect is lost and security is on it's way, or the quickened effect is not lost (and security is on it's way).

not exactly useful for a shadowrunner.

racist pig ._.
trolls is people too! ;_;

You could potentially pull a Clarence Beeks on the character some time.

I thought they were talking about actual Shapeshifters, not folks changing shape with a spell, right?

And if that was the case, I thought it was, at least at one point, canon impossible for a shapeshifter to have cyberware of any sort. Not because of the changing shape or the essence loss, or the fact that they were just really smart animals that could look like people...

... no, because their natural healing/regeneration would revert their body to its original state (cyberware free) regardless of essence paid, in minutes anyway.


Or has that, like grounding spells through focii, gone the way of the dodo?

no, original SHAPESHIFTER who start out as animals with regeneration still get that problem . . but right now, talk is about metahuman characters being morphed from metahuman to xxx

Remember that chimps can't talk, and that wards are fairly common, and that sustained/quickened spells are fairly obvious to astral sight. And that people will get resistance tests against the illusion every time.

His armor will also need to be custom-made. It's doubtful that a mere fashion spell would work, unless the mage casting it actually had some knowledge of armor design, and maybe chimp biology while we're at it. We're talking about a primate with fur (making clothing hotter and more uncomfortable), and joints that are quite a bit different than a human's.

So, infirm human (Body 1) can shapechange to standard human (Body 3). When using 12 dice to cast, they average 4 successes, and so will get to add 4 to all their physical attributes, for B/A/R/S scores of 7/7/7/7.

But they're very Thor afterwards.

As long as the Spell has a Force of 4 or more.

My reading of the shapechange spell states that it can only turn you into normal critters....Pretty sure people aren't critters...

And yet a ghoul is considered a 'critter', and it is merely a metahuman with a disease. I don't really see the problem.

IMO:
critter = animal
para-critter = awakened animal

human = type of animal
meta human = type of awakened animal

I have a problem with the description of all metahumans as being 'awakened'.

The BBB does not list (meta)humans in their Critters list. However, they don't list most of the rest of the fauna of the world either. If going by the critter list in BBB, the only normal animals which you are allowed to shapechange into would be:

• Dog
• Great Cat (tiger, etc)
• Horse
• Shark
• Wolf

If you want a more extensive list, you have to go back to the SR3 Critters book which (on page 19) lists a table of normal critters plus 'Metahuman Averages'. For me, this is sufficiently close to justify treating them as valid shapechange targets. YMMV

valid, that is a fairly reserved term. How would you refer to things that resulted from the awakening?

I would just call them metahumans.
Awakened creatures would be those which can actively tap into mana somehow, as opposed to those which simply exist because its around.
The BBB doesn't call all meta's awakened, but only adepts, mages, or something with the capacity to tap mana.

I wouldn't call Metahumans paracritters, either, and not just because i'd have to duck a lot. There are metavariants of critters that are not Awakened or paracritters. The spell wouldn't convey any additional magic powers (ie. hellhound breath or bandersnatch camo or drake breath), but you also don't lose any you have (as long as you aren't in a snake form when you need to use finger gestures and chanting to spellcast.) Being a troll doesn't give you magical powers (like fiery breath or invulnerability to normal weapons.) If you can go for a bat or dolphin with sonar or a poisonous snake, why not a bigger, rougher-hewn version of yourself with some big lower canines and pointy ears? Or for that matter, if you can do a shark, alligator or lyre bird, why not a dwarf? Maybe make it a higher drain spell to turn into specific metahuman/human, requiring a tissue sample (blood, hair, saliva, etc.) Hmmmmm. Just my 0.02 of a drachma.
stormcrow

The intent of the wording is self evident, the Devs are trying to stop the, "I change into a specific person or para critter"
by stopping changing into metahumans or para critters.
In addition to this it is a return to a more direct interpretation of shape changeing spell from folklore.

Now the conjecture that metahumanity is just an evolved animal, though logical, is also a wilful perversion of the spirit of the wording. By people that know their doing it to.

Ultimatly everyone will run things their way in their games but really why lie to yourselves?
If you want a meta human shape shifting spell just make one up.

No I don't think it is. Critter = animal, meta = animal, therefore critter = meta. The book never refered to them as awakened.
Also spells like physical mask exist which provide the ilusion of looking like someone else, so having a manipultion spell which changes you to actually BE someone else shouldn't be that big a stretch.

Critters also include plants, spirits, and bacteria colonies. The term is basically a catch-all for any potential opposition that isn't metahuman or machine.

The intent of the use critter here however is clear. Namely a non meta human/ non paracritter animal. I agree if you should want a spell to shape shift to a metahuman by all means make one.
However it is not shapechange per the book.

For example by your rational a power focus in the shape of a weapon must be a weapon focus.
By the rules of the game, abstract as they are, this is not the case. The lable here has the intent of specifing a limiting factor that is being willful ingored to get more out of the spell.
Am all for realism in game but guys, to quote a friend of mine, "Don't piss on my back and tell me its raining."