[5e] Shapeshifters and gear, How much can shift with them? Options

[Adhoc]

Hi,

one of my players are making a raven shapeshifter. Shapeshifter are close to useless in SR5.

We talked about how much of his gear that shifts with him. As far as I can tell there is no official rules about it.

So I guess that the official rule is "none". Is this correct? none of the material object on the shifter would change with him?

I wanted to make them more playable, so I wanted to make a ruling about it.

First rule: it had to make physical sense. An Armor Jacket could be absorbed but wouldn't have an effect on the animal form. Likewise with a cyberleg.

Foci would be absorbed and function - as they are bound to the aura of the shifter. However, a raven can't physically use a weapon focus

Cyberware would be absorbed, but it would only work if it would fit into the physical form of a Raven. Yes, you can have a raven with a smartlink, no, you can't have a raven with a cyberspur.

This is all very-complicated and I have a hard time coming up with a criteria that makes sense and that makes shifters interesting to play powerwise.

What would you do?

A.

[Stahlseele]

Nope, nothing shifts with you. Period.
Same how mist form vampires lose everything.
You want to be some regenerating or mistform monstrosity?
Welcome to playing naked.
There are rules for cyber as well. Under Delta it gets pushed out of the body just like that with almost killing you.
At delta it is made for your human form, not for your animal form and thus does not work at all.

[SpellBinder]

What would I do? Odds are never play a shifter in SR5 until the pile of kitty litter rules are cleaned up.

A little more seriously, not sure I wouldn't consider using foci at all unless there's a way they can be kept with for the alternate form. In one story I have a true drake who wears a chrome chain about his neck, and about half a dozen of the links are actually various foci; the chain is large enough that it doesn't break or choke him when he shifts between western drake and human forms. Pretty sure that won't work with a raven shifter, though it might for a lion, tiger, or bear.

[Isath]

I simply do not use what has been officially published on shapeshiftes for SR5, since a crappy conceptual draft that is void of sense, does not count as ruleset as far as I am concerned.

Your question how ever has been answered, before Run Faster was published. In the Atherology book, they published the critterpower of shapeshifting. By those rules you can not take anything with you, exept for deltagrade implants.

[Neraph]

Nope, nothing shifts with you. Period.
Same how mist form vampires lose everything.
You want to be some regenerating or mistform monstrosity?
Welcome to playing naked.
There are rules for cyber as well. Under Delta it gets pushed out of the body just like that with almost killing you.
At delta it is made for your human form, not for your animal form and thus does not work at all.

Basically I agree. I'd like to see a shifter who''s implants are designed for their animal form, not humanoid though. I mean, it is their natural form, after all.

What would I do? Odds are never play a shifter in SR5 until the pile of kitty litter rules are cleaned up.

A little more seriously, not sure I wouldn't consider using foci at all unless there's a way they can be kept with for the alternate form. In one story I have a true drake who wears a chrome chain about his neck, and about half a dozen of the links are actually various foci; the chain is large enough that it doesn't break or choke him when he shifts between western drake and human forms. Pretty sure that won't work with a raven shifter, though it might for a lion, tiger, or bear.

I had a concept for a Shapechange spellcasting troll mystic adept who had a sustaining focus in the form of a large "bling" necklace that'd be basically a choker in his preferred combat form - a rhinoceros.

[Ogrebear]

In the old Missions book there is an adventure called King of the Mountain and within the pages of this (P92) there is a spell called 'Personal Physical Shapechange' which converts to SR5 by changing it to F+2.

The spell description says:

This version of the Shapechange spell takes armour, clothing, and a limited amount of equipment with it. The character can carry 1 item for every point of Force of the spell. Each article of clothing counts as 1 item. For every 2 success, the character may carry 1 additional item, but the new form must be able to wear or carry the item. Armour does not protect the new form.

Type: Physical
Range: Self
Target: Body
Duration: Sustained
Drain: (F/2) + 1M