I'm confused about the extent of the change that a Shapeshift spell causes.

Does a character using Shapeshift gain all the attributes and skills of the critter, or do they only gain the attributes?

Also, other than the SR4 Sourcebook, where else can I find stats for normal critters (a bear would be great)?

Thanks

bump

1) Bumping is frowned upon here. [/fake admin voice]
2) Using the Search tool, setting the Search posts from... dropdown to something like 6 months or a year, is smiled upon and will net you some good info on the topic of the Shapeshift spell.
3) The SR3 Critters books is available in PDF form as a free download on at least one of the web stores that sells Shadowrun PDFs. I don't have the URL handy though, so maybe someone else can help with that. From there you can do a comparison of how they converted the other critters and do up a decent conversion of the bear. You might also check the Links to all the Conversions in this Forum sticked thread at the top of this forum to see if someone has already done this for you.

...ok

For a short answer, IIRC, they get the phys attributes, up to force, although I could be wrong. Just going off what I remember. I don't see why they would get the skills though. Turning into a bird shouldn't mean that you suddenly learn how to fly for example. Why would it? Likewise, why would becoming a wolf mean that suddenly you're skilled at biting people? My opinion at least. Usre there's some rules out there for it. Try the FAQ on srrpg I guess. Should still be accurate.

Shapeshift search of forums in shadowrun 4 OLDER then 30 days.

Shapeshift topic

Hey, what about cyberware and shapeshifting?

Maybe someone else didn't know how to search and got a page of links!

good job, karma cookie for you!

Went through all those and didn't find a concrete answer to my question.

you gain the physical stats of the critter, with a bonus of +1 to each stat per net hit (limited by spell force, of course).

i would rule you gain the critter's powers (keeping in mind that any such powers are going to be purely physical; no paracritters allowed), though i might limit you on some things (for example, you could gain a dog's sense of smell, but you would need some practice to know what a given smell means)

you do not gain the critter's skills.

Thank you Jaid, for the helpful answer. You are a kind soul.