So I've been mulling over the idea of an SR4 campaign, trying to come up with NPCs to populate the story. I thought a dragon or two would be neat, but I'm wondering how such a creature is supposed to be a mover and shaker in metahuman society when it can't take on human form. Since I plan for these NPCs to be potentially killable by PCs, I would rather not populate my world with additional great dragons.

My first thought was the (Critter) Form spell, but it is out because it says the average Body of the form you are taking has to be within 2 points of your own Body. Even a troll's average body is 7, which is much too low. Anyway, it seems to me transforming into a metahuman violates the spirit of this spell.

I don't have Street Magic; is there a way for a custom spell to transform a dragon into a humanoid form? Or are all transformations like that limited by Body?

Also, why is it that drakes have a metahuman form (at least, I gather that they can from reading this forum, I don't have RC yet), and great dragons do, but the 'regular' dragons can't? I suppose if I am the GM I can just say, "Even normal dragons get human form, so there!" I'd rather follow the published rules, tho. Any ideas?

Drakes are metahumans who have a drake form. (Metahuman) Form is a valid option, when appropriate.

If you really want to avoid coloring outside the lines, how about illusion magic, or Matrix communication?

Finally, your dragons can be movers and shakers without having lots of public meetings.

Hm... didn't we have this question a few weeks ago? Hm.. can't find it... but i know it is here.

Ah well:

The Shapechange/Critterform etc. spells are pretty weird in my opinion. I just wrote in the other thread: create a new spell which change your body. PERIOD. All these strange rules for body /strenght and additional attributes and stuff are just weird. Make a spell which changes your mass and appearence. Make nice attributes for it. DONE.

Such a spell shouldn't be that hard to create, especially for mighty dragon mages.

EDIT: Ah here it is:
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...c=30333&hl=

Dragon mover and shaker example:

Dragon: "Bob, here's a trinket I want. Have someone get it for me. I want to use it to make Ares tremble."
(skip a beat)
Bob: "Hi runners, I'm Bob the Big J. You get me this trinket, I give you this credstick. We got a deal?"
(run, hamburger the guards, grab trinket, evade random police patrols, return to target)
Bob: "Thanks, here's your credstick, go fade."
(skip yet another beat)
Dragon: "Good Bob, now we move the world with this little lever. Get Damien on the line."

Non-Greats also "have" human form by RAW:
SR4A, p. 304:


In "Never deal with the dragon" novel Twist met two dragons in human forms:
- Haesslich (adult dragon), who had to sustain his "human form" magic with focus in form of ring with a dragon sign, and in astral he still showed as dragon;
- Lofwyr (great dragon), who didn't need the focus and even in astral looked human.

Check also an official free fiction "Turnabout" (http://www.shadowrun4.com/fiction/fiction4_turnabout.shtml).

Welp, guess my search-fu fails since I didn't find that other thread on the same topic.

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I think I shall have to invent a spell for it. Here goes:

Metahuman Transformation
Target: Willing sapient creature, range: LOS, Drain: F/2+2, Duration: Sustained, Type: Physical, Category: Manipulation (Transformation)
Description: The subject is physically transformed into one of the five common metatypes of humanity (human, elf, dwarf, ork, or troll), or one of the metavariants thereof, chosen at the time the spell is cast and immutable for the duration. While transformed, the subject is affected as follows:

• Physical and mental attributes are unchanged. The new form's maximum modified attribute values apply to physical attributes (maximum modified values for mental attributes are unchanged).
• Positive and negative qualities and powers not obviously incompatible with the new form remain (i.e. a blind ork becomes a blind elf; a dragon can use its Influence or Fear power, but not its Elemental Attack).
• Movement modes not also available to the new form are lost (i.e. a dragon loses its Flight).
• Naturally occurring vision modes not also possessed by the new form are lost.
• The subject's astral form remains unchanged.
• Only the subject's body changes. Any clothing that is too small for the new form will be shredded and destroyed if worn while the spell is cast (tip: buy some stretchy underwear). The spell fails if there is no available space for the subject to change into the new form (i.e. dwarf contortionists balled up inside glass boxes cannot be crushed by turning them into trolls). Any cyberware or bioware implanted in the subject's body is magically adjusted to work with the new form (since it has been paid for with Essence).

Hits on the spellcasting test may be spent in the following ways:

• If transforming into a form with reach from a form without it, 1 hit MUST be spent to gain reach.
• If transforming into a form with dermal calcification from a form without it, 1 hit MUST be spent to gain dermal calcification.
• One hit may be spent to increase a physical or mental attribute by 1 point, up to the racial average (i.e. racial minimum +2) for the new form.
• One hit may be spent to gain a vision mode possessed by the new form that the subject doesn't already have and is eligible for.
• If transforming into a specific other metahuman, each hit spent to mimic the intended appearance increases the threshold on Perception tests to tell that the subject is not the person in question by 2.

Some examples of this spell in action:

Dragon -> Human, Force 1
Dragon's Body and Strength are reduced to 9 (modified maximum for a human). The dragon's breath weapon and flight powers are not compatible with his new form, nor is his low-light or thermographic vision, so he loses them. He remains a dual-natured creature.

Wimpy Human Mage (Body 1, Strength 1) -> Troll, Force 5
2 hits must be spent to gain Reach and dermal calcification. Then at most 3 hits can be used to increase body to 4, or body 3 strength 2, etc. If less than 2 hits are generated on the spellcasting test, the spell fails.

Elf (Body 3, Charisma 8, Strength 3) -> Ork, Force 5
Since the elf has low-light vision and the new form does as well, it remains while transformed. Charisma stays at 8 even though the maximum modified value for an ork is 7. Spellcasting hits could be used to increase Strength and Body up to 5 and 6, respectively, or to mimic a specific ork.

Ork (Body 8, Strength 7, Charisma 2) -> Elf, Force 5
Since the ork has low-light vision and the new form does as well, it remains while transformed. Modified maximum Body and Strength for an elf are 9, so those remain unchanged. Spellcasting hits could be used to increase Charisma up to 5, or to mimic a specific elf.

Ork (Body 8, Strength 7, Charisma 2) -> Troll, Force 5
Since the ork has low-light vision and the new form does not, he loses it. 2 hits must be spent to gain Reach and dermal calcification. Strength and Body are already at or above average troll levels, so they may not be increased. Spellcasting hits beyond 2 could be used to gain thermographic vision or mimic a specific troll.

Troll -> Troll, Force 6
Since the subject is already a troll, he keeps his reach, dermal calcification, and thermographic vision. Hits can be used to increase the Perception threshold to tell he is an imposter.

Intentions
I think the spell should be usable by non-dragons, which is why I also tried to make sure it wasn't too cheesy, but at the same time it's not going to "gimp" a dragon (or PC) that uses it too severely. If viewed as a way to increase physical attributes, it is good, although you can do better with the Improve (Attribute) spell for less drain, and the max you can get is the average value of the metatype in question. Personally, I would allow attribute improvements from this spell to stack with Improve (Attribute), since it already has the stricture that minimum force = the augmented attribute value. Originally, I thought it would make sense to limit mental attributes by the new form's augmented max, but since Shapechange doesn't do that, I didn't either to be consistent.

As a side note, I think a great dragon's Metahuman Form power should work the same way this spell does with physical attributes; rather than becoming an "average" member of the metahuman type, they should just be capped by the augmented max.

Errr your allowing a force 1 to change to human? Wow that's cheap, honestly just say no to dragons, any GM plan that involves dragon and the word neat is a bad plan IMHO.

Sure, force 1 turns the dragon into his "normal" human form, reducing his Strength and Body, robbing him of his teeth/claws, flight and elemental breath weapon, but allowing him to blend into metahuman society. He doesn't need hits on the spellcasting test for anything, so Force 1 is sufficient. If he wanted to mimic a specific human, he would use a higher Force and spend the hits to increase the threshold of Perception checks.

Or, he could cast at Force 2 and turn into a troll version of himself, retaining most or all of his Body, more of his Strength, and gaining dermal calcification, as long as he can muster 2 hits on the spellcasting test.

The main reason for the "crunchiness" of the spell description is so that metahumans can use it without every non-troll wanting to be transformed into a troll all the time.

On the flipside, it does also reflect that little fact that Dragons of any flavor dislike being in metahuman form as it's significantly more dangerous for them when compared to their natural forms due to the defenses of their natural forms.

In Runner's Companion, in the section on shapechangers, it says that everyone's astral form always reflects their "true" form, unless they hide it with masking -- which can be used to make your astral form look like whatever you want. Lofwyr must have been sustaining the spell himself (when you're rolling 30 dice for everything, what's a piddly little -2 sustaining penalty?) and masking his astral signature to appear human.

Maybe it was some of Lofwyr's more powerful flunkies, it wasn't told straight. I've got a feeling that somewhere (in 2nd edition, perhaps?) was something about GDs in metahuman form look human also in astral, but probably I'm wrong.
Sorry, my mistake.

BTW, how would Masking metamagic work in this case?

You can use Masking to look like another astral creature IIRC.

As others have pointed out dragons have access to magic beyond that of metahumans. IIRC it was in earthdawn when talking about the nature of magic... that to a dragon he doesn't use the spellform so much as just shape the raw magical energies to his needs. While the younger races needed to construct spell formulae to do the same thing.

There is zero problem whatsoever with dragons using a special dragon only form of Critter Shape. Then setting the attributes to 9's. (not as if the dragon isn't a lot more vulnerable in that form... outside of the concealment and hide in the crowd benefits). The dragon STILL won't have access to normal speech though, so the telepathy is still something of a dead giveaway.

For a dragon... masking, extended masking, and a humanshape spell is by no means out of the question.
(masking disguises the aura, extended masking hides the spell aura, and the humanshape puts him in a human form)

The shapechange spell itself is limited to non-paracritters. IE: a human is fine, but all others (dwarves, elves, orcs, trolls.. are paracritters!). The spell you wrote down I think is overpowered and broken, I for one would never give it the go signal. (stick w/ shapechange w/ it's limitations... and I apply even shapechange can't change your body beyond your enhanced maximums of your native form).


Bull:
Concealment won't hide your spell auras. (spell auras are distinct and seperate from your own).

Though extended masking will hide them inside your own. Then concealment works like normal. Just you need the 2 metamagics first.

Generally though locally, we treat 'invisibility' as a mental effect hiding both the spell and the person in a 'this is not the droid you're looking for type way'. Improved invisibility works against tech, but still stands out on the astral. It's a way to make the pick between mana and physical illusions a little harder.

I must respectfully disagree. Dragons are very powerful creatures, but Mana Bolt is Mana Bolt. It breaks the verisimilitude of the world if dragons have access to spells that metahuman mages can't cast. Also, the critter entry for dragons says they "know most spells," not that they get to make up spells on the fly because they are just that awesome. In fleshing out my dragon NPC, I'll be starting with the critter entry and building him as a Prime Runner, complete with a finite list of spells known.


In the Turnabout story on the SR4 fiction page, where the dragon is apparently using a spell to be in human form, he speaks normally in addition to using telepathy. It seems reasonable (at least to me) that since talking is something metahumans can do, a dragon transformed into one could also. Normal animals can't talk, which is why Shapechange lists that as prohibited.


May I ask why you think so? I don't have Street Magic, so I don't have access to the custom spell rules; perhaps I made the drain too low according to those rules?

That was my favorite art* in the book. Nothing like seeing a dragon sitting at a restaurant table drinking a glass of wine.

*Art, not part. Although "part" is appropriate, there was an actual image in the book.