Shifter

The Shifter race is coming to DDO in late 2020 as a part of an upcoming expansion into Feywild.

Shifters are a basic Eberron race with notable Lycanthropic ancestry. They cannot transform entirely into animals, but can shift parts of their bodies to be animal-like for short periods of time. In DDO, this Shifting has similarities (and statistical connections to) Raging.

Depending on subrace selection, Shifters excel at Defense/Tanking or WIS-based casting.

Racial traits

 * +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence
 * Autogranted Feat: Dismiss Rage

1st Level Racial Feat: Subrace Selector. (Like Aasimar, Shifters select their subrace at level 1, which grants them some specific bonuses and informs which selections they can make in their tree).
 * Beasthide Shifter: Passive: +1 CON. Active: Activate this Shifter ability to shift your form, granting you a +4 Rage bonus to Armor Class and Constitution, a +2 Morale bonus to Fortitude saves, and a -2 penalty to Wisdom. When the form ends, however, you will lose the hit points granted to you by increased Constitution and become fatigued. Your form will last for 30 seconds plus an additional amount of time based on your Constitution. You can prematurely end your form by using the Dismiss Rage feat. This shares charges with Barbarian's Rage feat, and anything that grants bonuses while Raging will grant bonuses with this. Shifting your form in this way prevents Spellcasting.
 * Wildhunt Shifter: Passive: +1 WIS. Activate this Shifter ability to shift your form, granting you a +4 Rage bonus to Wisdom and Dexterity, a +2 Morale bonus to Will saves, and a -2 penalty to Strength. When the form ends, however, you will become fatigued. Your form will last for 30 seconds plus an additional amount of time based on your Wisdom. You can prematurely end your form by using the Dismiss Rage feat. This shares charges with Barbarian's Rage feat, and anything that grants bonuses while Raging will grant bonuses with this. Shifting your form in this way prevents Spellcasting.

Past life
TBD

PnP information
Shifters are often rather warlike and xenophobic, although this is not a rule. They typically live in packs, but loners are not unheard of. They tend to stay away from civilized areas and keep to themselves. They fiercely guard their territory and do not welcome outsiders. They run the gamut from kind-hearted to cruel and ruthless. Shifters usually are 'VERY' good at fighting. Shifters do not enjoy using weapons although if it is necessary they will. A Shifter's favored class is any; this is probably because they are better at attacking with anything they want, and another factor is that they have the "Change Shape" ability.

Dragonmark feats
The fact that none of the dragonmarked houses includes shifters cements their place outside the mainstream of society.

Racial traits

 * +2 Dexterity
 * -2 Charisma
 * -2 Intelligence
 * +2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, and Jump checks.
 * Shifting (Su): A shifter can tap into his lycanthropic heritage to gain short bursts of physical power. Once per day, a shifter can enter a state that is superficially similar to a barbarian’s rage. Each shifter has one of six shifter traits—characteristic that manifests when he is shifting. Each shifter trait provides a +2 bonus to a physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) and grants some other advantage as well. Shifting is a free action and lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the shifter’s CON modifier (if a shifter trait or other effect increases the shifter’s CON modifier, use the newly improved modifier). probably translates to something equal to barbarian rage time. A shifter can take feats to improve this ability (see Shifter Feats, below). Every shifter feat a shifter takes increases the duration of shifting by 1 round. For every two shifter feats a shifter takes, the number of times per day he can tap into the ability increases by one. So, a shifter with two shifter feats can shift two times per day (instead of the usual one), and each use of the ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to 5 (instead of 3) + the shifter’s Con modifier.

Shifter traits
Each shifter has one of the following special traits, which is selected when a character is created and cannot be changed thereafter.
 * Beasthide (Su): While shifting, a beasthide shifter gains a +2 bonus to constitution and natural armor that provides a +2 bonus to AC.
 * Longtooth (Su): While shifting, a longtooth shifter gains a +2 bonus to strength and grows fangs that can be used as a natural weapon, dealing 1d6 points of damage (plus an additional +1 for every four character levels the shifter has) with a successful bite attack.
 * Cliffwalk (Su): While shifting, a cliffwalk shifter gains a +2 bonus to dexterity and has a climb speed of 20 feet.
 * Razorclaw (Su): While shifting, a razorclaw shifter gains a +2 bonus to strength and grows claws that can be used as a natural weapons. These claws deal 1d4 points of damage (plus an additional +1 for every four character levels the shifter has) with each successful attack.
 * Longstride (Su): While shifting, a longstride shifter gains a +2 bonus to dexterity and a bonus of 10 feet to her land based speed.
 * Wildhunt (Su): While shifting, a wildhunt shifter gains a +2 bonus to constitution and the scent ability.

Shifter feats
The following feats are available only to shifter characters.

Physical Description
Shifters, also known as the weretouched, are a descendants of lycanthropy-cursed individuals. Shifters are known for their ability to act in a bestial or close to nature manner, doing such things as running on all fours, climbing trees, and fighting with bare claws or teeth. Their sense of smell is also heightened, when compared to humans; but they are suggested to have worse social manners, as a race, because they are used to living 'wild', outside of the villages most people settle in. In terms of genetic derivation, they are commonly thought to be the result of crossbreeding between humans and lycanthropes but have become a true-breeding race and in human form they are anywhere from 5'3" to 6'3". Their animal form will determine their build. I.E. A falcon will be slender and light, while a bear would be large and muscular. The color of their fur or feathers will also determine the color of their hair and skin color. Their eyes will start at blue when born but can turn purple, green, or yellow as they grow. They will remain the same in their animal form and when they get older they learn how to access their shifting abilities and transform into "more powerful races." Their lifespan is about 750 years and reach adult hood at age 50 unless they learn how to control their shifting.

Lands
Shifters survive in a wide range of habitats, and can be found in tundra, desert, forest,and cities, But most stick to the woods or mountains where their animal form is plentiful. Also where they live will determine possible animal form. Loners tend to roam where they will, not caring where they are so long as they are on the move. But once a Loner leaves the pack they are not always welcomed back. They are seen as having turned their backs on the pack and shunned.

Further information & references
Shifter is one of Eberron's races.