Animal Form

[Power]

**Cost**: 6CP

**Activate**: 1PP; full-round action

**Sustain**: per round/hour

**Range**: self

You can change into **one particular animal** of CR 1 or less. This is your base animal. It always has the same shape and the same markings. It can be from large- to tiny-sized. You can eat, rest, even sleep in your *Animal Form*, consuming PPs the whole time, but if you are forcibly rendered unconscious or killed, you (or your corpse) revert to your usual shape. Any part of your body separated from your animal body reverts to its original form.

While in your *Animal Form* you **cannot talk** unless the animal in question can talk, which includes any animal that can mimic, such as a parrot, and despite your Dexterity score, if you don't have hands then you **cannot work complex machines** or controls. A tiger has Dexterity 15, but it does not have opposable thumbs, so it's useless at working doorknobs. Your *Animal Form* can be a primate, like a baboon, which would be able to use its hands just as well as the average person. You retain your Mental scores, but your physical abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution) change to that of the animal, but *Ability Enhancement* and/or *Ability Boost* can both apply to these normal/unpowered stats. You gain the animal's **natural abilities**, including mode of locomotion (walk, fly, climb, swim) and attack sequences (claw/claw/bite, swoop-and-rake, or constriction, for example).

You gain the animal's **natural  AC**. You do not gain any of the animal's supernatural abilities, if any (petrification, breath weapon, energy drain, etc.), but if it has unusual abilities due to pure physiology, like a hawk's keen sight or a spider's ability to climb walls, you do gain those. The rule of thumb is that if an ability is like a trait, then it's retained. If it's like a power, then it's not. The GM has final say one what qualifies as a natural or supernatural ability. You **retain** your levels, Hit Dice, Hit Points, Power Points, Base Attack, and Saving Throws. You will need to recalculate your Knockback and Massive Damage thresholds based on your ability scores while in *Animal Form*. Your *Animal Form*'s ability scores adjust any of the above stats, as applicable.

A Constitution score that is lower than your own can cause you to lose total HPs, and a Dexterity that's higher than yours can add bonuses to some skill checks. You retain your powers in your *Animal Form*, although some traits might be redundant, like Natural Weapons. Extra Appendages do not automatically become part of an animal's natural attack sequence (because they're not natural), but you can incorporate them in by following the Two-Weapon Fighting rules. If your new body cannot reasonably perform a Dramatic Activation or a verbal/somatic spell, then it cannot employ those powers. Your **equipment does not transform** to match the new form. If your *Animal Form* doesn't have hands, you immediately drop your items. If you have a limb that could conceivably hold an object, like a bird's talons or a prehensile tail, you can make a Reflex check (DC 12), to catch falling items. Any clothing or armour you wear when you shift into your *Animal Form* behaves as it would logically, either falling off, bursting at the seams, or just constricting your movement. Reverting to ordinary form does not cost PPs, but doing so is a full-round action.

You can **freely designate physical qualities of your new form**, such as gender, colour (hair, feathers, skin, shell, etc.), but only within the normal ranges for a creature of that type. You cannot for example become a neon-blue tiger, but you can choose to be either white or orange, and you can design a particular stripe pattern. The basic dimension's of the animal are also at your discretion, but they have to be within the norms of the species. You can't be an 8-foot budgie, for example. If you want to be a larger- or smaller-than-normal creature, you can take Size Shift*.* You can, in this case, activate both powers at once. Although you still pay the full PP cost for both activations (i.e., you could shift into your increased/decreased size and your *Animal Form* in a single full-round action), the activation times occur simultaneously.

You can take this power multiple times. Each time, you pick another base animal. You must shift back into your natural form before you shift into a different base-animal form.

## Enhancements

**Enhancement**: Colour Control

> **Cost**: 1CP
>
>

> You can now completely control the colours of the animal you assume. You are no longer restricted to natural coloration. Thus you can become a neon purple Bengal Tiger if you *really* want to.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Costume Shifting

> **Cost**: 2CP
>
>

> All your worn or carried equipment now shifts with you, into your *Animal Form*. This includes both your clothing and protective gear. Your equipment does not shift to accommodate your new body. Clothing changes shape to accommodate your new form and it will either shrink or expand to fit any size difference between you and the *Animal Form*.
>
>

> Protective gear similarly shifts to fit you and continues to protect you. However, if it decreases in size, it loses some of its protective properties: a -1 circumstance penalty per size category.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Easy Shifting

> **Cost**: 1CP
>
>

> You can now shift between base animalswithout having to revert back to your natural shape first.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Family

> **Cost**: 2CP
>
>

> You can now shift into several species directly related to your chosen *Animal Form.* If your chosen form were a tiger, you could change into any one of the big cats. If it were the perigrin falcon, you could change into any falcons. If it were a wolf spider, you could change into any kind of poisonous spider. If it were a rattle snake, you could change into any kind of poisonous snake. All other rules are unchanged, including size restrictions. You can take this enhancement multiple times. Each time, it applies to another base *Animal Form*.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Order

> **Cost**: 2CP
>
>

> **Prerequisite**: Family
>
>

> You can change into a more generalised group of animals directly related to your *Animal Form*'s Family. For example, if your Family were falcons, you could turn into any bird of prey. If it were poisonous spiders, you could turn into any spider. If it were poisonous snakes, you could turn into any kind of snake. All other rules are unchanged, including size restrictions. You can take this enhancement multiple times. Each time, it applies to another Family.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Class

> **Cost**: 2CP
>
>

> **Prerequisite**: Family, Order
>
>

> You can change into any animal located in your base *Animal Form*'s Class, either mammalian, avian, reptilian, aquatic, or insectoid. If your base animal were a tiger, for example, you could change into any mammal. If your base animal were a gecko, you could change into any reptile. All other rules are unchanged, including size restrictions. You can take this enhancement multiple times. Each time, it applies to another Order.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Powerful Animal

> **Cost**: 2 CP per rank (CR+1)
>
>

> For every rank in this enhancement the CR of the animal you can shift to increases by 1.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Larger Animal

> **Cost**: 2CP per rank (size category)
>
>

> For every rank in this enhancement, you can shift one size category larger than your normal minimum. If you are a medium sized person, for example, you can shift all the way up to huge. The activate and sustain costs are an additional 1PP per size category, on top of the base cost for the power. You can take up to 3 ranks in this power.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Move Action Shift

> **Cost**: 2CP
>
>

> You can now shift into your *Animal Form* as a move action.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Reflexive Shift

> **Cost**: 3CP
>
>

> **Prerequisite**: Move Action Shift
>
>

> **Activate**: 1PP; swift action
>
>

> If you retain your Dexterity bonus and get hit for physical damage, either by an attack or something that triggers a saving throw, you can make a Reflex save to instantly shift to your *Animal Form* before the damage occurs. The DC of the Reflex save equals either half the attack roll or the save DC of the in-coming effect, -5. You must declare your intention to invoke this enhancement after the hit is announced but before full damage is calculated.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Retain Physical Abilities

> **Cost**: 4CP
>
>

> You retain your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution while you're in your *Animal Form*. Ignore the animal's abilities scores and use your own.
>
>

**Enhancement**: Smaller Animal

> **Cost**: 2CP per size category
>
>

> For every rank in this enhancement, you can shift one size category smaller than your normal minimum. If you are a medium sized person, for example, you can shift all the way down to tiny. The activate and sustain costs are an additional 1PP per size category, on top of the base cost for the power.
>
>

## Limitations

**Limitation**: Natural Animal

> **Value**: 2CP
>
>

> Your natural state is your *Animal Form*, and you have to expend PPs to transform into a human and remain human. All other rules of the power apply as normal. You have only one human form. This Limitation could mean that you are a human who got "stuck" as an animal, or that you are an animal that sometimes changes into a human. It's up to you.
>
>

**Limitation**: Shape Only

> **Value**: 4CP
>
>

> When you shift into your *Animal Form*, you assume only the physical shape of it. You retain your ordinary colouring. As a dog, for example, your fur would be the colour of your hair. You also do not gain any of the special abilities of your form, such as physical abilities, flight, or attack routines. You are, essentially, still you, you just physically resemble the animal you've changed into. This Limitation is not compatible with Colour Control, though it is compatible with Costume Shifting, in which case the animal you shift into retains the colours of your clothing or costume.
>
>