Changeling
Tales of children stolen away and replaced by monsters exist across countless cultures—but the true monsters are the hags who bring these strange children into the world, either directly as their birth parents or indirectly when strange magic from their coven rituals affects babies in nearby villages. Such a child faces no end of challenges, often beginning life as an abandoned or orphaned outsider.
Though a changeling generally resembles an ordinary member of their ancestry, their distinctive eyes—each a different color—set them apart. One of their eyes matches that of their father’s lineage, while the other matches the color of their hag mother’s, often in an unnatural shade such as violet or vivid green. Not everyone with differently colored eyes is a changeling, but this manifestation of changeling heritage makes it difficult for them to hide their nature and can lead to banishment. As they come of age, they manifest other characteristics from their mother, including supernatural abilities. Darkvision, clawlike fingernails, and innate magic are the most common.
Changelings can be any gender, but women in particular are vulnerable to the Call, a psychic influence that urges them to abandon their mortal life, join the hag’s coven, and eventually become a hag themselves. Changelings who understand their heritage often fear the Call and work to resist its pull. Those who remain ignorant of their origin may find themselves subject to a terrible compulsion without knowing why.
You Might…
- Cherish and protect those friends and family who accept you as you are.
- Seek to better understand your hag mother and the gifts she gave you, for good or ill, or distance yourself from your heritage.
- Fear the day you hear the Call and worry you might not be able to resist—or perhaps you already fight to resist it every day.
Others Probably…
- Assume you practice occult or primal magic, or that you participate in a coven.
- Worry that you might secretly be a monster, or become one, and turn on them.
- Notice and speculate about your distinctive eyes.
Changeling (Uncommon Heritage)
Your mother was a hag. Your eyes’ heterochromia is the most obvious signifier of this parentage, but you likely also have a slighter build, paler skin, and darker hair than most members of your other parent’s ancestry. You gain the changeling trait. You also gain low-light vision, or you gain darkvision if your ancestry already has low-light vision. You can select from changeling feats and feats from your other parent’s ancestry whenever you gain an ancestry feat.
Changeling Feats
The following feats are available to changeling characters.
Lineages
Changelings can select any of the following lineages.