Few changelings connected to Exandria have been depicted in their true form. One had pale gray, marble-like skin with shifting black veins, white eyes with dark shading around them, and white hair in an upshock; whenever he transformed, the veins in his skin moved and colors started changing as if pigments were being taken and added to a painting.[2] Another had opalescent skin like the sheen of an oil slick, their eyes were completely black, and their transformation to their true form was variously accomplished by the shifting of their tattoos and instantaneous color changes.[3]
Depiction of changeling using their shapeshifting powers from Eberron: Rising from the Last War, p. 17.[art 2]
Abilities[]
Outside Critical Role canon, as a playable race, changelings have the following abilities,[5][6] some of which have been demonstrated in-game:
Ability Score Bonus: Changelings typically get +2 Charisma and +1 in an ability that varies for each individual.
Shapechanger: Using an action they can change their appearance and voice at will, even adapting their size between small and medium in some cases. However, they can't assume the abilities of other races, nor take a form without the same basic arrangement of limbs they have.
Changeling Instincts: They gain proficiency with two of the following skills: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion.
As non-playable characters they also gain access to:[7]
Unsettling Visage: They can make someone frightened if said creature doesn't succeed on a Wisdom saving throw. Once a changeling uses this ability they can't use it again until they finish a long or short rest.
Spells that target humanoids exclusively naturally have no effect on changelings that are fey, and vice versa.
History[]
Changelings are not native to Exandria; they first came from the Feywild prior to the Calamity,[8] and many still live there, with only a few of them living among humanoids on the Material Plane.[9] They seem to be distantly related to doppelgangers, monstrosities with very similar abilities and generally worse intentions.[10]
During the Age of Arcanum a changeling celebrity called Loquatius Seelie lived in the floating city of Avalir, and he displayed both his true form and his shapeshifting powers openly.[11]
The changelings as a race survived the Calamity, partially because of archfey such as Lady Elmenore of the Seelie Court, who opened portals for her subjects on the Material Plane to leave for safety.[12]
In 843 PD the Unseelie Court sent a changeling agent to recover an artifact and kill those who stole it, all under the guise of an elf with amnesia called Dusk; only after a tense negotiation with Bells Hells did the fey assassin stop chasing their targets.[13]
Around the same time, one of Morrighan Ferus's customers at The Maiden's Wish casino had shapeshifting abilities,[14] but the source of those abilities was not made explicit.
In folklore, changelings were considered the fey babies left behind in the place of human children stolen by the faeries. Some variants of these legends were more general, considering changelings any substitutes for humans kidnapped by the fey.[17]
It is a common theory in modern times that these supposed changelings were most likely just children on the autism spectrum. Other historical cases, like that of the tragically famous Bridget Cleary, involved people falling victim to a combination of superstition and the collective insanity of those around them.[18]
Changelings were first featured as a playable race in Eberron: Rising from the Last War,[19] although the term was also used in the Monster Manual to refer to the doppelganger offspring of a humanoid woman.[10]
According to Matthew Mercer, initially he didn't consider changelings as one of the Exandrian races. However, when a poll was organized to choose the gender, race and design for a secondary character in The Legend of Vox Machina,[20] the changeling was one of the options, and was eventually chosen for said character. This made Matt accept it as part of the canon despite its accidental presence in the list of available races in the poll.[21] Later on he briefly talked about their presence in Exandria, explaining that many of them still live in the Feywild, so they're an uncommon sight in the mortal realm either way.[9]
Erika Ishii also played Yu Suffiad in Campaign Three as a guest. In fact, she explained that Matthew Mercer and her had talked around October 2021 about her character, and her desire of playing a changeling, and since those conversations took place way before Exandria Unlimited: Calamity was released, Erika made her character with the idea of them being the first changeling player character, not knowing that Sam Riegel would also play one.[22]
So far, both the changeling player characters have had levels in warlock and another class.
Outside Critical Role canon, when changelings settle in a non-changeling society they tend to develop an identity they feel comfortable with, although there are also cases (especially with adventurers) in which they have more than one persona prepared, often suited for different situations, such as negotiations or battles. They use their shapeshifting abilities as a form of expression, creating complex stories behind the personas they use, or showing their mood through improvised faces they made up in that very moment.[23][24]
↑Official art of Loquatius Seelie, by Hannah Friederichs (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
↑Screenshot of the changeling tavern keeper, by Titmouse from "The Terror of Tal'Dorei - Part 1" (LVM1x01). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on Twitter: "There can be! Extremely rare, and most often tied to the Feywild (where the vast majority reside)" (2021-11-28) — in reply to @Jake70928358: "finally starting our Wildemount Campaign and one of my players is gonna to play a Changeling. are there Changelings in Exandria?" (backup link)
Changeling on Wikipedia