Cost : 35 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Basic Pattern, ranked Psyche and Endurance
This new power is a variant of Shapeshifting for those who have walked the Pattern, and it considers shapeshifting to be a form of Advanced Pattern.
It is possible to use the basic Pattern power to change one's clothes and vehicle as one shifts through shadow, and to use the Pattern to clean oneself up and do similar things as one moves in shadow. This power takes that one step further, and allows the person with the power to use the Pattern to shift their own body into a desired form as they move through shadow. Using the Pattern to do this is harder than simply using the Pattern to move through shadow, but hardly impossible as long as one has a ranked Endurance and Psyche.
With this power one can, of course, only shift shape when moving through shadow, and so it is quite slow. The forms one can take are also limited depending on the types of shadow one is willing to move through, and the power is harder to use the closer one comes to Amber. This power does not include an Avatar or Demon/War form, or indeed any form which is preferred over any other, including ones own basic form. It also does not include a Primal form, or any kind of unconscious shapeshifting ability. Forms are permanent once they are acquired, until such time as the person with the power can get out into shadow to shift them again. While this does have the advantage that one does not lose ones new form if asleep or unconscious, it also means one is stuck with a form if, for example, one is unexpectedly summoned back to Amber while in the form of a dog...
With this power one cannot learn any forms whatsoever - each form takes just as much shifting through shadow to acquire on the hundredth time as it is took the first time.
One can use this power for healing by moving through shadow and shifting away ones wounds. One can also shift for intrinsic powers and abilities to incorporate into oneself. At higher levels the power even allows one to shift the forms of others one takes with one through shadow.
If the person with this power also has the 'Enhanced Shadow Shifting' part of Advanced Pattern, then one can use it in combination with this power to shift oneself much faster than with the shadow movement available to non-Advanced Pattern initiates, and even to shift oneself, to a very limited extent, within Amber itself.
Note that this power has not, as yet, been play-tested, so I have no idea how balanced, or otherwise, it may actually be.
The power divides into the following sections, which must be brought in order:
This power does not count as a pre-requisite for assaying the Logrus. If the person with this power wants to do that they must learn 'standard' shapeshifting too.
If this power exists as an Amber-based form of Shapeshifting, then what does that have to say about the Chaos-based form of shapeshifting ('traditional' ADRP shapeshifting)? Perhaps, in Chaos, shapeshifting is not a prerequisite for assaying the Logrus, but a result of assaying it, of becoming 'infected' with the Logrus and acquiring a part of its constantly shifting nature. Of course, were this the case it would definitely have implications for how Chaos was structured, and where and how Chaos shapeshifting (Logrus-based shapeshifting) worked; for example it would undoubtedly work less well, or perhaps not at all, the closer and closer one came to Amber.
Or go to the Pattern, Logrus, Alternatives to Logrus, Shapeshifting, Trump, or Magic Pages.