The Idea Behind the Creation

So. I decided I wanted to create a rpg race with a good amount of adventure hooks and, hopefully, a good balance of new ideas and established myths. The race that immediately came to mind was changelings, as they have always fascinated me. The idea that some kind of creature kidnaps children and replace them with their own shapeshifted spawn really intrigues me. Why would a creature do that? The classic reason I have read is that the kidnappers find humans more beautiful than themselves. but that never satisfied me, you would think that a member of a species would find other members of their species beautiful. I was thinking about it, and the reason that came to my mind was the hate of iron. And as such I came up with what you read below.

The races.

Any talk of changelings begins with the trolls. A race of fairies with great strength, they are masters of ancient and powerful magic, have the strength of 10 men, and are practically immortal. You would think that with that power they would simply wipe out all the other races, yet they can’t because they are also a people with great weaknesses. Since they are technically fairies the holy powers of both iron and of the sun cause great pain to them, and a sword of iron is one of the few things which can actually kill them. Humans have no problems with such things, and as such the trolls know that they would be helpless against human wrath in an all out war. Now, humans are already not very happy about any race other than their own, and as such the trolls have hidden themselves in enchanted forests that any human that steps into finds themselves heading right back out no matter what direction they go.





Some pictures of the trolls as portrayed by john brauer

In the forests the trolls have made a decent living for themselves, yet they are still tortured by their weakness. They think that the only things holding back their society are their inability to work half the day and inability to use iron tools. This is not true, as humans can’t work half the day either and trolls get by fine with their magic, but they think it nonetheless. They have tried time after time to use their magic to get rid of these weaknesses, yet they can not get rid of the weaknesses without getting rid of the strengths. Not willing to give up their great strength, the trolls came up with an idea. To use human servants to do any work for them that they can not do themselves.

Trolls know that they can’t simply enslave humanity as a whole, and humans would not be very happy if trolls enslaved humans, so trolls invented the concept of the changeling. What they decided to do was steal human children and replace them with shapeshifted copies. Then the trolls have a perfect slave and the humans are none the wiser.

No matter how many times the trolls try, everything they try to shapeshift turns back into it’s true forms at sunrise, that is except other trolls. Since trolls don’t particularly care about young children (they only even name them on their fifth birthday) they see no problem with giving up their own children to get a perfect slave. They perform a complex ritual on the troll child removing all it’s weaknesses and strengths and make it take on a human appearance. In general the children are turned human in every sense except their mind. This is the being that humans call a changeling (in truth the term applies to both the stolen child and the replacement child) a being that for most purposes is human, yet retains the temperament of a troll child, making it almost impossible to raise. Troll children are incredibly intelligent, cruel, and unruly. while troll parents know how to reign in the children’s impulses and keep them mostly under control, the human parents are in no way prepared for the monstrous child.





A troll getting ready to put its shapeshifted child into a human crib (sorry could not find who made this one )

The child mentally ages as normal for a troll, slowly growing calmer and nicer as it reaches adulthood, yet physically the rituals used to shapeshift it change the child in odd ways. As the changeling reaches the age of 18, experience two strange developments. The first is that iron begins to burn their flesh. The second is that they gain the ability to shapeshift at will. The changeling is still human for the most part, yet the ritual which changed them in the first place melds with their very soul as they age, granting the troll the ability to change not just into a human form, but into any form it desires. Yet sadly the defensive powers against iron do dwindle. Once the changeling reaches this stage of development it is what is known as a doppelganger. A being with the culture of a human, yet the power of a faery. Many doppelgangers are ashamed of their power, they have been raised trying to fit into human society, and then they find out they aren’t even human. Others that never truly adapted to human society find the power useful in revenge against those who tried to control it as a child.

Meanwhile the human child is rather easy to take care of for trolls, as the combination of human childrens lack of intelligence and heavy enchantment make it very obedient. Yes, the trolls enchant the human child as well. They reason that if you’re going to have a slave, may as well make it as good as possible. They make it able to walk through the enchanted woods, speed up it’s growth a bit, make it more obedient, and the most important enchantment, make it so that the human never needs to sleep. The child is quickly taught basic slave skills, such as cooking and cleaning, but is also taught how to fight off troll enemies. Trolls have many enemies among the fey, and the human slaves are their greatest weapon against them. The humans trained from a young age and armed with iron swords stolen from human settlements are a force to be reckon with if you’re a fairy. These are what make up the bulk of troll armies.

A human slave being lead to work. (once again a john brauer picture) Sometimes the human slave will escape it’s imprisonment. It could be rescued by human adventurers or could simply find a way out on its own. One would think that it was be happy to gain its freedom, yet human changelings that return to humanity often wind up in a worse situation than they were in the woods. They are no longer fully human, at least not by human standards, and are often shunned and mistrusted. In addition the former slave was raised entirely on troll customs, it knows nothing of human ways, and from simple things like handshaking to society being active at night are completely foreign to it. Many of the former slaves, on finding they don’t fit in. become adventurers.

So, that is what changelings are. The tortured beings created by the trolls attempts to conquer their weaknesses. They are not fully fae and they are not fully human. They are something in between. They should hopefully be useful for any rpg you may wish to run, below are some examples of some adventurers used for them.

Adventure hooks.

Some ideas in case you want to use them in your campaign.

A human slave is freed by a group of adventurers and is brought back to society, only for them to find that the troll that replaced the human became a well known good samaritan who every day brings great happiness to many/ At the same time the human was driven half insane by it’s slavery and is not able to properly function in human society. What does the group do? Reveal the changeling as a troll and let it be burned at the stake? Or take the human somewhere else and not let anyone know the truth?

The adventurers notice that the royal child they have been tasked with keeping safe has been replaced with a troll baby overnight. They must go into the woods to find the actual child. What do they do when they find that the process to turn the troll into a changeling is irreversible and the parents will no longer take it?

A group of doppelgangers are trying to take revenge on their bad upbringing by taking over a local kingdom by killing and changing into important political figures.

Rpg stats.





Just in case you have a player that feels like playing one. Just guidelines, make them however you want.

Savage world stats.

Doppelganger.-

Shape shift- Able to take the form of any humanoid of their size. This does not change stats or clothing

Iron weakness- take an additional d4 from weapons made of iron

Human slave-

Weak will- human slaves have had their souls crushed. It takes two points to raise spirit during character generation.

Walk the forests. You have been trained to freely walk enchanted woods. Checks made to resist getting lost (either magical or mundane) are made at +4

Wood wise. You start with a d6 in knowledge.





D&d 5e.

Doppelganger.

Ability Score Increase. Your dexterity increases by 1. Your con increases by 2

Size Doppelgangers are built much like humans, but a little tougher . Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Shapechanger. As an action, you can change your appearance into that of any humanoid of your size that you have seen, or back into your true form. However, your equipment does not change with you. If you die, you revert to your natural appearance.

Rowdy. Gain proficiency in intimidation

Iron weakness. When you are hit with a weapon made of iron, take an additional 1d4 damage.









Human slave-

Ability score increase. Your con increases by 2. Your wisdom increases by 1.

Medium

Speed. 35 feet.

Walk the forest. You have advantage on any check made to find out where you really are.

Enchanted mind. Gain access to one illusion cantrip

Dark vision.

Iron Handler. Gain proficiency in one martial weapon of your choice.

Slave night and day. You no longer need to sleep for biological functions, although you still may. In addition you may choose to enter a work trance instead of sleep for a long rest. When you wish to take a work trance, you gain the benefits of a full 8 hours of sleep, but your body still moves and can do simple manual labor such as walking in one direction or moving rocks from one pile to another. If the task takes any decision making skills, you can not do it in a war trance.

