Are there ways Changelings can overcome their shape-shifting limitations?

Question

While the Changeling's shapeshifting ability does provide the player with quite a variety of creatures (both pc and npc) to choose from, the rules do limit it to medium human-like (as humanoid is a type) creatures lacking tails (and arguably horns).

As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait.

However, I am left to wonder if this means that the changeling is barred from accessing the image of nearly half the PC list, or if the wording of "a form that" suggests there are ways for a changeling to overcome their limits, relying on RAW?

For instance:

• Could a changeling personalize the visage they use beyond the race's traits, such as a Drow with black hair, a shifter's shifting features, or a tiefling that lost its tail?
• Could a potion of giant size, or the Enlarge-Reduce spell allow a changeling to temporarily dip in the visages of other races?
• Would consuming "Blood of Lycanthrope" give them access to the tail due to the hybrid form?
• Are there any feats yet in 5e that can allow the changeling to upgrade his shifting from alter-self like to disguise self like?

As a side question, I noticed that changelings don't appear to have darkvision like their doppelganger cousins(?) do. Did I miss this point or would this also apply a disadvantage to the kinds of masks a changeling can effectively use?

Answer 1

The changeling is more flexible then you are assuming

There isn't anything in the Changeling race that precludes adding tails or horns or other visual aspects.

The only requirements are what you've quoted, and nothing about horns or tails would qualify them as limbs.

Specifics what is allowed at a table will be between player and DM, but as long as you aren't adding anything functional and keeping the same creature size and limb arrangement, you're good.

To answer your section on enlarge/reduce, this would open up more possibilities when you hit the size problem. Moving to a small or large sized creature via that spell would allow you additional humanoids to shapeshift into (otherwise, you're just a really weird sized version of those races.)

Answer 2

Yes, there are ways to expand changelings' shapeshifting options

Could a changeling personalize the visage they use beyond the race's traits, such as a Drow with black hair, a shifter's shifting features, or a tiefling that lost its tail?

You choose how you look. You can make yourself look like a member of another race, but you don't have to. You can absolutely customize your appearance beyond the standard features of specific player races. You could be a pink polka-dotted orc if you wanted to.

Could a potion of giant size, or the Enlarge-Reduce spell allow a changeling to temporarily dip in the visages of other races?

Seems quite reasonable.

Would consuming "Blood of Lycanthrope" give them access to the tail due to the hybrid form?

Whether base changelings can create tails is subject to debate. At our table, we've decided that a changeling can grow a tail, but can't move it naturally.

Regardless of how you rule, a changeling who is also a lycanthrope would be able to use their lycanthropy to change their basic arrangement of limbs and/or size appropriately for the type of lycanthropy they've acquired.

In addition, any ability to change your form that doesn't strip you of your racial traits will allow you to use Change Appearance with that form as a base. So a werewolf changeling could look like any Medium-sized four-limbed quadruped, a wererat changeling could turn into Small-sized quadrupeds, etc. Changeling druids also have similar flexibility in Wild Shape. However, a changeling affected by the Polymorph spell no longer has their racial traits.

Are there any feats yet in 5e that can allow the changeling to upgrade his shifting from alter-self like to disguise self like?

It's unclear what you're asking, since alter self is a higher level spell than disguise self, and also has important differences from changelings' Change Appearance, such as the ability to gain natural weapons and waterbreathing.

If you're wondering about how to get a changeling to be able to alter their outfit as well as their appearance, I would suggest getting an outfit made of shiftweave, since shiftweave allows you to use a bonus action to change its' appearance. Since Change Appearance is an action, you could both Change Appearance and activate shiftweave in a single round.

As a side question, I noticed that changelings don't appear to have darkvision like their doppelganger cousins(?) do. Did I miss this point or would this also apply a disadvantage to the kinds of masks a changeling can effectively use?

Changelings indeed lack Darkvision. If they were to assume a disguise as a race that normally has Darkvision, they might arouse suspicion in dim light or darkness due to their poorer ability to see in those conditions. However, you might potentially fake being able to see better, likely using a Deception or Performance ability check.

Answer 3

My thoughts are, if you want Darkvision for your Changeling, pick a class/subclass that gives you Darkvision. Shadow Sorcererworks well with a lot of changeling builds, and also is very multiclass-friendly since you get Darkvision at level 1. Warlock is another good option as they get their first invocation at 2nd level and Devil's Sight is nothing to sneeze at. If you want to take it even further, go Rogue and take the Gloom Stalker sublcass at 3rd level, which comes with both Darkvision and the added bonus of being invisible in non-magical darkness. (Shoutout to this post for some of my research!)

Also, you can always pick up magic items or the Darkvision spell to aid you in your efforts to blend in. Or just don't become a race that has Darkvision.