Everchanging Self

An everchanging self spell causes the caster's body to change shape and appearance constantly, with skin hue and texture, number of limbs, and all other physical attributes changing continually. This continual shifting ruins most clothing (and harms the caster if armor more rigid than studded leather is worn, at 1d4+1 points per round), but effectively conceals the caster's identity.

The parade of everchanging limbs causes the caster to temporarily lose 3 points of Dexterity, and to make all attacks at a -1 penalty on attack rolls and a -2 penalty on damage rolls, but Armor Class benefits by 4 points. The spell does not change the upright, bipedal, flightless, air-breathing nature of the caster (though it can operate in conjunction with spells that do permit flight or underwater breathing). It does make the casting of many spells impossible. The forms taken are not controlled by the caster (the shapes of specific individuals or monsters cannot be counterfeited), and the forms change at a rate that the caster cannot dominate – but limbs actually in use do not vanish, only alter in length and appearance. The strength and senses of the caster are not altered by the spell.

The everchanging self spell requires no system shock rolls for the alterations it causes, and adds a +20% bonus to all system shock rolls forced on the caster by external forces while the spell lasts.

Mask refuses to grant any variant of this spell that affects others. The spell is customarily employed to carry out a fairly simple task in public, when the caster wishes to scare observers or not be identified by them. It was developed to allow trapped Maskarran clergy to escape through crowds of observers after thefts occurred.