Forum

We recently played "The Witches Hammer" where the GM reads a scene from the adventure where the witches arrive one by one to Karvosti. An exciting adventure!

However, it puzzles me that a witch literally arrives in shapeshift form as an eagle (as written in the adventure by Fria Ligan), when Shapeshift is described with the formulation "mammal or reptile" with further possibility for turning into Battle beasts at higher levels.

Can anyone explain if they interpret or have heard any errata on the rule and whether a player can actually transform into a bird or not?

If we take the interpretation a step further and say that only more skilled mystics can transform into birds (journeyman/master), the problem with interpretation still remains, as the rules do not mention this in the journeyman or master levels. It only mentions battle beasts, and to my knowledge, an eagle is not a battle beast.

A clarification would be appreciated, thank you!

// FF

I'm not aware of anything official that changes either the spell description, or the scenario description.

Of course, it's not something unheard of in roleplaying games that whatever is written in the rules is not the only way things can happen in that fictional world.
Very powerful or very specialized individuals can do things that most people can't do. That particular witch could have discovered the way to shapeshift into a bird and kept it as a personal secret. That's why she shows off by arriving in such a form. Only the person who becomes her apprentice can hope to learn the secret from her. So, if a player character wants to shapeshift into a bird, he/she better start winning the right to become her apprentice. Or stalk the with to eavesdrop how she manages to transform into a bird.

I've seen in some NPC statblocks they have abilities on grandmaster level.
These are unlisted and a way for you to give extra stuff to NPCs and monsters that the players should not have access to.
Maybe that witch has shapeshifter on grandmaster level which gives her the ability to turn inte a bird..