A being with the ability to change shape and form. Usually used to refer to a human who has the power to take the form of a specific creature or visa versa. Also used to refer to any being, creature, or spirit with the ability to change form.

True shapeshifters actually make a physical transformation which can be voluntary or involuntary. This physical transformation is also known as p-shifting or transmogrification.

The change can also be mental, astral, illusory, or imagined.

Mental transformation is also known as m-shifting or spiritual transformation and can be both voluntary or involuntary.

There are several species (all non-human) who are born with the innate ability to change form. For these species shapeshifting is not a special quality but simply a trait of the species i.e., they are all able to do it.

Some of the best known shapeshifters are therianthropes, which includes the ever popular werewolf. Therianthropns or therians are humans who have gained the ability to shapeshift. These beings are also known as "werecreatures" or "weres" but the term therianthrope is more correct.

The ability, among humans, to physically shapeshift can be acquired through ritual sorcery (either a curse or intentional as in Shamanism), caught or spread as a disease, passed on as a gift, inherited, and may also be acquired though other obscure means.

The ability, among humans, to achieve a mental transformation can be learned through practice and belief, inherited (both realized or unrealized), and may also be achieved through sorcery.

See Also: Shapeshifters