Changelings and dogboys

[drewkitty ~..~]

The only thing think of is that a DogBoy might be able to pick up on is their smell. When Capt. Bob's Smell is coming from that woman over there or the like.

[Talavar]

Changelings aren't magical enough to register as the supernatural - though they have higher than normal PPE for a non-magic user, they aren't creatures of magic, just unusual D-bees.

[dragon_blaze_99]

I'm not a rifts expert but i don't think the can other then " smell " of the wrong person

[KillWatch]

they can change shape theyc an;t change smell. Since dogs can smell a body 10' underwater I'm sure a changeling standing anywhere around them wouldn't pose too much of a problem. He should be able to detect it without smelling one before just because it doesn't smell human but looks that way

[jade von delioch]

thats asuming that the dog boys 1) knows what a changling is, 2) knows what they smell like.

i don't think they could though.. the description in the fantasy book says that they can chage their appearance in size and mass as long as its humanoid... no insects or animals... in my option that would mean that if they could change so much about themselves, why not the chemistry inside them that produces their personal body oder..

[KillWatch]

But you are assuming. And if dogs have a scent but vary from dog to dog, cats have a scent and so do humans. So if a human comes around that does not have a human scent then the DogBoy should be able to pick it out. And the changeling is simply changing its external appearance like playdough. but it is still playdough

[KillWatch]

but why? It would take either some heavy scent covers which would make them stand out anyhow, or altering their own chemistry artificially which could make them sick and even poison them.

[jade von delioch]

i think they change a bit more then appearance since they can cause them selves to changes height.. thats anywhere between 3-10 ft. thats reconstructing the bodies bone structure.
plus the way a person smells is usually attributed to what that person eats.. in the description it says that they have to change their diet every time they take a new form to match that form..

[KillWatch]

[Talavar]

i think they change a bit more then appearance since they can cause them selves to changes height.. thats anywhere between 3-10 ft. thats reconstructing the bodies bone structure.
plus the way a person smells is usually attributed to what that person eats.. in the description it says that they have to change their diet every time they take a new form to match that form..

They may have to alter their diet for different forms because their mass doesn't change when they transform, unlike more magical creatures like dragons. If a changeling makes itself short, it must become fatter-looking, and if tall, thinner - at least until they can compensate with dietary changes.

The variances in smell between different humans is largely a product of diet, like you say, but the variance in smell between humans and other species has nothing to do with diet. I would still say a dog boy would probably notice that a changling would smell different than other humans, but may or may not have any other reason to suspect they are not human depending on the situation.

[drewkitty ~..~]

yes i think that personal identifiable scent would be recognizable, but what about the sense supernatural.. if they show up on a sense super then they would stick out like a sore thumb

Changlings are not Supernatural.
Nor are they Magical.
Don't know about 'not smealing human' but if the books say that dog boys can't sense them so that would include their smell becasue smelling is a sense.

[KillWatch]

Does it actually say that? I think this was brought up as a hypothetical. No?

[asajosh]

Well, the CS does look/screen for changlings now, even the infamous Auto-G. Dog Boys don't smell the Changeling itself, but the higher then average PPE they have. Technically, since most changlings imitate form, not body chemistry, Dog Boys prbobly can smell a difference (maybe assign a 15-25% penalty to detect by smell alone, and the detection is not specific, something is just "off"). In the case of the Auto-G, that can duplicate body chemistry, then scent alone is not enough to detect them. That's how I'd rule it, your GM may vary.

[Guest]

Considering changelings can select CS military OCCs (revised CB1, page 82), I'm gonna have to say, no, dog boys can't detect them. HOWEVER, if the Changeling was a psychic or practitioner of magic, then they would be detected as such. Additionally, the dog boy would be able to recognize the scent/track the scent of a specific known, identified changeling, that they have encountered "on numerous occassions"*, regardless of what shape the changeling was using. No, this doesn't mean they could recognize the scent of the changeling species, just that specific individual.
*The individual wouldn't have to be known to be a changeling during these "numeous occassions", just encountered well enough for the dog boy to ID their particular scent.

[jade von delioch]

i would also take into concideration that their are amny races within the palladium world who all have the ability to track and recognize by smell much like a dog boy. However, the changlings are still a threat to every race in the world because they can never tell if someone is a changling in disguise. If they could be detected by smell, they wouldn't be such a threat for most of the races, they would just smell them out.. the way most cultures seem to detect them is through heavily salted foods and other such things.

[KillWatch]

is that truly the way it is or an oversight? someone not taking the sense of smell into account. And by this method are you also implying that they alter their aura or dna, since many races also have the ability to scan/detect these aspects as well? Salt? So Changelings can alter their aura, their primal scent, and possibly even their biochemistry/dna but they just haven't gotten over that pesky salt thing?

[jade von delioch]

i think your over complicating it..

[KillWatch]

are you looking at the implications?

the simple things to do is that a changeling can look like anyone they want, key word is LOOK not smell not assume their genetic structure ect just LOOK like them down to their hairy pimlpy butt. But it has nothing to dow ith smell. How simple is that. They look like what they want but they still smellt he way they smell.