It really depends on how useful the forms are, while it may be fun for a while I cant see running around as a wolf (unless of course you can run faster as a wolf and travel between towns quicker, but then why run when you can turn into a hawk and fly?) being all that useful, a werewolf maybe provided you get bonuses in combat but a wolf? Probably not. Of course that is not to say that other forms would not be useful, as said before you could turn into a hawk and fly or perhaps even a rat to travel through small holes and tight spaces, if you want to take it even further maybe you could take the form of other humanoids and use it as a disguise to get into places you otherwise wouldnt be able to get into?

That being said even if shapeshifting diddnt have a practical use it would still be nice to see in the game if only for character flavor, of course I dont expect Bethesda to add such a system as I would wager that it really isnt very high on their list of priorities (especially if such a thing had no practical use), but still it would be nice to see. I guess if we want to see such a thing we will just have to mod it in ourselves.

Ettiene of Glenmoril Wyrd could turn into a raven, i want the same power.

And do you know who else has that power? The witch covens. Don't expect them to share information willy nilly, especially to men. They're highly secretive, and are at the power greater than or equal to the upper crust of the Mages Guild. If it really has to be in the game, it has to be earned from lots of hard work and signs that you are a competent spell-user.

I wouldn't mind that. Gives me something to aim for.

I made a thread about this a couple weeks ago. It seems like an obvious magic school, and it should be very possible with ES's magic.

Imagine the capabilities of shapeshifting when applied to other actions in the game. You could turn into a dog to sneak past someone or a minotaur to fight some tough enemy. As long as Bethesda made it to be not easily exploitable, shapeshifting would be an excellent addition to the game.

Only snip gingers are shapeshifters, this has been confirmed.

Sry buddy but shapeshifting doesn't work like that in TES. As I understand it the Lore goes against changing completely into something else.

They should incorporate a flight simulator so you could cruise the skies of Skyrim and swoop down in the valleys and stuff, w0000t!

They've done that by making it damn near impossible to pull off. As I understand it the wood elfs use to change their shape all the time earlier in history, but after the creation of Nirn things settled down a bit and started to mature they lost those abilities. To shape-shift now usually requires the help of a Deadra and even then they can't do it completely. Not 100% on all that so if anyone has any extra info on the lore I would welcome it.

Exactly. Shapeshifting would open up a whole can worms that needs to stay closed. While it sounds like fun, I say leave it out.

Lore exists for it, and with Bethseda they have left it open for room to grow.

As far as shapeshifting and dragons goes:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragons



So it is entirely within the possiblity of the lore to go either way.

That's the thing I always loved about these types of games. All the stuff you didn't have to do but could. It adds lot's of fun and role play value, which I don't think is Bethesda top priority. I mean, yeah I want improved combat but I don't want to lose all the little touches.

I think shapeshifting will just make the game easier,and i don't want the game easier.
There are 3 bandits coming my way.....do i fight and use my skills...or do i turn into a bird and fly away?
I would rather fight....i can see how shapeshifting might be fun,but like i said it could make things even easier.
Just my view.

Then you should have go through a lot to get it. Something only a powerful mage could do or something.

If it's not something worth sinking a ton of time into don't do it. They should make you pay a heavy price to attain it maybe?

They don't have to bend any lore at all. This could simply be a newly found school of magicka.

No, the witch covens have known how to use the power of shapeshifting for a long time. The problem is, they're only a few, high secretive, extremely old and extremely powerful magicka users. At this point, the only involvement they have had in the TES games is to help one cure lycanthropy or vampirism. They know more than most arch mages of the Mages Guild, and they're not very nice people. They also don't like to divulge secrets and tend to be extremely heavy daedra worshipers.

And what's to stop some other group from figuring it out without the witch's help? Nothing.

Regular Mages Guild members were using it in Redguard. Of course that'd be several centuries and two eras ago by now, so it could be a lost spell, or a newly rediscovered one. I like the idea of giving it to witches though. Magic could use some more effects that are the equivalent of artifact weapons and armor; something that's hard to find or you have to do a quest to obtain it rather than buying it somewhere.

Other than the fact technology, even magical understanding, has been extremely stagnant, if not regressing, for 4000 years. What's 200 years going to do to make a difference, when there has been almost nothing for 4000 years? Also, it took till the Infernal City for levitation to be rediscovered. Tech doesn't really bold too well.

id rather be a were something than shapeshifting

I really hope there's something like this in the game; it seems to fit Skyrim very well indeed. Rather than a simple spell or power gained outright, shapeshifting might be tied to side-quests or some sort of gameplay-creating subsystem.

I wrote a (non-TES lore-focused, but relevant) blog entry about a shapechanging system I designed for a work-in-progress fantasy setting a while back, in case anyone's interested in my more detailed thoughts on the subject: http://darklythroughglass.blogspot.com/2010/08/tet-lore-shapechanging.html

tl;dr : Use animal skins and brutal, witchy magic to do it, implemented as a player-driven "collect them all" quest progression.

Anyway, I always considered shapeshifting to be missing from previous Elder Scrolls games (mods and werebeasts aside).

I like you'r idea. It reminds me of old werewolf myths, like the one about the guy who wore a wolf skin to turn into one.

This would be a great system.

Regressing because of powerful mages keeping secrets to themselves. Magical understanding has not been stagnant or regressing, it just is not wide spread. It is not shared knowledge. Likely because of the Mages Guild monopoly on all things magicka. However with the mages guild out of the way, it's entirely possible that knowledge might become a bit more widespread.

hell yes! should be pretty hard to get those shapeshifting spells though.. im more in love with the thought of shapeshifting into other NPC's than animals. Would be fun to steal something or kill someone, and get some other NPC blaimed for it. whahaha

Depends if you can pay several years of dues.