Gilex

In their true form Gilex looks strange and even slightly spooky. Their skin is white as snow with colourless sunken eyes having not a hint of an iris or pupil. The changeling has a very round face, with a slight bump of a nose and nostrils so tiny they might not even be there at all. Like most changelings Gilex has a thick wavy mane of bright orange coloured hair at least two times thicker then their body and reaching deep into his waist.
.

Gilex is a changeling and as such a shapeshifter by his very nature, he can take on any shape he wants in just a few seconds. Face, shape, the voice and even the smell is something Gilex can mimic perfectly and his race has a special affinity towards acting their roles as well, as a bard Gilex can do this really well when he puts his mind to it.

There are several flaws to this ability, some flaws can be helped by arduous training and discipline but others are just the 'fun parts of the game' as other changelings tend to call it.



First is his physical form, a face or a body structure. As is logical Gilex can take on a face he has seen at one point in his life. By nature Gilex is good at remembering faces, even if he can't always slap a name on them and has also mastered the ability to mix the faces as to create a 'unique' face, composed of the various features he's seen on other people.
As such he could not accurately change shape with only a description to go on. Should he try, he'd instinctively take on features of people with similarities, thus making a bad copy of the person he'd be supposed to represent.

As for body structure the shape is purely cosmetic, if he changes into a buff man he won't grow stronger, would he change into an angel he will not be able to fly. Even magical effects like the elemental hair of genasi or certain merpeople it will only 'look' the same as well, and even feel hair-like to the touch.

Another limit to his shapeshifting is his size, he can slightly grow or shrink when shapechanging but to a certain degree he will have to relocate his mass when doing so. As such trying to change into a relatively skinny dwarf could make him far more chubby then the true form, while taking on larger forms will make him skinnier. There's of course a limit to how large or small he can get, trying to change in such a form is impossible, at most his body might decide to take on the form without taking 'size' into account, resulting in a human-sized halfling.

Skin-texture is something he can not accurately change yet. If he takes on the form a furre he may 'appear' to be the fluffiest squirrel ever but if you should touch him it would feel like elastic skin, instead of the warm soft fur you 'should' feel. The same would happen if he changes into a statue, he would appear to be of solid rock, but his skin feel exactly the same. Even in a more human form his skin feels 'different', as the skin of a changeling is very elastic to the touch.

For the ability to alter scent, this is not something every changeling can alter about themselves but Gilex has recently figured it out. Still this is one of the things about his shapeshifting that is still a severe issue. Just like taking on a physical form Gilex can only emit scents he has smelled himself. Would he turn into someone who smells awfully of smoke he could imitate the smoke scent, but not all the other subtle scents that those with a stronger nose can smell.
Someone with a nose as strong as Gilex might be fooled by this, while taking on a different scent the changeling might accidentally nullify other scents that should logically be on him (if only due to the environment he is in), this makes it all the easier for those with a powerful sense of smell to smell him out.

There are also things that can break his disguise, or where he himself will turn it off. If he loses conciousness by fainting, being knocked out or even sleeping he will automatically change back into his true form. Should he try to simply fall asleep in a disguise it will not work, he'd feel awkward and strange, and no matter how tired he'd be the sleep would not come. (or come and change him back anyway)
To wash himself is another thing where he prefers his true form, to him it feels the same as would you wash yourself wearing a full-body suit, awkward and uncomfortable.
A more uncommon way to break his disguise is magical effects, certain spells can reveal him for what he is and true-sight will allow the user to see him in his true self, no matter how different a form he is currently displaying. Polymorph effects also break his spell, when he reverts back he will be in his true form, instead of the form he might've been displaying when the effect was laid upon him.