Shapeshifting Rules & Guidelines Question

[Za-Lord~s Guard]

In the past on Arelith, before its current version, the werewolf affliction left control in the player's hands to let them RP out their own werewolf state. This led to too many "friendly" werewolves being accepted and treated as big dogs by the community, which was when they were made to attack randomly and beyond the player's control (a will save to resist the murderous urges and Selune/Malar synergies added at a later time).

Shifter, and many of the visibly abnormal character race options are gated behind application processes to ensure that these will not be disruptive to the server or player immersion in roleplay by having a race or creature acting significantly outside of the bounds of what is "normal" for their species (imagine if a shifter were to use the forms of known destructive monsters like dragons or wyrmlings in town and everyone just welcomed them openly).

This suggests creatively that the dev team, in the past at least, wanted to avoid creatures known for being dangerous being treated as friendly pets.

Entirely too often there are druids who shapeshift in towns and angle for belly rubs/pets from the citizens, which is weird from multiple angles:

The concern that it's a person deceiving those around them for the sake of their own physical pleasure (even weirder in the cases where people know it's a druid and pet them anyway).

The idea that druidic shapeshifting is an ability given through the druid's connection to their deity/nature and using it to play around fails to respect the gravitas of what should be a sacred power to be used responsibly.

Then the part where it's really jarring to immersion to walk into town and see someone playing with a bear in the middle of the street as if it were a dog. There are pets, and in a fantasy setting like this there are surely exotic pets, but druids acting like pets in town circles back to the point of shifting not being treated as being a divine-given ability to be respected.

Does the team have a particular stance on druids using their shapeshifting in the described fashion, or is this considered acceptable conduct?

[Good Character]

I wholly do believe this is an issue of misunderstanding the lore (i.e. I can't talk in my regular tongue while wild shaped, so it must mean I now have the inclination of the pet I've taken on). I certainly do agree this should be addressed because, as you mention, it's really weird when druids act like pets or expect rubs/pettings. I imagine it as if the druid were in their humanoid form asking for this stuff. Would it be considered a breach of the PG-13 rule at that point?

[Za-Lord~s Guard]

I imagine it as if the druid were in their humanoid form asking for this stuff. Would it be considered a breach of the PG-13 rule at that point?

I've been thinking of it this way: let's imagine that there's a slave druid in Andunor, and the person who bought them sits with them in the Hub petting them, giving belly rubs, etc, after they've shapeshifted into an animal. Consent being a dubious thing in master/slave relationships (that being why having such relationships was banned) would this scenery remain tolerable or be considered in breach of that rule?

My own gut tells me that it would violate the rule, and so I don't feel like it's PG-13. I'm not a DM or a member of the Team though, so I would like to hear their input.

[Amateur Hour]

I wholly do believe this is an issue of misunderstanding the lore (i.e. I can't talk in my regular tongue while wild shaped, so it must mean I now have the inclination of the pet I've taken on). I certainly do agree this should be addressed because, as you mention, it's really weird when druids act like pets or expect rubs/pettings. I imagine it as if the druid were in their humanoid form asking for this stuff. Would it be considered a breach of the PG-13 rule at that point?

Just to play a little bit of devil's advocate, taking animal form can sometimes be a means of going undercover. I think asking for it is a bit much, but tolerating occasionally being pet on the head isn't necessarily egregious.

Belly rubs...yeah, no.

...let's imagine that there's a slave druid in Andunor, and the person who bought them sits with them in the Hub petting them, giving belly rubs, etc, after they've shapeshifted into an animal. Consent being a dubious thing in master/slave relationships (that being why having such relationships was banned) would this scenery remain tolerable or be considered in breach of that rule?

There's a huge difference between an enslaved shapeshifted person tolerating being touched by someone with material power over them and a non-enslaved shapeshifted person being touched by an equal, and it's all in the enslavement and has nothing to do with the shapeshifting.

[Felmilk]

Entirely too often there are druids who shapeshift in towns and angle for belly rubs/pets from the citizens, which is weird from multiple angles.

Not just druids. Have even seen a vampire do it in the hub.

[Za-Lord~s Guard]

There's a huge difference between an enslaved shapeshifted person tolerating being touched by someone with material power over them and a non-enslaved shapeshifted person being touched by an equal, and it's all in the enslavement and has nothing to do with the shapeshifting.

Imagine if there were no shifting involved, and you were presented with the image of a person sitting under another person being petted and touched like an animal (because that's what effectively happens - druids are still people). This would be uncomfortable, and probably lean a little too close to something sexual to be healthy for a PG-13 location.

Now, same thing but with slave collars added. That pushes it into a far weirder territory while including all the discomforts of the other scenario.

The point is it seems really silly at best, and really uncomfortable otherwise, for people to be trying to get other people to enact these and similar scenarios with them. The animal forms facilitate it, and the people who want to do this sort of thing are drawn to race and class combos that permit it.

While I'm not a member of the team or a DM, I can say confidently that I would not feel comfortable showing Arelith to any of my younger relatives knowing that people behave this way in game. I'm disturbed to know that there are impressionable children and teenagers on Arelith playing alongside adults doing this. This does not feel PG-13.

Not just druids. Have even seen a vampire do it in the hub.

I've seen this with gnolls too, which in part made me thankful for gnolls being migrated to a reward race as their population (and by extension the really uncomfortable portrayals of gnolls) plummeted.

[DM Monkey]

Please report instances where you think something is breaking character/setting and we'll look into it. It's best not to bring up specific examples here. I agree that the "bellyrub/sniff/scent/touchy" RP hits a really weird vibe most of the time. Uncomfortable is probably the best word for it.

I'd note that druids who really respect the creatures they shapechange into wouldn't necessarily be doing this as a party trick. A wolf is not a dog waiting for a belly rub, a bear isn't there for cuddles, and so on.