In the 'protean' subtype section, the Bestiary II claims
Change Shape (Su) A protean's form is not fixed. Once per day as a standard action, a protean may change shape into any Small, Medium, or Large animal, elemental, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin. A protean can resume its true form as a free action, and when it does so, it gains the effects of a heal spell (CL equal to the protean's HD).
Still, each and every protean has a 'change shape' entry under SQ, for example:
SQ change shape (2 forms, both of which must be Tiny animals; beast shape II)
Consider me confused (even if I am not experiancing the effect of voidworm poison right now).
Are these abilities in addition to one another (allowing the example voidworm to toggle between its own shape and two tiny animals at will, plus a once-per-day shapeshift into a 'Small, Medium, or Large animal, elemental, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin')?
Does the voidworm's change shape entry effectively overwrite the racial entry? (well, it does looks more power adequate for a CR3 creature)? Is it still 1/day, then?
If the latter is the case, why even bother with the racial entry? After all, each and every protean in the Bestiary gets a specific change shape line in its data block.
Necro'ed because I want to know the answer too, specifically for keketars
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It has always seemed like two different abilities to me.
The one listed under SQ is the universal monster rules 'change shape' ability and the one listed under creature type 'protean' is a separate power shared by all proteans.
I think the change shape entry provides the mechanism (and therefore associated limitations more restrictive than the general racial ability) because their is otherwise no mechanical rule governing this at all. Call it a poorly thought out racial ability badly implemented.
I certainly don't think a CR2 protean should be able to become any of those just because. What abilities would it get? The effect last indefinitely once per day, that's crazy.
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Specific overrides general.
So you have the universal monster rule for change shape which for all protean is overridden/modified by the more specific protean change shape (in particular, getting a heal on returning to normal form) and then further modified by the even more specific individual creature entry, in the case of voidworm being limited to 2 forms of tiny animal, as beast shape II, but since the heal part isn't overridden it still gets that.
More information, good to have.
So what would the case be for keketars?