What sort of "Shapeshifter Protocols" would a standard fantasy guard force of a city (like Magnimar) have as Standard Operating Procedure when dealing with potential shapeshifting assassins?
It depends on the nature of the shapeshifting assassins. Some shifters can assume the forms of others, complete with clothing. Against them, you have people take off various articles of clothing. This forces those shifters to get smarter.
Maybe only people with a certain magical tattoo/arcane mark can go past certain checkpoints. A cantrip will reveal that the mark is magical. Extra points if the tattoo does something cool like open up like the Eye of Thundara lol
Against shapeshifters who can read minds...you need the same power. Detect thoughts would be needed. Why? They may well have learned the day's passwords, their target's wife's name, and all about that time at the docks before coming up to the gates. You'd need to be able to scan them. Also, that's only a 2nd level spell. It's reasonable to have that kind of magic handy at need. Unlike good ol' true seeing....
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Most types of shapeshifting are magical. A level 1 caster can pick up detect magic at will. Training in Kn: Arcana to understand the school can identify auras to see if a magical aura around a creature is illusion or transmutation. Keep in mind the risk versus reward. How likely is such a situation to occur versus the cost of defending against it. Also keep in mind the following:
Are you dealing with magical/mundane disguises that need to be examined, or basically creatures looking like people.
Creatures that can truly change shape but limited, a werebear getting in as part of a menagerie, a kitsune as a fox familiar? etc..
Shapeshifters with a lot of versatility. Turning into a bird to fly over a wall or a dimunitive mouse to sneak into the king's chamber. A druid turning into the Baron's horse or an earth elemental to earth glide under the ground and into the castle. (BTW druid eco-terrorists = scary)
I would imagine code phrases, specific procedures and other options can mitigate the first one, limited access can prevent the second but the third is going to be very difficult.
A. Anyone could be a shapeshifter. Kill anyone you supect is a shapeshifer.
B. Hey, that guy is killing people randomly in a paranoid frenzy- he must be the shape shifter!
Ok, now that that silliness is done- holy water seems like it might help. Nice and harmless for mortals, but it is like acid to undead and evil outsiders. So, since that takes out a VERY big swath of nasties that might have shapeshifting, I think that some places can spare the expense and the sprinkled guests.
Sidenote- I have once suggested that a particularly affluent and paranoid king might have his entire court flooded ankle deep in holywater. That means that demons and the like can't randomly teleport in (well, there are fliers, but some cold iron barbed wire hung just overhead would solve that problem nicely)
What sort of "Shapeshifter Protocols" would a standard fantasy guard force of a city (like Magnimar) have as Standard Operating Procedure when dealing with potential shapeshifting assassins?Generally... none other than standard precautions. That's why they always make such great dramatic story plots. Usual sense motive checks can be applied versus the disguise or bluff checks as appropriate.
True, there are often only so much precaution you can take, even against normal assassins.
Sure, a king might have a food taster on call everyday, but average viscount? He would only seek out someone like that if he has reason to believe that someone has immediate plans.
So keep that in mind when judging the value of countermeasures- while constant magical items might be nice, less long-term-cost-efficient single-use things that are still comparatively cheaper when used for rare occasions will be the order of the day.
It is hard enough to provide counter measures and surveillance against normal assassins, thieves, smugglers, and the the like. Putting a large portion of the budget into antishifer tech when such creatures are extremely rare means that you are more likely to be stabbed by your human maid since you couldn't afford the intel network to tell you that you executed her father.