Learn about how the new transformations introduced in Hope & Fear could change your character
Transformations are a new addition from the Hope and Fear expansion. They’re optional cards that represent a big change to your character, such as becoming a vampire or discovering you have divine blood, but they also come with a drawback.
There are six to choose from. For each one I’ve covered the flavour, how it plays, who it suits and how good I think it is.
How transformations work
Transformations are specific changes to a character and the idea behind them is to put some game mechanics behind more specific character changes.
- They’re optional – Your GM can hand one out as part of the story, or offer them at character creation to choose from, if it suits the campaign.
- You take the good with the bad – Each card gives a benefit and a drawback. It’s also on the player to keep track of the drawback and remind your GM of it when it’s relevant.
- They sit alongside your heritage. A transformation card doesn’t count against your domain card limit, and you can only have one.
- Each card comes with six questions to help you work out how it changes your character.
| Transformation | Theme | Benefit | Drawback | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demigod | A mortal with divine blood | +1 to action, reaction and damage rolls | Mark a Stress or give the GM a Fear whenever you fail a roll | Story first, weakest on paper |
| Ghost | A spirit bound to the mortal world | Resist physical damage and pass through solid objects | Double magic damage, which depending on the enemies you face is very dangerous | Excellent |
| Reanimated | A corpse brought back to life | Won’t Stay Dead turns a failed Risk It All into a success | You need a corpse to clear Hit Points on a rest, and Won’t Stay Dead permanently costs a Hit | Strong, with a mostly narrative cost |
| Shapeshifter | Someone who can take any ancestry’s form | Swap your ancestry during a rest | Only one ancestry feature at a time | Sacrifices potency for flexibilty |
| Vampire | An undead blood drinker | A bite attack, with feed tokens that turn your Fear Die into a d20 | Disadvantage when you have no tokens, and more Fear for the GM | Strong and balanced |
| Werewolf | A wolf-form berserker | +1d10 to attack and damage rolls in Wolf Form | Rolling with Hope costs Stress, and the rampage hits everyone nearby | Very powerful, so check with your GM |
If you’re a GM, the book recommends talking to your players before bringing a transformation into the campaign, as they can affect a character’s story a lot. A big villain’s attack could give a character the vampire or werewolf transformation, while characters who made a bargain for their resurrection could become reanimated or a ghost. Shapeshifter and Demigod are more likely to be chosen at the character creation stage.
Choosing a transformation
Picking a transformation is less about the numbers and more about what kind of story you want to tell, and whether you enjoy playing into a drawback. There are a few things to think about:
- Prioritising the story and power – The transformations are well positioned to act as key points in a character’s story, so choose carefully how this might affect your character going forward
- Are you happy to take a downside? – The cards only work if you play into the burden, so pick one whose drawback you won’t grow tired of tracking and making part of your story.
- Check with your GM – One strong transformation can overshadow the rest of the party, so run it past your GM before taking it, particularly the Werewolf.
The transformations
Demigod
Benefit: Gifted
Drawback: Weight of Divinity
Demigods are mortals with divine blood, whether from a godly parent or a gift from a deity. Most look like a typical member of their ancestry, but with a subtle tell like glowing skin. The expectations that come with this bloodline can be hard and costly to live up to.
Gifted gives you a +1 bonus to action, reaction and damage rolls. Weight of Divinity means that whenever you fail a roll, you must mark a Stress or the GM gains a Fear.
My take: The bonus looks good on paper. The +1 to action rolls is the best of the three, reaction rolls get a small boost too. The damage bonus is small but it stacks with advantage and is at least easy to track. The problem is the drawback, which triggers on any failed roll, reaction rolls included. Failure is a normal part of Daggerheart, so you’ll be paying this cost a lot, so for me, that makes this card the one I would call the weakest of the six. As such, I would take it for the story appeal rather than a big mechanical advantage.
Rating – 2/5
Ghost
Benefit: Unfinished Business
Drawback: Ephemeral
Ghosts are the spirits of the once-living, bound to the Mortal Realm. They might have been called back by necromancy or they may never have crossed the veil at all. Some look almost alive while others turn translucent and drained of colour. Their drive to accomplish some unfinished business is what keeps them on the mortal plane.
Unfinished Business means you and your GM decide on the purpose that binds you, and when you fulfil it you cross through the veil of death. Ephemeral gives you resistance to physical damage, but you take double magic damage, and you can mark 2 Stress to briefly pass through a solid object.
My take: Resisting physical damage is the real perk of the card, but the double magic damage is a real double edged sword. The wrong enemy party could really scupper a Ghost, even if physical damage is generally more common. Passing through walls costs 2 Stress each time, so use it wisely, but it could be very useful in a wide variety of stealth/scouting/investigation situations.
The roleplaying hook is Unfinished Business, which gives your character a built-in ending, so work with your GM on what it is and how close you are to finishing it. It’s a great way to give a character a definitive and emotional ending.
Rating – 3/5
Reanimated
Benefit: Corpse
Drawback: Won’t stay dead
Reanimated are corpses brought back to life by a spell, holy ritual or arcane experiment. They’re bound to their decaying bodies and have to patch themselves up with parts taken from the recently deceased. Stories often say they’re durable or immune to pain, but this character can suffer instead, from the echoes of their death, or a body that’s hard to control.
With Corpse, you can only clear Hit Points during a rest if you have remains from a recently deceased creature, and you describe how you use them (yuck). Won’t Stay Dead means that if you fail the Risk It All death move, you can permanently mark a Hit Point to succeed instead, and you still use the Hope Die’s value to clear Hit Points and Stress. If you permanently mark your last Hit Point, you pass through the veil of death for good.
My take: This is stronger than it first looks. Playtest versions of this card blocked other forms of healing, but the book dropped that rule, so potions and healing spells work as normal and the remains requirement is now mostly a narrative cost to roleplay. Won’t Stay Dead is the real prize. It turns Risk It All, one of the riskiest death moves, into a sensible gamble, though each time you rely on it you permanently lose a Hit Point, so more Hit Points means more chances to use the feature. A durable class like a Stalwart guardian suits it well, and Clank’s Efficient or Elf’s Celestial Trance make it easier to fit healing into your rests.
Rating – 4/5
Shapeshifter
Benefit: Change Shape
Drawback: Only Skin Deep
Shapeshifters can change their physical form, whether they were born with the gift or given it by an otherworldly entity. They can become any ancestry (although one characteristic, such as their eyes or a birthmark never changes), and they can’t copy a specific person. New forms also take practice, so a freshly changed shapeshifter can look or behave a little off-kilter.
Change Shape lets you use a downtime move during a rest to swap your ancestry for another and describe how you change. Only Skin Deep means you only gain one of that ancestry’s features, which you choose when you pick that ancestry. You can also use a downtime move to switch to the other.
My take: On the plus side, you get to pick the ancestry feature that suits the day ahead. Ribbet’s Amphibious suits a trip across water, Dwarf or Galapa features help with durability in a big fight and Elf’s Celestial Trance gives you more from a rest. However, changing shape only during a rest isn’t that flexible. It’s worth noting you lose the features of your original ancestry. If you like planning your loadout around what’s coming, it’s a decent pick but never groundbreaking.
Rating – 2/5
Vampire
Benefit: Fangs
Drawback: Feed
Vampires are undead creatures who feed on the blood of the living. They are created by a bite from a vampire or even a dark ritual, and they need blood to survive. Many look much like their original ancestry apart from the fangs, though they might have pale skin or eyes that shine in the dark,
Fangs lets you make an attack with a trait of your choice against a target within Melee range, dealing d6 physical damage using your Proficiency. If you succeed against a creature that can bleed, Feed lets you mark a Stress to place tokens on the card equal to the Hit Points the target marks, up to 6. Before an action roll you can spend a token to make your Fear Die a d20, you remove a token on each long rest, and with no tokens you make action and reaction rolls with disadvantage.
My take: This one is strong and well balanced. The d20 Fear Die is the heart of it, as it makes success much more likely but also makes rolling with Fear more likely, so on every big roll you’re weighing up whether it’s worth handing the GM a Fear for a successful check.
Fangs doesn’t represent big damage and feeding costs a Stress, so you’ll trade some damage for tokens, and running out really puts you at disadvantage, so there’s care needed here. It works well with anything that likes Fear. Dread domain classes are worth a look, as some of their cards reward rolling with Fear. Also, Seaborne turns each Fear roll into a +1 token, and Orderborne’s d20 Hope Die could give you two d20s on one roll in combination with the vampire card. The one criticism from a flavour perspective is that the card skips classic vampire weaknesses like sunlight, but you can agree with your GM if you feel strongly about it incorporating this into the character.
Rating – 4/5
Werewolf
Benefit: Wolf Form
Drawback: Howling Rampage
Werewolves transform from their original ancestry into a larger half wolf form. Some are born that way, while others are cursed or infected by a bite. They struggle to control their hunting instinct and violence, so the experienced werewolves develop ways of coping, whether that’s discipline or locking themselves away. If you’d like another animal, many predators can take the wolf’s place if your GM agrees.
Wolf Form lets you mark a Stress to enter the form whenever you mark 1 or more Hit Points. While in it you gain a 1d10 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and you must mark a Stress when you roll with Hope. It lasts until Howling Rampage or your next rest. Howling Rampage triggers when you mark your last Stress in Wolf Form, rolling d20s equal to your tier and dealing that much physical damage to all creatures within Very Close range, then transforming back to your original form.
My take: This seems to be the most powerful card of the six, and the one I’d talk to your GM about before taking. A d10 on every attack and damage roll is a big swing, and it isn’t limited to melee. It applies to bows, thrown weapons, spells and even damage from reaction-based abilities. The drawbacks are pretty manageable. The Hope penalty can push you out of the form quickly, it ends at your next rest, and the rampage hits everyone nearby, allies included, but you can often position so only enemies are caught in it. There’s also a rules question worth settling at session zero. The wording leaves some room for debate about whether the Stress penalty applies when you roll with Hope or only when you actually gain it, which matters for features that replace Hope you’d gain, such as Call of the Slayer’s Slayer Dice or the Warlock’s Favor. That’s down to your GM. Firbolg is an ideal ancestry for a werewolf too, as Unshakable can stop a Stress being marked and Charge’s d12 can stack with the rampage. It’s thematic and quite fun, as long as the table is happy with how strong it is.
Rating – 5/5
Final thoughts
Overall, I think transformations are a great addition. The flavour is well expressed through the mechanics and most are either functional or strong. They give you a way to build story moments into your character, and the best ones, Werewolf, Vampire, Ghost and Reanimated, make you want to play into the drawback rather than worry about it.
However, I think they do add some extra admin on top of the inherent drawbacks and do shape the whole character around them. It becomes their defining feature, so consider your choice carefully.
