[funkytim]

I was wondering why the shape change didn't make it into the current versions of shadowrun.  Was it overpowered or just not popular enough? 

P. S. Thanks for releasing Street Wyrd.  I like it so far.

[Shinobi Killfist]

If I were to make a guess, the armor changes. In every previous edition changing into a bear kind of sucked, your 8 body or whatever is snazzy but without armor you got dropped instantly. Now you don't lose out much in armor in fact your DR might go up.  So now it will be harder to balance.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

I don't expect its omission has anything to do with balance...and everything to do with editorial/word count reasons.

Of course you can build such a spell via the rules in Street Wyrd.

[Beta]

It certainly could be overpowered in 5th, so I'm glad to see it gone for that reason.  Also because it always kind of offended my sense of how sophisticated magic had yet become in the sixth world.  Most other magic was either more ephermeral (illusions, detection), or fairly simple applications of energy (attack spells, barriers, levitation, etc).  To me the shapechange and critterform spells were just so much more advanced transformation (and the shape material and a couple of other spells just a little bit behind). 

I have no idea why they were left out, but fun though they could be, I'm glad they didn't make the cut.

[Reaver]

It certainly could be overpowered in 5th, so I'm glad to see it gone for that reason.  Also because it always kind of offended my sense of how sophisticated magic had yet become in the sixth world.  Most other magic was either more ephermeral (illusions, detection), or fairly simple applications of energy (attack spells, barriers, levitation, etc).  To me the shapechange and critterform spells were just so much more advanced transformation (and the shape material and a couple of other spells just a little bit behind). 

I have no idea why they were left out, but fun though they could be, I'm glad they didn't make the cut.

Shapechange was the spell that caused the most headaches for most tables... so much so, I know more then a few GMs that took the 'ironhand' approach to that spell...

[Beta]

It certainly could be overpowered in 5th, so I'm glad to see it gone for that reason.  Also because it always kind of offended my sense of how sophisticated magic had yet become in the sixth world.  Most other magic was either more ephermeral (illusions, detection), or fairly simple applications of energy (attack spells, barriers, levitation, etc).  To me the shapechange and critterform spells were just so much more advanced transformation (and the shape material and a couple of other spells just a little bit behind). 

I have no idea why they were left out, but fun though they could be, I'm glad they didn't make the cut.

Shapechange was the spell that caused the most headaches for most tables... so much so, I know more then a few GMs that took the 'ironhand' approach to that spell...

I was one.  I ruled that Shapechange didn't exist in my home game, and that critter form was replaced by "Turn <specific person> into <specific critter>", was touch, and you had to have both the person and the critter with you for the duration of learning the spell.  Still very comlex for 2080s magic, but learning how to do a 1-to-1 mapping of two bodies seemed less out of scope, and it it eliminated a fair number of shennanigans.

I still have a shaman who turns into a large cat and rides around in the decker's backpack sometimes, but so far it hasn't felt too 'off'.

[Reaver]

It certainly could be overpowered in 5th, so I'm glad to see it gone for that reason.  Also because it always kind of offended my sense of how sophisticated magic had yet become in the sixth world.  Most other magic was either more ephermeral (illusions, detection), or fairly simple applications of energy (attack spells, barriers, levitation, etc).  To me the shapechange and critterform spells were just so much more advanced transformation (and the shape material and a couple of other spells just a little bit behind). 

I have no idea why they were left out, but fun though they could be, I'm glad they didn't make the cut.

Shapechange was the spell that caused the most headaches for most tables... so much so, I know more then a few GMs that took the 'ironhand' approach to that spell...

I was one.  I ruled that Shapechange didn't exist in my home game, and that critter form was replaced by "Turn <specific person> into <specific critter>", was touch, and you had to have both the person and the critter with you for the duration of learning the spell.  Still very comlex for 2080s magic, but learning how to do a 1-to-1 mapping of two bodies seemed less out of scope, and it it eliminated a fair number of shennanigans.

I still have a shaman who turns into a large cat and rides around in the decker's backpack sometimes, but so far it hasn't felt too 'off'.

If that's all you did, then that was far from the worst I have heard....

One GM ruled that shapechange just changed your form- your MEAT form.
so, having cyberware meant having it rip through the flesh and/or contort and twist the body as cyberware like bone lacing tried to hold the mage in a human form as the bones and flesh them selves tried to morph into the animal physiology.... and liked going into explicit detail... 
Usually only once a table, as the point was made. 

[Shinobi Killfist]

We've never had a problem with Shapechange. The lack of gear seemed to be enough of a limit for us.