There are several questions that must be answered, and ultimatelty, unless the Mystery Houses book clears it up, I expect there to be differing opinions on this issue. 1) If under the influence of a shapechanging spell, CAN a Bjornaer change into his heartbeast? If someone casts a spell to turn a Bjornaer into a mouse, could he then simply choose to turn into his heartbeast? Would this be a loophole through which Bjornaer magi are able to overcome hostile transformation spells? Once a bear, would he then be able to change back to human form? The alternative is that, once under the influence of a magical shifting, a Bjornaer has to overcome or dispel that effect in order to shift into their Heartbeast form. This can be justified if one assumes the heartbeast form facilitates transformation from a Bjornaer's natural human form to his natural heartbeast form, and vice versa, but does not facilitate transformation from "unnatural" (i.e. magically-induced) forms or states. What if the Bjornaer is transformed to stone? Should the Art of the transformation be a factor? 2) If a Bjornaer can change into his heartbeast, does the previous spell continue to function in the background? If so, then the Bjornaer would be able to take his transformed possessions with him, but if the existant spell is still active when he reverts back, he will revert back to the magical form, NOT to human form. He would then have to wait for the spell to expire before his possessions were returned to him. If the spell expires before the Bjornaer transforms back, the items would simply fall of him whereever he may be at the moment of expiration. There would be no magical influences to keep the items on the magus's "person". This seems to make the most sense to me, but does allow for the loophole from Question 1. If the spell is assumed to NOT continue functioning in the background, then the items would revert back to their natural states immediately at the time the Bjornaer transforms, and he is left facing the same problem. Frankly, I can't see this as a viable interpretation, as it implies some capability to dispel magic.
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