Not sure in right section-move if need be: does a spirit change their appearance from the conjurer and to you?

[KC&jojo]

Hi y'all!
Met a funny spirit whi looked out for me. He told me he's a kraken but the conjurer revealed he's a dragon. He is definitely the youngster of the group with all his energy. The conjurer says it's one of his favorite forms. So, do spirits tell their soon to be keeper their favorite forms or do spirits actual form shows up to the conjurer and later to the keeper? He was shy at first just following me around and my other companions let him get close. Nifty come to think of it.
Thank you for all that were able to answer my questions.

[Umbra_Arcana]

I think that it depends on the spirit to be honest. To use two examples from my own keep I have a troll cat spirt and a silver dragon spirit. Troll cats are shape-shifters so they do shift their form to suit their situation. Silver dragons are species that polymorph, my silver dragon companion probably spends more time in the form of a silver tabby cat than they do in their dragon form.

[Tarvos]

They don’t tell you, they show you. And you'll quickly discover their favorite forms, especially when they can shapeshift. Shapeshifting is different from manifestations, which are appearing in various forms, in which many people often mix them up. I won’t dive into the definitions here.

Many spirits present themselves differently to conjurers for safety reasons. So, if a conjurer describes a spirit and they don't match what you expect, don’t be surprised. That description might not reflect what your spirit truly looks like or who they really are at all. When your spirit comes home to you and your spirit family, you’ll recognize them for who they really are.

[Alaric]

Hi y'all!
Met a funny spirit whi looked out for me. He told me he's a kraken but the conjurer revealed he's a dragon. He is definitely the youngster of the group with all his energy. The conjurer says it's one of his favorite forms. So, do spirits tell their soon to be keeper their favorite forms or do spirits actual form shows up to the conjurer and later to the keeper? He was shy at first just following me around and my other companions let him get close. Nifty come to think of it.
Thank you for all that were able to answer my questions.

On the face of it, this seems odd.

I'm not crystal clear on what you've said though. When you say you've "met" a spirit, do you mean you met an unbound spirit then asked a practitioner about that spirit? The 'conjurer' did not conjure it?

I would start with a sense of caution. I would question as follows.

Did your spirit give you a name? And did the practitioner use that name to try and check out the spirit? Did a spirit answer to that name for the practitioner?

Did the practitioner say they did not sense a kraken around you?

Are you okay at spirit communication? Have you asked the possibly kraken spirit what it thinks about all this?

I would question the practitioner as to why/whether they think it told you they're a dragon then told them they're not?

Finally, how reliable a spirit keeping conjurer are they?

Tl/dr: Either or both of you may have misunderstood the situation. Or the being may be a trickster. Or, you may have both a kraken and a dragon around you. Or you have a shapeshifter but, if so , why did it not show you more than one appearance? If it told you it's a kraken and it is, it has been honest and the practitioner is off the mark. Something doesn't quite add up but it could be any of a few things.

[Hitthuginn]

Spirits can certainly choose to manifest differently to you than to the conjurer, but changing races is a whole different story altogether. My understanding is that only beings who naturally had shapeshifting ability in their lives (such as werewolves) could change what species they actually present as entirely. Any conjurer worth their salt should be able to tell that a kraken is different from a dragon. Either your conjurer has read a different spirit than this kraken, or you could be dealing with a trickster pretending to be one. Did your conjurer have this dragon bound to you or has no binding taken place yet?

[Tarvos]

Try not to rush to conclusions about a conjurer when unusual things happen with a spirit. The spirit is a Dragon, not a trickster. It's simply unusual for him to show up as a kraken instead of his dragon form. Hehe.

Like I mentioned above, for safety purposes, spirits can appear in many different forms. This doesn’t mean they are trying to deceive you. They might just not be ready to reveal their true selves. This has nothing to do with conjurers because they will perceive what they see and describe it to their clients based on that appearance.

For instance, if this spirit shows up as a kraken to a conjurer, a skilled conjurer would still recognize him as a dragon. Another might insist he’s a kraken. Ultimately, only you and your Keep truly know his real identity.

I have a Dragon appear as a cat in my mom's dream. Hehe. It was puzzling because they don’t take that form ever. But the reason was simple: they wanted her to not be scared. There could be many reasons for your Dragon to show up as a kraken. I suggest you ask him directly and get to know him better.

[Faolan]

Change their appearance? yeah it can happen. One of my Sasquatch spirits decided to introduce themselves in human form when first getting to know him. Has long since dropped that, but it was comforting and non threatening.

[KC&jojo]

Thank you for all of your responses. He did mention to me that he didn’t want to scare me upon first meeting. He’s a shifter too and likes to change to his favorite. He’s not a trickster but he is a sweetheart that does joke a lot!

[Star1498]

This situation happened with a companion of mine too.I later learned that he used glamours into making this other appareance, to help me gain confidence and trust with him.
However, he was always straightforward with his species information