Considerar

struct SomethingThatsABase
{
    virtual bool IsChildOne() const { return false; }
    virtual bool IsChildTwo() const { return false; }
};

struct ChildOne : public SomethingThatsABase
{
    virtual bool IsChildOne() const { return true; }
};

struct ChildTwo : public SomethingThatsABase
{
    virtual bool IsChildTwo() const { return true; }
};

void SomeClientExpectingAChildOne(std::shared_ptr<ChildOne> const& ptrOne)
{
    //Does stuff
}

void SomeClient(std::shared_ptr<SomethingThatsABase> const& ptr)
{
    if (ptr->IsChildOne())
    {
        SomeClientExpectingAChildOne(ptr); //Oops.
        //Hmm.. can't static_cast here, because we need a `shared_ptr` out of it.
    }
}

(Observe que não posso simplesmente fazer umstd::shared_ptr<ChildOne>(static_cast<ChildOne*>(ptr.get())), porque as contagens de referência não são compartilhadas entre os doisshared_ptrs)