Disguise
Description
Ability Score Used: Charisma Usable Untrained? Yes Armor Check Penalty Applies? No
You are skilled at the art of changing your appearance.
Check
Your Disguise check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others' Perception check results. Much like Invisibility, if you don't draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make passive Perception checks unless they are on alert for some reason. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as an alert guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Perception checks.
You get only one Disguise check per use of the skill, even if several people are making Perception checks against it. The Disguise check is made secretly, so that you can't be sure how good the result is. Calculate your modifier to the roll and tell it to the DM. She will roll a die in secret and record it, then grin at you in a way calculated to make you nervous. Uh, oh....
The effectiveness of your disguise depends in part on how much you're attempting to change your appearance.
Table: Disguise DCs and Modifiers
| Disguise | Disguise Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| Minor details only | +5 |
| Disguised as different gender1 | -2 |
| Disguised as different race1 | -2 |
| Disguised as different age category1 | -22 |
| Disguised as different size category1 | -10 |
- 1 These modifiers are cumulative; use any that apply.
- 2 Per step of difference between your actual age category and your disguised age category. The steps are: young (younger than adulthood), adulthood, middle age, old, and venerable.
If you are impersonating a particular individual, those who know what that person looks like get a bonus on their Perception checks according to the table below. Furthermore, they are automatically considered to be suspicious of you, so opposed checks are always called for.
Table: Modifiers Based on Familiarity
| Familiarity | Viewer's Perception Check Bonus |
|---|---|
| Recognizes on sight | +4 |
| Friends or associates | +6 |
| Close friends | +8 |
| Intimate | +10 |
Usually, an individual makes a Perception check to see through your disguise immediately upon meeting you and every hour thereafter. If you casually meet many different creatures, each for a short time, check once per day or hour, using an average Perception modifier for the group.
Action/Time
Creating a disguise requires 1d3 x 10 minutes of work. Using magic (such as the disguise self spell) reduces this action to the time required to cast the spell or trigger the effect.
Retry? Yes. You may try to redo a failed disguise, but once others know that a disguise was attempted, they'll be more suspicious. Assume that everyone who knows about the Disguise attempt are making active Perception checks when they meet you.
Modifiers
- Magic Alteration: Magic that alters your form, such as alter self, disguise self, polymorph, or shapechange, grants you a +10 bonus on Disguise checks (see the individual spell descriptions). You must succeed on a Disguise check with a +10 bonus to duplicate the appearance of a specific individual using the veil spell. Divination magic that allows people to see through illusions (such as true seeing) does not penetrate a mundane disguise, but it can negate the magical component of a magically enhanced one.
- Magic Copies: You must make a Disguise check when you cast a simulacrum spell to determine how good the likeness is.
- Feats: If you have the Deceitful feat you get a +2 feat bonus on all Disguise skill checks. This bonus improves as you put additional ranks in the skill.
- Aid Another: You may be helped by your friends to assemble a good disguise, and the comedy gold of people getting you fake hair made of Lanternmoss to imitate a Barani is more than worth the price of admission.
Epic Skill Uses
Note: All uses below require a minimum of 21 Ranks in the skill to use.
Much Larger or Smaller
(DC +25 for two size categories, DC +50 for three size categories) - You can attempt to disguise yourself as a much larger or smaller creature than your race's normal size. It's not easy.
Treachery
If you enter a combat while disguised as an ally of the monsters, or as a neutral bystander, you may, once per combat, treat one foe as flatfooted to your attacks after you dramatically reveal your perfidy. "And I would have gotten away with it, too!" (stab)