Use this skill to change your appearance or someone else’s. The effort requires at least a few props, some makeup, and some time. The use of a disguise kit provides a +2 circumstance bonus to a Disguise check. A disguise can include an apparent change of height or weight of no more than one-tenth the original.
You can also use Disguise to impersonate people, either individuals or types. For example, you might, with little or no actual disguise, make yourself seem like a traveller even if you’re a local.
Check: Your Disguise check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others’ Spot check results. If you don’t draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make Spot checks. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Spot checks.
You get only one Disguise check per use of the skill, even if several people are making Spot checks against it. The Disguise check is made secretly, so that you can’t be sure how good the result is.
The effectiveness of your disguise depends in part on how much you’re attempting to change your appearance.
| Disguise | Disguise Check Modifier |
|---|---|
| Minor details only | +5 |
| Disguised as different gender1 | -2 |
| Disguised as different race1 | -2 |
| Disguised as different age category1 | -22 |
| Change height and/or weight 11% to 25% | -253 |
| Change height and/or weight 26% to 50% | -503 |
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.
3 Can be negated by any effect that can duplicate a height and/or weight change of this degree, such as the alter self spell.
If you are impersonating a particular individual, those who know what that person looks like get a bonus on their Spot checks according to the table below. Furthermore, they are automatically considered to be suspicious of you, so opposed checks are always called for.
| Familiarity | Viewer’s Spot Check Bonus |
|---|---|
| Recognizes on sight | +4 |
| Friends or associates | +6 |
| Close friends | +8 |
| Intimate | +10 |
Usually, an individual makes a Spot check to see through your disguise immediately upon meeting you and each hour thereafter. If you casually meet many different creatures, each for a short time, check once per day or hour, using an average Spot modifier for the group.
Disguise an Object’s Function: You can use this skill to temporarily change the appearance of an object, so that it is not immediately evident what function the object actually serves. This use of the skill requires time and some additional material to “dress up” the object.
| Size of Object | Time Required |
|---|---|
| Tiny or smaller | 1d6×5 minutes |
| Small to Large | 1d8×10 minutes |
| Huge or larger | 1d10×20 minutes |
The object’s disguise can include an apparent change of height or weight of no more than one-tenth the original unless specially crafted accessories are utilized (possibly requiring a separate Craft check). Your Disguise check result is opposed by the Search checks of anyone looking at the item, or otherwise searching in the area in question.
Creating Fake Corpses: You can attempt to disguise yourself and others in order to appear to be dead bodies. You cannot use the Disguise skill in this manner while being observed, and you cannot move at all while so disguised. Your Disguise check is opposed by the Spot check of anyone who might see you.
Blending in with a group of other corpses is relatively easy. If the actual corpses in the immediate vicinity outnumber the disguised characters by at least three to one, you gain a +2 bonus on the Disguise check.
While this sort of disguise requires no special props, you generally need some splashes of blood (or similarly coloured substance), grime, soot and similar stains to pull off the disguise.
A disguise made to appear as a corpse is a relatively quick exercise, requiring only 1d3 minutes of work.
Action: Creating a disguise requires 1d3×10 minutes of work.
Try Again: Yes. You may try to redo a failed disguise, but once others know that a disguise was attempted, they’ll be more suspicious.
Special: 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.
You must make a Disguise check when you cast a simulacrum spell to determine how good the likeness is.
If you have the Deceitful feat, you get a +2 bonus on Disguise checks.
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, you get a +2 bonus on Disguise checks when you know that you’re being observed and you try to act in character.
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 72), Epic Level Handbook (Page 41), Heroes of Battle (Page 94), Races of Destiny (Page 147)