Disguise (Cha)

You are skilled at changing your appearance.

Check

Your Disguise check result determines how good the disguise is, and it is opposed by others’ Perception check results. If you don’t draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make Perception 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 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.

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 × 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.

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 bonus on all Disguise skill checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in Disguise, the bonus increases to +4.

Disguise Unchained

Source PFU

Optionally, a character who reaches 5, 10, 15, or 20 ranks in a skill unlocks various bonuses and abilities unique to that skill. The unchained rogue uses these rules extensively, but others can gain access to them with a new feat.

In this system, characters unlock additional abilities when they attain 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill. The skill unlocks system interfaces with the unchained rogue to make the rogue the true master of skills.

Skill unlocks give characters new abilities and ways to use their skills upon reaching 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill. Any character with the Signature Skill feat can earn skill unlocks for a single skill, and they are a prime feature of the revised version of the rogue who uses her rogue’s edge ability to gain skill unlocks for several of her most iconic skills. Alternatively, you might make skill unlocks a universal part of the game, but you should be aware they add significant power and flexibility to skills, so giving them for free to all classes would grant power boosts to other highly skilled classes such as the investigator and bard, particularly in comparison to the rogue. Another alternative is to eliminate access to the Signature Skill feat, limiting skill unlocks to rogues and rogues alone.

With sufficient ranks in Disguise, you earn the following.

5 Ranks: You can create a disguise in 1d3 minutes.

10 Ranks: You can create a disguise in 1d3 rounds. If you take the full normal amount of time to create your disguise, you take no penalty for disguising your gender, race, or age category.

15 Ranks: You can create a disguise as a full-round action.

20 Ranks: You can create a disguise as a standard action, or as a full-round action combined with a Bluff check to create a diversion to hide.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.

scroll to top