Avlis policy on: Disguises (Official Disguise Rules)

[Vergilius]

There are the main rules for Disguise. You can also read more examples of how to apply these rules on the Wiki
http://wiki.avlis.org/Rules:Specific_Rules#Disguise

Here are the basic rules, boiled down to their purest form. Consider this the guiding principle for disguises, or any other form of hiding your identity from someone.
1. The PC trying to keep his/her identity hidden, is the one who must make the most effort. The less effort put into it, the less likely the disguise is to work.
2. The PC who is trying to identify another character can only 'recognize' items, mannerisms, voices, (anything else that fits here) if they have interacted with them before.

Specific Disguise Rule Clarifications
1. Items that are +3 (or +3 equivalent) or higher are considered unique enough to be identified. You must remove all identifiable gear from your character if you want to remain in disguise.
2. Voices must continue to be altered, by the character speaking, to remain a valid part of the disguise. There are no items that will disguise your voice. Stating once at the beginning of a conversation *Muffles Voice* is not enough.
3. You cannot disguise your voice while spellcasting. If a character hears you casting, and they can recognize your voice (see the main rule above) then they can talk with a DM about ICly identifying the disguised character. A PM to both the other player and DM is preferred if a DM is not with you IG.
4. If you are using the Silent Spell feat (i.e. casting a spell with Silent Spell meta-magic applied) then you cannot be ID'd by voice, nor can you be ID'd by the fact that you are Silent casting.
5. The CEP Shadowed Hood is treated in the same way as a helm, as long as it is used in conjunction with other disguise practices. A hood alone will not be a strong enough disguise to protect a PC's identity, but is perfectly valid as a portion of such.
6. Shadowshield is considered a Shadowed Hood for disguise purposes, obscuring the facial features of characters affected by it. Shadowshield has the additional character of, if the spell is visible to a player on his screen, obscuring the color but not the character of avatar-visible items such as armor, robes, wings, cloaks, weapons, and helms. It does not obscure armor for ID purposes under the disguise rules, nor does it obscure IDable items under those same rules.
7. Barkskin would be slightly less effective then armor/helm. You wouldn't see the color of someone's armor, helm, etc... But you'd still see the general design of it. Same goes for the face, it would still be the PC's face but harder to make out fine details. Barkskin alone is not enough to be considered a disguise.
8. Stoneskin does nothing disquise wise. The same goes true for any spell that doesn't have a lasting VFX.
9. You cannot identify a character by smell.
10. Your Animal Companion cannot identify disguised characters for you.
11. You cannot disguise yourself as someone of the opposite gender.
12. You cannot run across a transition and change clothes (or change forms), the transitions are an OOC factor of the NWN Engine.

For past discussion, see:

viewtopic.php?t=28580&postdays=0&postor ... es&start=0

[TheElvenKing]

In addition, referencing a previous Team ruling with regards to voice disguise attempts and spellcasting:

You cannot disguise your voice while spellcasting.

The only exception to this rule would be if the PC casts a spell using the Silent Spell feat, which removes the vocal component from casting. It is important to note that simply possessing Silent Spell is not protection alone; the chosen spell must be cast while using the feat in order to protect against voice identification.

[mortzestus]

Don't forget that the game doesn't actually remove the verbal component itself when you use silent spell, so you will need to emote that you're using silent spell.

This is not correct. Silent spell actually removes not only the chanting but the casting sound effects. A character casting silenced spells won't make any kind of noise during the casting.

There are also a few spells that don't require a verbal component and thus don't have a chanting sound (but they do have a sound effect).

[Eef]

The use of hoods in a disguise:

The CEP Shadowed Hood is treated in the same way as a helm, as long as it is used in conjunction with other disguise practices. A hood alone will not be a strong enough disguise to protect a PC's identity, but is perfectly valid as a portion of such.

The character head model which has a ninja mask/hood counts as a bare head and should be concealed by either a CEP Shadowed Hood or a helm to be disguised.

[Micah]

ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING VOICE IDing AND SILENT SPELLS

Official Ruling:

1) If somebody is casting silently, they can not be ID'd by voice, nor can they be ID'd by their ability to cast silently.

2) If somebody is casting non-silently, their voice is fair game. Use rule 0 to gauge whether or not your PC knows another well enough to voice-ID them, and consult your DM sponsor or the staff before taking this information IC (this consultation is NOT optional).

[Darkfire]

Reminder:

It is the responsibility of the individual(s) wishing to be disguised to make it known that they are disguised and to put effort towards it. One or two simple emotes at the very start of a conversation doesn't do much. You get out of it what you put into it.

[PsiOmega]

The disguise rules in the first post have received an update. The Wiki page has been updated correspondingly.
Please read them through to remain updated.

[Moredo]

Skimming over the rules, I just saw this new Shadow Shield rule.

I'm wondering about a few things, that I hope can be sorted out:

1. True Seeing gives immunity to Illusion spells and is supposed to see through illusions such as Shadow Shield. Will this spell negate Shadow Shield as a concealment?
2. The Paladin spell "Blessing of Bahamut" uses the same VFX as Shadow Shield, does this spell also work as a concealment option?
3. Are half-ogres and wemics using Shadow Shield also covered by this rule? There are no Shadow Shield VFX models for these creatures, and as such they just get a "wall" spinning around them instead (hard to explain).
4. I'm wondering about this passage as well: "...if the spell is visible to a player on his screen.." that sounds like this rule is not in effect if a player does not see the Shadow Shield on his client side screen. Is that the case?

This is a very rules lawyery post, I know that, but the rule that is made is exceptionally vague.

[surfer69]

It seems like it's been a few years since this was revisited, so I have a question: Is it sensible to change the ID rule from +2-and-lower to +3, or +2 plus [I]x[/I] skill points for slot items and +2, d4 damage for weapons? The substantially wider availability of decent gear seems to make vanilla +2 a little out of date.

That said, however, I do understand trying to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots in CvC. No one likes to be beaten simply because their gear-peen was smaller than the other guy's.

Either way is cool by me, just looking for some clarity from on high.

Thanks.

[Ulu Elexin]

*bumps*

[surfer69]

Any word from on high about this - specifically, raising the baseline for what's ID'able? Thanks.

[ShadowViper]

This is how it got explained by DM's to me way back when I joined Raven and the team can correct me if I'm wrong.

You can only be identified by an item of a certain level if you use it both in normal and disguise form. Or if you bought said item publicly in your out of disguise form and then start using in disguise.


So you can use an + 10 item in disguise and not be identified , as long as nobody knows the providence of said item.

[surfer69]

Yeah, I get that.

It's this line from the list above that I'm referring to:

"1. Items that are +3 (or +3 equivalent) or higher are considered unique enough to be identified. You must remove all identifiable gear from your character if you want to remain in disguise."

Specifically, upgrading the +3 and above to take into account all the craftable +4 and beyond stuff now. It seems a plain +3 ring of protection, since it's no longer "special," shouldn't fall under the "unique" guidelines of old.

[Plethora]

Yeah, I get that.

It's this line from the list above that I'm referring to:

"1. Items that are +3 (or +3 equivalent) or higher are considered unique enough to be identified. You must remove all identifiable gear from your character if you want to remain in disguise."

Specifically, upgrading the +3 and above to take into account all the craftable +4 and beyond stuff now. It seems a plain +3 ring of protection, since it's no longer "special," shouldn't fall under the "unique" guidelines of old.

Sorry Bud, missed this one. I will put up for team reveiw.

[surfer69]

Anything yet? Thanks.