Disguise

Typically used with: Presence.

In short: play dress-up. If a character wants to look like someone else, or at least not look like herself, the Disguise skill is a necessary tool. The fugitive blending in with the locals, the super spy posing as the (recently, tragically deceased) king, and the undercover martial artist gathering secrets from a rival clan all make use of the Disguise check to its fullest.

Be careful when you're incognito — people might expect specific knowledge of you. Often times you'll need to be good at both Bluff and Lore to really sell that you're someone else.

Impersonating

You can make a Disguise check to assume the guise of another, whether that's a specific person, a class of person (e.g. aristocrat, commoner), or a type of occupation (e.g. city guard, beggar). It's all about how you carry yourself: your demeanor, your voice, your mannerisms. You may be able to look like somebody else, but without ranks in Disguise or points in Presence, you probably won't be fooling anybody.

Gather together your outfit and make a Disguise check. As long as you're adopting that persona, people you meet get a chance to see through your charade. They make Discern checks against your original Disguise check. If yours is higher, your new persona is convincing. If they meet or exceed your roll, they figure out that you're pretending ("Is that a wig?"). You can't retry a failed Disguise check, but you could go find a different outfit and try that one instead.

The following table lists situational bonuses and penalties to the Disguise check.

Situation	Check
Different gender	−2
Different race	−4
Per point of Size difference	−5
Employing a Disguise Kit	+4

Penalties and bonuses are cumulative. For example, a male firna, 4 feet tall and 60 pounds (Size −1), with a Disguise Kit, attempting to pass for a female kulgeri, 8 feet tall and 300 pounds (Size 1), would take a −12 penalty to Disguise.

Collecting Information

The Disguise skill can also be used to blend in for the purposes of recon and gathering intelligence. Instead of actively conversing with the populace, you conform to the dress code and hide in plain sight, soaking up the topics of conversation. In this case, an average and forgettable appearance is a good thing while you eavesdrop. The higher the result, the more obscure the information you can gather. Hiding among the populace takes several hours. If you opt to Take the Best on this check, it could take days.

Example	DL
The location of major landmarks, names of local celebrities	5
Current events, rumors, and gossip	10
The location of a specific individual, item, or place	15
Guarded, illegal, or illicit information (e.g. where to buy stolen goods, how to break into a particular building)	20
Highly secret, personal, or valuable information (e.g. who the king's mistress is, where the rebel hideout is, the route the princess takes when she ventures into the city)	30