How many layers of disguise

[Silva Stormrage]

So thinking of a paranoid character concept and I was wondering how many "Disguises" could he have up at once. So far I have found 4 layers that might work.

1: A concealing effect (Such as from the armor of darkness spell. Is there a cheaper/lower level way?)
2: Disguise Self (Hat of Disguise)
3: Alter Self
4: An actual mundane disguise from a disguise check
5: His actual appearance

True seeing is actually less of an issue as the character is Venca Blooded (All divination spells fail to reveal any information).

Can anyone think of adding more layers of disguise for this character? I also don't think my DM will allow taking 30 disguise checks and just having one disguise on after another.

His race and class is set on Human and Artificer so I unfortunately can't do changeling.

[bekeleven]

Bah. if someone sees through one disguise check, they might stop looking, or they might look harder. If they see through 2, they are pretty much guaranteed to look harder.

Therefore there's no point in more than 2 layers. I prefer to get my disguise check to +70 or so and use no magic at all.

[Silva Stormrage]

Bah. if someone sees through one disguise check, they might stop looking, or they might look harder. If they see through 2, they are pretty much guaranteed to look harder.

Therefore there's no point in more than 2 layers. I prefer to get my disguise check to +70 or so and use no magic at all.

I think most people would stop looking past 1 layer. I just find this an amusing exercise.

Also the character is paranoid. Not standard PC paranoid, but the kind that puts waaaay too much effort into certain things. So yes putting about 8 redundant layers of disguises up would be in character.

And I will get the 70+ disguise check eventually but the campaign starts at level 4 so somewhat hard to get there right now.

[Vaz]

Forgery with an official identification card for one of your disguises.

There are also the disguise based skill tricks.

[Thurbane]

I'm working on an npc encounter that is a Cloaker with enough levels in the dragonfire Adept class to get the Humanoid Shape invocation.

He then uses the Breath of Night invocation to create a cloud of fog. When the fog clears, the "human" is gone, just a black cloak left hanging on the wall!

[Inevitability]

Well, the standard body-swapping stuff should of course work, like magic jar.

[Trasilor]

So thinking of a paranoid character concept and I was wondering how many "Disguises" could he have up at once. So far I have found 4 layers that might work.

1: A concealing effect (Such as from the armor of darkness spell. Is there a cheaper/lower level way?)
2: Disguise Self (Hat of Disguise)
3: Alter Self
4: An actual mundane disguise from a disguise check
5: His actual appearance

True seeing is actually less of an issue as the character is Venca Blooded (All divination spells fail to reveal any information).

Can anyone think of adding more layers of disguise for this character? I also don't think my DM will allow taking 30 disguise checks and just having one disguise on after another.

His race and class is set on Human and Artificer so I unfortunately can't do changeling.

This really depends on your DM. One could argue that you only have 1 disguise with various bonuses based upon spells being cast upon you. Not Hat of Disguise and Disguise spell overlap so the bonus's wouldn't stack.

Not really sure how Armor of Darkness helps with your disguise. It can conceal your features, but so can a Ninja scarf and loos fitting clothing.

I think it would be more amusing to just have 5-10 disguise self activated at the same time. Each requires a separate save (you could even have the Upper most level be cast a the lowest level hoping people would notice the illusion thinking they had one on you )

[Fax Celestis]

Reflective disguise, Spell Compendium. Bard/Sor/Wiz 2.

And if you go necropolitan or something, disguise undead for another layer, also SpC, also Sor/Wiz 2.

[2xMachina]

You can also wear a mask below all that disguise. That face you saw through 4 layers of disguise? Just a mask. You don't know who, unless you physically remove it,.

[Silva Stormrage]

You can also wear a mask below all that disguise. That face you saw through 4 layers of disguise? Just a mask. You don't know who, unless you physically remove it,.

Okay I like that idea, I think I will pull a Tarquin and have a second mask under the mask

[bekeleven]

Okay I like that idea, I think I will pull a Tarquin and have a second mask under the mask

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[Extra Anchovies]

You can also wear a mask below all that disguise. That face you saw through 4 layers of disguise? Just a mask. You don't know who, unless you physically remove it,.

This works best if the character's actual face is completely unfamiliar and unextraordinary. The disguises are stripped away, the mask is being removed, and...

It's just some guy. Not even mutated or disfigured, just an average Joe hiding behind five disguises for no reason at all.

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This... This is beautiful. Thank you.
ETA: I can't stop watching this .gif, it's mesmerizing. This is going in my signature so others may know my fate.

[Fax Celestis]

I will humbly request that you name your character Old Man Withers and continuously prattle about "meddling kids".

[Nettlekid]

Not another layer of disguise, but since we're talking about potentially magical disguises it bears mentioning: the Cloak of Khyber spell from I think Dragons of Eberron allows any magical disguise which has been in place for at least six hours to register as your real appearance when exposed to effects like True Seeing. A lot of the time I expect anyone with True Seeing would glance at you, maybe point out any mundane disguise, and then assume their spell is infallible and not question anything bypassing it.

Oh, hey, why not reapply some of the previous disguises on top of others? Like, if your normal body is wearing some kind of mundane disguise, and then you Alter Self into something unable to wear that particular disguise, it'll fuse into you. So get another mundane disguise and put it on top of that, so that your Alter Self form is now disguised but if Alter Self is dispelled you're wearing a different disguise underneath. And then top it off with a Disguise Self effect, and craft the illusion such that it appears that the illusion is wearing a cheap disguise. So it would be:

Shadowy Cloaked Armor obscuring vision
Obscuring hat and/or other clothes (illusory)
Illusion "Mundane" Disguise
Disguise Self
Different hat and clothes
Alter Self form wearing mundane disguise
Alter Self
Your own baggy clothes
A second mundane disguise
You

Bonus points if you do use Cloak of Khyber, and have Disguise Self active less than 6 hours but Alter Self active for more than 6, so they use True Seeing to pierce Disguise Self and see what True Seeing is telling them is your real form, Alter Self, underneath. Double bonus points if the Disguise Self illusion looks like your real face, so when they break that and see a different face in the form of Alter Self, they would never think the face they just disbelieved is the one secretly under the transmutation.

[Milodiah]

The danger here is that they genuinely won't know when to stop looking, and will likely attempt to rip off your actual face under the impression it's just the next layer.

[Nettlekid]

The danger here is that they genuinely won't know when to stop looking, and will likely attempt to rip off your actual face under the impression it's just the next layer.

Disguise God Mode: Be an Awakened Skeleton hiding inside an average fellow's corpse.

[Silva Stormrage]

Disguise God Mode: Be an Awakened Skeleton hiding inside an average fellow's corpse.

Somewhat depressed I can't do that for this character.