Disguise

-disguise

Disguise character.

Your character attempts to conceal their identity. If you use -disguise, then whenever someone Inspects you, they will roll Spot and you'll roll the higher of your Bluff and Perform; if they roll lower then they won't get any details about you.

Being disguised means that your character is making an active effort to either appear inconspicuous, shroud their identity, or outright pretend to be somebody else. This effort must also come from the player and be reflected in the roleplay, for a character that acts, speaks and looks the same way as they do without the disguise will beckon for common sense. As always, excessive silliness will be culled with fire.

Inspecting (right click on character>Examine) is considered an act of passive observation, in contrast.

A character may make use of the -disguise command, even if they haven't invested points in Bluff or Perform, but the disguise will be bland and likely to be pierced even by untrained characters. Skilled disguise artists have a chance of breaking exiles.

A character in disguise will have the (disguised) tag at the end of their name, and your portrait will change to the generic hooded male/female.

Slaves in disguise will tag as (disguised slave). If they reach a high Bluff or Perform score, they will appear with the normal (disguised) tag.

Note: True Seeing does nothing to the disguise check.

Rules and Boundaries

While the Disguise feature may be used for many things, there are some limitations as to what should or shouldn't be done with it.

As said above, -disguise exists for disguising purposes. If your character is not, in any way, trying to disguise, then you should not use -disguise. Some fleeting creativity is okay, but otherwise try to keep those things to a minimum.

Good forms of Disguise

• Invented Personas - fictional identities that your character can take to shroud his real identity.
• Other Characters - disguise pretending to be an existing character, either NPC or PC.

Use Sparingly

• Generic Disguises - Using names like [Shrouded Rogue] or [Elven Assassin] instead of defined identities. These are fine for one-shot disguises or brief encounters. Consider changing to an actual identity if you find yourself using these tags repeatedly, as the people that you interact with would start to notice that the character is, in fact, the same person.

=Forbidden

• Any situation where your character is not attempting to actually disguise.
• Nicknames - 'John "Fury" Doe', "Big Mama"
• Titles - 'Commander Richard', 'High Minister Crassius Vinegar'
• Added Descriptions - 'Tarina Tal (Bloody)'

Disguise roleplay notes

When it forces the character to see something that is not mechanically there

Mithreas:

"I spoke to a kobold who was wandering the surface RPing being disguised as a Dwarf. Now, he was RPing it just fine, and I didn't have issues with his approach. But his character still looked like a kobold... and anyone who saw him from a distance or from stealth (or before he pressed his quick-slotted emote) would just see a kobold.

To me, this is a great example of RPing beyond what the mechanics of the server allow. -disguise doesn't allow you to change your racial appearance (a half orc is still obviously a half orc, a kobold is still a kobold) and thus if you RP your character as resembling another race, you're now in the territory of 'can only be done with the consent of other players' - i.e. they are freely allowed to ignore your claims to look like something that you plainly don't resemble mechanically.

Or the simple version: No using -disguise to resemble a different race. -disguise means that people should ignore the floaty name over your head, but does NOT let you ignore what your avatar physically looks like.

And before you ask, yes, -disguise may be extended in future. But until that time, the above holds."

..."the decision is what it is because of the need to preserve the overall RP environment of the server."

Recognizing disguise Situation 1

Mithreas:

"Person A is wanted in town X.

Person A is in town X and is recognized by person B. Person B points out that person A is, in fact, despite appearances, person A. Guards must choose whether to believe person B or not.

i.e. if your source is good, you can trust them. NPCs will by default continue not to respond. (I'm looking forward to someone accusing some random bystander of being Krad in disguise)."

Situation 2

Person A spends 90% of his/her time in disguise. Person B has recognized them a few times, and sees them yet again, but this time rolls poorly. A is wearing the same clothing A always wears.

Mithreas:

"If A is using the same disguise as always, B can recognize the disguise. If you have enough information without the floaty name to conclusively recognize someone, then you have enough information. A good RPer will occasionally mistake A in disguise for someone other than A who wears similar clothing, if applicable.

In all cases, we have logs that will be used as the ultimate arbiter, if people are playing silly buggers (on either side). Good advice to all players is to try and bias yourself AGAINST your own character in cases like these."