Disguising yourself as yourself

[Nevinz]

So I'm playing a classic synthesist summoner in a home game and I'm trying to figure out how to solve a particular problem--namely, that my character's 'naked' ability scores are garbage, and summoning the eidolon takes forever. It makes good sense to just walk around fused all the time for safety. However, the fused form is a black dragon who doesn't exactly get along well with rural villages.
So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self, which actually changes the character's shape back to a Medium humanoid. It's simple to dismiss and gives the neat perk of walking around with most of the eidolon's base scores.
The question is, can the alter self be used to look like her regular unfused self? I know polymorph spells typically only allow you to become a 'generic' member of your race unless they specify otherwise, but a) alter self specifies '(a piece of the creature whose form you plan to assume)', which strongly suggests it DOES apply to a specific individual, and b) if I am stuck with a generic form, what kind of alterations are made to a Disguise check to appear...as exactly oneself? I guess there's also c) is there a better workaround for all this, since my knowledge of PF is not exhaustive.

[ngc7293]

In our home game, we have a similar character but his shape is a giant robot. (humanoid form) Though alter self says small and medium we decided it could work on the Large Eidolon since it had a humanoid form. But this is a home game so we changed the rules.

Changing a dragon shape might change the rules entirely as alter self says humanoid forms.

[UnArcaneElection]

Alter Self limits the form you become, but not the form you have to be in before you use the spell. This lends itself to crazy things like a Colossal Dragon that can cast Alter Self using this spell to get through a small door by turning into a Halfling.

[Nevinz]

That's sort of the idea.

[Plausible Pseudonym]

Nevinz wrote:

So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self,

The bold part is wrong, it only lasts 3 minutes per activation.

[Backpack]

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

Nevinz wrote:

So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self,

The bold part is wrong, it only lasts 3 minutes per activation.

Yep, you have to resay the word every so often not much of an issue but could come up. Take a few levels in buff, when people ask why you altering self just say you really wanted to be 6ft instead of 5 1/2

[Nevinz]

Backpack wrote:

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

Nevinz wrote:

So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self,

The bold part is wrong, it only lasts 3 minutes per activation.

Yep, you have to resay the word every so often not much of an issue but could come up. Take a few levels in buff, when people ask why you altering self just say you really wanted to be 6ft instead of 5 1/2

Not gonna lie, that particular ruling is one that infuriates me and I'm hoping to get it houseruled. It's not really the issue at hand here though.

So is there any consensus on whether I can use alter self to be a specific individual, and if not what it takes to take a 'generic member of a race' and make it look like the character herself?

[Glorf Fei-Hung]

Nevinz wrote:

Backpack wrote:

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

Nevinz wrote:

So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self,

The bold part is wrong, it only lasts 3 minutes per activation.

Yep, you have to resay the word every so often not much of an issue but could come up. Take a few levels in buff, when people ask why you altering self just say you really wanted to be 6ft instead of 5 1/2

Not gonna lie, that particular ruling is one that infuriates me and I'm hoping to get it houseruled. It's not really the issue at hand here though.

So is there any consensus on whether I can use alter self to be a specific individual, and if not what it takes to take a 'generic member of a race' and make it look like the character herself?

With what I see, by RAW, it's a random appearance of that race. The toe nail clippings from Bilbo Baggins would make you look like a Halfling, not get Gandalf to ask you what you've done with the One Ring... A strand of Galadria's Golden Hair could have you end up a Doppleganger for the Dark Haired Elrond.

And as for people asking why you look differently every day or noticing that you keep saying the activation word, rather than lying and needing a bluff check say that you're rather misshapen and don't want to scare people. At least that way any sense motive will not be a lie, but merely that they suspect there is more to it and you're not telling the whole story.

[QuidEst]

Don't dump your stats that far. (You have the ability to turn into a normal humanoid and you decided to sacrifice some of that utility. Asking for house rules to avoid the drawbacks of that is a bit cheesy.)

Check about using Summon Eidolon as a quick option.

Take the Elf FCB to reduce summoning time.

Greater Hat of Disguise probably works, apart from needing to spam it. (It allows you to "alter your appearance", so I would be willing to consider impersonating somebody.) If the GM goes with the "no specific individuals", then you need a mundane disguise on top. You'll lose any size bonuses and natural armor.

[Claxon]

So you tanked your physical stats so you could have high mental stats and want to replace it with your living armor....

Maybe consider not dumping your physical stats to oblivion.

Yeah, if I was your GM there would be no way around it. Anyone who could identify outsiders would know what was going on. And no matter what you wouldn't look like your normal race.

[UnArcaneElection]

Backpack wrote:

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

Nevinz wrote:

So I come to the hat of disguise. The minor one is insufficient to make a dragon look like an elf lady, but the major one, as best as I understand the transmutation school, works. It will allow me to fuse, then (since fusion is not a polymorph effect) apply a permanent-until-dismissible alter self,

The bold part is wrong, it only lasts 3 minutes per activation.

Yep, you have to resay the word every so often not much of an issue but could come up. Take a few levels in buff, when people ask why you altering self just say you really wanted to be 6ft instead of 5 1/2

Now I want to see a Monty Python skit based upon this . . . .

[Plausible Pseudonym]

Assume Appearance, Greater does what you want if you're willing to look like the same dead person who is not you every time rather than your self.

The obvious solution is to have a dead identical twin in your backstory. Then use this spell to look like him.