What can you look like under Disguise Self when you are an Outsider?
I want options for disguising my character to become unnoticed.
/cevah
bump
*bump*
Well, the limits of the spell are clear: you can't change your type entirely from outsider.
This does not necessarily mean that you can't make it work though. You do get a +10 to disguise, and the penalty for looking like a different race is only -2 (it does not have any special modifiers for a change in type beyond that). It would allow you to hide some very obvious tells, or at least minimize them enough that you can hide them normally.
If we were to take classical folklore as an example, you could look at stories of kitsune, who had trouble hiding their tails, and would allow them to slip out when drunk or careless. So, if we take the archetypal horns-and-hooves tiefling as an example, they could shrink their horns enough to hide them under hair or hats, and either hide the hooves under a dress or disguise them as boots (with audible clopping being the reason for the -2 to disguise).
Now alter self, that specifically says you take the form of a humanoid. That could take away the -2 to disguise I think (but don't quote me on that)
Well, it says you can change your apparent creature subtype, but not type.
If your plan is to go unnoticed then someone from the outsider (native) group would probably be the Most useful. Aasimar , Tiefling, Ifrit, Oread, Sylph, Undine, or Suli are all human-ish in their own ways.
Of course if you're starting out as one of those races and trying to conceal yourself further, you might want to just appear as a more human looking version of yourself. You could use the spell to roll a Disguise check with a +8 bonus (-2 to be disguised as a different race). And if you're character is already pretty close to human then you might qualify for a further +5 for "Minor details only".
Essentially, if a Tiefling used disguise self they could hide most but not all of their fiendish aspects to appear human, and their disguise check is a representation of how well they've managed to hide those features. But that nasty "You cannot change your creature type" line from the spell restricts you to only being a very human-looking Tiefling, and not a human-looking human.
Ninja'd.
But yes, I agree with lemeres. Alter self could get you full human at the cost of 1 spell level higher, and the loss of any abilities directly tied to your original form.
Also Disguise Self is 10 min./level to Alter Self's 1 min./level.
I had noticed the Petitioner has some nice options:
- Elysium (Chaotic Good): The “chosen” have idealized versions of their mortal bodies.
- Limbo (Chaotic Neutral): The “shapeless“ retain their basic forms, but these forms constantly waver and shimmer, as if they were ghosts in peril of dissolving away.
- Nirvana (Neutral Good): The “cleansed” take on the forms of animals that closely approximate their personalities.
- Purgatory (Neutral): The “dead” appear as animated skeletons but are not undead
While being disguised as a human would be nice, I see interesting possibilities listed above. I would like to know what others have spotted.
While an animated skeleton is not exactly hiding, when your party has a necromancer, it can be useful.
/cevah
Well a simple text search through the four bestiaries for "medium outsider" came up with a slew of wild and wonderful creatures.
Other than the invisible stalker, almost none of them are creatures that would "become unnoticed" in your average humanoid society.
though at a second thought lot of the good aligned outsiders look sort of like more mundane races. Bralani and Ghaele Azatas are sorta human/elven. The Lillend Azata and all the Agathions give you options for hanging out with beast-folk type races.
An elemental could hide out anywhere that element is prevalent (though keep in mind, disguising yourself as a fire elemental does not mean you can safely hide in a fire).