Disguise Self question

[JCAB]

Do "Disguise Self" affect how a character smells? If I disguise myself as an orc, would a guard dog which had been trained to allow orcs to pass an area with fuss react to my scent, or is the spell enough to fool it?

[Nearyn]

I am uncertain, as it is not specified in the spell-text. What I will say is that Disguise self is a glamer spell.

Magic wrote:

Because figments and glamers are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. Figments and glamers cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these spells are useful for confounding foes, but useless for attacking them directly.

...

A glamer spell changes a subject's sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.

So you could argue that since it is only spelled out that tactile and auditory elements are not changed, then yes, you smell bad. But there is also basis for ruling differently.

I'd advice talking to your GM about it. Or, if you are the GM, make a ruling based on a combination of what you find most fun and most balanced.

-Nearyn

[Friend of the Dork]

Without checking the text, Im pretty sure the disguise is visual only. The guard dogs foiling this first level spell is very reasonable. If you want to beat that Alter Self will work, and maybe also poweful illusions such as Veil.

[boring7]

Glamers (of which Disguise Self is one) *can* change the feel, sound, or smell of a person and what they are wearing. Disguise Self specifically *can't* change the feel or sound of a target. The spell says it makes you "look different" and says nothing about whether or not it affects scent.

So the answer is "GM's call."

I'd go with "doesn't change smell" unless the campaign setting had enough intelligent races with the Scent ability that it would come up. Presumably a wizard CAN invent a variant that disguises smell, they just don't normally feel the need. That feeling would have changed during The Beastman Wars when magical infiltrators needed to slip past Wolfmen or disguise themselves to infiltrate the Giff encampment.

And the non-orc in the original example can still try to bluff that he killed a human really messily recently, or infiltrated a human encampment, or has "trophies" that are setting the dog off. It's a dog, it can't talk specifics and orcs are a species more likely to do that sort of thing.

Edit: And there's always Red Herring. It overwhelms the sense of smell. I don't recall the source but it shows up in Hero Lab as equipment I can buy. I'll check later when I get back to my other computer.