Hat of Disguise as invisibility for a tiny creature?

[hector212121]

Since a Hat of Disguise can make you 'appear a foot taller or shorter' and a tiny creature would be under a foot tall, would a Tiny hat of disguise allow the tiny wearer to appear entirely invisible? I can only imagine the level of pain they could bring if so.

[SlimGauge]

No, the creature would not be invisible. It would, however, appear to be almost two-dimensional.

[QuidEst]

Not at any table I've played at. If I had to give a technical justification, it's that you wouldn't be appearing at all if you were invisible.

[Kazaan]

It may be reasonable to give such a situation a circumstance bonus to a stealth check, but saying that they'd be effectively invisible by being less than a foot tall is like saying the SD card on your desk is effectively invisible; it's hard to spot, but not invisible.

[James Risner]

Also, the foot taller is based on human or halfling dimensions. So effectively 15 to 30% taller or shorter.

So for a 6 inch tiny creature that is 4 inches or 8 inches instead of invisible.

[Queen Moragan]

A quick look at the height of Tiny creatures (bipedal humanoid-ish) has most of them being 18" - 24" tall.

Diminutive creatures being less than 12".

So I would believe that a Tiny creature could appear to be a Diminutive creature.

[DM_Blake]

Yes, it says that, but you actually "appear" to be a foot shorter. Which means you "appear", so you cannot, by definition, "disappear".

I think the best way to interpret the hat of disguise rules is to remember that it's designed with a medium character in mind (EVERY rule is designed that way except those that specifically not different sizes). That means the wearer is probably pretty close to 6' tall and can adjust his height by 1' which is 1/6 of his total height.

So a 1' tall Tiny creature could adjust HIS height by 1/6 which is 2 inches.

Etc.

Alternate interpretations lead to impractical issues like you described.

[quibblemuch]

I'd say RAW, it would appear to be a foot shorter. Therefore, if it were under 1 foot tall, it would have a negative extension along the Z axis, appearing as a divot moving around the landscape. Hardly invisible. Quite the opposite.

[hector212121]

Hm. I appear to have accidentally double posted during technical difficulties. :P

It was more of a 'silly observation' thing anyway.

[MrCharisma]

Hat of Disguise functions as Disguise Self

Quote:

The spell does not provide the abilities or mannerisms of the chosen form

This includes the stealth bonus from smaller size categories. Therefore while you can say that your character is invisible, there's no mechanical benefit to it (meaning every random commoner can still perceive you, even if they can't "see" you).

So as per RAW yes, you can be an entirely useless version of invisible that gives no mechanical advantage.

As per RAI, I'm pretty sure the 1 foot restriction is intended to mean "you cannot change your size category". That's just me though.