Short Version: Subject, or “If you’re simply trying to appear as someone from a different social class, but not as any particular person, so you need to make a disguise check or otherwise conceal your identity?”
Long Version:
Background: I’m running a Hells Rebels campaign. One of the players has selected the Noble Scion feat and the Child of Kintargo campaign trait. What this means for the game is they are a child of one of the nine major noble houses in the city, gain certain stat bonuses, and begin the campaign with a noble’s outfit, signet ring, and a nice piece of gear worth up to 200 gold. Same character took another feat/trait, I think ancestral weapon, that lets them have a silver or cold iron mwk weapon.
Scene: Party is investigating something and decides to find a low end bar frequented by criminals and folks down on their luck (think Mos Eisley Cantina). Before they go in, I ask if anyone is wearing disguises, trying to be stealthy, etc. Only one character says he is putting a mask on. I ask again, nobody else says anything.
They go in, the player running the noble speaks first and says he wants a drink. I have the bartender tell him to shove off, a poncy noble slumming it doesn’t belong in his bar. Player becomes upset; he and another player say the barkeep couldn’t have known he was a noble.
Additional Detail: on the players character sheet, his nobles outfit is in his backpack, he’s wearing an adventurers outfit. I was not told this.
I think for someone in the position of being the son of a prominent noble family, you need to make a disguise check. I think the implicit counter to that is “I’m not dressing like a noble, and I’m not trying to look like anyone else, so I don’t need to.”
Question: Is a disguise check the right approach, or is there another way to approach this?
Bluff/perform (acting) skills. It right that disguise conseal your aspect but in fact it's bluff and perform (acting) that helps you to create an identity.
Bluff: " what this shirt a noble throw away when a drunk beggar hug him, and I'm not going to waste a very good shirt, don't suit me?"
Performance (acting): " Galatea, Galatea where are you,I can't see you, my love for you it's like stars in the sky...."
Is he wearing his fancy signet ring?
You said it's a bar frequented by criminals? They definitely know every noble in town. Maybe one of those thieves said something to the bartender when the yuppie prince walked in. Look at the clear skin on that aristocrap punk... as the rogue spits on the floor of the bar and nods to his friends in the crowd to take notice of the potential payday that just walked through the door.
Spells that relate to impersonation all refer to Disguise checks, not to Bluff or Perform/act.
From Ultimate Intrigue:
Disguise Is More Than Visual: Though the skill as presented in the Core Rulebook focuses on the visual aspects of disguise that a character prepares, later rules (such as the vocal alteration spell) have made it clear that there are other aspects, including voice, mannerisms, and phrasing. The trick is to distinguish between the use of the Bluff and the Disguise skills. Generally, Bluff checks cover telling actual lies to support a disguise, whereas Disguise checks cover the other aspects, such as imitating mannerisms and speech.
So ideally, you want to run Disguise with Bluff for best skill results.
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That said, if the player character has Noble Scion and Child of Kintargo, then he made a commitment to being a member of one of the major Noble Houses of Kintargo with material benefits. That means, as a side effect, that he'd be subject to knowledge (local) checks from NPCs in Kintargo.
Maybe not if he were better disguised than "I rip off the suit and tie and take my glasses off to reveal Explorer-Man..." but yeah.
Thanks all! Very good point on bluff/perform vs disguise. Thanks!
Part of being a noble is acting and dressing as one. So much so, that it should be the "default" assumption for the character's dress and demeanor.
For the PC to dressed in "peasant" cloths, he would be uncomfortable in them unless he has done this a lot (i.e. 3rd level or higher perhaps). Same a wearing a business suit when you always wear jeans. After a while, it becomes OK.
As to having the noble's outfit and jewelry in his backpack, that was a specific decision made by the PC that should habe been told to the GM before use. Same as if he always wore his hair obscuring his eyes: that could have a game effect of not knowing eye color at the price of having a distinctive hair style. Later changing this can be a circumstance bonus to disguise.
Since the PC did not declare the noble was not dressing like a noble when you asked, I wouldn't let the PC have this.
/cevah