Brainstorm ways to hide a Sacred Nagaji's tail with me?


Advice


Hi! You might have seen this on reddit, but probably not. Basically, I want to play a Sacred Nagaji but my DM has let me know that in his homebrew world I might be seen as a monster and a threat and should prepare accordingly. The class we are working with is fey Summoner at level 7. ABP and Free Archetype.

The 'meld into eidolon' idea has been vetoed both because I am not interested in that feat and my eidolon is also a large scary creature and would not solve the problem.

I am playing a good aligned character who can have high diplomacy, so my current idea is to master Diplomacy and take Glad-Hand and just try to calm people down immediately if they have an issue with me. But, I'm interested in brainstorming sneakier or more magical ways to hide my tail with people.

I know I can learn humanoid form, but 10 minutes (15 with the wand of continuation i might take) just doesnt seem long enough! Especially with my limited summoner spellslots. There IS a magical crafter in the party but it is not me and I dont want to take up all her time making me scrolls. I am almost certain that the Illusory Disguise spell will not hide my tail since it doesnt dramatically change my body shape, and my body shape is tail.

I think this could be a fun thing to talk to other people about and get other ideas on!


Nice. Another Sacred Nagaji player. Though mine leans into the theme of being seen as a monster. Part of the backstory and frontstory is trying to overcome that initial impression that people have.

But anyway...

Wheelchair? Channel a bit of theme from Percy Jackson.


Glad hand is a good idea, but keep in mind that a -5 could lead to failures ( or even worse, critical failures ).

Isn't there a magic item that allow you to change appareance?
IIRC there's a lvl 2 magic hat ( or there isn't? ) able to provide a magical disguise.

What about disguising yourself in a less frightening creature that also has a tail?

For example, a catfolk?
Another player could disguise your appareance.


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Hat of Disguise (Greater): You can activate the hat as a 2-action activity, you can activate it any number of times per day, and the illusory disguise is 2nd level.

Illusory Disguise: Duration 1 hour


breithauptclan wrote:

Nice. Another Sacred Nagaji player. Though mine leans into the theme of being seen as a monster. Part of the backstory and frontstory is trying to overcome that initial impression that people have.

But anyway...

Wheelchair? Channel a bit of theme from Percy Jackson.

Ohh that could be a cool idea, with maybe an Impersonate action to look natural? I had an azarketi summoner who rode her eidolon because i wanted her to be a mermaid with a tail and no legs but she rode/was in her chair 24/7 and wasnt just trying to hide something.

The only issue i have with this is in-character, because with how i have her imagined she wouldnt be super into doing that, but that isnt what this is about lol.

do you think that using a wheelchair would require the use of a disguise kit? im thinking that covering up the whole tail without looking like 'that woman is sitting on a tail' might be difficult without decent deception.


HumbleGamer wrote:

Glad hand is a good idea, but keep in mind that a -5 could lead to failures ( or even worse, critical failures ).

Isn't there a magic item that allow you to change appareance?
IIRC there's a lvl 2 magic hat ( or there isn't? ) able to provide a magical disguise.

What about disguising yourself in a less frightening creature that also has a tail?

For example, a catfolk?
Another player could disguise your appareance.

graystone wrote:

Hat of Disguise (Greater): You can activate the hat as a 2-action activity, you can activate it any number of times per day, and the illusory disguise is 2nd level.

Illusory Disguise: Duration 1 hour

Glad-Hand is cool because if you fail or crit fail with it you can ignore the result and just try a regular make an impression action in 1 more minute of conversation, but I do agree the the -5 is daunting because what if they dont want to talk to me for a minute if i fail and they just wanna kill me lol!

Unfortunately, i really dont think that the hat of disguise would hide my tail, since it cannot change your shape. I'm imagining i could change my colours with it and my clothing, but not my tail. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong, though, I'll shoot it by my DM to be safe and get his opinion.


junip wrote:
do you think that using a wheelchair would require the use of a disguise kit? im thinking that covering up the whole tail without looking like 'that woman is sitting on a tail' might be difficult without decent deception.

Yeah, I would run it as a disguise/deception skill. Basically the wheelchair idea is just to get around the body shape problem and let disguise skill or illusory disguise work.


How about a really long robe? Play into the angle of your character being some manner of diplomat or politician and give them a robe of state that just happens to be really, really long.


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junip wrote:
Unfortunately, i really dont think that the hat of disguise would hide my tail, since it cannot change your shape. I'm imagining i could change my colours with it and my clothing, but not my tail. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong, though, I'll shoot it by my DM to be safe and get his opinion.

"Casting illusory disguise counts as setting up a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception; it ignores any circumstance penalties you might take for disguising yourself as a dissimilar creature". IMO, if it has to 100% match your shape, this line wouldn't be there.


Perpdepog wrote:
How about a really long robe? Play into the angle of your character being some manner of diplomat or politician and give them a robe of state that just happens to be really, really long.

this idea is so funny to me. i think that would be so silly and id love to do it but im so scared like what if someone trips over my looong robe and either the tail is exposed or theyre like, that did NOT feel right.

i think my next roadblock is then- deception or diplomacy? one master and one expert. I really want to use Bon Mot to synergize with my own spells and my party's, but maybe dropping to only expert diplomacy in favor of master deception would help her out more and solve more problems


graystone wrote:
"Casting illusory disguise counts as setting up a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception; it ignores any circumstance penalties you might take for disguising yourself as a dissimilar creature". IMO, if it has to 100% match your shape, this line wouldn't be there.

I totally see that but it clashes in my head with the line "another creature of the same body shape." I will definitely leave the final ruling up to my DM but you make a good point that I will point him towards while he thinks about it.


graystone wrote:
"Casting illusory disguise counts as setting up a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception; it ignores any circumstance penalties you might take for disguising yourself as a dissimilar creature". IMO, if it has to 100% match your shape, this line wouldn't be there.

I would mostly agree with that, though I can see an argument against it too. But this isn't the place to get into it.

For the purpose of this thread, it seems that both the GM and the player are in agreement that Illusory Disguise by itself won't work.


My DM has officially ruled that she cannot use illusory disguise to hide her tail, only to change what the tail looks like but in the bounds of still being a tail. So I'm currently thinking of going harder into deception and disguises unless I'm overlooking maybe an archetype that would help?


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junip wrote:
My DM has officially ruled that she cannot use illusory disguise to hide her tail, only to change what the tail looks like but in the bounds of still being a tail. So I'm currently thinking of going harder into deception and disguises unless I'm overlooking maybe an archetype that would help?

Which is fine if you are also fine with it.

Though you should also have a discussion with the GM about what to expect if the deception, disguises, and diplomacy rolls don't turn out in your favor. Are those consequences going to be something that both you and your character, as well as the campaign plot, can handle?

Because some people have difficulty telling people a flat 'no'. So I have heard horror stories about a GM that feels like they are obligated to allow something that they really don't want to allow or don't know how to handle - and then they end up either deliberately or unintentionally sabotaging the game experience as a result.


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breithauptclan wrote:
graystone wrote:
"Casting illusory disguise counts as setting up a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception; it ignores any circumstance penalties you might take for disguising yourself as a dissimilar creature". IMO, if it has to 100% match your shape, this line wouldn't be there.

I would mostly agree with that, though I can see an argument against it too. But this isn't the place to get into it.

For the purpose of this thread, it seems that both the GM and the player are in agreement that Illusory Disguise by itself won't work.

It wasn't given as a start to a debate but as what I thought was the most relevant quote to show the DM that it might be possible.


breithauptclan wrote:


Which is fine if you are also fine with it.

Though you should also have a discussion with the GM about what to expect if the deception, disguises, and diplomacy rolls don't turn out in your favor. Are those consequences going to be something that both you and your character, as well as the campaign plot, can handle?

Because some people have difficulty telling people a flat 'no'. So I have heard horror stories about a GM that feels like they are obligated to allow something that they really don't want to allow or don't know how to handle - and then they end up either deliberately or unintentionally sabotaging the game experience as a result.

thats totally valid and are all things i'll be sure to bring up once i start putting her into the world proper. i'm also super fine with his ruling, it's what i assumed and i also like the challenge of figuring it out without illusions.

we still have things like her backstory to discuss, so ill be sure to also let him know how im planning on handling going into towns and cities as her assuming that she knows to plan ahead for that sort of stuff. i'm not worried about just being allowed to do things, and i'm more looking forwards to the consequences of accidentally being revealed than scared of them. our party as a whole causes a lot of problems so im not gonna be the only one, just a new problem lmao


If you have access to Uncommon items, a Potion of Disguise displays a predetermined form, which means your PC's shape/tail shouldn't matter at all.

Infiltrator's Elixir is unfortunately only 10 min, but it's alchemical (if trying to bypass a guard/bigot w/ Detect Magic), and it's a Polymorph effect, so would handle the tail too.

Also, you could Archetype into Druid for Wild Shape, eventually getting Thousand Faces, and if you have 14 Str, Form Control.

That said, I disagree that a tail is so intrinsic to one's body shape it can't be covered by an illusion or disallow tail-less forms. Though if it must be, then you could make it into some flimsy, easily masked tail or maybe there's a non-monstrous, tailed species in your GM's world.

If it's truly an issue in-game, and absorbs as many resources as have been suggested, I'd shelve the idea for another campaign. Increasing the amount of obstacles your party faces (which your GM has pretty much guaranteed) seems a non-starter IMO, depending on the severity of course which as breithaupt pointed out is something that begs inquiry.

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