[PF] Disguising the Summoner

[Cieyrin]

Taking a different bead on both the Melee Buddy and Hidden Summoner builds, I want to approach it from the angle of using Disguise to make the Summoner and Eidolon identical. Keeper of the Veil (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/keeper-of-the-veil-regional-qadira) gets Disguise as a class skill and throwing in Fast Talker to get Bluff to keep people guessing which is which. I'm going for a Biped Eidolon, obviously.

The thing that's making me pause is it might be better to have the Eidolon disguise itself as me, since it has more skill points and can freely choose 4 class skills, plus Skilled can seriously make a difference in making the Disguise work early on before I can get a Hat of Disguise or other such enhancements. I'd still need something like Fast Talker so as to be able to keep the charade going but it won't absorb all my skill points that way, either.

My final thoughts is what modifiers on the Disguise (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/disguise) would apply. Best case, since the Eidolon description says I can make it look like whatever but not a specific creature, I could just be changing Minor Features but, realistically, I'd probably be sucking up the Change Race penalty to appear to be of my race.

So, thoughts on how to go about this? I'd like to stay pure Summoner so I can pull in the Evolution points, especially since I'll be going Half-Elf for the Racial Favored Class bonus to those. Other recommendations are encouraged, though. :smallsmile:

[CTrees]

With Skilled, it seems like it would definitely be easier to disguise your eidolon as you. Also, relevant:

The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature. The eidolon also bears a glowing rune that is identical to a rune that appears on the summoner’s forehead as long as the eidolon is summoned. While this rune can be hidden through mundane means, it cannot be concealed through magic that changes appearance, such as alter self or polymorph (although invisibility does conceal it as long as the spell lasts).

You should be able to have the rune appear on the eidolon's forehead in the same spot. More concerning is the "control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature." The question is - is that a specific member of the given species, or just a specific species? To refine - does this say, for a bipedal eidolon, I couldn't make it look like David Bowie, or that I couldn't make it look like a human in general (just some sort of muddle between human, dwarf, elf, orc, ogre, kobold, Thri-Keen, hound archon, and ettin)? I'm not sure there's been a rules clarifcation on this, yet.

What's even more worrying is the "always appears as some sort of fantastical creature" clause. In D&D, I doubt an elf counts, but since that's more fluff related... I think one's DM really has to be a jerk to go with that ("so my bipedal eidolon can look like a satyr or a small ent, but not a gnome? that's really what you're telling me?"). Of course, that could be construed as lending credence to the thought that you can't make an eidolon look like any specific species of creature, but... again, this is a roleplaying issue, and comes down to how much of a jerk your DM is.

[Cieyrin]

Yeah, the "fantastical creature" bit does seem kinda ambiguous but, if you look at Ultimate Magic, one of the templates is for a bodyguard and is described as just a guy in armor, which isn't exactly 'fantastical' by any measure I can fathom. That's kinda my reasoning for the 'different race' penalty applying, as I'll have the shape and size done alright, it's the matter of putting the right features in where you need 'em. If sucking up a -2 is all I need to make it work, then that's what I'll do.

I wasn't really concerned about the rune, since it appears on the forehead of both the Summoner and the Eidolon, so I don't have to worry too much about them looking identical and I wasn't going so far as to hide that the we were a Summoner and Eidolon, though if that's an issue, we could both wear hats or something, since physically hiding the rune does work by the rules.

[CTrees]

Well, remember the rule about casually meeting groups of individuals only granting a single Perception check, and that Alter Self is on the Summoner list, can grant a +10 to the disguise check to make you two look alike, and grants some other minor bonuses. You're likely going to be eating a -2 for "different race," but beyond that... this should be a pretty easy trick for your eidolon to pull off. I might suggest going Skilled (disguise) AND Skilled (bluff), just to make it a bit easier to pass off the quick-talking part (and don't forget to invest on bluff on your summoner also, though why wouldn't you?).

If you can pull of the RP, it should be entertaining. Mechanically, shouldn't be too rough, really.

[Prime32]

Maybe ask if you can have a custom "looks like me" evolution? There's already one which gives +8 to Disguise checks - PF's shapeshifting magic generally gives +20 bonuses, so a 1pt evolution which gives +20 to Disguise as you?

[deuxhero]

The example builds in the book do reference specific creatures, which may just be a name but you could take it as an indication it means "Urist the Dwarf" can't be while "Dwarf" can.

[Larpus]

Yeah, that's also my take on the issue, from the wording it seems that it can be shaped into looking like a specific race, but not an individual of that race. As similar as humans, elves, dwarves, etc are, they're still different enough to be quit recognizable.

As for the fantastical part, I take it as meaning it has some impossibility that the creature wouldn't be able to, as to dictate that, while it looks like an elf (or something else), it is obviously not an elf.

It can be anything from very unusual skin color, a third eye, strange and eerie glow...bottom line, it'll look like an elf, but anyone that ever looked an elf before will know it's not an elf by default.

Btw, you could also look into a [something] of Permanent Vocal Alteration (should cost about as much as the Hat of Disguise) if your DM allows custom items, combo both together and now it's nearly impossible to tell one from the other.

[Cieyrin]

Btw, you could also look into a [something] of Permanent Vocal Alteration (should cost about as much as the Hat of Disguise) if your DM allows custom items, combo both together and now it's nearly impossible to tell one from the other.

We could both act mute, I suppose, which side steps that somewhat. :smallwink: