Disguise, Evade, Forgery

DISGUISE  skill is used to alter one’s appearance, thereby avoiding apprehension, investigation or suspicion by the local population. In order to use disguise skill, players might require some essential props.  Just like with appraise and forgery skill; for disguise attempts, the d20 result (+rank + CHA mod.) is rolled by the GM and not the player.  This makes for interesting role-playing as the players think that they have donned an adequate disguise while only the GM knows whether their ruse was actually successful.  Example disguise DCs based upon subject of impersonation are:

 

     8      common soldier/ panthan

    10    innocent bystander

    12    Low level government official

15    Noble or important person

    20    personally well known individual       

    -2                 Using disguise kit (20gc, 8#)

 +mod. Target’s wisdom

   +2                 Another nation or culture

   +3       if character does not know customs or mannerisms of the impersonated individual

 

    “By the end of the third day, the court barber - -         I could think of no other earthly appellation by which to describe him - - had wrought so remarkable a transformation in both Thuvan Dihn and myself that our own wives would never had known us. Our skins were of the same lemon color as his own, and great, black beards and mustaches had been deftly affixed to our smooth faces. The trappings of warriors of Okar aided in the deception, and for wear beyond the hothouse cities we each had suits of black and yellow striped orluk.”     (WM, IX)

 

 

EVADE skill is used when attempting to   escape, elude or avoid.  When pursued by an enemy, evade success is based upon an opposed roll, each individual’s evade result versus the opponent’s fortitude save or tracking skill throw.  When pursued, it is sometimes better to split your party.

 

“I tried to smile as I lied

“What, she cried, ‘are you not coming with us?’

“How may I, Dejah Thoris?  Someone most hold these fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of us together.”                                                                  (PM XVII)

     Evade skill is also applied when trying to sneak past an enemy undetected or to tiptoe across a surface without being heard.   Characters that are trying to move silently will take an entire round to move the distance of a comfortable walk (6” for most characters, p.26).    The DC to move silently/ unnoticed past a kadar, beast or monster is determined by the surface that is crossed.

  8         carpet or dead sea bottom  

 10       tile, highway or new construction

 13       wet tile or older construction             

 16       loose masonry or ruins          

 20       dense foliage or gravel

 24       dry foliage     

 

 +2   if shoes or sandals are wet

ADD  NPC’s wisdom or beast’s will modifier

 -2        if significant wind or background noise

 

 

 

FORGERY skill is used to alter documents or create unique counterfeits; allowing a character and his companions to deceive or bypass governmental and bureaucratic officials.  This skill might also be used to decipher misleading documents and maps, as well as to discover forgeries presented by others.  Forged documents often require key elements such as wax seals, special paper or unique ink. It takes about 10 xats per page to forge a document.  Forgery skill throws are rolled by the game master, not the forger; as the forger assumes he did a good job.

 

DC for forgery skill equals reader’s intelligence score plus reader’s forgery skill rank (if applicable).  Obviously, it is difficult to forge a document in a language that you do not write (+5 to DC).  Forgery DC is also adjusted by the following circumstances:

 

 -2        if reader unfamiliar w/ document type

 -2        if reader casually inspects document

+2        if reader knows ‘source’ penmanship

+2        if forger using acquired language

+3        if document missing key features       

 

“I found a dispatch blank in the cabin

and wrote the  following order:

 

‘Dator Torith:

 Return these two slaves at once to Shador                                                                                                         Yersted’ 

 

            “That will be the simpler way to return,’   I said, smiling, as I handed the forged order to the boy.  ‘Come, we shall see now how well it works.”  (GM XII)