Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Banshee 12-22-04, 01:01 AM	This procedure is discussed in "Sharn: City of Towers". Apparently the Tyrants, among others, have changelings and dopplegangers who can use a procedure to give someone a new face and body, so they can hide if they're being hunted by the law or anyone else. No real details are given though. What would be the extent of this? Is it a spell? A feat? A skill? I'm thinking this is probably something like what was in the old article about Zik-chil in Dragon magazine several years back. A mixture of genetic manipulation/magic that allows them to change someone's form. Perhaps a feat that allows them to gain a new use out of the "heal" skill? They inject or use some form of chemical derived from doppleganger blood that can effectively cause "Alter Self" to a patient, but permanent? It's an interesting idea for any adventurers that run afoul of the law, or of certain criminal entities in the game.. Banshee
Save-vs-DM 12-22-04, 08:58 AM	Well, there are a few ways you could go about this. I'll give you my top few that I'd use in game, starting at simple and getting more magical as time goes on. Mundane Surgery 1. A disguise check augmented by a type of surgery. Process: Make a heal check DC 15 + 1 per hit die of the subject. This process takes 1d6 hours and is quite painful, resulting in the loss of 1d4 hit points per hour of surgery. If the check is successful, proceed to step two. If the check is unsuccesful, the process fails and subsequent surgeries are at +5 difficulty. 2. Make a disguise check to effect the new disguise. All modifiers for the disguise skill are applicable. For each point you beat the heal check DC by you get a +1 circumstance bonus to the disguise check. Gender changes are purely superficial and can be spotted with a strip search. Price: 300 gp + 100 gp per hit die of the subject. Alchemical Surgery As per the previous process, save that the heal check DC is 5 + 1 per hit die of the subject. Price: 500gp + 100gp per hit die of the subject. Magical Surgery This uses a magical potion that creates a permanent Alter Self effect. This potion costs 18,000 gp. The effect cannot be dispelled. You can assume a new sex or a new race using this technique. How do these work for you? Cheers, SvD
Banshee 12-22-04, 10:59 AM	Well, there are a few ways you could go about this. I'll give you my top few that I'd use in game, starting at simple and getting more magical as time goes on. Mundane Surgery 1. A disguise check augmented by a type of surgery. Process: Make a heal check DC 15 + 1 per hit die of the subject. This process takes 1d6 hours and is quite painful, resulting in the loss of 1d4 hit points per hour of surgery. If the check is successful, proceed to step two. If the check is unsuccesful, the process fails and subsequent surgeries are at +5 difficulty. 2. Make a disguise check to effect the new disguise. All modifiers for the disguise skill are applicable. For each point you beat the heal check DC by you get a +1 circumstance bonus to the disguise check. Gender changes are purely superficial and can be spotted with a strip search. Price: 300 gp + 100 gp per hit die of the subject. Alchemical Surgery As per the previous process, save that the heal check DC is 5 + 1 per hit die of the subject. Price: 500gp + 100gp per hit die of the subject. Magical Surgery This uses a magical potion that creates a permanent Alter Self effect. This potion costs 18,000 gp. The effect cannot be dispelled. You can assume a new sex or a new race using this technique. How do these work for you? Cheers, SvD I suspect that the magical surgey would be the most likely. But it's a combination of magical and biological. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Xik-chil article, but basically they're like a Spelljammer variant of Thri-Kreen who are known as body shapers. They have surgery they can do to change someone's face, make them taller or shorter, possibly change their race or sex or age....sometimes even mutate them...given them clumsy wings, etc. It's an actual change that can't be dispelled. I'd think that would be important. Maybe dopplegangers can do this kind of thing to clients. There would be no aura to detect or dispel....otherwise it would be a dead give-away. Banshee
Save-vs-DM 12-22-04, 01:03 PM	Havn't read the article, sorry. Just giving you the most logical change - which is why I like the first two options better than the last one - nothing to detect (save for the disguise check). Cheers, SvD
Gurv 12-22-04, 01:40 PM	I like the doppelganger-blood idea. I would say that the process, dubbed body sculpting, involves something like the process in Minority Report. John Anderton (Tom Cruise's character) uses a process that sort of 'melts' his flesh, which then reforms so that he looks differently. In my game, I think the doppelgangers will use that alchemical process, combined with some skilled artisans, to basically produce permanent disguise checks. Of course, in a magical world, the result would be a lot better looking that the melted appearance. Of course, being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I have to ask you: What makes you think that they really have a body-sculpting process? I mean, your friend goes into a doppelganger safe house, and comes out looking different...duh.
Banshee 12-22-04, 11:51 PM	I like the doppelganger-blood idea. I would say that the process, dubbed body sculpting, involves something like the process in Minority Report. John Anderton (Tom Cruise's character) uses a process that sort of 'melts' his flesh, which then reforms so that he looks differently. In my game, I think the doppelgangers will use that alchemical process, combined with some skilled artisans, to basically produce permanent disguise checks. Of course, in a magical world, the result would be a lot better looking that the melted appearance. Of course, being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I have to ask you: What makes you think that they really have a body-sculpting process? I mean, your friend goes into a doppelganger safe house, and comes out looking different...duh. I guess you have to figure out whether you trust that the dopplegangers didn't actually off your friend, and plant one of their own agents in your friend's "new body" :). Banshee
taski 12-24-04, 01:57 AM	Or that your friend wasn't a doppleganger already. ;)
Gurv 12-24-04, 12:55 PM	Or that you are not really a doppleganger. ...no really, I did this to a player in a game once...he used mind seed on someone...turned out to be a doppleganger...later, his character died and he wanted to play the seeded version...it was a bit of a shock, since he didn't even realize he wasn't the original...:devil:
Banshee 12-24-04, 01:17 PM	Or that you are not really a doppleganger. ...no really, I did this to a player in a game once...he used mind seed on someone...turned out to be a doppleganger...later, his character died and he wanted to play the seeded version...it was a bit of a shock, since he didn't even realize he wasn't the original...:devil: That's a very cool idea...:) Banshee