A hypothetical Q:Disguise vs. Scent [Archive] - Wizards Community

A hypothetical Q:Disguise vs. Scent [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Brastan
12-07-05, 05:39 PM Lets say there is BBEG Noble(Werewolf) that an adventuring party has been sparing with. They don't know he's a Werewolf yet. Now the party Rogue is trying to sneak into a party that he is throwing but since the party is know on sight he's going use his Disguies check to pass an invited guest. He has not said that he making an effort to disguise his odor. (This question really is hypothetical as I'm not running a game at the moment. It's also prompted by a debated on Minor Shape Change (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=7944893l).)

How is the Werewolf's Scent ability going to interact with the Disguise Check. Should it be assumed that Disguise Covers this? What if he uses Disguise Self, or trys to pass as a different race? This is an issue I've never encountered before and I don't see anything in the FAQ about it. My personal opinion is that there needs to be an opposed roll, Disguise vs Survival maybe.
olshanski_home
12-07-05, 06:00 PM I would probably limit it to familiar scents, and have it override the disguise granted by "Alter Self". It would not override the disguise granted by "Polymorph".

The deal is that alter self doesn't change the person (scent), just thier appearance.

Scent doesn't care about appearance, just smell.
You might make a custom spell to conceal smells, or you might let prestidigitation work as a diguise scent spell (doesn't hide scent, just changes it to another creature of a similar type).

If the werewolf is familiar with the rogue's scent (as an enemy), he would be caught.
If the werewolf is not familiar with the rogue's scent (just another human), he would be home free.
revnk
12-07-05, 08:23 PM Just one thought that doesn't really answer your question: even if the Noble can smell the PC, would it matter? He might simply pretend not to notice the PC rather than reveal that he has an unusually (and suspicion-raising) ability to recognize scents.

Related thought: does a lycanthrope in human form share the were-form's abilities re: scent and vision? I think you could rule either way depending on how you're handling were-animals.

Finally, by way of approximating an answer: the commonsense ruling is that a Disguise check wouldn't override a being's natural scent unless that were explicitly part of the disguise--e.g. disguising oneself as a perfumed noble or spending a day at a stockyard as part of building a disguise as a butcher or in a stable as a stablehand disguise. This could create dramatic tension in all sorts of scenarios, since a disguised character might encounter dogs or other beasts that recognize something amiss. On the other hand, if you wanted a more "cinematic" approach, you could ignore logic and simply ignore the "odor factor"--I think we've all seen movies and TV shows where a disguise is as exactly effective as the plot requires.

Hope any of that helped. Good luck.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Brastan 12-07-05, 05:39 PM	Lets say there is BBEG Noble(Werewolf) that an adventuring party has been sparing with. They don't know he's a Werewolf yet. Now the party Rogue is trying to sneak into a party that he is throwing but since the party is know on sight he's going use his Disguies check to pass an invited guest. He has not said that he making an effort to disguise his odor. (This question really is hypothetical as I'm not running a game at the moment. It's also prompted by a debated on Minor Shape Change (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=7944893l).) How is the Werewolf's Scent ability going to interact with the Disguise Check. Should it be assumed that Disguise Covers this? What if he uses Disguise Self, or trys to pass as a different race? This is an issue I've never encountered before and I don't see anything in the FAQ about it. My personal opinion is that there needs to be an opposed roll, Disguise vs Survival maybe.
olshanski_home 12-07-05, 06:00 PM	I would probably limit it to familiar scents, and have it override the disguise granted by "Alter Self". It would not override the disguise granted by "Polymorph". The deal is that alter self doesn't change the person (scent), just thier appearance. Scent doesn't care about appearance, just smell. You might make a custom spell to conceal smells, or you might let prestidigitation work as a diguise scent spell (doesn't hide scent, just changes it to another creature of a similar type). If the werewolf is familiar with the rogue's scent (as an enemy), he would be caught. If the werewolf is not familiar with the rogue's scent (just another human), he would be home free.
revnk 12-07-05, 08:23 PM	Just one thought that doesn't really answer your question: even if the Noble can smell the PC, would it matter? He might simply pretend not to notice the PC rather than reveal that he has an unusually (and suspicion-raising) ability to recognize scents. Related thought: does a lycanthrope in human form share the were-form's abilities re: scent and vision? I think you could rule either way depending on how you're handling were-animals. Finally, by way of approximating an answer: the commonsense ruling is that a Disguise check wouldn't override a being's natural scent unless that were explicitly part of the disguise--e.g. disguising oneself as a perfumed noble or spending a day at a stockyard as part of building a disguise as a butcher or in a stable as a stablehand disguise. This could create dramatic tension in all sorts of scenarios, since a disguised character might encounter dogs or other beasts that recognize something amiss. On the other hand, if you wanted a more "cinematic" approach, you could ignore logic and simply ignore the "odor factor"--I think we've all seen movies and TV shows where a disguise is as exactly effective as the plot requires. Hope any of that helped. Good luck.