Homebrew spell: Baeril's Lizardskin Coat

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Would 30 minutes/level as a duration work, for those who are concerned this is too good as-is?

 

[Talonblaze]

With the addition of the tail, would they benefit from having such or is it a purely magical aesthetic addition? Which could affect the potency of the spell.

Overall the specifics limitation is a notable restriction (but provides enough variations to still be a suitable disguise) something would have to be traded off.

Most of the time however, unless its in long stretch situations or combat, most of the time duration isn't an issue.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

With the addition of the tail, would they benefit from having such or is it a purely magical aesthetic addition? Which could affect the potency of the spell.

It's a low level figment, so it'd just be a visible effect, but couldn't be interacted with.

And having a prolonged duration is the point -- it's meant as a spell to allow undercover surveillance for a prolonged period using a single 1st level slot, with the trade off being that if the target knows to keep an eye out for lizardfolk -- or have their guards chase them off -- it's of no use.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Would 30 minutes/level as a duration work, for those who are concerned this is too good as-is?

The 30 min/level duration would definitely make it too weak to be a 2nd level spell, which is basically perfect for a 1st level spell.

It might also be possible to give it a static duration (2 hours, 4 hours, something like that) which would make it more useful for you in the immediate future, but less so as you gain more experience.

I would bring it to your DM with the hour/level duration, and if he won't go for that, try the static duration, and if that still is a no-go, come back to the 30 min/level duration.

 

[Dandu]

It's probably alright, as long as you don't actually grow a tail.

 

[Empirate]

While Patryn is indeed the man, I'll have to disagree strongly here. Disguise Self affords huge flexibility, where this spell only gives you a long duration with none of the flexibility. When memorizing spells, you have to know exactly that you'll want to look like a Lizardfolk for hours. Maybe, in a Lizardfolk-heavy campaign, you have the flexibility of choosing whether you want to look like a bent old Lizardfolk midwife, or a Lizardfolk warrior, or the Lizardfolk King himself, and maybe, if everything revolves around Lizardfolk, this kind of diversity is really good for you. But usually, this isn't the kind of versatility that's needed.

Disguise Self can have you look like an Avariel hunter, like a Human nobleman, like an Orc Warrior, like a Dwarf smith, like Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton, like your neighbour, like a Lich, like a Bugbear shaman, or like the freakin' Lizardfolk King himself. And you can decide at the time of casting which of those it'll be, depending on whether you want to pass unnoticed among monstrous humanoids, bluff your way past a guard, lose a pursuer in the crowd, put the blame for a theft on your friendly neighbourhood Paladin, seem tall and strong and threatening to impress an Orc chieftain, or sleep with Igraine so she conceives Arthur. 10 minutes per level is easily enough for most or allf of these, an hour-long duration won't do much extra for you.

Not having to know in the mornings which disguise you'll need today is a huge advantage.

 

[Visigani]

1) It's a first-level spell. The amount of "materials and time researching" will be pretty minimal.

2) I'm positing that the much-lengthened duration is much more important than the flexibility afforded by the base spell. As in, usually, just turning into something other than yourself is enough - it doesn't matter what you turn into, as long as it isn't you; alternatively, you'll know, when memorizing the spell, that you'll want to turn into (say) a lizardman. And, for these reasons, the limited choice in what you can turn into is no longer a balancing factor.

3) I also said, "That being said, I don't know that it makes it unbalanced, so ... "

So let me see if I'm understanding this right... your concern is that you could have a spell of this type that would allow one to be an elf, a dwarf, and so forth... but what you turn into isn't important and hence isn't a balancing factor?


Alright, you're going to tell me with a straight face that turning into a LIZARDMAN and walking around the king's court isn't going to raise a FEW eyebrows?

So I got this spell, let's me appear to be a dwarf with a mass of writhing tentacles in place of my eyes... but at least as a dwarven mass of writhing tentacles they won't know WHO I am... SCORE!

Nevermind that any sane guard will likely see to it you're murdered in short order given the opportunity.


Yes, having a wide variety of things to turn into at a given moment is HUGE benefit of Alter self. I'm just a Lizardman hangin' out here with my good friends the elves. That won't raise no suspicion. Hyuck!

 

[Dandu]

Ok, it may be the fact that I have just woken up, but I have no idea what the poster above me is talking about.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Ok, it may be the fact that I have just woken up, but I have no idea what the poster above me is talking about.

I think I've got it; maybe.

So let me see if I'm understanding this right... your concern is that you could have a spell of this type that would allow one to be an elf, a dwarf, and so forth... but what you turn into isn't important and hence isn't a balancing factor?

No. I am saying that, generally speaking, IME, YMMV, etc., when you need a disguise, either 1 of 2 things is true:

1) You need a disguise that makes you look like something that is not you, and you need it right now. It doesn't matter what you make yourself look like, as long as it isn't you.

2) You know well in advance what, exactly, you need to look like. You know that when trying to sneak into the Underhalls, that you need to look like a dwarf. You know, when trying to weasel your way into the Count's party, that you need to look like Sir Stephan.

In case 1, a spell that makes you (a human) look like a dwarf is just as good as one that makes you look like a lizardman.* Therefore, there's no particular benefit to being able to cast a spell that lets you pick from a hundred humanoid races (Disguise Self) - the specific one (Lizardskin Coat) will work just as well with a much longer duration.

In case 2, you know well in advance whether you need to look like a lizardman or a human or an orc. Accordingly, there's no need for you to memorize the flexible spell (Disguise Self) if the specific one (Lizardskin Coat) is available. The specific one gets you exactly what you want with a much longer duration. Therefore, there's no meaningful drawback to the specific spell.

In total, I am arguing that the "drawbacks" of the spell are not meaningful enough, in play, to justify the increased power. Therefore, this specific disguise spell is more powerful than Disguise Self. I don't think it's unbalanced, but I do think it is an upgrade - and therefore should be carefully watched / allowed.

This, in my opinion, makes the specific spell a stronger spell, overall, than the general - especially when we are discussing wizards, who have no particular problem putting half-a-dozen specific spells in their spellbooks. Sorcerers (and Bards**) will likely still stick with the general purpose spell because of their hard limit on spells known.

* Note, we're talking about Ptolus here, where lizardman does not mean "kill on sight." It could just as easily be "Eberron" and "orc." The point stands.

** Minor quibble with the original spell: This should probably also be a Bard 1spell.

 

[Talonblaze]

@Patryn of Elvenshae

What if additional restrictions were to apply? Like for instance the caster can only stick to that build or look of lizardfolk once decided and each time they cast they would retain that specific look rather than a different one.

Or have some sort of restriction about changing the look. Making it less flexible than the original (even if it is already by a tad).