[Spes Magna Games] For Sale Now: Masters of Disguise

[Mark Chance]

UPDATE: Available at DriveThruRPG and at Paizo.com for $1.89. Quid Novi? readers can get this (and any Spes Magna PDF) for 33% off at Paizo.com.

Well, I'm off from work until the 3rd of January. Woo hoo! Time to get caught up on some more writing. I knocked out A Medieval Holiday (which is selling well at Paizo.com and at DriveThruRPG). Next up is Masters of Disguise. This new PDF's main feature is the masque, a base class focused on deceit and disguise with four levels of spells. I've sent version 2 to my playtesters and am eagerly awaiting more awesome feedback.

Masters of Disguise will also include useful crunch such as:

* Expanded uses for Disguise, Linguistics, and Use Magic Device.

* More feats.

* More rogue talents.

* Equipment, both mundane and magic.

* A shapechanger bloodline for sorcerers.

* A disguise subdomain for clerics.

* And more!

Masters of Disguise should be available in January 2011.

 

[Mark Chance]

More work on Masters of Disguise is done! Finished up the alternate favored class bonuses for masques of different races. The disguise subdomain for clerics has been rough drafted. Diplomacy, Disguise, and Use Magic Device have had their uses expanded.

By way of explanation of some of the latter, Masters of Disguise explains how a character with Use Magic Device can temporarily fool an in-place spell such as forbiddance or counterfool a spell such as unholy blight as it is being cast.

Next up: feats!

 

[Mark Chance]

Here's an excerpt of the expanded rules for Diplomacy from Masters of Disguise:

Diplomacy
Diplomacy serves many functions. A diplomatic character can help disarm conflicts and schmooze his way through potentially tricky situations. He can also keep abreast of the what's going, using his gift of gab to gather useful information. But what if the character wants to put out bogus intelligence in order to mislead others?

Check: If you want to mislead those who trying to gather information about you, your Diplomacy check is opposed by your foe's Diplomacy check. If you succeed, you misdirect your foe's inquiries. This is typically an ongoing process with new opposed checks required each day.

You can also use Diplomacy for rumor-mongering in order to spread false information. This can make it more difficult for someone to interact favorably with other NPCs, applying penalties to their Charisma checks or other social skills. In order to rumor-monger, make a Diplomacy check opposed by the NPC's Sense Motive check. If you succeed, the target of your rumor-mongering suffers a -2 penalty on interaction checks with that NPC for the next week.

Action: Using Diplomacy to mislead an information gatherer requires 1d4 hours of work, sowing bogus intelligence to informers. Rumor-mongering requires 1 minute of continuous interaction.

Try Again: You can retry Diplomacy checks made to spread false information and rumor-monger.

Special: Feats, spells, et cetera that modify Diplomacy apply to misleading and rumor-mongering attempts.

 

[Mark Chance]

I've completed the spell section of Masters of Disguise. These 12 new spells are included: conjurer's toolbelt, dramatic visage, felonious friend, greater felonious friend, lurk, moonlit way, path through darkness, message in a bottle, phantom blade, slip the ranks, summarize, and trigger trap.

I've also been unable to get a good handle on a shapechanger bloodline for sorcerers. For the time being, I'm dropping it from the PDF's contents. Perhaps inspiration will strike later.

Next up: More rogue talents and more magic items!

 

[Mark Chance]

Masters of Disguise has been sent to my proofreaders, playtesters, and harshest critics for the final editing process. It clocks in at nearly 30 pages, almost all of it being crunchy goodness. Here's another excerpt, this time the masque's spell lists. The masque is a new base class focusing on disguise and deception.

Masque Spells
The following lists include spells available to a masque. Spells marked with an asterisk are found in the Advanced Player's Guide. These new spells are detailed in this PDF: conjurer's toolbelt, dramatic visage, felonious friend, greater felonious friend, lurk, message in a bottle, moonlit way, path through darkness, phantom blade, slip the ranks, summarize, trigger trap.

1st Level
charm person, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, disguise self, dramatic visage, endure elements, expeditious retreat, feather fall, glide*, honeyed tongue*, jump, magic aura, memory lapse*, path through darkness, phantom blade, read magic, sculpt corpse*, silent image, sleep, touch of the sea*, vanish*, ventriloquism

2nd Level
alter self, bear's endurance, bloodhound*, blur, bull's strength, cat's grace, chameleon stride*, create treasure map*, darkness, darkvision, daze monster, detect thoughts, dust of twilight*, elemental speech*, felonious friend, fog cloud, glide*, hypnotic pattern, invisibility, levitate, levitate, locate object, lurk, minor image, mirror image, misdirection, obscure object, perceive cues*, phantom trap, resist energy, see invisibility, slipstream*, spider climb, whispering wind

3rd Level
arcane sight, beast shape I, blink, blood biography*, campfire wall*, clairaudience/clairvoyance, deep slumber, dispel magic, displacement, fly, illusory script, invisibility sphere, major image, nondetection, protection from energy, secret page, seek thoughts*, slip the ranks, shifting sand*, shrink item, sleet storm, suggestion, tongues, trigger trap, water breathing

4th Level
arcane eye, beast shape II, charm monster, confusion, detect scrying, dimension door, elemental body I, freedom of movement, greater felonious friend, greater invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, illusory wall, locate creature, moonstruck*, rainbow pattern, scrying, secure shelter, solid fog

 

[Mark Chance]

Another preview, this time with two new rogue talents:

Favor (Ex)
Once per week per point of Charisma bonus, a rogue can call in a favor from one of his many contacts. This favor could be advice, information, help with a legal matter, or access to resources. Make a Diplomacy check. A simple favor is DC 10, ranging up to DC 25 or higher for difficult, dangerous, or expensive favors. Use of this talent always requires at least several minutes (or longer) and the means to contact his allies. More than other rogue talents, favor requires cooperation between the DM and the player to ensure this talent is useful but not a deus ex machina.

Learned (Ex)
Quick reflexes, keen eyes, and a sharp blade aren't all there is to being a rogue. Knowledge is also power. Choose one Knowledge skill. That Knowledge skill becomes a class skill if it already isn't one. Furthermore, you gain a +2 competence bonus on checks with the chosen Knowledge skill. You may select this talent more than once. Each time, it applies to a new Knowledge skill.

 

[Mark Chance]

He can appear as anyone. He can vanish into a crowd, changing his face in the process. He uses his skills to gather information, sow rumors, and bluff his way into off-limits areas. He is the masque, the master of disguise.

Masters of Disguise is a printer-friendly PDF featuring the masque, a new 20-level base class whose talents with disguise cross over into the supernatural. This PDF also includes these crunchy items:

* Favored class options for the masque
* The Disguise subdomain
* New rogue talents
* Expanded uses for Diplomacy, Disguise, Linguistics, and Use Magic Device
* Four new combat feats, including Snap the Cloak
* Rules for customizing equipment
* 12 new spells and 13 new magic items

Available at DriveThruRPG and at Paizo.com for $1.89. Quid Novi? readers can get this (and any Spes Magna PDF) for 33% off at Paizo.com.

 

[Mark Chance]

Masters of Disguise gets a 4-star review at Paizo.com. Reviewer Monkeygod writes (in part):

I really like this book a lot. While the Class itself is very narrow, it is also really flavorful and fun, appealing to my very sneaky side.

The new feats, skill uses, spells and magic items are really niffty and useful, as well as being unique enough to stand out from all the rest we've seen.

Thanks, Monkeygod!

 

[Mark Chance]

Reviewer Dark Mistress gives Masters of Disguise 4 stars as well. She wrote (in part):

So whats my rating? Well on one hand the [masque base] class is a very niche class, which hurts it appeal some. I think it makes a much better NPC class, it is useful as a PC in some types of campaigns. As a NPC though it is very nice. The other stuff in the book while mostly geared for the class can by used by most anyone and virtually of it is useful. There is a few minor flaws with the product that I mentioned, but it is cheap too. So for the price I am giving it a 4 star review.

Dark Mistress's review appears on DriveThruRPG and at the Paizo.com link in the post directly above this one.