D&D 5E Stacking abilities for disguises

[Acheron42]

A character in a game I DM is a caster with the spell disguise self and proficiency with a disguise kit. I'm unsure how to handle it if they use both the spell and the kit at once. Any suggestions?

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

The spell and the kit are not compatible - use of one does not improve the quality of the other, but rather negates the need for it at all.

Basically, your disguise-focused character has two options: have a disguise kit on hand and use it so that people must surpass the skill roll made for the disguise if trying to see through it; cast disguise self and have a disguise that can't hold up to physical inspection and is surpassed by defeating the spell save DC.

 

[I'm A Banana]

A character in a game I DM is a caster with the spell disguise self and proficiency with a disguise kit. I'm unsure how to handle it if they use both the spell and the kit at once. Any suggestions?

I'd say they work fine together.

Make a disguise with the kit: make a Charisma (or maybe Int) check + proficiency bonus to see how good the disguise is.

Then, cast the spell.

Someone who sees through the spell (beating your spellcasting DC) still sees the disguise underneath, but they can also make a check against the disguise underneath.

Such a character would be very well disguised! It's probably overkill for most situations, and once someone has seen through one disguise, they've got cause to believe the other one is fake, too (so it might not matter if they can see through it or not), but if the goal isn't to be recognized, it'd probably be pretty effective!

 

[Saeviomagy]

Such a character would be very well disguised! It's probably overkill for most situations, and once someone has seen through one disguise, they've got cause to believe the other one is fake, too (so it might not matter if they can see through it or not), but if the goal isn't to be recognized, it'd probably be pretty effective!

Of course the trick would be to make one or the other such that penetrating it wouldn't necessarily make someone suspicious. For instance if you disguise yourself to be the target with pimple problems, then a disguise self of the same face with no pimples might not be an issue (depending on whom you are disguised as and the magic level of the world you are in). I suppose potentially you could do the opposite, but it might need to be more subtle.

 

[Acheron42]

The disguise kit is in use almost constantly for her character. The player's backstory is her character is wanted for a murder she didn't commit so she went on the run and started altering her appearance. She wants to use the disguise self spell to further reinforce the disguise. I dont want it to op and at some point she will get arrested cuz I'm DM, but i think I'll have her roll and then she can take the higher between the roll and her spell save dc. Whoever is trying t5eo see through it will roll perception. I just worry about it getting op

 

[Uchawi]

I believe if the first disguise fails, then any benefit of a second is loss, unless it is to hide something generic like the characters sex, race, class, accent or items they may carry. There will be suspicion, but the character is able to hold back some other aspect of the characters identity. Until the character is captured, or flees.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Of course the trick would be to make one or the other such that penetrating it wouldn't necessarily make someone suspicious. For instance if you disguise yourself to be the target with pimple problems, then a disguise self of the same face with no pimples might not be an issue (depending on whom you are disguised as and the magic level of the world you are in). I suppose potentially you could do the opposite, but it might need to be more subtle.

Yeah, I could see that. Wouldn't work that well for high-security situations ("sorry, ma'am, no disguises"), but it would stop some questions.

The disguise kit is in use almost constantly for her character. The player's backstory is her character is wanted for a murder she didn't commit so she went on the run and started altering her appearance. She wants to use the disguise self spell to further reinforce the disguise. I dont want it to op and at some point she will get arrested cuz I'm DM, but i think I'll have her roll and then she can take the higher between the roll and her spell save dc. Whoever is trying t5eo see through it will roll perception. I just worry about it getting op

There's no major worry about that. Most people won't know who she is, even after piercing the illusion, but that's generally fine. To have her found out anyway, dunk her in water and look at her with truesight and the mundane disguise will fade and the illusory disguise will be pierced and suddenly they know what they're looking at (I'd avoid having it happen by DM fiat, but that's kind of a table thing - I don't like single-outcome scenarios). So it'll take some effort to find her out, but it's not going to be impossible.