Detecting Shape Shift

[Rapier]

This came up on one of the boards. I dug through the FAQs and can't seem to find the answer:

 

If a character has Shape Shift (sight, touch, hearing) is there a PER roll to see through the shift?

 

What if, without Imitation/Disguise/Mimicry I try to shift into a specific person (eg Bill Gates)? Obviously the PER roll mods would be huge...but how huge?

 

Then we began discussing looking like Dan Rather. If I SS into Dan Rather (with the above construct), a Disguise Skill (or Mimicry Skill) roll is needed. In this case the PER roll to determine that I am, in fact, not Dan Rather is a skill vs skill (Disguise vs PER) roll?

 

If a character has Immitation Shape Shift (sight, touch, hearing), FREd states that a -3 PER roll would disprove/disbelieve (however we want to term it) the Shift. This is because the Imitation adder replaces the Disguise/Mimicry Roll. I think this last bit is what threw me. In the case of imitation you are seeing through the disguise and not the shape shift, neh?

 

Further, what if I have Imitation SS AND a Disguie or Mimicry? Would the Disguise/Mimicry roll allow a further penalty with the PER roll? Off the cuff I would say that for each point the roll is made by would apply another -1 penalty, and each point the roll is missed by would apply a +1 bonus. Is this reasoning fairly sound with regards to how SS is defined?

Thanks!!

[Steve Long]

Re: Detecting Shape Shift

 

The standard rules for Shape Shift don’t provide any PER Roll to “see through” the alteration in form. It has to be detected in other ways, such as a PER Roll using a Sense the Shape Shift doesn’t affect (“He looks like Bob... but he sure doesn’t sound like him”). A character could Limit his Shape Shift so that observers get a PER Roll to “see through” his change in form, if desired.

 

The PER Roll for Shape Shift with a Required Skill Roll is going to depend on the extent to which the GM allows Skill Versus Skill Rolls with RSR powers. See 5E 199.

 

The PER Roll modifier discussed for Imitation is an optional thing the GM can allow if he wants, but all it does is tell the onlooker (who by definition has to know what the person being imitated “looks” like) that something’s not quite right. It doesn’t reveal the character’s true appearance or anything like that.