The Unseen (CShaH)

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Many elemental mages prefer to travel in disguise, both to remain unseen by the eyes of the Brotherhood and to add to their own mysterious appearances and disappearances. While a good many of these elemental mages will confine their activities to the use of the disguise nonweapon proficiency, a few have devoted themselves to a more concealing form of disguise. Such elemental mages are known as the Unseen and are the source of many legends. The tales of an elemental mage being chased to ground, only to disappear (disguised as another class) from beneath the noses of his attackers have their origins in the Unseen.
In order to become one of the Unseen, an elemental mage player must declare this intention prior to the character's first adventure. The character may choose to disguise himself as any other non-spellcasting character kit found in the Al-Qadim® Arabian Adventures rule book. When the character enters play, it does so under the guise of the kit chosen as its disguise.
When designing an Unseen elemental mage, the player must make a few changes to the basic character generation process.
First, the Unseen loses one of his starting nonweapon proficiencies. This nonweapon proficiency becomes an additional weapon proficiency, which must be used to gain proficiency in a weapon commonly used by the kit employed as a disguise. This allows the elemental mage to pass himself off as a member of that class should things come down to a fight.
Second, Unseen elemental mages must use at least one of their remaining nonweapon proficiency slots to purchase a proficiency common to the disguise kit. This nonweapon proficiency costs the same as if the elemental mage were a member of the appropriate kit.
The Unseen elemental mage must also postpone learning to cast spells until second level, after which time they advance normally. The time usually spent in magical study and practice is instead used to study the special benefit(s) of the disguise kit. If the kit has more than one benefit, the elemental mage may only chose one.
In cases where the kit has a number of special abilities, such as those gained by members of the rogue class (pick pockets and such), the elemental mage may choose to not take a normal benefit of the disguise class in exchange for one of these abilities. For example, an Unseen elemental mage that chooses the beggar kit for his disguise may decide to forgo the beggar's special benefit of being able to blend into a crowd in order to learn the pick pockets skill. Regardless of which skill or benefit the Unseen character chooses, he may only have a single skill or benefit.
Elemental mages always start with the beginning funds of their chosen disguise kit. This is determined as is normal for the disguise kit, with no modifier. Likewise, the elemental mage begins with the beginning station of their chosen disguise kit.
Unseen elemental mages always use 1d4 to determine their hit points and never that of their disguise kit.
The elemental mage may wear the armor of his chosen disguise kit without penalty during his first level. At second level, however, the elemental mage cannot wear armor for more than three hours a day. If the elemental mage decides to wear armor beyond the three hours, he will be unable to cast spells for the following 24 hours as the mindset of the disguise kit has become too prominent in the Unseen elemental mage's awareness to allow normal spell casting.
The elemental mage may always use the weapon proficiency of his disguise class, but will rarely do so as it would doubtless reveal his true profession to any onlookers.
Under no circumstances may an elemental mage cast spells while in disguise. Not only would this ruin the disguise, but it might also be impossible due to armor restrictions.
Until an elemental mage reaches 2nd level, he must maintain his disguise in order to become comfortable with it. After reaching second level, the Unseen elemental mage may change from his normal appearance to his disguise whenever he wishes, provided there is enough time and privacy. It takes one of the Unseen a little over five minutes to don a disguise, though putting on armor can easily increase the time to 10 or 20 minutes.
An elemental mage may never advance in his disguise kit, nor does he gain any additional abilities the kit would normally receive. While the elemental mage is able to pass himself off as a member of his disguise kit, he will always appear as something of an amateur to others of that kit. Also, real members of the kit the elemental mage is using as a disguise may have a chance to penetrate that disguise. The base chance is 30 percent, plus 5 percent per level of the character trying to penetrate the disguise. While most kits will simply laugh at an elemental mage whose disguise they have pierced, some (particularly mamluks and holy slayers) may take offense. In these cases, it is wise for the elemental mage to make himself scarce. Once an Unseen elemental mage's disguise has been revealed, that elemental mage may never again fool those who penetrated his facade. This can be very dangerous if an enemy has penetrated the disguise. Authorities who penetrate an Unseen's disguise are likely to have some questions to ask of the elemental mage. Traveling incognito is not at all uncommon in the Land of Fate, but elemental mages have considerable public image problems.
An elemental mage gains the station of the elemental mage class once he achieves second level. However, this station is not apparent when he is traveling in disguise, during which time he has the station of that kit. This allows many high-station elemental mages to scrounge around among those of lower station without appearing too conspicuous.
In general, Unseen elemental mages are those who have something to hide. Because they postpone the acquisition of their spell-casting ability, they begin their careers relatively weak—they aren't full mages nor can they use all the abilities of another class. They must be careful not to overstep the bounds of their disguise, as discovery could have dire consequences. It is recommended that DMs help players of Unseen elemental mages to come up with a reason for their disguise. Perhaps they really are only seeking secrecy and a mysterious aura, but many have much darker, more dangerous reasons for maintaining such an elaborate facade.
At the DMs option, Unseen elemental mages may gain 50 XPs if they use their disguise to escape from a dangerous situation. These experience points may only be gained if the elemental mage's disguise is the reason for the escape and if the elemental mage was facing a real danger. Ducking into a back room and switching into disguise in order to avoid a Brotherhood assassin in an inn is acceptable; changing into a disguise and running from a lone beggar is not.
Elemental mages are rare in Zakhara. They are an unknown quantity around which many individuals are nervous. DMs should play up this quality, and characters should expect to be questioned about their motives on occasion. While they are not outlawed, elemental mages are almost always viewed with suspicion until they prove themselves to be trustworthy.