Imposter (Character Kit)

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==Imposter==
Description: The Imposter is an illusionist who passes himself off as different people. Imposters maintain a series of aliases, and few who deal with Imposters know which of their many personas is the true self.
In spaceborne campaigns, Imposters are in their element. They are fond of political intrigues and can often be found allied with all of the sides in a political battle (in various personas, of course). When the intrigues shift to open warfare, however, the Imposter is nowhere to be found.
Role: The Imposter is the wizardly con-man of space. Imposters depend on their magical ability and personal charisma to beguile those around them.
The Imposter kit is uniquely suited to the talents of the illusionist. Only these specialty mages may take this kit. Standard mages may not be Imposters.
Imposters depend not only on their magical skills but also on their ability to convince those around them of their sincerity. Thus, Imposters must have a Charisma of at least 15 in addition to the requirements for becoming an illusionist specialty mage. In addition, the kit does not attract lawful individuals, so Imposters must be neutral or chaotic (although they may be good, evil, or neutral as the player specifies).
Abandoning the Imposter kit is difficult, because in some sense the various personas of the Imposter become as real as his true character, and because those who know the Imposter are generally unwilling to take her word that he has quit.
When the Imposter tries to quit this kit, he loses its benefits immediately. To lose its hindrances, the Imposter must refrain from misrepresenting himself as someone else for three months. At the end of that time, the Imposter has freed himself from the demands of his other personas and no longer suffers the hindrances of this kit.
Secondary Skills: Imposters choose secondary skills as normal for the campaign.
Weapon Proficiencies: Any allowed to mages.
Nonweapon Proficiencies:
* Bonus: Disguise.
* Recommended: (General) Artistic Ability, Etiquette, Modern Languages; (Wizard) Reading/Writing, Religion, Spellcraft; (Rogue) Disguise.
Equipment: Imposters must spend 25% of their starting wealth on clothing and costumes. They may purchase their equipment as normal with the rest of the money.
Special Benefits: When an Imposter is initially created, he automatically gains the change self spell in addition to any spells he normally receives.
As an Imposter increases in level, he automatically gains the following abilities. These are all naturally acquired abilities and do not count against the number of spells he can know or use.
2nd Level: The Imposter gains a stock persona. This persona includes a specific appearance, personality, and approach to life. The persona need not be of the same race or gender as the Imposter, but it must be within 1' of the character's actual height. Moreover, this persona cannot be a real person; it must be the creation of the Imposter.
The stock persona is a role that the Imposter has practiced and developed to perfection. When portraying this role using a change self spell, the spell's duration is 2d6 turns plus two turns per level instead of its normal duration.
5th Level: The Imposter gains a second stock persona. (An additional stock persona may be added every three levels hereafter.) Moreover, the Imposter may switch from one stock persona to another (requiring one round to make the change) simply by willing it, so long as the change self spell continues.
7th Level: When the Imposter is portraying a stock persona using the change self spell, the image feels real and cannot be detected as false by touch.
9th Level: The Imposter gains the ability to use a stock persona's image for personal illusion spells: mirror image, wraithform, mislead, and project image. Of course, the Imposter does not gain the ability to cast these spells automatically; they must be cast as normal. However, the Imposter may maintain his persona even when casting these image-affecting sorceries.
10th Level: The Imposter can extend the characteristics of her persona to his ship by casting a hallucinatory terrain spell. For the duration of the spell, the Imposter's ship gains an appearance appropriate to the persona being played by the Imposter. It retains this appearance even in the Imposter's absence, until the spell expires.
The exact appearance of the ship changes in accordance with the Imposter's wishes, so long as the illusionary ship is within 25% of the tonnage of the ship being concealed. However, the capabilities of the ship do not change; posing as a ship with higher maneuverability does not affect the ship's actual ability to maneuver.
11th Level: The Imposter is able to control his thoughts when portraying a stock persona so that mind-reading magic such as ESP, detect evil, know alignment, and detect lie or the psionic devotion of identity penetration will indicate that the disguise is the character's true self. Also, the Imposter is able to suppress the magical emanations from his change self spell so a detect magic spell shows nothing.
13th Level: The Imposter's change self spell duration is extended to 2–12 hours plus two hours per level.
15th Level: The Imposter's use of a change self spell to portray a stock character cannot be detected, even by true seeing. It may still be dispelled, however, and it can always be revealed if the Imposter makes an error while representing the character (for example, by casting a spell while impersonating a dwarf).
Special Hindrances: Because of their mercurial mentality and multiple points of view, Imposters do not make good students of magic. Thus, they do not earn bonuses to their experience for high ability scores.
While Imposters are accepted so long as their deceptions remain intact, there are few people who enjoy being deceived. A known Imposter suffers a —5 on all reaction rolls; this penalty applies only if the reacting individual knows that the character is an Imposter.
Moreover, if an Imposter is discovered, his reputation spreads quickly. The Imposter, both in her normal form and in any stock personas used during the adventure in which he was discovered, suffers a —2 on reactions from anyone who might have heard of the incident. (This is why Imposters tend to remain on the move.)
Finally, as the stock personas become more realistic, the primary (normal) persona may become weak. An Imposter must make a Wisdom check each month, with a negative modifier of the number of stock personas the Imposter has. A failed roll indicates that a stock persona is trying to take over the Imposter. Due to the psychic struggle, the Imposter suffers a -2 on attack rolls and a -2 penalty to saving throws for the entire month.
If a 20 is rolled on the Wisdom check, the Imposter loses control. He must act as if she were one of her stock personas for the entire month. Only one persona will gain dominance, and it is the DM's choice as to which persona dominates.
The stock persona cannot use any abilities that it does not have. If the persona cannot cast spells, then no spells may be cast. If the persona is not a mage, then magical items designed for mages may not be used.
The persona may attempt to use weapons and armor that would normally not be available to an illusionist, but it suffers a nonproficiency penalty of -5 and a -1 to Dexterity per point of armor class provided by any armor worn. It may not use magical items that would not be usable by illusionists, even if the persona would ordinarily be able to do so.
This condition remains for 1–4 days before the Imposter's own personality can try to recover control of the body. Recovering the body requires a successful Wisdom check.
Wealth Options: Imposters receive normal starting money for their class.
Races: Humans and gnomes can be Imposters. Gnome illusionists seem to take a childlike delight in tricking the "big folk" with their magic, while humans can be more mercurial than any other known race.
The rastipedes do not understand the value of the Imposter's abilities, while the scro find such abilities too subtle to be worthwhile. A few xixchil see the utility in the illusionist's way of life, but even they are unlikely to take it as far as the Imposter does.
Category:Character Kit
Category:Character Kit CSH