I want to call attention to a mild imbalance between two opposing skills, Bluff (Disguise) and Perception.
Ideally, it should be possible to build with equal investment for opposing skills, particularly if those skills have severe consequences (in this case, a broken disguise or being fooled).
Currently, it is possible to eke out a slight victory in skill bonuses from feats in favor of Spot.
Ignoring Skill Focus which evens out, the skills have access to the following.
Bluff (Disguise):
Artist - BG feat +2
Tempter - BG feat +1, however can activate to give an additional +2.
Skill Focus +3
Total possible skill bonus: It's complicated.
Potential skill bonus:: 5-6 max
Outside of SF, investment in Bluff appears to be possible only through background feats.
The best race is human, which can take two background feats.
Human max: +6-8
Spot:
Alertness +2
Blooded +2
SF +3
Artist - BG Feat +2 (provides vanilla Artist feat)
Potential skill bonus: +9
Several races exist with bonuses to spot. Half-elves have +1, Elves have +2.
Additionally, races exist with bonuses to Wis, but racial bonuses to Cha do not exist.
The best race is Wood Elf, with +3 total from extra wisdom and skill affinities.
Wood elf max: +12
Additionally, a spell bonus to Spot is fairly freely available to three classes, with the potential to be on scrolls or wands (and potions?)
Clairvoyance/Clairaudience gives a +5 bonus to Spot, and can be cast on other players. A character can build fully invested into Spot, and benefit from another's casting of the spell.
Note that there is one spell which raises Bluff, however it requires Warlock and can only be self-cast. Granted, its bonus is +6, but due to the restriction I will note the total with +6 in parentheses so it can be considered separately.
Fully invested Spotter's possible bonus: +17
Fully invested Human's possible bonus +8 (+14 if Warlock)
Overall, there are more total methods of investing into Spot and obtaining bonuses. It is not necessary to invest fully like a Bluffer to compete at the same level, anyone can make use of Clair, take two feats or be the right race and take less. You can compete with less investment, by taking the right race or class. Spot is also typically a popular skill to invest in on NWN servers, as it helps counter sneak spies. On the other hand, Bluff requires strict background feat usage and/or Warlock levels.
The difference is made all the stronger by the fact that Spot is built in to several classes. Behold:
Artificer (human only), resulting in total potential bonus of +19 (from +5 but -3 from no elves)
Meanwhile, Scout gets the following (which I want to be clear I take no issue with, I think the Scout class should get this. This is awesome!)
Resulting in a total possible max of...drumroll....
+25
Realistically these numbers would be a little lower for both, because few are going to max out to this degree. A scout simply leveling up reaches the max almost any character can invest into Bluff, and can create a situation where it is probably impossible for any disguise to go undetected. Stealthers probably have just as tough of a time vs Scouts, and I want to be very clear I take no issue with Scouts or any of the tools available to Spotters.
I would, however, like to suggest that a smattering more few options be available for those who are interested in fully investing in Disguise ie Bluff. I realize of course that it's asking a lot, so I'd merely like to make the numbers available while gushing about what a useful RP tool Disguise has the potential to be. Unfortunately, with such a large gap between possible maxes--and the higher difficulty of investing into Disguise--Disguise may inherently be a skill not worth investing into. I think that is a shame, for such an interesting and exciting feature.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk!
Ideally, it should be possible to build with equal investment for opposing skills, particularly if those skills have severe consequences (in this case, a broken disguise or being fooled).
Currently, it is possible to eke out a slight victory in skill bonuses from feats in favor of Spot.
Ignoring Skill Focus which evens out, the skills have access to the following.
Bluff (Disguise):
Artist - BG feat +2
Tempter - BG feat +1, however can activate to give an additional +2.
Skill Focus +3
Total possible skill bonus: It's complicated.
Potential skill bonus:: 5-6 max
Outside of SF, investment in Bluff appears to be possible only through background feats.
The best race is human, which can take two background feats.
Human max: +6-8
Spot:
Alertness +2
Blooded +2
SF +3
Artist - BG Feat +2 (provides vanilla Artist feat)
Potential skill bonus: +9
Several races exist with bonuses to spot. Half-elves have +1, Elves have +2.
Additionally, races exist with bonuses to Wis, but racial bonuses to Cha do not exist.
The best race is Wood Elf, with +3 total from extra wisdom and skill affinities.
Wood elf max: +12
Additionally, a spell bonus to Spot is fairly freely available to three classes, with the potential to be on scrolls or wands (and potions?)
Clairvoyance/Clairaudience gives a +5 bonus to Spot, and can be cast on other players. A character can build fully invested into Spot, and benefit from another's casting of the spell.
Note that there is one spell which raises Bluff, however it requires Warlock and can only be self-cast. Granted, its bonus is +6, but due to the restriction I will note the total with +6 in parentheses so it can be considered separately.
Fully invested Spotter's possible bonus: +17
Fully invested Human's possible bonus +8 (+14 if Warlock)
Overall, there are more total methods of investing into Spot and obtaining bonuses. It is not necessary to invest fully like a Bluffer to compete at the same level, anyone can make use of Clair, take two feats or be the right race and take less. You can compete with less investment, by taking the right race or class. Spot is also typically a popular skill to invest in on NWN servers, as it helps counter sneak spies. On the other hand, Bluff requires strict background feat usage and/or Warlock levels.
The difference is made all the stronger by the fact that Spot is built in to several classes. Behold:
Artificer (human only), resulting in total potential bonus of +19 (from +5 but -3 from no elves)
Meanwhile, Scout gets the following (which I want to be clear I take no issue with, I think the Scout class should get this. This is awesome!)
Resulting in a total possible max of...drumroll....
+25
Realistically these numbers would be a little lower for both, because few are going to max out to this degree. A scout simply leveling up reaches the max almost any character can invest into Bluff, and can create a situation where it is probably impossible for any disguise to go undetected. Stealthers probably have just as tough of a time vs Scouts, and I want to be very clear I take no issue with Scouts or any of the tools available to Spotters.
I would, however, like to suggest that a smattering more few options be available for those who are interested in fully investing in Disguise ie Bluff. I realize of course that it's asking a lot, so I'd merely like to make the numbers available while gushing about what a useful RP tool Disguise has the potential to be. Unfortunately, with such a large gap between possible maxes--and the higher difficulty of investing into Disguise--Disguise may inherently be a skill not worth investing into. I think that is a shame, for such an interesting and exciting feature.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk!
