OK, maybe I'm blind, stupid, or both... I've read the description of the nanopaste disguise multiple times. You add the rating of the paste to your disguise pool. where does it state the rating of the paste? It costs 1000 per large container, but nowhere does it say the rating of it.

You program it yourself, or copy it from a scanner.

Funny thing is that from the description, the nanopaste mask should get some extra dice as it is able to display reactions that the latex can not.

Your facial muscles are doing that, though I can see what you mean. That would take some fast programming!

Can latex provide a believable blush response?

Eh, there are a large number of Shadowrunners that can't provide a believable blush response.




-k

Oh, I see what you're getting at. Yes, the fluff describes rapid color change. I assumed you meant physical movements for some reason.

To answer your question, look at the Latex Mask entry to find out how you determine its rating. The Nanopaste Disguise is basically just an improved version of that with which you can store multiple disguises and dispense/change them on the fly, and it can be used and reused during a 24 hour period.

Darn borgs, always freaking out the Johnson...

The nanopaste disguise only covers face and hands. What if I wanted to do more? The character is a guy who uses 3 different ID's during runs. 1 is a large black man with cornrows & wears Jamaican inspired clothes. The other is a heavyset Japanese man in a business suit who is bald. The 3rd is a Native American woman who is old & wears shawls/sweaters. The clothes can be bought easily & fluff. I can't find fake wigs/hair, bald caps, false teeth, shoe lifts, & other makeup. Is this stuff covered, or has modern SR tech made using old disguises no longer feasible due to the sensors & a whole bunch of stuff.

It covers the whole body, but I see what you mean. Those things don't exist in the book, per se. There's no reason to expect they don't exist in the world, though.

That's the small canister. The large one is full body.


It's a full body treatment that can duplicate most of those things, particularly the head and facial features. The Latex Mask aloen is the classic Scooby Doo style movie mask, where it's completely convincing and believable, including adding extra pounds and whatnot. The Nanopaste Disguise is a step beyond that, able to shift on the fly for the 24 hours of its duration. Minor changes in height and layered clothing is easily handled by regular "smart" clothing, as its little more than fluff (ie, no bonuses) since its your Disguise skill that's doing all the real work.

If you want something even better than that, either giving you more control or longer durations, you're going to have to go with Adept or Magician route, picking up either Physical Mask or a combination of Facial Sculpt and Melanin Control.

I didn't see how the large canister could do wigs, teeth, things like that. The description doesn't imply it at all. I guess you could claim nanomagic and let it go, though.

The thing is, the disguise rules are very abstract anyway. You're already getting a pretty huge bonus from these.

Yes, it doesn't describe the intimacies of what the disguise can or cannot do, because in the end it's simply the way to get a bonus to your Disguise Test. Without you, you just need the generic Disguise "Kit," since making your disguise is essentially a build/repair use of the skill. And, heck, you can even do those changes without anything at all, you'd just suffer the inadequate tools penalty to the roll.

The whole game is abstract (except for a large chunk of the the Matrix rules for some bizarre ass reason). Don't think too much about the minute details of how your equipment does what it does. Just assume it gets the job done.

Yup. So… assume you have a big bag of wigs whenever you need it, but don't ask for even more dice. Hell, the example in the book of Using Disguise doesn't mention any props at all.

I'm so used to my other tabletop rpg games being very specific when it comes to disguises & trying to portray/pretend to be someone else. Not used to SR's abstract when it comes to gear. I guess the large container will be fine along with smart/AR clothing.

I suspect that applying some smart clothing tech to wigs or hair extension are no problem in SR. As such, having a wig or set of extensions that can alter length, color and cut (within reason) with the right computer input is probably not out of the question.

And if one want detailed gear, there is always Attitude

So, if you're just trying to look like you are not you, is there a roll, or is it just assumed?

If you don't want to be identified as yourself, whether it's disguising yourself as a specific person or as just a random individual, a roll should be made. Otherwise people will still be able to identify who you are with just a passing glance no matter how much you ruffle up your hair.

A change of hair color and such is unlikely to alter your facial features and similar. Disguise is about doing just that. Still, something as simple as a change of clothes and a wide brim hat may shake of any video surveillance. At least as long as they are not employing such things are gait analysis. And that likely brings us back to disguise.

I think the trick in SR4 is not to be a black hole on the computer systems (that is likely to get you picked up the moment you try to enter a high class area), but to pull a gray man act to make it appear as if you belong.

That is, you may have a day glow mohawk in your daily life. But once on a job your ready to don what is required to pass as just another wage slave on the sidewalk. Still, if most of your jobs are night time or barrens located it is easier to be "loud".

I for one would allow hits from a Con test to be added as bonus dice, because the performance to "sell" the Disguise is pretty important too.




-k

I guess. The power creep goes up like mad, though. It's like stealth in hacking, except boosted by the most notoriously broken DP.

The concept is to have 1 ID/face for meets, the 2nd ID/face for runs, the 3rd ID/face for miscellaneous encounters. That way, the character's true face * ID is seldom used, limiting facial recognition to any runs/crimes, etc.

From what you says, the character seems to be using his natural face almost only when he's under the shower at home (opening the door to the mailman or pizzaboys ranks as miscellaneous encounter in my book). Living that way is likely to have a noticeable effect on the character's personality.

Yup... however in a world like 2070, not letting people know your real face can be a very good thing. Paranoia quality. Sinner quality. Anything to help mitigate risk.

Sounds interesting. A few of my players have characters with wigs. I called it as 100 new yen for a wig and 500 for a fiberoptic one (that changes colour but not shape). Clothes I would cover in lifestyle costs, although if you want a nicely cut power suit for your Japanese salaryman mode I would probably ask you to shell out a few hundred for it if you didn't want to just get Armoured Clothing. Feel free to suggest these ballpark ideas to your GM and see what he says.

As GM I never get to play characters, but I did design an elf assassin character with Blandness, Human Looking and fiberoptic hair. The idea was that she could change fairly rapidly from a brown-haired human to a fair-haired elf by just changing the hair colour and tying it back to reveal the ever-so-slightly pointy elf ears. She has the disguise skill via the Stealth group, but I figured that the above quality/cyber combination would allow a good quick-change on the fly.

A lot of players on my table have developed different "personalities" for their characters under their various fake IDs. I see that as good roleplaying more than anything else. I don't see it as being much of a strain for runners though, as most of the time they will be pretending to be somebody else anyway. It is never good to let the cops passing by see that you are a lean well-oiled fighting machine after all ...

My thoughts exactly. I've spoken with my brother (a NYPD cop) & some associates from prior work (SEC & CFTC federal agents)... you never wanna look like a person who's in shape. The bald, ugly, fat guy who's sweating while eating a donut is less suspicious (or at less desired to be seen) than the un-naturally fit guy with great hair. Either suspicion, jealousy, or something that makes you stand out in a positive way will draw attention. Now if you look like crap, you'll get hassled to leave the nice area (triple AAA neighborhood sec guard tossing the bum/street trash out) or be treated like an invisible piece of scum.

My character concept is that depending on their neighborhood & job, that's the ID/face that will be used. There's still the daytime hours or non-working hours available for personal/free time that the real face can come out once in a while.

Really, for the diguise-proficient mys-ad I'm playing at the moment, with Facial Sculpt, Melanin Control and the Makeover spell, choosing a face to wear for the day comes as as much a part of his morning ritual as choosing the clothes to go with it. The concept of having your own face is nice, but in the end, you don't really notice anything of it, unless walking past a mirrored surface.

Only if the Disguise (or possibly Con) skill test was successful. Otherwise people would still recognize her, albeit with a bit of an issue of describing her to others courtesy of Blandness.