A few questions regarding Glamours and Changelings?

[citadel97501]

Hello all,

I was just wondering what you all think are the limitations of the Glamours power?  A friend of mine is new to the game, and is planning a character with it, and I was concerned about how it works?

It seems to me that the power just changes the appearance of something, without changing its function and allows Veils?

1) So could he use it to disguise himself to look like a specific person, or does it just let him look different than his normal appearance?

2) Monopoly money to real money?  Would this allow you to roll Deceit/Discipline rather than Resources when trying to buy something?  Or would that take a stunt that requires the Glamours power?

3) How would it effect things like a metal detector at the court house, for instance?

[Praxidicae]

Hello all,

I was just wondering what you all think are the limitations of the Glamours power?  A friend of mine is new to the game, and is planning a character with it, and I was concerned about how it works?

It seems to me that the power just changes the appearance of something, without changing its function and allows Veils?

1) So could he use it to disguise himself to look like a specific person, or does it just let him look different than his normal appearance?

2) Monopoly money to real money?  Would this allow you to roll Deceit/Discipline rather than Resources when trying to buy something?  Or would that take a stunt that requires the Glamours power?

3) How would it effect things like a metal detector at the court house, for instance?

As I recall Glamours allows the PC to create ectoplasmic based illusions, which would mean the the illusions are physically 'real', ie. If your 5' tall skinny Changling Glamoured himself into an image of a 6' 6" 'Roided out Weightlifter, then to a cursory check the height and mass would be real, they'd even have an appropriately increased weight if someone decided to weigh them, but the mass isn't actually real matter, it won't last past sun-up and could probably be interfered with by magic.

1) I'd allow the PC to look like a specific person. If this was a person they were unfamiliar with (for example a random person they met on the street or a person they saw on TV or in a photo) I might impose some form of penalty or increase the difficulty of maintaining the persona.

2) I'd definitely allow the conversion of Monopoly money to real money, maybe even the wholesale creation of "Fairy-Gold" banknotes, however see above on their dispersion upon sun-up. Added to which there are numerous anti-forgery techniques that Governments embed into their currency and I wouldn't expect a glamoured note to be able to encompass them all. Cue intrusive investigation on behalf of the Federal Authorities. (On the other hand if the character had the "Document Forging" Deceit stunt and a high Burglary or Craftsmanship skill I'd probably go more easy on this).

3) I don't think it would effect a metal detector at all, even if you cover your sword in a glamour, making it look like cane or walking stick, it's still made of metal, and the detector will react as expected. An interesting occurrence would be where the material of the illusion is the same and the illusion simply makes it appear different, a compact submachine gun covered with an illusion of a high-tech TV studio camera perhaps. If this item passed through an X-Ray machine (and the machine wasn't Hexed through exposure to active magic), then would the machine see through the illusion, or would the illusionary material behave the same as real material. Personally I'd leave this up to GM Fiat.

[UmbraLux]

I was just wondering what you all think are the limitations of the Glamours power?  A friend of mine is new to the game, and is planning a character with it, and I was concerned about how it works?

It seems to me that the power just changes the appearance of something, without changing its function and allows Veils?

Yes, this is the basic power - veils and illusion.  Greater Glamours also allows 'True Seemings' which add a physical (ectoplasmic) component.  Do note, Seemings are limited to self, objects you own, and people who have "entered a pact with you".  You can't drop them on just anyone.

1) So could he use it to disguise himself to look like a specific person, or does it just let him look different than his normal appearance?

They could try for a specific person...I'd suggest that would be easier to see through.  Use of declarations here will help - "He didn't know the guy well" and "he was working only from a photo" would be +4 to seeing through it.

2) Monopoly money to real money?  Would this allow you to roll Deceit/Discipline rather than Resources when trying to buy something?  Or would that take a stunt that requires the Glamours power?

He could certainly make monopoly money (or even a leaf) look like cash for a little while.  Not going to last long.  I'd suggest it won't let you use Deceit in place of Resources (not without a stunt) simply because money is tracked too closely these days.  Any large transactions require paperwork and large amounts of cash are treated suspiciously.  You'd get away with smaller amounts for a longer period of time but, once the feds get involved, likely stores will be staked out, people put on alert, and cameras will be used to narrow the suspect list.  Defeatable by illusions, but sooner or later one is likely to pierce the veil. 

3) How would it effect things like a metal detector at the court house, for instance?

It's still an opposed Deceit roll, I'd simply use the metal detector as a declaration for the operator to notice.  Automatic detectors may (or may not) still go off, but all they do is call people who are going to search you...and they can still be fooled.  It's not like they never get false alarms. 

[Dougansf]

Hello all,

I was just wondering what you all think are the limitations of the Glamours power?  A friend of mine is new to the game, and is planning a character with it, and I was concerned about how it works?

It seems to me that the power just changes the appearance of something, without changing its function and allows Veils?

1) So could he use it to disguise himself to look like a specific person, or does it just let him look different than his normal appearance?

2) Monopoly money to real money?  Would this allow you to roll Deceit/Discipline rather than Resources when trying to buy something?  Or would that take a stunt that requires the Glamours power?

3) How would it effect things like a metal detector at the court house, for instance?

1) As evidenced in "Something Borrowed" yes you can appear as someone else.  Though you may want to restrict that by requiring a physical link to the person you're looking like.  True Fae may also get away with it if they're in a bargain with the person (as in Ghost Story).

2) At the lesser -2 version, it sounds like only objects on your person.  Once the "money" left your possession, it would return to normal appearance.  The greater -4 version may last a bit longer, or you make a True Seeming out of Ectoplasm.
There's an old superstitious tradition of tapping coins against a cold iron nail to prevent this trick.

3) A metal detector (like a wand) as opposed to an X-ray scanner?  (as mentioned above, assuming they don't get Hexed)  A metal detector would probably not be fooled.  The veil changes it's appearance to the senses, or by bending light, not the physical properties.