Last Updated on January 22, 2023
What Is the Disguise Kit?
The Disguise Kit is an item in Dungeons and Dragons. First introduced in the Player’s Handbook then expanded upon in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, the Disguise Kit allows people to change their physical appearance using its components.
The Disguise Kit in DnD 5e contains cosmetics, hair dye, small props, and clothing that users can utilize to alter their appearance. Those who have proficiency with the kit can add their proficiency to checks made with the kit to adopt their false identity.
Disguises made with the Disguise Kit can be used to bolster various Charisma checks, allowing players to more effectively schmooze their way through social interactions or performances.
The first step is to create a disguise with the Disguise Kit. During a long rest, a player can use the Disguise Kit to craft a disguise. Unless they have a Bag of Holding, they’ll only be able to carry one disguise without drawing attention to themselves.
After all, the only kind of person who openly carries around a bunch of disguises is usually up to no good.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything offers a few base difficulty classes for actions regarding the Disguise Kit. For instance, covering bruises, injuries, or some distinguishing mark would be a DC 10 check, while copying a humanoid’s appearance would be a DC 20.
You can use the Disguise Kit to bolster anything from Deception to Performance checks. As a DM, you can apply a boost to anything you feel would be appropriate for the disguise to influence. Use your best judgment on whether the Disguise should influence the checks your players want to make.
Disguise Kit VS Disguise Self
Whether the Disguise Kit is as good or better than the Disguise Self spell is often asked. They’re both excellent, and each has different pros and cons when considering whether or not you want to use them.
Disguise Self offers more versatility than the Disguise Kit. It has a cast time of one action, while the Disguise Kit requires a check and takes up to 30 minutes to craft an extensive disguise.
The Disguise Self spell does not require a check to impersonate another creature flawlessly and can make more drastic changes to one’s appearance, but they don’t hold up when they’re inspected physically.
The Disguise Kit has less versatility in that respect, but the changes are not illusions and may hold up against a physical inspection where Disguise Self would fail, such as adding a hat to your outfit.
Another fundamental factor is spell slots. The Disguise Kit doesn’t use any spell slots, while Disguise Self requires spell slots that can be a scarce resource early on.
In the later stages of a campaign, when 1st-level spell slots aren’t as short a resource, the versatility of Disguise Self might be worth it, but at very low levels using a spell slot may cost you heavily.
Put simply; the Disguise Kit is best used with the Disguise Self spell rather than instead of it. The Disguise Kit allows players to have physical traits that hold up better scrutiny, while the Disguise Self spell will enable them to cover up immutable features like their height. A cunning Bard or Arcane Trickster can use both to change their identity and know how to keep people at bay to avoid being found out.
Classes That Synergize with the Disguise Kit
Rogue
Rogues are masters of trickery, and the Disguise Kit is a great way to bolster your sneaky activities. Within the Rogue Class, the Thief, Arcane Trickster, Mastermind, and Inquisitive subclasses will be the most likely to get flavorful use out of the Disguise Kit.
The Scout probably has no real need for a Disguise Kit since their flavor is that they live far from society. However, nothing is stopping a Scout from making good use out of it.
The Arcane Trickster can take Disguise Self as well, giving them a solid ability to hide in plain sight, both with magic and with makeup. Thieves, Masterminds, and Inquisitives can use the Disguise Kit to keep themselves from becoming a public enemy.
Masterminds and Inquisitives may find that they can use the Disguise Kit to help them uncover secrets and information that would otherwise be off-limits.
Bard
Bards are masters of disguise and performance. They can use the Disguise Kit to help bolster their performances with stylish or outlandish outfits.
They can also use it and their proficiency in sweet talk to get some extra items, discounts, or information that the party can use.
There aren’t any particular subclasses of Bard that jive better with the Disguise Kit because all of the Bard subclasses work well with the Disguise Kit.
Bards are performers first and foremost, and there’s never going to be a time where the performer is harmed by having access to a Disguise Kit.
Whether you’re using the Disguise Kit to bolster your performances with fun costumes or impersonate a politician to gain information, the Disguise Kit is an excellent addition to the Bard’s repertoire.
Races That Synergize with the Disguise Kit
Changeling
There’s no point in having a conversation about the proper use of the disguise kit without Changelings being involved. The Changeling race is marked by their ability to impersonate others using their shapechanging abilities.
Changelings can further alter their appearances using the makeup, props, and clothing from the Disguise Kit to bolster their disguise.
A changeling well-versed in using the Disguise Kit could seamlessly impersonate a wide variety of people since their shapechanging abilities allow them further ability to change their appearances than makeup.
Aasimar, Yuan-ti Pureblood, Satyr, Half-Elf
All of these races get a +2 bonus to their Charisma score, which helps bolster the use of the Disguises created with Disguise Kit. While they don’t have the shapechanging abilities that the Changelings come preloaded with, they do have some tremendous Charisma-related abilities.
Dragonborn, Tabaxi, Triton, Kalashtar
These races get a +1 bonus to their Charisma scores. Tabaxi and Dragonborn may have more trouble than Tritons and Kalashtars when concealing their appearance, though as they have fur and scales.
Whether or not these will affect the use of the Disguise Kit is up to your DM.
Synergy Between Actor & Disguise Kit
The Actor feat goes excellent with the Disguise Kit by granting the player Advantage on Deception and Performance checks where they’re trying to pass themselves off as a different person.
It also allows them to mimic the voices and sounds of animals and creatures that they hear.
When using the Actor feat with the Disguise Kit, a player can rather seamlessly blend into a role as another person. This is further bolstered if they have the Disguise Self spell, which can allow them to cover up any physical differences that they wouldn’t be able to change, such as their height or weight.
Using the Actor feat with the Disguise Kit can be a powerful reconnaissance tool that allows players to access information and items they wouldn’t usually have access to.
Using the Disguise Kit on Someone Else
There is no rule that says the person who makes the disguise must be the one who wears it. The rules are written with the intent for the user to disguise themselves. However, there isn’t a rule which says that no other person could wear it.
While a Dungeon Master might want to make the DC for creating a disguise for someone else higher than building a disguise for oneself, there is no reason that a player shouldn’t be able to make a disguise for another person given time and materials.
Especially if a player is proficient with the kit, it might even make sense for the DC to be the same. Becoming skilled with makeup means an intimate knowledge of its use, and that should logically extend to more than just the person in question.
Using the Disguise Kit without Proficiency
When you don’t have proficiency with the Disguise Kit, you’ll have to make the roll without adding your proficiency bonus. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the kit, just that it will be harder for you to achieve effective use of the equipment when compared with someone who has proficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Disguise Kit
What Do You Roll When Using the Disguise Kit?
The roll for a Disguise Kit is Intelligence as “pulling together a disguise” is listed as an Intelligence check in the Player’s Handbook.
Are Rogues Proficient with the Disguise Kit?
Not naturally, no. They’ll have to choose a background that gives them proficiency with the Disguise Kit. They’re only naturally proficient with Thieves’ Tools.
How Long Does the Disguise Kit Last?
As written, the Disguise lasts until you take it off or are otherwise found out.
Conclusion
When put in the right hands, the Disguise Kit is a powerful tool, perhaps even a bit underrated. It mixes well with various classes and races and provides a lot of boons for the people who use it effectively.
As always, it’s essential to remember that efficiency isn’t the only thing and if you would like to have a Disguise Kit, there’s no reason you shouldn’t take one.
Good luck, have fun, and happy questing!
When I’m not writing about RPGs, I’m playing Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, X-Wing miniatures, and many other lovingly-crafted tabletop games with the people I love.
