Becoming Desire

Becoming Desire

You have never regarded appearance as something fixed. Cosmetics, clothing, posture, hair, voice and perhaps magic became tools through which you could explore different versions of yourself. What began as fascination with transformation taught you how dramatically presentation can change the way others see you — and sometimes the way you see yourself.

Work with your GM to determine how transformation shaped your life. Perhaps you worked among actors, courtesans, masquerade performers or professional beauticians. You might have studied magical alterations, participated in transformation rites, helped others discover new presentations or spent years perfecting your own. Were your transformations playful experiments, expressions of identity, intimate fantasies, professional necessities or an endless pursuit of the exhilarating moment when the mirror showed someone new?

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Performance

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: A disguise kit, a hand mirror, a collection of cosmetics, a distinctive accessory used in one of your favorite transformations, a set of fine clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: A Different Face

You understand how appearance, posture, grooming and mannerisms work together to create an identity. Given suitable materials and time, you can alter your presentation sufficiently to appear to belong to a different profession, social role or style of life without needing to impersonate a specific individual.

You can also help willing companions alter their presentation. In settlements where cosmetics, wigs, clothing or theatrical supplies are available, you can usually locate merchants, performers or artisans capable of providing mundane materials for a disguise or transformation.

Suggested Characteristics

Those shaped by transformation often become keenly aware of the difference between identity and presentation. Some delight in becoming someone new, while others use transformation to reveal something about themselves that ordinary appearances cannot express.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I rarely look exactly the same two days in a row.
2	I instinctively imagine how everyone I meet might look with a different presentation.
3	Few things excite me more than seeing a transformation finally come together.
4	I collect cosmetics, accessories and techniques everywhere I travel.
5	I become someone slightly different whenever I change my appearance.
6	I compliment unusual appearances enthusiastically and sincerely.
7	I can spend an unreasonable amount of time preparing for an entrance.
8	I am fascinated by people whose bodies can transform naturally or magically.

d6	Ideal
1	Freedom. No one else gets to decide what I should look like. (Chaotic)
2	Expression. Appearance should reveal something chosen, not merely something inherited. (Any)
3	Beauty. Transformation can make the familiar extraordinary. (Any)
4	Discovery. Becoming someone different can teach you who you really are. (Any)
5	Craft. Reinvention deserves the same discipline as any other art. (Lawful)
6	Generosity. Everyone deserves the chance to see themselves as they wish to be seen. (Good)

d6	Bond
1	The person who taught me my first transformation changed my life.
2	I still keep the mirror in which I first saw the person I wanted to become.
3	I once created a new identity to escape my old life, and someone is still searching for that person.
4	I promised to help someone achieve a transformation they have dreamed about for years.
5	One particular transformation became more important to me than I ever expected.
6	I seek a legendary artist, ritual or magic said to make almost any transformation possible.

d6	Flaw
1	I sometimes become more interested in someone’s potential transformation than in the person before me.
2	I spend far too much money on cosmetics, clothing and adornment.
3	When uncomfortable, I change my presentation rather than confront the problem.
4	I find it difficult to leave an intriguing disguise unused.
5	I sometimes forget that other people may not want my suggestions about their appearance.
6	There is one former identity I desperately do not want anyone to connect to me.