I want to create a character that can wear the skin of his victims to infiltrate their ranks. Optimally this would be a robot – a warforged-type character. Is there a way I can go about this using pre-existing D&D rules? I'd like to avoid homebrew, but if there are easy ways of doing that, I'm open to it.
[RPG] Can one wear another creature’s skin as a disguise
disguisednd-5ewarforged
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With the release of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, there is a list on page 73 of dwarven deities and their domains. Berronar Truesilver and Tharmekhûl both have the Light domain. I'll leave my original answer below the break for reference in case future readers wouldn't prefer the two deities listed above.
Dugmaren Brightmantle seems like a good candidate. From the Wikipedia page:
Dugmaren Brightmantle is the dwarf deity of scholarship, discovery, and invention. Dugmaren shares the Dwarven Mountain on the Outlands with Dumathoin and Vergadain. Dugmaren appears as an elderly dwarf with sparkling blue eyes.
His domain isn't strictly light, but those domains are probably more of a suggestion. It could be argued that Light would be a fitting domain for this deity. Discovery, knowledge, and enlightenment go hand-in-hand with light in certain deity systems. Alternatively, Marthammor Duin could be an option since that deity has an affinity for lightning.
Tharmekhûl could be an option as well due to being associated with fire and the light domain has quite a few fire spells.
Source: Dwarf Deities on Wikipedia
You'll be fine
As the DM, you retain full control over the whole game world, including what spells are available and what they do. All you have to do is be honest and upfront with what rules you're changing before hand (and, if possible, why).
That's as easy as saying "Hey everyone. Before we get started, I'd just like to mention that Alex is interested in playing a darkness mage, so I've renamed Fireball to Voidball for Emomage the Wizard. It now engulfs an area with tongues of searing, dark flame. Everyone ok with that?"
This makes it clear that you're slightly tweaking the game and why. This should help clear up any confusion like "Why can't I find this spell in the book?".
The DMG has a few tidbits on changing spells. In particular, there's a section on page 283 called Creating a Spell. It offers some guidelines on damage, consistency with class themes (eg. no healing for Wizards), and tweaking the dice used. The closest it comes to a flavor change you're talking about is in the opening, where it says
When creating a new spell, use existing spells as guidelines.
Guidelines don't get much tighter than "mechanically indistinguishable".
There is some evidence of explicitly reflavoring a spell in the DMG as well. Take a look at page 41 in the Wuxia section.
... spells need only minor flavor changes so that they better reflect such a setting. For example, when the characters use spells or special abilities that teleport them short distances, they actually make high-flying acrobatic leaps. ... Flavorful descriptions of actions in the game don't change the nuts and bolts of the rules, but they make all the difference in the feel of a campaign.
The DMG is very clearly in support of the DM's ability to change this kind of detail to better support the campaign. The kind of change mentioned in the question, flames to dark-flames, is well in line with this kind of change.
The optional source book Tasha's Cauldron of Everything also features a section called Personalizing Spells on page 116, which explicitly supports cosmetic changes such as changing the color of a spell.
Just as every performer lends their art a personal flair and every warrior asserts their fighting styles through the lens of their own training, so too can a spellcaster use magic to express their individuality. Regardless of what type of spellcaster you’re playing, you can customize the cosmetic effects of your character’s spells. Perhaps you wish the effects of your caster’s spells to appear in their favorite color, to suggest the training they received from a celestial mentor, or to exhibit their connection to a season of the year. The possibilities for how you might cosmetically customize your character’s spells are endless. However, such alterations can’t change the effects of a spell. They also can’t make one spell seem like another—you can’t, for example, make a magic missile look like a fireball.
And it continues on page 117:
For example, the fireball of a wizard with a fondness for storms might erupt to look like burning clouds or a burst of red lighting (without affecting the spell's damage type), while the same wizard's haste spell might limn the target in faint thunderheads.
The sidebar notes that Tasha adds spectral chicken legs to her spells (in an effort to amuse her mother).
You may change your mind and decide you do want to change some mechanics, such as the damage type. If you're worried about basically copying an existing spell, then you're probably overthinking it.
Sure, it's true that some damage types are more resisted than others across all monsters in the Monster Manual. Changing a Poison spell to Force can have a big impact in some games.
Fun fact: that's totally irrelevant.
You're running a one-shot, and creating the characters for it as well. This means you have a huge amount of knowledge and control over this situation. You know that if you're setting up the party to fight a bunch of Gnolls and Goblins, the damage type doesn't matter because they have no resistances/immunities/vulnerabilities. On the other hand, if you're setting them up to fight a few Devils, then most of the baddies are immune to Poison. Therefore changing a Poison spell to Force damage would have a large impact on that spell's effectiveness in your game. Fortunately, you know all this in advance and can make an informed decision on it.
So long as you don't change actual mechanics, such as the number of enemies targeted, the range, damage type, etc, any cosmetic change you make will be fine. Even small changes to spell mechanics are not likely to break anything.
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Best Answer
Outside of mechanics, talk to your DM/party about this
As others have noted, there are mechanical ways to fluff existing options to this sort of skinwalking, but I wanted to point out another issue: table viability of the strategy.
Whether or not this is do-able is almost secondary to this issue,. I would heavily recommend that you discuss your plans with your DM and table-mates first before going down this path.
Unless you are all playing in a setting or group that is okay with it, this wearing the skins of the deceased may not fly with your DM or with the other players. It's a pretty bold strategy and definitely says something about your character. Unless everyone is on board with this, it may result in issues at the table.