Change Self

D&D 3.0 Legacy Rules

You alter the apparent look of yourself, clothing, armour, weapons and carried equipment. You can appear roughly a foot shorter or taller, heavier or thinner, or like another generally humanoid person, but the spell does not grant the abilities or mannerisms of the chosen appearance.

Objects still function as their real forms: a battleaxe disguised as a dagger remains a battleaxe. When used to create a disguise, the original spell granted a +10 bonus on the Disguise check. A creature interacting with the illusion could make the edition’s normal disbelief save.

What Changed?

• Change Self is specifically a D&D 3.0 spell name.
• D&D 3.5e and Pathfinder use Disguise Self instead.
• Fifth-edition disguise spells use different mechanics and should be read from their own edition pages.

Using Change Self in Play

Change Self is best treated as legacy disguise magic: useful for infiltration, misdirection and passing as another humanoid type, but not a source of new combat abilities. The disguise works best when clothing, voice, mannerisms and background knowledge support the altered appearance.

Counterplay and Related Magic

The legacy effect changes appearance rather than identity, memories or behaviour. Later editions replaced this spell with Disguise Self and broader transformation magic such as Alter Self.