Snuffer’s Mirror (A Spell to Change your Face)

Many dedicated wizards can take on at least one animal form. A change of appearance while retaining human shape, however, requires this difficult spell. Because of the potential for abuse, many governments heavily restrict access to knowledge of how to work this magic, and magi of the Order are generally happy to cooperate. Field agents of the Slakiv imperial court, in contrast, can almost always expect to be given access and even special training in its use. The magician must capture the image of someone’s face in a reflective surface that was prepared beforehand using the first part of the spell. After this, anyone in possession of the mirror may use the second part to change their own face to match the appearance it reflected, for a time. It is said that an advanced version of the spell uses a full-length mirror and allows more than just one’s face to be changed.

The mirror-preparation has a base difficulty of d12, and requires three each of fatigue and strain. Using an enchanted mirror reduces the difficulty by one step. The face-changing spell has a base difficulty of d8. It takes its toll in the form of one strain each time a new face is assumed, but if it is maintained for extended periods of time, a foreign face will have a cumulative cost, about every hour, of additional strain equal to the number of hours (i.e. the fourth hour will cost four strain). Swapping faces with a willing partner, rather than copying the face of a potentially unaware or unwilling victim, reduces the difficulty by two steps. Changing one’s face for exactly 24 hours without any strain beyond the initial point increases the difficulty by two steps.

There exists a full-body version, but it requires a full-length mirror, increases all difficulties by a step, and doubles all costs.