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Hat of Disguise 5e: Disguise Self at Will and How to See Through It
A Hat of Disguise is an uncommon wondrous item that requires attunement and lets the wearer cast Disguise Self with no limit on uses. Each casting takes an action, lasts up to 1 hour, needs no spell slot or components, and ends the moment the hat comes off. The illusion changes how you look, not how you sound or feel. The verdict: a strong pick for a character who can't already cast the spell and plays in towns and courts, and a convenience for one who can.
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Hat of Disguise Rules Text
2014 (SRD 5.1) first, then 2024 (SRD 5.2.1).
Hat of Disguise
2014 rules
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
UncommonRequires attunement
While wearing this hat, you can use an action to cast the disguise self spell from it at will. The spell ends if the hat is removed.
The hat itself is one line. Everything it does comes from the spell and from the SRD's general rules for casting spells from items.
How the Hat of Disguise Works
Casting the spell from the hat
Both SRDs say a spell cast from an item is cast at its lowest level, uses none of your spell slots and needs no components unless the item says otherwise. The spell keeps its normal casting time and duration. For Disguise Self that means:
•Casting time: an action. The 2014 hat says so directly; in 2024, casting a spell with a casting time of an action is the Magic action.
•No components: you can cast it while gagged, with your hands tied, or inside a Silence area.
•Duration: 1 hour, no concentration. Cast it again when it runs out.
•Uses: the 2014 hat says "at will". The 2024 hat names no limit and has no charges, so it works the same way.
What the illusion can do
You, your clothes, armor, weapons and everything else on your person look different. You can seem up to 1 foot shorter or taller and look heavier or lighter, but you keep the same basic arrangement of limbs, so a human can pass as an elf or a different human, not as a horse. Since the illusion covers your belongings, the hat can look like a helmet, a hood or nothing at all.
It's purely visual. Your voice, your smell and the feel of your body don't change. Anyone who touches the illusion feels what's really there: the spell's own example is a fake hat that hands pass straight through.
Seeing through it
A creature that suspects something can inspect you (an action in 2014, the Study action in 2024) and make an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. Physical contact gives you away regardless of the check.
The hat doesn't give a save DC, and neither SRD sets one for an item that doesn't call for your own spellcasting ability. DM ruling: a wearer with a spellcasting feature uses their spell save DC. A wearer without one uses 8 + their proficiency bonus, following the SRD's rule that a non-caster using an item that needs a spellcasting ability has a +0 modifier and adds their proficiency bonus.
Ending it
Taking the hat off ends the spell. In 2014 you can also dismiss the disguise with an action, as the spell says. In 2024, a caster can dismiss any spell with a time-span duration at no action cost, as long as they aren't Incapacitated, so dropping the disguise is free.
Hat of Disguise: 2014 vs 2024
2014 (SRD 5.1)
2024 (SRD 5.2.1)
Rarity / attunement
Uncommon, requires attunement
Uncommon, requires attunement
Casting
An action, at will
Cast Disguise Self (Magic action), no limit given
Spell ends
Hat removed, or you dismiss it with an action
Hat removed, or you dismiss it with no action
Spotting the disguise
Action to inspect, Investigation vs spell save DC
Study action, Investigation vs spell save DC
Body options
Thin, fat or in between, same body type
Heavier or lighter, same arrangement of limbs
Value
No price in the SRD
400 GP (uncommon)
What this means at the table: very little changes. The 2024 hat drops the explicit "at will" but adds no limit, and the free dismissal makes it slightly easier to drop a disguise mid-scene.
Who Should Use a Hat of Disguise?
Characters who can't cast Disguise Self. Fighters, rogues, paladins and clerics get a 1st-level illusion they'd otherwise never have, every hour of the day. In an intrigue or city campaign, that's worth an attunement slot.
Bards, sorcerers and wizards can already learn the spell. For them the hat saves a spell slot per casting and a spell known or prepared. That's a real but smaller gain, and they may want the slot for something else.
What it competes with: an uncommon attunement slot that could hold a Cloak of Protection (+1 AC and saves) or a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power. For a character who spends half the campaign in disguise, the hat wins. In a dungeon crawl it does almost nothing.
When it's a trap: when the plan depends on fooling someone who will touch you, hear you or study you closely. A strong Investigation check sees through the disguise, and anyone who shakes your hand feels what's really there.
Hat of Disguise for DMs
What it changes. Every guarded door and social checkpoint now has a second answer. Plan for it: guards who know each other by voice, passwords, or a sharp-eyed sergeant who takes the Study action at the gate.
Pricing. The 2024 SRD values uncommon items at 400 GP. The 2014 SRD gives no prices. The magic item rarity calculator helps if you need to place it.
Hooks.
•A spy is caught wearing a Hat of Disguise, and nobody knows whose face she's been using. The party has to work out which of her disguises was real.
•A noble hires the party to find a stolen hat. It was stolen by her own steward, who has been her for the last month.
•A doppelganger has no use for the hat, but it sells them to people who do, and it remembers every face its customers chose.
Which disguise a character wore, and who saw through it, tends to get muddled between sessions. Loreify records your game and keeps it in the recap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Hat of Disguise require attunement?
Yes, in both editions. It's an uncommon wondrous item that requires attunement.
How many times can you use a Hat of Disguise?
As often as you like. The 2014 hat casts Disguise Self at will, and the 2024 hat has no charges or limit. Each casting lasts up to 1 hour.
Can the Hat of Disguise change your voice?
No. Disguise Self only changes how you look. Your voice, scent and the feel of your body stay the same.
What is the DC to see through a Hat of Disguise?
An Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. The hat gives no DC of its own; we suggest your spell save DC if you have one, or 8 + your proficiency bonus if you don't.
How much is a Hat of Disguise worth?
400 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value of an uncommon magic item. The 2014 SRD gives no prices.
Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.