Outfit, Elegant Clothes

• Cost: 250 gp
• Weight: 11 lbs.

Elegant clothing consists of the finest fashion that the greatest tailors in the land are capable of offering to their exclusive clientele. Elegant clothes are the cladding of the social elite — the noblemen, the most successful merchants, and the longest-lived crime bosses. Characters wishing to swirl cocktails and exchange pleasantries with the bluebloods of the land must wrap themselves in its customs first, beginning with a great set of clothing.

Elegant clothes are created from the very best fabrics, fastened with threads of ambergold or argent. Cuprium is spread onto linings and tiny peacemetal sequins adorn the folds and sweeps of these artistic works. Lesser enchantments sculpt the form of the wearer into a more perfect version of themselves, while the very ideas of elegance, whimsy, or supremacy are projected magically into the minds of those who look upon you. Exotic furs taken from the rarest of beasts from the furthest lands trim the edges of each piece, and each shadow is carefully calculated to suggest that even more opulence is nearby, if only the light of the world were brave enough to show it.

Elegant clothing provides a +2 circumstance bonus to a single Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive check you make with anyone of lesser, middle, or Upper Nobility|upper noble lifestyles, if this is the first time they have seen you wear this particular outfit. Furthermore, elegant clothing is the only clothing that nobles and the elite accept as 'normal'. Even a brunch or a brief meeting for tea might necessitate a new outfit, for those wishing to play the great game of houses.

While elegant clothing offers no penalties when worn in lower-class neighborhoods, you had best have quite a few guards with you if you venture into the bad parts of town dressed like this. Entire neighborhoods could eat for a month by pawning these clothes, assuming there's not too much blood on them.

Many tailors have realized that noblemen and wealthy merchants rarely wear the same outfit more than once or twice, and as a result, they construct these outfits with more delicate fabrics, or intricate, if fragile, stitching. While the tailors are by no means skimping on the quality of the clothes, they are focusing their efforts on improving the clothes' appearance, instead of spending time reinforcing seams, padding areas of high wear, or allowing for broader ranges of motion. If the wearer looks great, they'll come purchase more clothing. If the embroidery frays, stitching comes loose, or seams pull apart after wearing it a few times, well, the clientele they seek would never know, since they'll have long since thrown it away in favor of something new.

• Crafting: Profession (Tailor) (DC 52)