Morrowind:Chameleon

	Chameleon
School	Illusion
Type	Defensive
Base Cost	1
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Chameleon M% for D seconds

Causes the target to become partially transparent and blend into the background for the duration of the spell. This has three effects:

• If the Magnitude of the Chameleon effect is high enough, no object will be able to spot you under various conditions, seemingly based on Fight rating. 75% Chameleon seems to be sufficient to walk right past hostile NPCs without issue. ^{[verification needed — see talk page]}
• If you are Sneaking, the magnitude of all current Chameleon effects is added to your chance to successfully Sneak (after all other factors, including distance). Note that even if you fail your Sneak Check, the enemy may still fail to notice you due to the first effect.
• If you attempt to talk to an NPC, that NPC might not see you. In this case, they will immediately disengage the conversation and lose 5 Disposition. The chance of this happening is equal to (Chameleon Magnitude - NPC Chance to spot)%
  • This was effectively disabled in Bloodmoon. Unfortunately, the method Bethesda used (filtering it to only occur on a single Bloodmoon NPC and making the changes as modification in ESM instead fixing the problem in patching) means it's very susceptible to accidentally being reintroduced in mods.

Since this is not a true Sneak effect, the target may move at a normal speed. If you are under a Chameleon effect and attempt to talk to an NPC, you will initiate dialogue as normal rather than attempt to pickpocket (unless the NPC cannot see you, as listed above).

Notes

• While Chameleon is listed as a percentage, it mechanically does not work as such.
• Unlike Invisibility, Chameleon effects will not wear off by interacting with objects, talking to NPCs, casting Spells, etc.
• Blind effects can be used in conjunction with Sneaking and Chameleon to further lower the chance that a target will see you. Be warned, however, that a Blind spell is considered a hostile action, so it will initiate combat with any targets you are trying to avoid.
• If you are struggling to speak to an NPC, make sure you are talking from the front and don't use too strong a Chameleon effect.
• Many enemies will flee if they lose sight of you during combat. A Rally or Calm spell may come in handy in these situations.
• Strong Chameleon effects can be used to approach hostile NPCs and initiate conversation before they initiate combat. This allows access to services from NPCs that would normally attack you on sight, such as Qorwynn, the master Enchant trainer. Due to the chance that NPC will not see you and their disposition drop further, it is more effective to use Calm than Chameleon for this purpose. Regardless, it is suggested that you raise the Disposition of any such NPC to a high enough level that they won't attack you again as soon as the spell effect ends.
• Ghost NPCs in the game are transparent because of a special 'Ghost Ability' which is simply a 50% Chameleon effect.

Related Effects

• Invisibility
• Blind