D&D 5E How would you rule on this Dispell Magic?

Elon Tusk · Aug 31, 2017

Situation:
A player is wearing magic armor that turns him invisible (DM describes "as the spell").
He grabs a wand, and his Pixie familiar casts Fly on him.
So he dashes 120' up a stairwell, passed the other players who only see a flying wand (player failed roll to see if wand would turn invisible), out of the dungeon, and 50' into the air and out of the other players' sight.
A PC wizard (one that the wand just fly by) casts Dispell Magic to stop it.
Dispell Magic says, "Choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends."
Both Fly and Invisibility are 3rd or lower.

If you were DM, what would happen?

KahlessNestor · Aug 31, 2017

He cast on the wand? Nothing happens. The wand doesn't have magic on it.

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aco175 · Aug 31, 2017

2 ways I see here. First is that "to try to stop it" may assume that he thinks the wand is flying somehow and dispel is cast on the wand itself. This would fail since the wand is just being carried. Second, which I may do, is to allow an Arcana check to see if the wizard can think that an invisible something is carrying the wand. He can figure out that the wand is more hopping up as the invisible person's arm swings rather than just fly which would be more linear.

Another thought is that something grabbed and placed inside my cloak while I am invisible would now turn invisible while under my cloak.

jasper · Aug 31, 2017

I think Aco175 and KahlessNestor are missing the point.
Fly or invisible. With no other input from the caster, 1d6 odd fly, even invisible. But since I think the pc caster saw the wand flying by, I would be nice and target the fly spell.

FrogReaver · Aug 31, 2017

Elon Tusk said:
Situation:
A player is wearing magic armor that turns him invisible (DM describes "as the spell").
He grabs a wand, and his Pixie familiar casts Fly on him.
So he dashes 120' up a stairwell, passed the other players who only see a flying wand (player failed roll to see if wand would turn invisible), out of the dungeon, and 50' into the air and out of the other players' sight.
A PC wizard (one that the wand just fly by) casts Dispell Magic to stop it.
Dispell Magic says, "Choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends."
Both Fly and Invisibility are 3rd or lower.

If you were DM, what would happen?

I would ask the pic wizard what the target of his dispel is. If he chose the wand then nothing happens. If he chooses the creature holding onto the wand then all effects are dispelled.

i would have made the pc wizard aware of the creature holding the wand as that creature wasn't trying to hide as evidenced by its dashing.

Fanaelialae · Aug 31, 2017

He can't see the wizard (only the wand the wizard is holding) so it is questionable whether he can target the character.

If he can't, then nothing happens (No target).

If he can, then both spells are automatically dispelled (because both are 3rd level or lower).

Edit: I would probably rule that the dispel fails, which is keeping with RAW. However, if the players agreed that an invisible creature carrying a visible item ought to be targetable, I'd be fine with ruling that it's allowed.

lowkey13 · Aug 31, 2017

*Deleted by user*

Tormyr · Aug 31, 2017

First of all, the wand should have been invisible as well. From invisibility: " Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target’s person." There is no restriction on what the target is carrying or whether it was on the target when the spell was cast.

Second, what other people have said about the target in this case holds true. The wand does not have any active magic to dispel.

Third, what others have said about dispel magic working on every spell on a target is true. If someone could see the invisible PC, they could have cancelled out both fly and invisibility.

For what it's worth, I have a house rule that extends the use of dispel magic to include each spell the target is concentrating on as well. So dispel magic could be cast on the pixie to knock out the fly spell. It also provides another way around banishment and maze.

Hawk Diesel · Aug 31, 2017

I guess I'm looking at this from a different perspective, but why are two player characters doing this? What reason does the first player have to get by the other players invisible with this wand, and for what reason would the other player see a flying wand and their first thought isn't "Is that a flying stick bug? I didn't think they could fly..."?

For me, if players are casting spells against each other, I think it is more fun to have them talk and determine what they think is more fun for the story, and if they disagree as DM I would just roll a percentile (35% player one choice, 35% player 2 choice, 30% random result determined by my favorite DM tool, Story Dice).

In my head this is a moment that should be less handled by mechanics, and more by the rule of cool and player interaction. But I also really have a problem with a wizard seeing a flying stick that could be anything and assuming (without an arcana+perception check or detect magic being active) that clearly it is a wand.

Elon Tusk · Aug 31, 2017

Tormyr said:
First of all, the wand should have been invisible as well. From invisibility: " Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target’s person." There is no restriction on what the target is carrying or whether it was on the target when the spell was cast.

Except specific beats general. DM ruled wand had chance to not turn invisible that failed.

Tormyr said:
The wand does not have any active magic to dispel.

I don't think anyone disagrees.

Tormyr said:
Third, what others have said about dispel magic working on every spell on a target is true. If someone could see the invisible PC, they could have cancelled out both fly and invisibility.

Yes, if it worked, both fly and invisibility would be dispelled.
Nothing says the wizard can see the invisible flyer.
Did Sage Advice rule the target must be perceived or seen? There is a difference.

Tormyr said:
For what it's worth, I have a house rule that extends the use of dispel magic to include each spell the target is concentrating on as well. So dispel magic could be cast on the pixie to knock out the fly spell.

It doesn't seem the dispelling wizard would have known about the tiny pixie down the ladder.

D&D 5E How would you rule on this Dispell Magic?

Elon Tusk

Explorer

KahlessNestor

Adventurer

aco175

Legend

jasper

Rotten DM

FrogReaver

As long as i get to be the frog

Fanaelialae

Legend

lowkey13

Guest

Tormyr

Adventurer

Hawk Diesel

Adventurer

Elon Tusk

Explorer

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