D&D 5E (2024) Arcane Eye?

[Tigris]

The imp's another problem. It has pros and cons re: the eye. The eye is more limited in where it can reach, but is less easily detected- the imp can reach more areas, and do additional things, but could be more easily caught or killed.

They're both good scouting tools, but one is available within the first few levels of play, and the other at level 7.

But with the 5.5 chain warlock you can resummon the imp at will.

Also why is the eye less easily detected? The imp can be invisible as well (or a spider) and has more senses not just sight and as yous aid can be used from low levels.


Thats why I dont see this spell as a problem. Its quite specific

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

dont want to metagame to heavily eg every dungeon is built from force and airtight doors

Most doors hould not have any gaps that arcane eye can fit through. A one-inch diameter hole is a pretty big hole - keyholes, air gaps under doors, etc should not qualify. The door would need to be physically opened by someone, so at most they could scout one room at a time (and if that room is occupied, they'd probably notice the door opening a crack!)

Or if the player wants to search for secret doors. In every room.

This sounds like a job for passive perception! Also - most secret doors should require some sort of physical interaction to get open. Knowing something is there doesn't solve the puzzle.

 

[Distracted DM]

But with the 5.5 chain warlock you can resummon the imp at will.

Also why is the eye less easily detected? The imp can be invisible as well (or a spider) and has more senses not just sight and as yous aid can be used from low levels.


Thats why I dont see this spell as a problem. Its quite specific

Re: 5.5e, while it may be "at will" it still takes an hour to cast. That's a lot of time sitting around doing nothing, and you're casting the spell so you can't even short rest with that time (which is probably what the rest of your party will be doing for that hour).

Re: this specific problem.. yeah it's OP's specific issue, and we're trying to help them with it.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

Re: 5.5e, while it may be "at will" it still takes an hour to cast. That's a lot of time sitting around doing nothing, and you're casting the spell so you can't even short rest with that time (which is probably what the rest of your party will be doing for that hour).

That's not true for a warlock. Pact of the chain in 2024 (which is the way to get an imp familiar) says:

You learn the Find Familiar spell and can cast it as a Magic action without expending a spell slot.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Also why is the eye less easily detected?

The eye can be assumed to be silent and odourless as well as invisible. Pretty sure a regular guard dog would detect an invisible imp.

 

[Distracted DM]

That's not true for a warlock. Pact of the chain in 2024 (which is the way to get an imp familiar) says:

And if you look at the rule for Magic Action:

When you take the Magic action, you cast a spell that has a casting time of an action or use a feature or magic item that requires a Magic action to be activated.
If you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 minute or longer, you must take the Magic action on each turn of that casting, and you must maintain Concentration while you do so. If your Concentration is broken, the spell fails, but you don’t expend a spell slot. See also “Concentration.”

This has been bandied about the 'net since 2024 was released, I'm not claiming that this interpretation is correct, but it's what I use because the other interpretation is IMO busted and relies on 5e assumptions on what an action is, not 5.5e's own rules.

 

[Tigris]

And if you look at the rule for Magic Action:


This has been bandied about the 'net since 2024 was released, I'm not claiming that this interpretation is correct, but it's what I use because the other interpretation is IMO busted and relies on 5e assumptions on what an action is, not 5.5e's own rules.

Well it says you can cast it as a magic action. And this here just explains how you can cast a spell which has a longer cast time.

I agree its not 100% clear. We play it as a single magic action, since nothing about cast time is written.

The eye can be assumed to be silent and odourless as well as invisible. Pretty sure a regular guard dog would detect an invisible imp.

Ok this is just houserule though. Its nowhere written that the eye is silent and odourless and the imp has actually a stealth score of +5 which the eye does not have. Ans having 130 ft darkvision means it does not need to go as close to see things.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Its nowhere written

There are a great many things that are now written in the rules that the DM has to to make a judgment on. Why do you think a magic eye would have a smell? Fiends, obviously, smell of brimstone.

The imp has a stealth skill so it can try and sneak past a dog. The eye doesn't need to make a check because the dog has no means of detecting it.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

And if you look at the rule for Magic Action:


This has been bandied about the 'net since 2024 was released, I'm not claiming that this interpretation is correct, but it's what I use because the other interpretation is IMO busted and relies on 5e assumptions on what an action is, not 5.5e's own rules.

The warlock invocation says you can cast it as a magic action, which means one not multiple magic actions. I think it's clear and everyone I've encountered IRL rules it that way, so I'm not going to lose sleep over oddball internet interpretations.

 

[Tigris]

There are a great many things that are now written in the rules that the DM has to to make a judgment on. Why do you think a magic eye would have a smell? Fiends, obviously, smell of brimstone.

The imp has a stealth skill so it can try and sneak past a dog. The eye doesn't need to make a check because the dog has no means of detecting it.

In an ideal world GMs dont need to make judgment calls, but 5e is especially bad at making this possible...


If the spell does not write "cant be otherwise conceived" which would be easy then I dont know why one should assume that.


Eyes have smell. Why make it an eye and not just an invisible sphere of pure magic if it should not have properties of an eye?


In the end both options are for scouting and trying to create a dungeon such that scouting magic does not work in my eyes is just silly / oppressive GM behaviour.