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Invisibility and Mud


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From the SRD

From the SRD description of the Invisibility spell:

"Items dropped or put down by an invisible creature become visible; items picked up disappear if tucked into the clothing or pouches worn by the creature. Light, however, never becomes invisible, although a source of light can become so (thus, the effect is that of a light with no visible source). Any part of an item that the subject carries but that extends more than 10 feet from it becomes visible, such as a trailing rope.

Of course, the subject is not magically silenced, and certain other conditions can render the recipient detectable (such as stepping in a puddle). "

If light from a lantern or a trailing rope gives away an invisible character, muddy footprints would do the same.

Now you just need to find someone with Invisibility stupid enough to go wading through a mudhole.
 

Invisible Mud

Yes, the new way of handling Invisibility is weird, but I suspect I know why it was changed! ;)

Yes, mud (or flower, or pepper, or paint...) would give away the invisible one. Yes, if Invisibility was recast while "wearing" the mud it would become invisible, too (at least until it fell off)!

In the good old days, you and anything you held/picked up became invisible, until you put it down (when it appeared). Thus, a Thief could walk in, invisible, pick up an item, and it would disappear. He could then walk out with an entire chest of treasure, as long as he didn't bump into anything/one and made his Move Silently rolls!

The new system prevents such abuses. It also harkens back to an ancient episode of Johnny Quest, where the invisible spider-thang gets coated in red paint! :p :D
 

Here's a fun one to think about.

Invisible archer pulls an arrow out of his quiver. Does the arrow immediately become visible (no longer tucked in), does it become visible the moment he fires (so that it's no longer in contact), or does it become visible once it's gone 10' away?

If I have a string tied to the arrow and hold onto the string until the arrow has flown a ways, does the answer change?
 

Spatzimaus said:
Here's a fun one to think about.

Invisible archer pulls an arrow out of his quiver. Does the arrow immediately become visible (no longer tucked in), does it become visible the moment he fires (so that it's no longer in contact), or does it become visible once it's gone 10' away?

If I have a string tied to the arrow and hold onto the string until the arrow has flown a ways, does the answer change?

Are you shooting at an adversary? If so then the weapon does not matter you become visible the instant you attack.
 

Re: Invisible Mud

Excuse me, but in the 'Good Old Days' the exact same rule applied to Invisibility as the current rule. Items have only turned invisible if you are holding them when the spell was cast or you hid them in your clothing.

Steverooo said:
Yes, the new way of handling Invisibility is weird, but I suspect I know why it was changed! ;)

Yes, mud (or flower, or pepper, or paint...) would give away the invisible one. Yes, if Invisibility was recast while "wearing" the mud it would become invisible, too (at least until it fell off)!

In the good old days, you and anything you held/picked up became invisible, until you put it down (when it appeared). Thus, a Thief could walk in, invisible, pick up an item, and it would disappear. He could then walk out with an entire chest of treasure, as long as he didn't bump into anything/one and made his Move Silently rolls!

The new system prevents such abuses. It also harkens back to an ancient episode of Johnny Quest, where the invisible spider-thang gets coated in red paint! :p :D
 

My gaming group had an interesting expirience similar to this...

For some reason that I can't remember, me and my party were locked up and the cleric turned the floor to mud, i scooped some into a bag, incase we broke out and I needed a distraction (first campaign, thought I could blind people with it).

Well, we eventually escape, but I had forgotten my mud, so i just carried it around, always meaning to drop it "one of these days".

About 5 levels later, our party comes across an invisible stalker. None of us can see it and no one can make it been seen with spells, it's be apparent soon that we'll all be dead, so I turn to my equipment page to see what I can use.

Lo and behold! that bag of mud was at the very bottom of the list. Since it'd had been with me for several months, I thought it would be a fine powder. So I throw it all around, creating a faint outline of the creature (not totally negating it's invis, but still giving us something to work with).

To this day, I still recall this little adventure and try to thing on similar lines of thought, think outside the box, etc.


This probably doesn't pertain to the topic too much, but thought I'd post it anyway.
 

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