protection from True Seeing?

[blargney the second]

My changeling rogue did a few things to avoid having his cover blown:
1) Maxed out Disguise bonus.
2) Changeling rogue substitution level allows taking 10 on social skills (Races of Eberron).
3) Took 1 level in Vigilant Sentinel for permanent nondetection (PrC from Magic of Eberron, DM permitted adaptation for non-elves).

Presto! It's not foolproof, but at least it's a fighting chance against true seeing and its ilk.
-blarg

 

[blargney the second]

You could argue that Nondection works against True Seeing. It's a real stretch however, especially as True Seeing is of a higher level.

It's not a stretch - it's just how the spells interact. That's the entire purpose of nondetection.

 

[MarkB]

True Seeing has a limited duration (unless your opponent is an Erinyes or similar), and is both fairly high level and costly to cast, so the best way to defeat it is to provoke the subjects of your con into casting it early, before there's anything out of place to see.

 

[Nail]

For a campaign villain like that, I'm thinking of creating a special magic item impeding the effects of true seeing. I couldn't find another way to deal with it.

This is generally a bad idea.

The players have to be able to get the facts that allow them to figure out the trick. If one of the facts ("there is a DM-made custom item that makes True Seeing useless!") is not available to them, they'll have no way of figuring things out.

In addition, making such a custom item is just lazy (and ultimately unsatisfying) DMing. It's easy enough to Rule Zero whatever you'd like and say "that doesn't work". Far better to work out a clever way that it doesn't work that relies on established RAW and your campaign structure.

 

[Henry]

The caster would cast the spell (which has a duration of 1day/level) and then have to remain in their current form for 24 hours before the spell took effect (so it's only really usable by shapechangers).

After 24hrs, True Seeing sees their current form as their true form for the remainder of the spell. Changing form ends the spell.

Cloak of Khyber! Thank you for reminding me of it, because a major NPC had it running for the length of a whole Eberron campaign I ran, and the PCs never noticed.

 

[Salthorae]

Cloak of Khyber! Thank you for reminding me of it, because a major NPC had it running for the length of a whole Eberron campaign I ran, and the PCs never noticed.

Does anyone know the # of the Dragon this is in? Is it in the Dragon/Spell Conpendiums?

 

[Pyrex]

According to Crystal Keep it's on page 59 of Dragon 337.

 

[Bagpuss]

It's not a stretch - it's just how the spells interact. That's the entire purpose of nondetection.

Oh well in that case an "Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location" would work against True Seeing only it's 35,000gp.

If cash is an issue then a Potion of Nondetection is 750gp and last 5 hours, how long is the Con going to take?

Actually come to think of it I've seen a villain in WotC adventure use this to avoid detection of it's true nature.

 

[occam]

This is generally a bad idea.

The players have to be able to get the facts that allow them to figure out the trick. If one of the facts ("there is a DM-made custom item that makes True Seeing useless!") is not available to them, they'll have no way of figuring things out.

In addition, making such a custom item is just lazy (and ultimately unsatisfying) DMing. It's easy enough to Rule Zero whatever you'd like and say "that doesn't work". Far better to work out a clever way that it doesn't work that relies on established RAW and your campaign structure.

The problem is that it otherwise doesn't make sense in the campaign world. The premise is that of a shapechanged/polymorphed/alternate-formed inhuman monster in a very public position of long-term influence. (Any number of creatures could fill that role.) Assuming that such a premise isn't impossible in D&D, how else does such a character hobnobbing with high-level royal advisers, court wizards, high priests, and the like avoid eventual discovery? If there's another way out of it, I'd like to know.

Personally, I don't feel like the creation of a custom magic item to protect a secret identity in that situation is the problem. I would submit that the absence of an existing such item, and the general indefensibility against true seeing, are the real problems.

 

[Bagpuss]

I thought we just established True Seeing is stopped by Nondetection.

Nondetection stops divination magic used against the target, True Seeing is a divination, ergo Nondetection stops True Seeing.