D&D 5E (2014) See Invisibility: awareness of Invisibility

[DEFCON 1]

What better way to make players use a barely-used spell even less often than to make it even more of a hassle to use effectively. That is certainly a choice!

Let's all figure out ways to cripple the usage of Detect Poison while we're at it, LOL!

 

[CleverNickName]

I remember one of my players rolling his eyes when his see invisible spell wouldn't let him perceive ethereal monsters. (They were fighting a ghost.)

"Why do you need so many different ways to @#%$& us over?" he asked, sarcastically. "If you don't want us to see your monsters, fine, but why make us waste our time with stuff like darkvision and blindsight and see invisible?"

Twenty years later and I still don't have a good answer for that.

 

[Mannahnin]

I remember one of my players rolling his eyes when his see invisible spell wouldn't let him perceive ethereal monsters. (They were fighting a ghost.)

"Why do you need so many different ways to @#%$& us over?" he asked, sarcastically. "If you don't want us to see your monsters, fine, but why make us waste our time with stuff like darkvision and blindsight and see invisible?"

Twenty years later and I still don't have a good answer for that.

Which edition was that? I remember (and just double-checked) that in 3rd See Invisibility explicitly did let you see ethereal creatures, just as Detect Invisibility did in AD&D.

 

[CleverNickName]

Which edition was that? I remember (and just double-checked) that in 3rd See Invisibility explicitly did let you see ethereal creatures, just as Detect Invisibility did in AD&D.

I don't remember, I thought it was 3E but it was a while ago...it's possible it was 5E and my timeframe is off? I just remember my players were really salty about how some monsters have "super-invisibility" now and it wasn't worth trying to circumvent it.

"Don't bother casting it (True Seeing) because the next monster will be invisible and super-invisible and hiding," he groaned.

They clearly weren't having fun.

 

[Bae'zel]

Haha I just realized a very Lovecraftian side effect of “See invisibility” powers: suddenly the Pc can see ALL of the things that float around in our dimension without normally being seen. Including extra-planar monsters that normally can’t perceive US… until we can see them. Suddenly that PC is going crazy “they’re all around us, man!” Sure thing buddy, chill out. Bwah hah hah gonna use that next campaign.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I'd go with the "shimmering aura" or just knowing the thing they see is invisible.

If the GM tried to cheese it with "hey, why would you warn about this guy, to you he appears as if he were visible?" I'd try to out-cheese him and say "Well, technically See Invisibility allow me to see creatures and objects that have the Invisible condition, and Invisibility grants the Invisible condition to a creature, not the worn objects, who become invisible as part of the spell but don't get the Invisible condition themselves. Therefore, it is obvious that the rule intended that I can't see that this wizard is seen thanks to the spell, but also that I only see the creature as if he were visible, and not his gear. And I make the habit on commenting on any naked wizard standing in the room." And I hope we'd agree that we should tone down the cheese at this point.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think DMs who try to play gotcha with the See Invisibility spell are the kinds of people rushing to yell “You didn’t say UNO!” before the player has even laid down the card.

 

[Bae'zel]

I think DMs who try to play gotcha with the See Invisibility spell are the kinds of people rushing to yell “You didn’t say UNO!” before the player has even laid down the card.

If you're responding to my post, I think you've gotten the wrong idea about me.

I guess my point was; in a high-magic fantasy world where invisibility is a common spell, you'd wonder what else is actually invisible out there.

Wouldn't it be funny if the caster of "see invisibility" sees other things too? Like, there's a ghost up on that tower. A goofy-looking wizard sneaking out of a tavern. Or they notice that a Pixie has been following them.

I guess all I meant was that there's a lot of potential for comedy, hijinks or horror, depending on your campaign.

edit: and if you WERE casting judgment upon me, it's sad how ubiquitous it is to take forum posts in bad faith, and yes, I see the irony in me posting this, making assumptions about YOUR post.

 

[aco175]

The OP is already bringing in meta knowledge when the DM tells him that he can see 5 wizards and he knows the rest of the party can see only 4. He then comes up with saying, "Oh 5 wizards must be a convention". To go around the circle and play games like this for a basic spell that does not even deal damage is wrong to me.

I think that the spell allows you to see some sort of aura around the person letting you know that the invisibility is active. Kind of steps on using this with detect magic, but I'm ok with that.

 

[TiQuinn]

If you're responding to my post, I think you've gotten the wrong idea about me.

I guess my point was; in a high-magic fantasy world where invisibility is a common spell, you'd wonder what else is actually invisible out there.

Wouldn't it be funny if the caster of "see invisibility" sees other things too? Like, there's a ghost up on that tower. A goofy-looking wizard sneaking out of a tavern. Or they notice that a Pixie has been following them.

I guess all I meant was that there's a lot of potential for comedy, hijinks or horror, depending on your campaign.

edit: and if you WERE casting judgment upon me, it's sad how ubiquitous it is to take forum posts in bad faith, and yes, I see the irony in me posting this, making assumptions about YOUR post.

No? I went back to the original post and read some of the other comments. I wasn’t responding to you specifically. I actually think your interpretation broadens the use of the spell and that just makes it a better game. I think it’s an underused spell as it is.

I still remember a DM at a game store who told me how he liked to play mind games with players of the kind where if they don’t say they dismount their horse before entering a tavern, they bump their head on the door jam and crap like that.