D&D 5E Spells for a dancing girl? Or, spells with concealable components

[Quartz]

As a thought exercise, which spells should an archmage in the body of a dancing girl prepare?

The set-up is that the evil(?) witch (a diviner wizard) has taken over the body of a girl - she used Dismind and Life Force Exchange from 2e - and is enjoying being young again. So she's being a dancing girl for the evening. In a tavern in a city. And the PCs happen to be in the tavern. And, of course, something will happen. Because she wishes to not attract attention she will have no magic items. For the same reason seduction and other non-PG activities are not on the cards either! She may flirt and tease but nothing more. How the PCs interact with her now will affect future interactions.

Being an archmage she is not stupid. She will have Mind Blank running, with NonDetection prepared as a backup. She will also have several escape spells like Dimension Door and Teleport prepared. Her prepared spells will be primarily protection and escape, but she will also have a few offensive spells just in case. She will also have a heavy cloak with a few spell scrolls stashed inside which she will obviously not be wearing when she is performing.

However, since she will be somewhat scantily clad and thus not have a pouch for spell components, the issue of spell components comes into play. So she will prefer spells that have no components or components that can form part of her attire. For example Shapechange with its jade circlet is a no-brainer of a choice as that could just be part of her attire. Suggestion might seem automatic but the components make it impossible. And while Speak with Plants has no components, it's pretty much useless in this scenario (assuming she'd developed a Wizard version). Which other spells should she prepare?

This is pretty much a thought exercise as it could all be handwaved but the question of spell selection seems to me to make it an interesting thought exercise.

 

[MarkB]

The character could use a rod, orb or crystal as a spellcasting focus to negate the need for material components, if she could incorporate it into her act.

Likewise she could incorporate a spell's somatic components into her dance movements. This should probably be a Deception check opposed by the characters' passive Arcana or Insight check to recognise the nature of the movements.

Does she want to avoid appearing to cast any spells at all, or just to not appear to have Archmage-level magical powers? Something like a minor illusion to provide a sensory effect to accompany her dancing seems like a good way of enhancing her performance - she could be spotlighted in her own illumination, or surrounded by illusory sprites or sparkles that followed her movements.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Look at existing spell components and see if you can incorporate them in a different form. Message, for example, uses a bit of copper wire. There's no reason why she can't be wearing a copper ring that could serve the same purpose.

And tarts! Make sure her act involves tarts! She can stuff tarts in her mouth while holding a feather over herself in case she needs to cast Hideous laughter!!!

 

[Quartz]

Message is a good one. The copper wire could be a bangle or similar. I don't think tarts would work as it's not easy to disguise them - or even carry them around. I suppose a kind GM might allow a pie to be used instead. Animate Objects seems a good utility spell for this scenario. Bestow Curse looks useful. Blur is a nice defensive spell but has the limitation of Concentration.

The components of Chain Lightning can be easily concealed. Chromatic Orb requires a 50 GP diamond which might fit an outfit but would be a target for thieves. Cloudkill could backfire badly in an enclosed space.

There are quite a lot of spells that don't have material components!

 

[77IM]

Wish has no material components and is the ultimate "oh " panic spell. Time stop also has no mats, and could be more useful if you've got good lower-level buffs and escapes prepared. But maybe it would be better to just cast foresight ahead of time since it lasts 8 hours and gives you advantage on literally everything (and attackers have disadvantage against you), and prevents surprise, which is pretty important in this scenario.

The power word spells are verbal-only and might actually make sense for a someone who's not expecting trouble from anyone with very many hit points. Meteor swarm and prismatic spray have no mats, but fail the "trying not to raise attention" criterion. However, dominate monster, dominate person, and mass suggestion are perfect for this caster, if they can disguise the somatic components, because it may be difficult to tell that any magic has even taken place! (Mass suggestion in particular can be detrimental to enemy forces.) Animate objects has no mats, and is a wonderful spell for both damage and crowd-control and could be a good fallback if things do get ugly.

(cheet sheet: https://colinmarc.com/dndspells/ )

 

[Draegn]

Illusion without being an illusion. She could easily have a small spell component bag, one that is strategically placed and decorative while appearing to be nothing more than a little something for her to place the coins tossed her way as tips.

I found this list of spell components. You might pick a few from here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KSibOeWub0_f79GYSnMu7om8kWwog1ob8dRY9LLoDAE/edit#gid=0

 

[Ganders]

There are plenty of of ways around the component issue, so spell selection might not be that big a deal.
When it comes down to it, most spell components are tiny, just a pinch of something. They can be hidden rather than disguised. Maybe even for Suggestion.
As a diviner the spells she casts ahead of time are at least as important as the spells she has prepared, and components don't matter then.
If she's tenth level she can probably see invisible. Maybe she could have a spell focus, or a backpack full of magic items nearby that is currently invisible but could be grabbed in a hurry. Might even have a charmed person concentrating on the invisibility rather than herself.

Some other notes:
Though Dim Door and Teleport make sense for someone who's likely to begin round 1 surrounded, Darkness and Fog Cloud are also fine when not concentrating on something else.
As a diviner, she may have a good idea of what's going to happen, what she needs to do to prepare, and which escape routes will work best. She might know all the PCs' names and what their capabilities are.
Note that Charm Person, with no components and no concentration, can be cast on anyone, not just the PCs... and it isn't even out of place to have adamant fans. She may have a whole audience of white knights ready to defend her before any confrontation even begins.
As an aside... it could be fun to try to retrieve a lock of hair from any attractive PCs during the performance (for later use with Dream to appear in their dreams as either a dancing girl or something very scary).

 

[Quartz]

We do run into the issue of limited high-level spell slots. But the thought exercise is that she's letting her hair down for the evening, but not her guard. So she's already used her 8th level slot on Mind Blank. She doesn't want to be test positive for Detect X. PCs are notoriously twitchy and you never know when a PC is wearing Spectacles of True Seeing or similar. (Mind Blank will stop her from registering but will not stop any magic items from registering.)

As an aside... it could be fun to try to retrieve a lock of hair from any attractive PCs during the performance (for later use with Dream to appear in their dreams as either a dancing girl or something very scary).

Yoink!

 

[Shiroiken]

Have her wear a crystal on an amulet, which she can use for material components. I allow Dex/Slight of Hand to cast spells unobtrusively, so she could pull off casting non-flashy spells with only a little difficulty. I might allow the players an Insight check against that check if she's forced into casting while not in the background.

Also, she might deliberately incorporate simple illusions into her act, claiming that she has a small aptitude for magic (perhaps indicating a low level bard or sorcerer). This might throw people off if she's straightforward about it, rather than hiding it.

 

[Quartz]

Illusion without being an illusion. She could easily have a small spell component bag, one that is strategically placed and decorative while appearing to be nothing more than a little something for her to place the coins tossed her way as tips.

I found this list of spell components. You might pick a few from here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KSibOeWub0_f79GYSnMu7om8kWwog1ob8dRY9LLoDAE/edit#gid=0

I've already mentioned a few, but there seem to be some good ones I didn't:

Feeblemind - she could have a bracelet of shiny stones. Done right, the effects might not even be noticed until she's gone.
Unseen Servant - a little bit of wood should be readily available.
Invulnerability - a piece of adamant could be easily concealed.
Longstrider, Dust Devil, Sleet Storm, Ice Storm, and Disintegrate - dust or dirt which are readily available and not needed to be carried.
Fly, Foresight, Fear, and Wind Wall - feathers, particularly hummingbird feathers.
Grease and Insect Plague - grease or fat should be readily available without being carried.