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

[aco175]

You can also have some components placed or hidden around the room ahead of time. It may be interesting to have her move to a table to open a false knob on a chair to retrieve something.

 

[Mad_Jack]

From a cinematic perspective, as mentioned earlier there are a number of material components readily available in a tavern or inn that she could pick up or touch during her act to cast a spell unobtrusively - grease, fat, salt, other edible items, possibly plants, etc. could be taken from a plate as she passed a table or plucked from a flowerpot, either palmed secretly or done in plain sight as part of the act.
Any sort of metallic/mineral component or gem could easily be sewn into or glued onto the costume without being visible to observers, as could a tiny bit of fur or even a bit of bone. Feathers could be worn in her hair, as could flowers, which could conceal other less flashy bits of vegetation like a small leaf or sprig of something.

It would make for a great scene to eventually have one of the party members discover some lost or discarded piece of the costume, and upon closer inspection notice all the odd things sewn into the lining: a scarf with small metal bits sewn into the end to give it some weight (so it swings better when moving) wouldn't be out of place for a dancer, but the fact that the weights are each made of a different metal - some common, some rare - would be.


Now, on the other hand, other components like a live spider or a bit of bat crap are going to be a whole different story, and pretty hard to explain, lol.

 

[Pauln6]

There was a Houuri class for 1e many years ago that might give inspiration for the theme you are looking for. I'm sure you can find a spell list somewhere. I don't know if there is enough meat on the bones to draft it as a variation on the Arcane Trickster chassis.

 

[Quartz]

There was a Houuri class for 1e many years ago that might give inspiration for the theme you are looking for.

This is really a thought experiment: a powerful mage out for a night on the town. If I wanted a seductress, I think I might still have the copy of White Dwarf or Dragon in which the Houri first appeared. I do have a copy of the Dragon with the original (pre-AD&D and definitely not PG) Witch class.

I would have thought that any wizard worth their salt would give some weight to spells that are castable in a scrape or in extremis and thus might not require or have easily concealable components.

 

[Quartz]

You can also have some components placed or hidden around the room ahead of time. It may be interesting to have her move to a table to open a false knob on a chair to retrieve something.

That's a bit of a different scenario, but actually a useful one: consider a wizard entertaining a party of guests in his home and wanting easy access to components and items in case of trouble.

 

[Pauln6]

This is really a thought experiment: a powerful mage out for a night on the town. If I wanted a seductress, I think I might still have the copy of White Dwarf or Dragon in which the Houri first appeared. I do have a copy of the Dragon with the original (pre-AD&D and definitely not PG) Witch class.I would have thought that any wizard worth their salt would give some weight to spells that are castable in a scrape or in extremis and thus might not require or have easily concealable components.

Yeah, I think in terms of D&D, this is not really a natural fit for a wizard type deal. Their magic is literally by the book. Apart from the acknowledgement of using a focus instead of material components, they still have to speak the spell clearly. It seems like a better fit for for more spontaneous casters. You already have a form of sorcery meta-magic to cast a subtle spell or you could have a variant bardic performance from a sub-class. You could potentially have feat that lets you cast a spell in a less obvious way (e.g. performance or deception roll) but presumably it would have to be limited to avoid stepping in the sorcerer's toes.

 

[jgsugden]

Depending upon the type of dance, it would be ok for her to have a wand, or rod, to use as an implement. They are not inherently magical in 5E.

 

[LordEntrails]

Why not a bracelet (or six) with little "charms" that are each one of the various spell components they need for the spells they know. Or a necklace? Or as mentioned a shawl with bits woven in?

Lots of fun ideas that can be used for flavor and fluff. Just make sure it's all about "fun" and that restrictions are not placed on the caster that the martial types don't have.

 

[Quickleaf]

Since you're comfortable converting AD&D spells, there was a spells – one of Mordenkainen's IIRC – which lets a wizard summon an object to her hand. I believe there was a ring which did something similar in the Encyclopedia Magica. And I know there was a scroll of transportation, or something similarly named, which allowed you to press a small object to it and the object would be absorbed into the scroll, its image sketched upon it, awaiting your command word to draw the object forth.

 

[aco175]

There are movies and shows where the woman has her hair tied up with what looks like chopsticks, but I think is something else. One of these can be a wand that gets pulled out when needed.