Spell Redesign: See Invisibility

Oh boy, another GM dependent information spell. What is James going to complain about this time, I wonder?

I’m mostly going to complain about the class of spell. Listen, players get a ridiculous number of spell slots as time goes on, especially once you factor wands or staves of extra spell slots. I would like players to use those spell slots! I would like players to use so many of those spell slots, that the obvious benefits they enjoy from each slot that begin interfering with one another. I don’t want players to wait until problems have already appeared to cast spells that help them out. It’s better to let them cast a variety of protective spells, enjoy 1 or two of the spells “activating”, and watch players pat themselves on the back for their good preparation. Players should cast cordon of arrows every single night, excited to see what their magical barbs penetrated come next morning. See invisibility could easily be one such spell, if redesigned properly.

So how exactly do you figure it? How do you make a spell appealing if it only comes up for a specific situation? Real three pipe problem, let me tell ya. For these situations, I like to take a look at a success, a spell that exceeded expectations under the same circumstances. Take a look at death ward here:

Death ward is a spell you only use for a very specific situation, and it’s a much higher level spell than see invisibility. Here’s the kicker; dying? Probably comes up roughly as often as invisible creatures do. No, seriously! Do your players die every session in a 5e game? Of course not! You are legitimately more likely to encounter invisibility. Death ward succeeds where this spell doesn’t, because death ward only activates when you need it. Alright, so the spell doesn’t literally protect you from dying (technically), just going unconscious (which immediately precedes you dying). Death ward has an identical duration to see invisibility, but that’s because advance notice of combat is easier to attain. The outcome prevented (death, or going unconscious) is more proportional to the ward’s level, as well as its duration.

My Version (Even Better)

To spice up see invisibility, we need to significantly extend the duration. Giving the players all-day invisibility would be bad, because it would negatively impact the ref’s propensity to actually deploy invisible threats. No, what the spell needs (much like death ward) is a wide window to activate, proportional to the spell’s benefit. In this framework, the spell protects you from being surprised once during the adventuring day. If the ward activates, it’s because you’ve run into something the referee deployed invisible. That, or one of your friends turned invisible within your detection radius (I suppose it’s not the worst incidental use of the spell, though certainly not why you cast it). Accidental activations are probably a good balancing factor to this extended duration. You get both spells at the same level, and invisibility is a huge component of nearly every single adventuring party’s strategy.

On the GM side of things, you too can improve the situation, and encourage players to use this spell more often. Simply deploy an invisible creature roughly every other session, or once every 2-4 adventuring days. Consistent deployment of threats is key to players preparing counters for those threats. As I mentioned earlier, you want to make it easy for players to cast a variety of protective spells once they reach the higher levels. This allows you to use more “unfair” monsters and encounters more often, because the players don’t bitch and moan about how unfun it is to deal with an invisible monster, or a trap they ran into. Instead, they get to feel nice and proud at how they bested your dastardly encounter, and how easy the invisible critter was to deal with.

Then, with the ward expended, you throw a second invisible creature at them.