Knights & Knaves Alehouse

I'm currently at the airport having my flight delayed again and again and again... But, at least it gives me time of think on last weekend's game.

We currently have a 6th level M-U and a 5th level M-U in the party. Both know invisibility and fly and have those spells in their books. They've been casting them quite a bit in the last few sessions.

I've been allowing the following usage:

Casting spells in flight
M-U casts fly, then casts other spells while in flight.

Invisible flight
M-U casts fly, then casts invisiblitly, then takes flight and is unseen unless he attacks or casts another spell.

Prolonged invisibility
M-U casts invisibility on himself or another character, invisible character scouts ahead and remains inivisible for prolong periods of time -- sometime more than a day. I initially thought that was stretching things. But, a fresh read of the spell led me to a very generous interpretation. [I'm already considering footprints, sound, smell, and detect invisibility table].

Does anyone know of any BTB constraints that would constrain the above. I guess I'm also curious what other DMs would allow/disallow of the above in an AD&D game.

Sounds like a perfectly valid use of the spells to me. Just be sure to enforce the unknown variable duration of the flight spell. And remember that the invisible magic-user will also need either a light source (which will be visible to enemies) or infravision to scout alone.

Of course invisible, flying magic-users just might get caught in invisible spider webs . . .

The last few sessions have been outdoors, so the lighht source hasn't been an issue. Additionally, one of the m-us is an elf and has infravision.

Yeah, I think those are good uses of the above spells also.

Just remember - NPCs of above average intelligence have probably also figured out those methods themselves. There's nothing unusually cunning about that combination of flight and invis. Detect invisibility is a good spell to keep on hand for a reason.

As for night-time scouting by invisible flight, even if detail can't be seen it could still be valuable depending on what is being looked for. Unless concealed by someone who knows what they're doing (like a ranger), camp fires will stand out. If the moon is bright, I would allow creatures or humanoids moving around in fairly clear terrain to be seen, if not identified with confidence.

But instead of allow/disallow, I would focus on what are methods (magical or otherwise), or events, which nullify the effectiveness of this combination? In a magical game world, such methods would be common knowledge as counters to this tactic, and magical/highly intelligent creatures would possibly employ them, especially if they deduced someone was scouting them. But it should work marvelously against low-HD brutes or common creatures.

Also, don't forget to create an aerial encounter table. Sure, 70%-90% of it might be harmless fluff, but eventually something that can fly, has high HD and is hungry will come around.

Also - they're smart enough to take fly and invisibility, but what about feather fall? Protection from normal missiles? Woe to the detected invisible flying M-U whose flight is dispelled. It's a hard lesson about the value of utility spells. Even if they survive the fall, all those item saving throws versus crushing blow can be painful to the inventory.

My players were doing that a bit. In fact, couple that with something like Stone to Mud or Fireball and the bad guys/opposition got wise fast.

Things like Detect Invis. necklaces and net firing weighted, hooked nets started showing up rather quickly.

Heck, even birds got attacked since one of the pc's is a druid (the last one I'll ever let a pc run in a game).

So, enemy castles and such became "no fly zones" within the effective range of ballista and catapults.

But speaking towards invis. I'm on the generous side. If they haven't done any act to cause it to go away it stays in effect.

Giant bats and other monsters that don't rely on sight are always good vs. invisible characters. And even though that medusa can't see you it can still turn you to stone if you can see it.