Don't Arcane Sight me, please! (Help)

[rubycona]

For everything that exists, there is a thing to counter it. Especially at high levels.

So, DM here, with an 18th level NPC caster living in a world where certain government officials use permanency arcane sight. And this almost-epic caster would very much prefer that people not know quite how powerful she is.

She can't hide the fact that she's a spellcaster - that much is obvious. But, she'd rather people think she's much weaker than she is. Like, them seeing she can cast up to 3rd, maybe 5th level spells. If it comes up blank, they know she's hiding it, and if it comes up full power, they know she's near-epic. She needs it in between.

Aside from blowing out her magic, what would her options be? Is there one that already exists, in spell or item form? If not, would you guys think it reasonable for an item that has that sort of effect to exist? How expensive should it be, approximately, do you think?

I feel awkward DM fiating things... I can just give her one, in the scheme of things. She's old (I've actually got a character with significant age penalties! It's cool! Well. Not really. But, it's different!), and powerful, so that's a combination that lends well to getting stuff.

Thoughts?

Much appreciated, everyone! :D :D

Edit: As an aside, what about the idea of just letting some of her magic go? She's a sorcerer... maybe when she sees one of the people coming her way, and she needs secrecy more than power, she can just let her high powered spell slots go, without actually causing the magic effects?

[erikun]

I am fairly certain that you can choose to cast spells at a lower caster level, if you wish. I don't recall where the rules specifically stating you can are located, but if so your spellcaster could just cast spells at 3rd or 5th caster level. Lower duration, of course, but lower CL.

You can also cast spells from wands. Spells out of wands are, by default, the minimum CL needed to produce the spell. (You can craft wands at a higher CL if you want, but it is optional.) Such a character could either produce their own wands for such an occasion to mimic a specific caster level - say, have everything set to CL5 - or just buy wants and pop out the spells when desired.

[Nettlekid]

Perhaps you could make her into some sort of non-race-specific Runesmith? Every day she could prepare all her 4-9 level spells as runes, which she caries on her person, which means that she's expended those high level spell slots while she is still capable of using those spells later in the day. The main drawback here is that you give up the usual Sorcerer advantage of not having to prepare spells at the beginning of the day.

Alternatively, maybe you could have this caster cast Nondetection or something similar to block the effect of Arcane Sight on herself, but then cast Polymorph on herself to look like her familiar and Polymorph on her familiar to look like her. If she were to cast Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability on the familiar, she could give it a token 3rd level spell to hold onto. That way, if the government Arcane Sights her or her familiar, she doesn't register (which makes sense) and the familiar (which they think is her) registers has having up to 3rd level. Now, how to block the lingering auras of those higher level spells...

[Hirax]

In order to use spellcraft to identify a spell as it is being cast, the person identifying it must see the verbal or somantic components. Once you've found the best way to hide those, you can apply the invisible spell feat (Cityscape) to your spells to make the effects invisible. Cityscape also hasa feat that somehow allows you to misdirect anyone that does notice a spell, getting them to think it was someone else. Complete Scoundrel has a skill trick that can allow you to make a bluff check, that if successful makes your verbal and somantic gestures seem like innocuous, ordinary speech.

[Flickerdart]

You could make a good case that arcane sight is a spell like detect magic and so is fooled by misdirection (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/misdirection.htm). The more RAW argument would be that arcane sight is a spell that detects auras and so is fooled by misdirection, because misdirection fools all parts of a spell and not just the aura part.

After that, just cast imbue familiar with spell ability, give him whatever spell level you want to appear as, and stuff him into your shirt. It's not foolproof (the detector gets a Will save) but if she's that powerful, it shouldn't be difficult to pump it such that a rank and file crony would fail it almost for sure.

[Milo v3]

Magic Aura works on any items you have, though you might want to heighten it. The effects on you would be harder though. You could homebrew a higher level version of Magic Aura which works on people but it's probably too close to a fiat for your liking.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Arcane Sight is a Divination, so Nondetection would force them to roll a caster level check to get through it. Assuming that as soon as those government officials were able to cast Arcane Sight they did so for another caster to use Permanency on them, it will be stuck at a caster level of 5th. At 18th level the DC of a Nondetection would be 33, which would be impossible for them to get through. Nondetection's costly material component is a bit prohibitive, but an item that grants it (Hat of Anonymity or Masking armor, both in MIC) would be suitable. Note that per the post-errata DMG wording (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#casterLevel) he could have crafted his own Hat of Anonymity at a higher caster level than the default, and the cost to create it would be unchanged since it's set in stone despite the caster level being variable by default.

An easier alternative would be to have him use Mind Blank on himself every day, assuming you take its wording to block all of the divination school: "This spell protects against all mind-affecting spells and effects as well as information gathering by divination spells or effects." If you don't want to spend a spell known on a 1/day buff give him a custom Runestaff (MIC p224), possibly as an Ancestral Relic (BoED) or Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) so he could have chosen what spells to add to it himself. With Ancestral Relic you can even completely change everything about the item's magical properties each time you upgrade it, including what spells a Runestaff contains, giving a Sorcerer an even larger toolbox than a Wizard for having exactly the right spells available for a given situation.

[Flickerdart]

Arcane Sight is a Divination, so Nondetection would force them to roll a caster level check to get through it. Assuming that as soon as those government officials were able to cast Arcane Sight they did so for another caster to use Permanency on them, it will be stuck at a caster level of 5th. At 18th level the DC of a Nondetection would be 33, which would be impossible for them to get through. Nondetection's costly material component is a bit prohibitive, but an item that grants it (Hat of Anonymity or Masking armor, both in MIC) would be suitable. Note that per the post-errata DMG wording (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#casterLevel) he could have crafted his own Hat of Anonymity at a higher caster level than the default, and the cost to create it would be unchanged since it's set in stone despite the caster level being variable by default.

An easier alternative would be to have him use Mind Blank on himself every day, assuming you take its wording to block all of the divination school: "This spell protects against all mind-affecting spells and effects as well as information gathering by divination spells or effects." If you don't want to spend a spell known on a 1/day buff give him a custom Runestaff (MIC p224), possibly as an Ancestral Relic (BoED) or Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) so he could have chosen what spells to add to it himself. With Ancestral Relic you can even completely change everything about the item's magical properties each time you upgrade it, including what spells a Runestaff contains, giving a Sorcerer an even larger toolbox than a Wizard for having exactly the right spells available for a given situation.
The OP specifically doesn't want to block the spell completely, because that would be incredibly suspicious in and of itself.

[Burley]

I don't know if somebody said it already, but Misdirection would work. When the spell is cast, you choose to look like the lower level caster over at the Photohut.
It's not a high level spell, so, wonderous items or even wands shouldn't be too costly. I don't have my books, so, I can't check for existing items, but Misdirection is what you need.

(If that's no good, maybe False Dweomer?)

edit: Whoops. Really late with that post...

[The_Snark]

I believe that what the OP is specifically concerned with is this bit of Arcane Sight, here:

If you concentrate on a specific creature within 120 feet of you as a standard action, you can determine whether it has any spellcasting or spell-like abilities, whether these are arcane or divine (spell-like abilities register as arcane), and the strength of the most powerful spell or spell-like ability the creature currently has available for use.

Magic items can be concealed with Magic Aura, active spells can be hidden by dismissing the high-level ones whenever you get near one of these officials... but this could out her as soon as she comes under any real scrutiny. You could block it with Nondetection or (arguably) Mind Blank, but that's the kind of thing that arouses suspicion. I think technically the Runesmith suggestion someone made earlier would work, but it's an awfully cumbersome solution to the problem.

Maybe you could give her a custom spell or item that acts similarly to Aura Alteration (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/auraAlteration.htm)? That power is intended to fool Detect [Alignment] spells rather than this sort of thing, I think, but it's a pretty close analogue, and given that it's a 6th-level power/spell it seems reasonable to let it cover auras of all sorts. Making up a spell may feel uncomfortably close to DM fiat, but it's not quite the same—a player could ask to research a custom spell too, if he found himself in a situation like this.

[Fable Wright]

The NPC might use a pair of Thought Bottles in a non-broken way. One she keeps with her experience at the near-epic level, and the other she level drained herself to level 6-10 before storing her thoughts. She could use Magic Aura to disguise the bottles, and then shift between near-epic mode and clerk mode with a full-round action. Unfortunately, it's hard for her to level up anymore afterwards, since she has a 500xp tax on any encounter that she could level up from, to store the new state in the Thought Bottle.

[Darrin]

Try this: give the spellcaster a cursed item with an Cha penalty that drops Cha down to 12 or 13, but the item can be removed at will and discarded if need be. This causes arcane sight to report the spellcaster can only cast 2nd or 3rd level spells, when in fact they may be able to cast 9th without the cursed item. Maybe call it a Cloak of Negative Charisma. When you want to break the planet in half, drop the cloak and bust out the meteor swarms.

[Telok]

A custom magic item crafted using the Limited Wish spell which uses the "Produce any other effect whose power level is in line with the above effects" clause to make her appear to be a Nth level arcane caster for any divination spell within 120 feet of her.

It's reasonable for a semi-paranoid caster, doable with a single feat and a common spell, and has loopholes for your plot and/or players to exploit.

[Fable Wright]

Try this: give the spellcaster a cursed item with an Cha penalty that drops Cha down to 12 or 13, but the item can be removed at will and discarded if need be. This causes arcane sight to report the spellcaster can only cast 2nd or 3rd level spells, when in fact they may be able to cast 9th without the cursed item. Maybe call it a Cloak of Negative Charisma. When you want to break the planet in half, drop the cloak and bust out the meteor swarms.

This gives me a good idea... use Greater Bestow Curse to have her set her Charisma to any amount you wish. The text says that the effect just has to be weaker or as powerful as the listed effects, one of which is setting an ability score to one, meaning free reign on where to set Charisma. Set the curse's built in removal trigger to something simple; a free action command like saying a certain sentence. Then, you have a free action way to get the power to destroy the world, and a Standard action to turn it off. It's not too suspicious either; it's a high level spell, sure, but it's really hard to get rid of. It would make sense that she couldn't get the money to get the spell removed and, in her old age, couldn't perform the task needed to break the curse. She's a victim of tragic circumstances, crossed by a high level Wizard who she slighted/insulted. It's a cover story that stands up to scrutiny, a hook for interested players, easy to implement and remove on a whim, and in general a good solution.

[Urpriest]

The OP specifically doesn't want to block the spell completely, because that would be incredibly suspicious in and of itself.

I don't think so. Mind Blank doesn't block against divinations, it blocks against information gathering by divinations. "He's completely blocked" is a point of information. Casters shouldn't be able to get enough information to become suspicious from a RAW Mind Blank.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

No, I can't cast any spells at all, isn't that what you glowy-blue-eyes tell you?
Oh, the spell component pouch and wands? I carry that stuff because it impresses the ladies.

[Toy Killer]

Try this: give the spellcaster a cursed item with an Cha penalty that drops Cha down to 12 or 13, but the item can be removed at will and discarded if need be. This causes arcane sight to report the spellcaster can only cast 2nd or 3rd level spells, when in fact they may be able to cast 9th without the cursed item. Maybe call it a Cloak of Negative Charisma. When you want to break the planet in half, drop the cloak and bust out the meteor swarms.

You know, for a long time, I've wanted to pull the age old "I've been holding back" gig, akin to Brock Lee in Naruto in his fight against Gara.

I think you have just showed me how to do it with Spellcasters. I am very impressed by the simplicity of it.

[lord_khaine]

No, I can't cast any spells at all, isn't that what you glowy-blue-eyes tell you?
Oh, the spell component pouch and wands? I carry that stuff because it impresses the ladies.

Unfortunately the goal of the OP was to look like a weaker spellcaster then she actualy is :smalltongue:

And i guess so far the best bet would be mind blank, and having an imbued familiar in your pocket to fake the lower level magical power?

Alternatively she could craft a simulacrum of an apropriate level, and make her dealings with the outside world though it.

[Flickerdart]

I don't think so. Mind Blank doesn't block against divinations, it blocks against information gathering by divinations. "He's completely blocked" is a point of information. Casters shouldn't be able to get enough information to become suspicious from a RAW Mind Blank.
That's great and all, but the OP specifically says:


She can't hide the fact that she's a spellcaster - that much is obvious.
So an obvious caster walking around with no "I am a caster" result is very much suspicious.

[rubycona]

These are fantastic! I'm leaning towards the charisma curse... with my only qualm being bluff checks. 18th level caster, lots of secrets, and must keep them from other high level casters, but also must not forget them herself. High bluff checks are helpful :P Still, it'd only be about a 5 reduction.

Thanks again :)

[Diarmuid]

Isnt the easiest way to avoid any of this to simply not appear to be worth the time of the person with Arcane Sight to concentrate on you?

If you simply try not to look like a caster, and limit your visible magic items to common slots/lowish power levels (keeping good stuff in a bag of holding or what have you) it's just not worth spending the time.

This seems a lot easier to explain/role play than coming up with some convoluded custom curse.

[Flickerdart]

Isnt the easiest way to avoid any of this to simply not appear to be worth the time of the person with Arcane Sight to concentrate on you?

If you simply try not to look like a caster, and limit your visible magic items to common slots/lowish power levels (keeping good stuff in a bag of holding or what have you) it's just not worth spending the time.

This seems a lot easier to explain/role play than coming up with some convoluded custom curse.
That works if you're just wandering around and the guards are really bad at their jobs, but going through checkpoints and such will mean a guaranteed scan. Besides, what kind of wizard leaves things to chance?

[Toliudar]

If the character hasn't been established yet, there is also the 'bait and switch' tactic. She has a pair of items that puts her in constant mental contact with a follower/apprentice/whatever, who is a low level caster. The follower is, as far as the world knows, the boss, while the 18th level caster walks around with mind blank up all the time, fetching coffee. If anyone happens to scan her, it's no big surprise that she shows up negative for spellcasting.

The follower not being able to bluff answers to hide information isn't a problem, because they don't HAVE all the information. Alternately, make them a sixth level beguiler with Glibness up and running whenever they're in public.

[Stegyre]

It sounds like this is a situation for Misdirection (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/misdirection.htm). It "misdirect[s] the information from divination spells that reveal auras," and by RAW, that is what Arcane Sight does: "You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight."

All the NPC has to do is hang out with a (much) lower-level sorcerer, and he "reads" the same as that sorcerer.

How does this not solve the OP's problem?:smallconfused:

[Flickerdart]

It sounds like this is a situation for Misdirection (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/misdirection.htm). It "misdirect[s] the information from divination spells that reveal auras," and by RAW, that is what Arcane Sight does: "You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight."

All the NPC has to do is hang out with a (much) lower-level sorcerer, and he "reads" the same as that sorcerer.

How does this not solve the OP's problem?:smallconfused:
It does, which is why two people already mentioned it. The Will save attached makes it an imperfect solution, however.