Ways to gain invisibility

[Deca4531]

Im looking to make a character that is a kind of spy or infiltrator. one thing im trying to get is the ability to go invisible at a moments notice without the use of a wand or expensive magic item. are their any classes, races or feats that would grant me invisibility a few times a day (like ninja that suck less)

[lsfreak]

Two levels in monk plus Invisible Fist (Exemplars of Evil, replaces evasion) gives you immediate-action invisibility for one round, once every three rounds. That sounds about exactly what you need, provided you can get where you need to be in one round.

There's also Cloak of Deception (Shadow Hand maneuver) that's swift-action and lasts just for that turn. Attainable through a one-level dip in swordsage provided you're at least 4th level before you take the dip, or a feat at 6th level (or at 3rd level if you're just going plain swordsage).

[rot42]

Invisible Fist Monk ACF (Exemplars of Evil 21), as an Immediate action.

Hide in Plain Sight (from one of the Dark templates or elsewhere) can often serve the same function as true invisibility.

You said no wands, but have you considered a wand of Swift Invisibility in a wand chamber (Dungeonscape)?

[HalfQuart]

You could play a warlock and be invisible all day long. Or play a pixie and get greater invisibility, although the LA is pretty rough.

[ArcanistSupreme]

What about being able to just cast the spell? Beguilers (PHB II) are perfect for the infiltrator concept, and a sorceror would also be able to fit the bill nicely with Cha based casting and some ranks in social skills.

Otherwise the Pathfinder Ninja is actually pretty decent and can grab Vanishing Trick for invisibility a few rounds a day.

[Deca4531]

What about being able to just cast the spell? Beguilers (PHB II) are perfect for the infiltrator concept, and a sorceror would also be able to fit the bill nicely with Cha based casting and some ranks in social skills.

Otherwise the Pathfinder Ninja is actually pretty decent and can grab Vanishing Trick for invisibility a few rounds a day.

the pathfinder ninja looks pretty interesting, a step up from the old ninja. is there any feat i could use to make it work off of something other than Cha?

[Story]

A 1 level dip in Binder + Improved Binding will get you unlimited 1 round invisibility (usable every 5 rounds). Unfortunately it's a full round action to active.

On the other hand, this will also get you at will summons of a raven under your complete control that you can see through. Scouting becomes stupidly easy. Probably the single most useful low level Binder ability and it's available at level 1 with no EBL scaling.

[Magesmiley]

Invisibility is nice... but I find Hide in Plain Sight to be even better.

Assuming that you can take a level adjustment, make a dark whisper gnome (Dark template from the Tome of Magic and the Whisper Gnome from the Race of Stone). Assuming even a moderate Dex score, it isn't too hard to get a +20ish Hide bonus for even a 2nd-level character (1 character + 1 ECL), which makes you exceedingly hard to see, and NOT subject to see invsibility and other effects. And there isn't a limti to how often you can do this too.

[SciChronic]

Invisibility is nice... but I find Hide in Plain Sight to be even better.

Assuming that you can take a level adjustment, make a dark whisper gnome (Dark template from the Tome of Magic and the Whisper Gnome from the Race of Stone). Assuming even a moderate Dex score, it isn't too hard to get a +20ish Hide bonus for even a 2nd-level character (1 character + 1 ECL), which makes you exceedingly hard to see, and NOT subject to see invsibility and other effects. And there isn't a limti to how often you can do this too.

Add on Beguiler(PHB2) into Shadowcraft Mage(Races of Stone) and you have a very good scout on your hands (+item familiar for kicks).

For short term invisibility class features are where to look, but if you want something that lasts longer than a couple of rounds, you really need an item/wand/spell. my personal favorite for short term invisibility would be the swordsage. as already mentioned they get cloak of deception, but you can also include shadow jaunt for a 30 ft teleport as a standard action. i dont have the book on me atm, but iirc, cloak of deception doesnt break if you attack as it doesnt have an "as X spell" clause.

but if you want to make a good spy infiltrator i suggest Beguiler(PHB2) or Factotum(dungeonscape). Beguiler gets access to a great selection of spells such as invisibility, glitterdust, knock, silent image (if you go into shadowcraft mage), silence, invis. sphere, etc. it also has a good array of skills for skillmonkeying. Factotum on the other hand can essentially pretend to be anyone for a short amount of time through inspiration usage. it also has naturally strong dex/str skills through brains over brawn adding your int bonus to str/dex skills and checks (including initiative from what i've read).

[Silva Stormrage]

The Priomodial Giant can get Invisibility at will as a spell like ability. I suggest paring it with half giant.

Seconding Binder for scouting though, Malphas is an awesome low level bind. And his influence isn't even all that annoying!

[Harrow]

If you decide on Hide In Plain Sight, three levels of Umbral Disciple from Magic of Incarnum gives both permanent concealment and HiPS. Alternatively, the Tome of Magic gives us the Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis for 10,800 that gives you the Dark template for 10 minutes a day and a greater version for 22,000 that is continuous. This is generally much easier to swallow than level adjustment if buy-off isn't available.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Get a +1 Ring of Protection for 2,000 gp, make it your Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm), upgrade it to a Ring of Invisibility with a +1 Deflection bonus to AC added (per MIC p234) for 10,000 gp and 800 xp. As an intelligent item it will get actions every turn, and can activate its own invisibility effect every round after you've finished attacking. The Invest Skill Ranks effect of an item familiar will also be extremely useful for this type of character.

[Cassidius]

I don't think anybody mentioned this, but in pathfinder there are the Eldritch heritage feats. You also have to take Skill focus, but if you really wanted to go invisible by just investing feats you could take skill focus, eldritch heritage and then improved eldritch heritage. If you select the Fey bloodline for the feat you can get greater invisibility for rounds per level -2.

It isn't great, or optimal, but there it is.

Lol, never mind just realized you wanted invisibility for infiltration...

[Ravens_cry]

PF Ninja are awesome. I made a Ninja who didn't invest a point in Climb, she just used Acrobatics to jump literally everywhere. It was almost as good as Flight, though she also had wands of Fly because UMD is the bees knees.

[Irk]

Duergar are +1 LA and have psi like invisibility 1/day and you can get a feat that allows you to use it an additional 3 times per day.
you could also be a totemist and use shadow mantle to surround yourself in darkness that you can see in but others can't.
Also, you might want to look into teleporting, maybe. What I like to do is have swift dimension door, and then synchronicity metapower linked to empty mind, and use the extra standard action for the blink shirt soulmeld. This way you can teleport in and at the end of you turn you have kind of failsafe that'll automatically get you out.
I think what you're looking for is this though: the pixie monster class. at fourth level they have PERMANENT invisibility, suppressible as a free action.
I would suggest pixie 4/scout 3/ Rogue 2 with swift ambusher improved skirmish and in this case (since you enemies are ALWAYS flat footed) TWF, for +6d6 precision damage on EACH attack EVERY time, plus, they can't hit you at all. That'll add up to 12d6 + small weapon damage w/o batting an eye. NO duration on the invisibility, it's actually kinda ideal. I'm definitely doing this for my next guy. Also take weapon finesse, as it has bonuses to str and penalties to dex. I'll concede it is not GREAT for a 9th level character, but the 4 levels of pixie are the real highlight, considering the natural invisibility, which works as Greater invisibility. Also, remember that pixie has NO entry prereqs.

Whoops, I just realized, as someone else did,t hat it's for infiltration. Regardless, this is still AWESOME because it is PERMANENT!!!

[Ruethgar]

Muckdweller and never enter an area with more than 25ft line of sight. Now you are not visible by anyone.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Half-Giant plus Primordial Giant from Secrets of Xen'drik gets Invisibility at will for only a +1 LA.

[Scumbaggery]

I'm currently playing a similar character right now.

What I did was pump up my hide/move silently to ridiculous heights and took the Miser With Magic feat. It allows me to pretty much remain invisible all day until I attack.

You could do this with Greater Invisibility as well, but I much prefer the longer duration of regular Invisibility.