How to "conceal" an island

[Silex]

As the title implies, is there a way to magically conceal an entire island? Or perhaps a spell to raise it from the depths of the sea?

I am looking for something beyond the likes of fog cloud or obscuring mists and the like.

Thank you in advance :)

[Matrota]

A bunch of casts of hallucinatory terrain by high level casters could do the trick.

[Matrota]

Mirage arcana in case there are buildings as well. Dunno how you're gonna handle creatures though.

[Silex]

So here is a quick rundown; I need the entire island to be hidden to my players, and only visible via true seeing.

The campaign is starting on what they believe to be a cargo ship on which they have chartered passage. In reality, it is a pirate slaver ship, and the captain is a scarlet corsair/ dread pirate.

During the travel, they will have a showdown with the captain, whom is carrying a spyglass of true seeing on her person.

The island cannot be seen by the naked eye, and does not show up on any known map.

The island is near a dangerous reef, which can be quite an awful situation for a large ship.

The island is home to a covey of extremely evil hags, using the deadly terrain to their advantage, as well as the hidden island.

Unlucky seafarers end up being beached on the hidden island, allowing the hags and their minions to attack and pillage.

If the players can discover the island, they have to option of avoiding it, or finding a safe cove in which to dock and explore the island.

My thought is that maybe the island was once home to a recluse wizard or sorcerer, or an evil necromancer, who decided it best to somehow hide the island.

I would rather accomplish this through proper game mechanics, as opposed to just DM fiat.

[Gildedragon]

What seems to be hidden is the reef...
Which is easier to hide. Invisible coral golems, a naturally occurring glassteel or riverine reef...

[Bronk]

How about...

The entire sea level area is obscured by mist... illusion or a trap.

An island is just a mountain whose base is below sea level. The wizard has used the epic spell 'move mountain' to lop the top of the island off, flip it upside down, and it's floating nearby, concealed in clouds.

The wizard could then build on top, while covering the bottom with reverse gravity traps to keep the normal island stuff on.

The PCs will have to find a way to get up...

[Silex]

I like the idea of the mountain and the hidden reef. However, I am not looking to sink, or potentially sink the ship.

This adventure is being used as a tie in to a much larger plot, and the ship is the vessel used to get to their next destination, pertinent to moving the story forward.

So if I were to say, go with the idea of the hidden reef, how then would I avoid such catastrophic damage to the ship, thus stranding my players on this island in the middle of nowhere.

Alternatively, if I were to strand them (which would make sense, as this is all part of a much larger horror campaign), how then would they reach the destination to advance the plot?

[Dragolord]

Create an artefact which does whatever you need, and bury it somewhere on the island.

[ksbsnowowl]

The island is on the Ethereal Plane.

Only See Invisibility and focused True Seeing will visually detect it.

Have a small portal in the sea, at the same spot as a rocky point, or a spot on the beach.

[Gildedragon]

I like the idea of the mountain and the hidden reef. However, I am not looking to sink, or potentially sink the ship.

This adventure is being used as a tie in to a much larger plot, and the ship is the vessel used to get to their next destination, pertinent to moving the story forward.

So if I were to say, go with the idea of the hidden reef, how then would I avoid such catastrophic damage to the ship, thus stranding my players on this island in the middle of nowhere.

Alternatively, if I were to strand them (which would make sense, as this is all part of a much larger horror campaign), how then would they reach the destination to advance the plot?

Ships can be fixed.

Alternatively the ship might be pulled underwater by a monster... trick to getting unstranded is making it float up once more

I do like the ethereal island idea though
Something similar to a mirage mullah oasis

[Silex]

I do quite like the placeshift idea, and will likely go with that. Now onto yet another new thread! Lol

[daremetoidareyo]

Make the island a zaratan (a&eg) Give one of the hags share soulmeld feat and fellmist robe. Boom concealment. How does a hag get a zaratan companion is the question. (Polymorphed familiar?)

[Bohandas]

Or perhaps a spell to raise it from the depths of the sea?

There's the epic spell Raise Island (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/raiseIsland.htm)

[Calthropstu]

Permanent illusions can wrap the island displaying ocean. Surround the island with reefs and it would explain ship captains avoiding it.

[Vogie]

You could have it disguised as a destroyed ship hull that looks to be wrecked on the known reef. Only if they get past the reef, and see through the hallucinations, will they realize that it isn't a ship at all, but an island

[thorr-kan]

Reverse engineer the 2ED Major Cloak spell from Wizard's Spell Compendium Vol. 2 p.539 or DLR1 Otherlands p44. 9th level illusion/phantasm spell with area of effect one land mass, 5000 square miles or smaller.

[Silex]

Permanent illusions can wrap the island displaying ocean. Surround the island with reefs and it would explain ship captains avoiding it.

That's actually a simple and fantastic solution!

[Gellhorn]

This spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirageArcana.htm) might be nice if you can permanency it. There's a lower level version too if you don't need to hide buildings