Game breaking? - Ring of Moderate Invisibility

[Malapterus]

So, this item would function somewhere between the existing Ring of Invisibility and the potential, impossible-to-price, Ring of Greater Invisibility.

The Invisibility effect it produces functions as normal but breaks if the user:

-Attacks
-*Attacking using something the character is not personally manipulating, like a Mage's Sword spell, a Dancing weapon the character has already set loose, or objects flung around telekinetically).
-Casts an attack spell that deals damage directly (I.E. casting Fireball deals damage, that is what it does; casting Summon Monster II only makes a monster appear somewhere and it damaging someone is not your problem. Some Conjuration damage-dealers and some non-damage spells may also break this; it's a lot of GM discretion. The spirit of it is that if the spell is obvious and obvious where it is coming from, then it drops the invisibility)
-*This includes through the use of wands and other magic items
-*This does NOT include spells cast by a familiar of the individual wearing the ring, though if the riung has also turned the familiar invisible then it will drop just for the familiar.
-Moves to fast (physically moves more than their base speed)
-Touches a non-ally
-Vocalizes loudly or excessively (Shouting, speaking loud enough to be heard more than 30 feet away, using any 'Power Word' spell, monologuing, for more than a few round, yelping out in fear or pain or excitement; these drop it. Speaking to nearby allies, whispering, speaking to a single non-ally, or even speaking calmly and slowly while you move around will not drop it).
-Takes damage greater than their Constitution bonus
-Fails a Save, other than a reflex save against damage
-Enter or exit a body of fluid that they would distort, like water or a thick fog. Footprints don't count.

If anyone thinks of anything else that should fall under the spirit of this, let me know.

So, while the user can't turn invisible and go in melee crazy or be invisible firing arrows or evocation spells, or be invisible delivering Inflict attacks, they could stand back and be invisible while whispering to their friends, summoning and directing creatures, and healing their allies. A good Fireball will flush them out and Chain Lightning is a great way to find them.

I think I want to water it down a little by giving it some recharge time if the effect force-fails; maybe it has to wait 1d4 rounds before it can be used again.

This item would be given to an evil Alienist with a freaky familiar.

[Lotheb]

Maybe reread the invisibility spell. Currently this ring would be better described as a rinv of fragile invisibility, since its inivisbility breaks under a lot of circumstances that invisibility does not. Only damaging spells counting as attacks is a slight advantage of your ring, but since you leave it up to the DM to determine if any given non damaging spell should break the invisibility you migh be better off just going with the base version:
"The spell ends if the subject attacks any creature. For purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe. (Exactly who is a foe depends on the invisible character’s perceptions.) . . . Spells such as bless that specifically affect allies but not foes are not attacks for this purpose, even when they include foes in their area."
EDIT: also, the summon monster spells have verbal components,
"Verbal (V)
A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice."
So it doesn't even work for it's intended purpose without Silent Spell.

[Malapterus]

Yeah, I may have a tendency to overdo things.

[ericgrau]

the potential, impossible-to-price, Ring of Greater Invisibility.
224,000 gp. That's just via the guidelines (not rules) which sometimes need adjusting based on what the effect does. But I don't think that price is campaign shattering when a pixie can do the same.

I agree that your ring seems to be much worse than a regular ring of invisibility.

The big thing with the ring of invisibility is that directly attacking a foe breaks it. So if you want an in between ring then you need to specify which attacks don't break the invisibility.

For example:

Ring of quiet invisibility: This ring functions as a ring of invisibility except that only certain noisy attacks break the invisibility. Each weapon attack or attack spell with a somatic component requires a DC 20 move silently check with a -20 penalty. An "attack spell" is as described in the invisibility spell description. Attack spells with a verbal component automatically break the invisibility, but remember the silent spell metamagic feat may remove the verbal component. If a spell has no somatic nor verbal component, such as a silent stilled spell, no check needs to be rolled. If a spell does not directly attack a foe, as described in the invisibility spell description, the invisibility is not broken even if the spellcasting makes noise.

I'd price this at about 100k since it has major drawbacks but still isn't too far off from being greater invisibility. Btw it's only 22,500 gp for a core +15 move silently item. Also btw, listen checks are a great way to find invisible foes without any special abilities, spells or feats. Beat the DC by 20 and you get his square (but still 50% miss chance). But this ring forces you to thwart this default method of finding invisibility. That makes it very dangerous on a stealthy character where it comes closer in usefulness to a ring of greater invisibility. Because the stealthy character might be staying quiet anyway for the reason stated. I see that as a feature not a bug because it encourages ninja-ness more than the basic ring of greater invis, which anyone might use.

[Zaq]

What niche is this proposed item filling that the as-written Ring of Invisibility fails to fill? Are you just trying to make a cheaper version or something? Why not just use the normal RoI (and/or just have the Alienist, who is already a full caster, prep a few uses of the Invisibility spell)?

[Mike Miller]

the potential, impossible-to-price, Ring of Greater Invisibility.
.

I like the above price for this item, but a ring of greater invisibility isn't world shattering. A level 2 spell defeats it...

[Malapterus]

What niche is this proposed item filling that the as-written Ring of Invisibility fails to fill? Are you just trying to make a cheaper version or something? Why not just use the normal RoI (and/or just have the Alienist, who is already a full caster, prep a few uses of the Invisibility spell)?

I'm trying to make a ring that can turn her invisible but still let her cast her Summon spells.

I had the idea of changing it to a 'ring of silent summoning' that turns all spells into Silent spells and also allows her to communicate mentally with her summons, or possibly communicate telepathically with anyone; that on one hand and a generic Ring of Invisibility in conjunction could solve my problem.

Ideally, the players won't even know that the group has a second Arcane caster and will just assume the necromancer is somehow quick-summoning these melty-fleshed monstrosities into battle.

[eggynack]

I'm trying to make a ring that can turn her invisible but still let her cast her Summon spells.
A ring of invisibility already does that. To quote the spell, "An invisible being can... summon monsters."

[Darth Ultron]

I'm trying to make a ring that can turn her invisible but still let her cast her Summon spells.


Maybe you don't want Invisibility?

Maybe Blink would work? Ethereal Jaunt? Polymorph? An Illusion?

[Malapterus]

A ring of invisibility already does that. To quote the spell, "An invisible being can... summon monsters."

Huh. For some reason I thought casting any spell while invisible broke it, weird. Thanks!

[Florian]

Huh. For some reason I thought casting any spell while invisible broke it, weird. Thanks!

Nah. Only things that are considered to be attacks break invisibility. Casting spells like fly, summon monster and such are not attacks.

[Kurald Galain]

You should start with the cheap Ring of Lesser Invisibility......which only makes itself invisible, not its wearer.