Stupid Gnome Feat Trick: Fade Away => almost-free invisibility

[Segev]

The gnome-only feat Fade Away is presented in Xanathar's Guide, and allows a gnome to turn invisible when he takes damage, and remain that way until the end of his next turn (unless he does one of the usual invisibility-breaking things).

Since this invisibility doesn't take Concentration, it can be combined with things that DO take Concentration. This leads to the really silly image of a gnome punching himself for 1 point of damage (make sure you have a 10 or 11 strength for this to work optimally; you have to deal damage, but you don't want to deal more than one), or devising a poison or tool that deals 1 point of damage each round on his turn, so he can be Invisible without a spell slot until he runs out of hp he's willing to burn.

I don't have any really awesome ways to make this work out, but it seems better in combat than not being invisible, and it would let him stay invisible most of the time, even if he attacked. Smack himself again or have that auto-damage thing go off on his turn and he turns invisible again. It lasts specifically to the end of his NEXT turn, so he's good there.

If there is a canon, RAW item or effect that does exactly 1 damage per round, I don't know it, so if anybody has ideas that would make it so he doesn't have to keep spending an action hitting himself, that'd be great.

Any ways others have to make this more interesting or any clever uses people have would also be welcome.

[d20familiar]

Once you use this ability, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Alas, doesn't work.

[prabe]

The gnome-only feat Fade Away is presented in Xanathar's Guide, and allows a gnome to turn invisible when he takes damage, and remain that way until the end of his next turn (unless he does one of the usual invisibility-breaking things).

Since this invisibility doesn't take Concentration, it can be combined with things that DO take Concentration. This leads to the really silly image of a gnome punching himself for 1 point of damage (make sure you have a 10 or 11 strength for this to work optimally; you have to deal damage, but you don't want to deal more than one), or devising a poison or tool that deals 1 point of damage each round on his turn, so he can be Invisible without a spell slot until he runs out of hp he's willing to burn.

I don't have any really awesome ways to make this work out, but it seems better in combat than not being invisible, and it would let him stay invisible most of the time, even if he attacked. Smack himself again or have that auto-damage thing go off on his turn and he turns invisible again. It lasts specifically to the end of his NEXT turn, so he's good there.

If there is a canon, RAW item or effect that does exactly 1 damage per round, I don't know it, so if anybody has ideas that would make it so he doesn't have to keep spending an action hitting himself, that'd be great.

Any ways others have to make this more interesting or any clever uses people have would also be welcome.

Won't work. Once you use it, you can't use it again until you take a short or long rest.

[Segev]

Alas, doesn't work.

Dang it, I knew I had to be missing something. I reread it two or three times before posting, too. Oh, well.

Makes sense, though. Still useful; further attacks other than the initial source will probably have Disadvantage, and you might be able to slip away. Certainly can Hide on your next turn, as you'll still be Invisible.


Any tricks anybody can think of to make the most of this, per how it actually works?

[MaxWilson]

Any tricks anybody can think of to make the most of this, per how it actually works?

No, it's pretty useless due to the 1/long rest limitation and short duration. I mean, it's not horrible if you've got it anyway and you're just trying to avoid opportunity attacks (which require seeing the target), or prevent a bunch of monsters from ganging up on you, but there's no scenario where it becomes better than just taking another feat.

If it didn't require your reaction it would be possibly useful for soft-countering the paralyzation => gang up => bunch of auto-crits with advantage scenario, but alas it does cost a reaction.

It's a poorly-written feat.


If there is a canon, RAW item or effect that does exactly 1 damage per round, I don't know it, so if anybody has ideas that would make it so he doesn't have to keep spending an action hitting himself, that'd be great.

There's always caltrops.

But in reality it's better to just let a monster attack trigger your invisibility, and use that invisibility to ensure that you only take one hit instead of three or twelve or whatever.

[Segev]

No, it's pretty useless due to the 1/long rest limitation and short duration. I mean, it's not horrible if you've got it anyway and you're just trying to avoid opportunity attacks (which require seeing the target), or prevent a bunch of monsters from ganging up on you, but there's no scenario where it becomes better than just taking another feat.

It's a poorly-written feat.



There's always caltrops.

But in reality it's better to just let a monster attack trigger your invisibility, and use that invisibility to ensure that you only take one hit instead of three or twelve or whatever.

Hm. I hadn't yet gotten to re-evaluating it compared to other feats. First off, it IS a half-feat (granting a +1 bonus to Int or Dex), so there's that, at least.

But secondly... to your mind, would making it once per short rest make it worthwhile as a half-feat? If not, what would?

Edit: I seem to recall, but could be misremembering (given my track record so far) that it doesn't even take a reaction. You can just turn invisible if damaged. Is that right? If so, that at least is pretty nice: not needing your reaction means you can do other things with it, if you have them.

[MaxWilson]

Hm. I hadn't yet gotten to re-evaluating it compared to other feats. First off, it IS a half-feat (granting a +1 bonus to Int or Dex), so there's that, at least.

But secondly... to your mind, would making it once per short rest make it worthwhile as a half-feat? If not, what would?

Edit: I seem to recall, but could be misremembering (given my track record so far) that it doesn't even take a reaction. You can just turn invisible if damaged. Is that right? If so, that at least is pretty nice: not needing your reaction means you can do other things with it, if you have them.

I'm AFB but online sources quote it as requiring a reaction. Sometimes they are wrong, but requiring a reaction matches my memory and is typical for a WotC rule.

For me personally, no, 1/short rest would make it still not worthwhile, because it's a reactive ability that's most useful in emergencies and you shouldn't be having emergencies on a regular schedule, 1/short rest. 3/long rest might make it worthwhile, especially for e.g. a gnome Samurai (because a Samurai has no competing defensive reaction like Shield): it could last all of the critical rounds of a given tough combat.

It might also make it worthwhile to carry around a bag of caltrops. Step on one + invisibility reaction + Hide as an action.

It's still quite tough to make it useful out of combat though, due to short duration and the damage requirement.

[GorogIrongut]

It does require a reaction. And refreshes on a short/long rest.

While I consider this an okay feat, there is one time where it shines. I had a DM who was happy to remove all restrictions for playing a bladesinger (I wanted to play a yoda type character and thought Svirfneblin would do and he was happy to go with it). Bladesinger... is INCREDIBLY Powerful with the use of invisibility. They'll do this with Invisibility but more specificially Greater Invisibility. I've found, in my experience that this feat dovetails into that skillset quite nicely while simultaneously saving spell slots.

[Segev]

It does require a reaction. And refreshes on a short/long rest.

While I consider this an okay feat, there is one time where it shines. I had a DM who was happy to remove all restrictions for playing a bladesinger (I wanted to play a yoda type character and thought Svirfneblin would do and he was happy to go with it). Bladesinger... is INCREDIBLY Powerful with the use of invisibility. They'll do this with Invisibility but more specificially Greater Invisibility. I've found, in my experience that this feat dovetails into that skillset quite nicely while simultaneously saving spell slots.

Thanks for the clarification.

Bladesinger is, I assume, elf-only?

Any other features of being a Svirfneblin come up in a cool way, with the class or the feat?

[GorogIrongut]

Yup. Elf only.

As for Fade Away on a Svirfneblin Bladesinger, it's great. But I also don't think it overpowers the more naturally intended combo of High Elf>Bladesinger>Elven Accurcy>Greater Invisibility>TWF or SCAG Cantrips.

As for other bonuses, it's quite obvious that Svirfneblin are fantastic wizards. They have all the right stat bonuses. Gnome Cunning (adv on cha/int/wis saves against magic) is absurdly powerful on a full caster. And who doesn't want 120' darkvision?

Another separate route to getting the same benefits would be to go warlock>darkness>Devil's Sight. Or Shadow Sorceror>darkness>see through own darkness. But those paths don't fit the stat boosts quite as nicely.


If you had a DM who wouldn't let you be a Bladesinger, you would be just as powerful going Abjuration or War Magic. If you went Abjuration (probably the strongest option) and took Svirfneblin Magic as a feat, you then get to cast Nondetection whenever you want to power your Arcane Ward. And of course free Nondetection may not be necessary all the time, but when they are, they're vital.

In the case of either of the two sub classes, Fade Away is an okay choice but it gets pushed back behind other options.

[prabe]

It's a reasonable feat if you have a gnome who tends to get into the middle of things. There's a gnome monk in one of the campaigns I'm running who's made good use of this feat to avoid being surrounded and beaten to a pulp. Works for him (and the player is one of the smartest people I game with, so I'm sure he thought it through).