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From: lori@hp-pcd.UUCP (lori)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Re: Invisibility and scrolls
Message-ID: <24400012@hp-pcd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 00:25:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.24400012
Posted: Mon Oct 28 00:25:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 07:06:50 EST
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Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
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Nf-ID: #R:plus5:-89200:hp-pcd:24400012:000:2065
Nf-From: hp-pcd!lori    Oct 27 21:25:00 1985





	I don't really think it's very workable (in game terms) to actually
	say that magical invisibility (as opposed to the psionic kind) makes
	a person transparent to light in the visible spectrum, as this raises
	all kinds of problems we'd just as soon avoid.  For example, if a
	person drinks a potion of invisibility and then draws their sword
	and wades into melee, shouldn't they be given some sort of eye/hand
	coordination penalty for not being able to see exactly where they
	are swinging  their weapon.  One can sort of equate this to trying
	to drive a nail in one swing with your eyes closed (I realize that
	the invisible person can still see their visible target but there's
	no real world analogue for this situation).  The same sort of
	argument holds true for picking locks, or any other manual activity
	where at least minimal periferal visual feedback is required.
	    This being the case, and since AD&D magic can be interpreted to
	operate any way you want it to, why not think of it like this: my
	thief is invisible.  This invisibility acts like a tight fitting
	force field which surrounds me and everything I was carrying at the
	time the spell when off.  I appear to myself as a ghostly translucent
	image but am still visible enough so as not to interfer with any
	manual operation I may wish to perform.  This holds true for all of 
	the things I carried when the spell went off, but not any new things
	I may pick up in the future, since they are outside the area of effect.
	If I drop anything, it becomes visible, since it, in effect, leaves
	the force field.  It does not turn invisible again if I pick it up,
	since the force field cannot be re-entered.
	    This sort of interpretation pretty much solves the scroll problem
	(yes, it can be read, even though you can slightly see through it) but
	prevents abuse of the invisibility spell (tie a rope across the cor-
	ridor and hand it to the invisible thief to make it an invisible trip
	cord).  It seems to work in my game.

					From the World of Vindarten

						Mark F. Cook