Buy me a coffeeThe Unseen Veil
Invisibility
Invisibility removes a creature from ordinary sight, but it does not erase sound, tracks, displaced water or physical presence. This reference keeps the D&D 5.5e/2024, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e versions separate so that each edition’s duration, ending conditions, detection rules and counters remain clear.
Quick Rules Reference
Creature and concentration
- Level
- 2nd-level Illusion
- Casting
- Action; Touch
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Ends after
- An attack roll, dealing damage or casting a spell
- Higher slots
- One additional creature per slot level above 2
Creature or object
- School
- Illusion (glamer)
- Casting
- 1 standard action; Personal or Touch
- Duration
- 1 minute per level, dismissible
- Ends when
- The subject directly attacks a creature
- Stealth
- +40 stationary; +20 moving
Legacy concealment
- Level
- Bard 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 2, Trickery 2
- Casting
- 1 standard action; Personal or Touch
- Duration
- 1 minute per level, dismissible
- Ends when
- The subject directly attacks a creature
- Hide
- +40 immobile; +20 moving
Edition Mechanics
Choose one rules version. The panels do not share terminology or procedures.
D&D 5.5e / 2024 Invisibility
This version grants the Invisible condition and uses the 2024 concentration, targeting and unseen-attacker rules.
- Casting Time
- Action
- Range
- Touch
- Components
- V, S, M
- Material
- An eyelash in gum arabic
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- One creature touched
- Saving Throw
- None
- Classes
- Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Effect
A creature you touch has the Invisible condition until the spell ends.
The spell ends early immediately after the target makes an attack roll, deals damage or casts a spell.
Higher-Level Spell Slot: target one additional creature for each slot level above 2.
Invisible Condition
- The creature has Advantage on Initiative if it is Invisible when Initiative is rolled.
- Effects requiring their target to be seen cannot affect it unless the effect’s creator can somehow see it.
- Equipment worn or carried by the creature is also concealed.
- Attack rolls against it have Disadvantage, and its attack rolls have Advantage.
- A creature that can somehow see it removes those attack-related benefits against itself.
Location and Targeting
- The spell does not state that observers forget the target’s location or that the target stops making noise.
- An attacker who cannot see the creature has Disadvantage and must attack the location it believes the creature occupies.
- An attack automatically misses if the chosen location is wrong.
- An area effect can affect the creature when its space lies inside that area.
- Tracks, displaced water, opened doors and disturbed objects can reveal movement.
Counters and Interactions
- See Invisibility, Blindsight and Truesight allow an observer to see the creature within their stated limits.
- Dispel Magic automatically ends this 2nd-level ongoing spell when the affected creature or magical effect is chosen within range.
- Losing concentration ends the spell for every target created by that casting.
- An observer who cannot see the Invisible caster cannot use Counterspell, whose trigger requires seeing the creature cast.
- Casting any spell ends Invisibility after that casting, even when the spell causes no damage and targets no enemy.
Timing: the spell ends immediately after the attack roll, damage or spellcasting trigger. An attack roll therefore normally receives the Invisible condition’s benefit before the spell ends. Damage dealt without an attack roll still ends the spell.
Pathfinder 1e Invisibility
Pathfinder uses glamer, Stealth, total concealment, spell resistance and its own definition of an attack.
- Casting Time
- 1 standard action
- Range
- Personal or touch
- Components
- V, S, M/DF
- Material
- An eyelash encased in gum arabic
- Target
- You, a creature, or an object weighing no more than 100 lb. per level
- Duration
- 1 minute per level (D)
- Saving Throw
- Will negates (harmless), including the object form
- Spell Resistance
- Yes (harmless), including the object form
Spell level: adept 2, alchemist 2, antipaladin 2, arcanist 2, bard 2, inquisitor 2, investigator 2, magus 2, medium 2, mesmerist 2, occultist 2, psychic 2, Red Mantis assassin 2, skald 2, sorcerer 2, spiritualist 2, summoner 2, unchained summoner 2 and wizard 2.
Spell Effect
The creature or object touched becomes invisible. A creature’s carried gear vanishes with it. The caster and allies do not automatically retain sight of a subject affected by the spell.
Dropped items become visible. Newly acquired items disappear when concealed in clothing or pouches worn by the subject. A concealed light source continues to shed visible light, and any carried part extending more than 10 feet from the subject remains visible.
The spell ends when the subject directly attacks a creature. It can be made permanent on an object, but not on a creature, through permanency.
Stealth and Concealment
- A stationary Invisible creature gains a +40 bonus on Stealth checks.
- A moving Invisible creature gains a +20 bonus on Stealth checks.
- Against a sighted opponent unable to perceive it, the creature has total concealment.
- An attack against the correct occupied square has a 50% miss chance.
- A creature cannot make attacks of opportunity against a target that has total concealment from it.
Attacking from Invisibility
- An Invisible attacker normally gains a +2 bonus on its attack roll.
- A sighted defender normally loses its Dexterity bonus to AC against the Invisible attacker.
- The first direct attack receives those benefits before the subject becomes visible.
- An offensive spell targeting a foe, or whose area or effect includes a foe, counts as an attack.
- Who counts as a foe depends on the Invisible subject’s perceptions.
Actions and Counters
- Talking, opening doors, handling unattended objects and casting ally-only magic do not automatically end the spell.
- Indirect harm, including releasing a creature or triggering an existing trap, is not a direct attack for this spell.
- See Invisibility reveals the subject without ending the spell.
- Glitterdust can visibly outline a creature that fails its saving throw, while Invisibility Purge negates invisibility inside its emanation.
- Dispel Magic uses a dispel check of 1d20 + caster level against DC 11 + the invisibility spell’s caster level.
Nonvisual senses: blindsight allows normal interaction within its range. Scent can detect an Invisible creature, and tremorsense can locate a valid target in contact with the same surface. Each sense retains its own limits.
D&D 3.5e Invisibility
The 3.5e version uses Hide, Spot, Listen, total concealment and the legacy dispel system.
- Level
- Bard 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 2, Trickery 2
- Casting Time
- 1 standard action
- Range
- Personal or touch
- Components
- V, S, M/DF
- Target
- You, a creature, or an object weighing no more than 100 lb. per level
- Duration
- 1 minute per level (D)
- Saving Throw
- Will negates (harmless), including the object form
- Spell Resistance
- Yes (harmless), including the object form
Spell Effect
The touched creature or object vanishes from sight, including darkvision. A recipient’s carried gear vanishes with it. The caster and allies require their own means of perceiving invisible creatures to continue seeing the subject.
Dropped items become visible. An item picked up while the subject is Invisible disappears only when concealed in worn clothing or a pouch. Light remains visible even when its source is invisible, and carried portions extending more than 10 feet remain visible.
The spell ends immediately when the subject directly attacks a creature. Permanency can apply to objects only.
Hide and Concealment
- An immobile Invisible creature gains a +40 bonus on Hide checks.
- A moving Invisible creature gains a +20 bonus on Hide checks.
- Spot and Listen checks can reveal presence or help pinpoint location under the 3.5e detection rules.
- An Invisible creature has total concealment from a sighted opponent unable to perceive it.
- An attack against the correct square has a 50% miss chance.
Attacking from Invisibility
- The Invisible attacker normally gains a +2 bonus on attacks.
- The sighted defender normally loses its Dexterity bonus to AC.
- The direct attack receives those benefits before the spell ends.
- An offensive spell targeting a foe, or including a foe in its area or effect, counts as an attack.
- An ally-only spell does not become an attack merely because foes are also inside its area.
Actions and Counters
- Speech, movement, eating, climbing and interaction with unattended objects leave the spell intact.
- Indirectly releasing a danger or allowing summoned creatures to attack is not a direct attack by the subject.
- See Invisibility, Glitterdust and Invisibility Purge provide specialised answers.
- Dispel Magic uses a dispel check of 1d20 + caster level, maximum +10, against DC 11 + the invisibility spell’s caster level.
- Blindsight permits normal interaction regardless of invisibility; scent follows its separate detection procedure.
Edition boundary: this version uses Hide, Spot, Listen and Move Silently. Pathfinder’s consolidated Stealth and Perception terminology does not apply here.
Uses and Tactics
Infiltration and scouting
Invisibility is strongest where ordinary sight controls access: guarded passages, watch posts, council chambers, prisons, shrines and vaults. The subject can inspect routes and count defenders while still managing sound, tracks and physical obstacles.
Choose where danger begins
The subject can cross exposed ground, withdraw from a threatened space or reach a decisive position before becoming visible. The spell often gains more value through timing and placement than through its first attack.
Break visual pursuit
A pursuer who loses sight must rely on sound, prediction, tracks, blocked routes and terrain. Corners, elevation, crowds, rain and loud surroundings can make those clues harder to follow.
Witness guarded events
An unseen observer can overhear plans, watch exchanges and identify concealed entrances. Doors still move, floors still bear weight and the subject’s own speech remains audible.
Agree on the objective
Decide whether the goal is reconnaissance, rescue, theft, escape, positioning or a first strike before the spell is cast. Clear objectives protect the limited duration from indecision.
Use the ending condition deliberately
Act when invisibility has already delivered its greatest advantage. The exact trigger differs between 2024 and the legacy editions, so the selected mechanics panel controls the ruling.
GM Adjudication
Describe the subject through consequences in the scene rather than a visible shimmer unless another effect reveals it.
- Establish perception. Separate ordinary sight from Blindsight, Truesight, See Invisibility, scent, tremorsense and environmental clues.
- Establish location. Apply the chosen edition’s hiding, detection and pinpointing rules instead of treating invisibility as automatic location loss.
- Describe evidence. Footprints appear in dust, water parts around unseen legs, a latch rises, loose fabric presses against a body and hanging chains move.
- Resolve targeting. Determine whether the attacker can choose the creature, must choose a space, has Disadvantage or faces a concealment miss chance.
- Apply the correct trigger. The 2024 spell ends after an attack roll, damage or spellcasting. Pathfinder and 3.5e use their direct-attack definitions.
Historical and Occult Development
Greco-Egyptian invisibility rites
The Greek Magical Papyri preserve Greek and Demotic ritual texts from Roman Egypt. Surviving formularies include several operations explicitly intended to make a practitioner unseen or unnoticed, often through invocation, anointing, written signs and carefully prepared substances.
Geoffrey C. Benson’s study of invisibility in ancient literature identifies ten invisibility spells across the surviving Greco-Egyptian magical corpus. Their procedures show that ritual invisibility was imagined as a temporary, prepared condition rather than an effortless personal power.
Collected recipes and practical magic
Magical handbooks commonly gathered operations for healing, protection, travel, attraction, divination and concealment. Their power was presented through recipes: named ingredients, spoken formulae, written characters, timing and prescribed acts.
The British Library’s sixteenth-century Tree of Knowledge contains about 125 spells and remedies. One entry attributes invisibility to prepared snakeskin ash placed near the eyes, illustrating how concealment could be framed as a material property transferred through ritual use.
Mythological Parallels
The Ring of Gyges
In Plato’s Republic, a shepherd discovers a ring that makes him invisible when its setting is turned inward. The tale is an ethical experiment: when witnesses and punishment can be escaped, the wearer’s choices reveal whether justice survives without external restraint.
Perseus and the Cap of Hades
In the mythographic account attributed to Apollodorus, Perseus obtains the cap of Hades among the supernatural tools used against Medusa. Wearing it allows him to see others without being seen, turning invisibility into protection from pursuit by beings whose sight is itself deadly.
Alberich and the Tarnhelm
Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen gives Alberich the Tarnhelm, a magical helm of concealment and transformation. The object belongs to Wagner’s nineteenth-century reshaping of Germanic legendary material rather than to an unchanged ancient Norse source.
Further Viewing
The Ancient Egyptians Believed in Invisibility Spells
An accessible introduction to invisibility rites preserved in the magical texts of Roman Egypt and the historical culture in which those formularies circulated.
Invisibility Rules FAQ
Does Invisibility automatically hide the creature’s location?
The 2024 spell grants the Invisible condition but does not state that observers forget the target’s location or that the target stops making noise. Use the edition’s ordinary hiding and detection rules. Pathfinder and 3.5e use Stealth or Hide bonuses, perception checks, pinpointing and total concealment.
Does speaking end Invisibility?
Ordinary speech does not end any of the three spell versions. It can reveal presence or approximate location. In 2024, casting a spell ends Invisibility after the casting; speaking without casting does not.
Exactly when does an attack end the spell?
In 2024, the spell ends immediately after the target makes an attack roll, deals damage or casts a spell. Pathfinder and 3.5e end it when the subject directly attacks a creature, using their broader edition-specific definitions of an offensive spell and a foe.
Can Dispel Magic remove Invisibility?
Yes. The 2024 spell automatically ends an ongoing spell of 3rd level or lower on its chosen target, so ordinary Invisibility qualifies. Pathfinder and 3.5e use their own caster-level dispel checks.
Does See Invisibility end the spell?
No. It allows its user to perceive the Invisible subject within the spell’s limits. In 2024, an observer who can see the subject also removes the Invisible condition’s attack-related benefits against that observer.
Can darkvision see an Invisible creature?
No. Darkvision handles darkness rather than invisibility. The Pathfinder and 3.5e spell descriptions expressly conceal the subject from darkvision. The 2024 rules require a sense or effect capable of perceiving the Invisible condition.
Rules Sources and Licensing
Primary rules references
- System Reference Document 5.2.1 — 2024 spell, condition, Counterspell and Dispel Magic rules.
- Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 1e Invisibility — Pathfinder spell statistics and effect.
- d20 SRD: D&D 3.5e Invisibility — 3.5e spell statistics and effect.
- d20 SRD: Invisibility special ability — 3.5e concealment, detection and sensory interactions.
Licence and attribution
Contains material from System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available through D&D Beyond and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
The Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e panels are original editorial summaries of the linked public rules references. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc. This independent reference is not affiliated with or endorsed by Paizo Inc.
Original SpiralWorlds editorial text and page design © 2026 SpiralWorlds. The Arthur Rackham illustration is public domain. The principal SpiralWorlds illustration is retained from the existing page and appears once.