See Invisibility: All Will be Revealed

Usable By: Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard

Spell Level: 2

School: Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Duration: 1 hour

Components: V S M (A pinch of talc and a small sprinkling of powdered silver)

For the duration, you see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible, and you can see into the Ethereal Plane. Ethereal creatures and objects appear ghostly and translucent.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

When a spell or effect is so powerful it justifies a second spell should exist simply to mitigate it, I think we’re in danger. See Invisibility exists because of how powerful and game altering Invisibility can feel. It doesn’t really solve the problem of facing an invisible threat, but allows you to see them normally.

See Invisibility does less than it says rules as written, which is crazy to me. You spend a 2nd level spell slot to see invisible and ethereal creatures for an hour- to me, it's implied this removes the benefits of them being invisible or ethereal, but thanks to good old fashioned wonky rules interactions, it does no such thing! Technically (although a lot of DMs won’t rule this way) being invisible, regardless of being seen, gives you advantage on attack rolls and creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against you, making the bulk of this spells utility moot.

See Invisibility is a terrible solution to an often interesting problem. Fundamentally, Invisibility, stealth, and hiding need serious revisions in rules as written to make them feel better to play against for players. When you’re facing down an invisible stalker, knowing what space to attack is useful, and See Invisibility does that, but you really don’t want to have to spend a 2nd level spell slot to get this effect. Bards and sorcerers particularly can’t justify putting something this niche on their sheet, and let's be honest, no wizard or artificer wants to take this unless they absolutely have to. The spell offers no other utility beyond seeing invisible and ethereal creatures, and outside of that environment, is useless. Detect Magic can detect where the magic is, which will be almost exactly as effective as this, but also does more things that you’d want a detection spell to do.

If you’re a DM, I do not recommend building threats that push players to take this. Invisible enemies can be fun, but require players to get access to tools that reveal them beyond this spell. Throwing dust, dirt, or water can be an easy mundane way to highlight where an invisible creature is, and make the problem feel like it's surmountable once they learn about the nature of the threat. When they’re required to pick a spell to solve the problem, no interesting or engaging storytelling happens, no creative problem solving. It becomes pick the right key to the lock, and that’s not an interesting nor fun game play pattern to work with. Don’t take this spell, and don’t ask your players to take it either.

See Invisibility FAQ:

Can I tell that invisible creatures are invisible while using See Invisibility?

An interesting question. I would instinctively assume that of course you can. Maybe they’d appear translucent or something. But RAW seems to say differently. “you see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible”. That kind of throws a wrench into answering the question.

Let’s take the invisible assassin situation, for example. If you see the assassin as just some regular dude, how are you supposed to be able to tell that he’s out of place or has ill intent?

In a lot of situations, not being able to tell whether or not someone’s invisible is almost the same as not being able to see them at all.

Despite the seemingly definitive answer RAW gives us, I’m going to call the answer to this one as unclear. It’s something to discuss with your Dungeon Master before you decide whether or not you want to include See Invisibility in your spellcasting arsenal.

Having said that, there are other ways to tell whether someone is invisible even if you can see them perfectly clearly. Invisibility doesn’t make you completely undetectable. Unless you roll a great Stealth check, you still make noise.

Also, you can leave footprints, you might have a distinctive odor, and you have to avoid running into people. In fact, being invisible can be extremely challenging in a crowded area when people aren’t instinctively stepping out of your way.

If you spot someone inching sideways with their back against the wall, there’s a good chance that person is invisible.

However you use the spell, have fun with it. It’s always satisfying to outcon a con man.

5e Spells

See Invisibility: All Will be Revealed

See Invisibility FAQ: