Invisible Helmets and Shots to the Eye

[Anthony]

Never had the invisible helmet/see invisible show up in game, but I have a friend with a fine D&D cheese story: dungeon full of gaze monsters (basilisks, etc). Treasure of periscope helmets, which protect you from gaze because it's reflected. Final boss vampires who cannot be seen in mirrors...

[benz72]

These results make sense if the assumptions are about ongoing spells are correct, but I don't see a reason for that to necessarily be the case. Changing steel to 'transparent steel' (or for Star Trek fans, transparent aluminum) might very well be a permanent change effected through magic, or alchemy, or supernatural crafting skill or some other means. Could it be invisible? sure, but it could also be transparent with the same refractive index as air... which means you can't see it.
Working the other way, making regular glass Shaterproof with a spell or the alchemical equivalent can provide the same benefit.
I don't think transparent things become opaque with See Invisible, just that they aren't magically shielded from sight.
Could there be drawbacks to invisible faceplates? Sure, but some of them might be 'engineered' out.

[Anthony]

Looks like See Invisible does still mean invisible objects are 'slightly translucent', but if you want something that doesn't interact with see invisible (and is also slightly cheaper) there's Transparency on M119.

[b-dog]

Well placed no mana zones would make an invisible helmet face plate sort of a pain in the butt.

[Polkageist]

I would not wear an invisible helmet for the simple reason that my hair would look all squashed.

[kabson]

Originally Posted by Polkageist

I would not wear an invisible helmet for the simple reason that my hair would look all squashed.

I would definitely want a hinged visor on my invisible helmet, just in case, and a visible padded cap to avoid Polkageist's bad hair day.

A bucket of mud, or similar substance, would make a good low-tech/low-mana counter-measure. Especially against the sort wearing an invisible bucket.

[Polkageist]

It just reminds me of the parody character thing from a million years ago

https://media.wired.com/photos/59329...mit/romney.jpg

a total goof but it always just cracked me up that he has the 'invisible helmet of authority' and it's this total goofballs dotted-line outline around his head with horns and everything.

I swear that there's another bit of early D&D art out there with a similar sort of thing with a warrior all decked out and fierce with a cartoon line-art helmet around his head. I just have to imagine that in the fantasy world, there's still that dotty outline of the helmet floating around someone's head.

Effective or not, I just can't think about an invisible helmet without giggling. I think any character I play would have a similar reaction.


heee heee invisible bucket.

[ArchonShiva]

Also, to be clear, enchantment by the piece is for armour enchantments, which Invisibility isn’t; it works by weight You can make your helmet invisible, but you can’t do it for less than $10k.

[benz72]

Originally Posted by ArchonShiva

Also, to be clear, enchantment by the piece is for armour enchantments, which Invisibility isn’t; it works by weight You can make your helmet invisible, but you can’t do it for less than $10k.

The whole helmet doesn't need to be invisible, just the face plate.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by benz72

The whole helmet doesn't need to be invisible, just the face plate.

Doesn't affect the cost. It's fixed cost for any weight less than 50 lb.