hello:

i've been kicking around an issue that came from a discussion from last saturday's game. the wolf shaman in my game, his player likes to re-word spell names. basically, he calls invisibility "thought shield." the spell prevents other characters from "perceiving the concept of him visually," to quote him, when the spell is active. that seems to make sense. since the spell is mana based everything.

then the problem.

in the game, he was trying to stalk someone by using his thought shield than i ruled that he got spotted by a guard using astral perception. he brought up than since he was using the spell that the guard would have to pass a spell resistance test. than i quoted for him:

"Their aura is still visible to astral perception," by canon: page 195.

and, like a good little player, he agreed and backed down.

but this got me thinking; how does invisibility work??? if it works by bending light around the spell target tha would be improved invisiblity. but if it works by "manipulating" light, shouldn't it it the manipulation spell category, like the shadow spell manipulates light.

how does the mana-based invisibility work???

Stop trying to rationalize magic.

One way to rationalize is it that even on the astral plane, the perceiver can't see the subject himself... but he can see the magical aura glowing around him as a result of the spell. Illusions can't cloak auras no matter what, though if he has Masking that might be able to help out (which is totally DM dependant, however).

We had this fight just a couple weeks ago. Go back, read that thread, and you'll save Doc and me the trouble of having to flame each other over it again.

But it's so fun!

Regardless, your character just described the most sensible way for non-Improved Invisibility to work.

~J

Yeah, false sensory information, rather than any actual physical effect (like light-bending).