Invisibility vs. Greater Invisibility - Rules & Game Mechanics - Dungeons & Dragons Discussion - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

Greetings! *waves*

First, I hope I'm posting this in the right forum. If not, please excuse me and direct me to the right one.

While putting together an NPC, and using DNDB for spell research, I selected Invisibility and Greater Invisibility. However, after a quick glance I couldn't tell why I needed both.

Can someone please teach me the difference? From the descriptions it appears one difference is that Greater Invisibility does *not* end when the target attacks or casts a spell. And, yes, I'm excluding 2nd level vs. 4th level illusion, and up to 1 hour vs. up to 1 minute.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The ability to attack without ending the spell vs being able to cast the spell on other individuals also is basically the difference.

Essentially Invisibility is a "fact finding/hiding/traveling unseen" spell whereas Greater Invisibility is more of a combat spell. Would you need both? Depends on the function the NPC is going to have.

It depends on the way you wish to apply the spell effects - at the end of the day, Greater Invisibility is a lot more flexible and powerful than Invisibility but of course it requires a 4th level spell slot compares to a 2nd.

Greater Invisibility will allow the invisible person to continue attacking - and therefore allowing all attacks to be made at Advantage.Invisibility will end as soon as the invisible person makes an attack or casts a spell - so is good to hide and sneak around, but once you start entering combat it's over.

Invisibility will allow you to make more individuals invisible using higher slots, so it would depend on what your intention for the NPC is. If you have an evil wizard that you want to be able to attack whilst being invisible, then Greater will be the way to go. If it's more of a backup to escape, then the 2nd level version should be okay.

Thanks for the awesome (and quick) feedback.

I selected wisely. :-) This particular NPC is more 'lover' than 'fighter' and will be definitely heading _away_ from trouble. Therefore Invisibility suits him better.

Again, Thanks!

Quote from githbrains >>

I know I'm three years late, but here's the thing: is greater invisibility all that better? it has a shorter duration... only 1 minute.

In general its not a good idea to necro a thread, but to answer your question:

Invisibility is a great spell for scouting, spying, and for setting an ambush, but it ends on any attack or spell cast, so it is not a great combat spell. Its duration reflects it's purpose for what it was designed for

Greater Invisibility is a great combat spell, since it doesn't end on any other attack or spell cast, and the duration reflects its primary use for combat situations (which last less than a minute, usually). Its not great for the things Invisibility is great for, but it wasn't designed to be that way.

Despite both being "invisibility" spells, they fulfill different functions and are great for the function they were designed for.