What actions can be taken without breaking invisibility?

SomeSort

So I have a half-baked idea for a theme playthrough. Essentially, the idea is that there is no CharName at all and Imoen was the only Bhaalspawn in Candlekeep. Gorion takes her in the prologue, but seeing his death and learning that people want to kill her is such a shock that it provokes a dissociative event; to cope, she is forced to create a fictitious personality, ("CharName"), who is the real target. She manufactures fake memories of growing up with him because she can't stand the reality she is discovering.

Essentially, CharName will function as a figment of Imoen's imagination. No one else will see him, no one else will talk to him, no one else will interact with him. Insofar as he interacts with the world, it's essentially just Bhaal's essence in Imoen impacting the world.

Obviously CharName must be invisible at all times when around anyone other than Imoen herself, either through Stealth, an Invisibility spell, or perhaps the priest spell Sanctuary. (I'll make an exception for traveling to a new map, provided I go invisible immediately after arriving.) So I'm trying to think of what actions he could take without breaking invisibility, and which could plausibly be attributed to a powerful aura surrounding Imoen instead of an independent actor. My list so far:

Detect/Disarm Traps
Dispel Illusion (Thief ability)
Open Locks (Sanctuary only)
Turn Undead
Bard Song
Self-buffs (mostly useless for my purposes)
Potions (same)

Mage Spells:
Identify
Farsight?
Dispel Illusion effects, (True Seeing, Oracle, etc)?

Cleric Spells:
Prot Evil 10'
Find Traps
Dispell Illusion effects, (True Seeing, Dispel Illusion, etc)?
Zone of Sweet Air?
Mass Cure?

Looking at the list, the most enticing option seems to be a Cleric/Thief, or perhaps even a Shadowdancer -> Cleric dual, though it'll hurt to lose out on invisibility and have to rely mostly on hide checks, instead. (It makes it a lot harder to justify bringing a party along with me, essentially turning the game into an Imoen solo. Of course, either way Chapters 2-5 of BG2 are essentially going to be an Imoen solo, anyway.)

A Skald would also be an option, especially since Imoen can handle disarming traps and opening locks on her own, but then I lose out on Hide in Shadows + Cloak of Non-Detection to get past True Sight. (I do have Invisibility + Spell Immunity: Divination, though.)

Alternately, a Jester could be on the table, but I think "Everyone friendly is inexplicably better in combat when around Imoen" is easier to explain by some unseen aura than "Everyone unfriendly randomly goes insane when around Imoen". Though as I type it out like this, I realize the latter explanation seems fine, and a Jester would probably be much easier. (By the time I got the HLA Bard Song, either path would be identical.) And thematically, a CN Jester would fit beautifully with a playthrough where I'm imagining everything and everyone is a little bit crazy in the first place.

Also, my plan for Chapter 2 in SoA is basically to exploit steal/sell to get my 15,000 gold without doing any quests, (and steal a truckload of spell scrolls to help get Imoen up and running quickly in chapter 4), which either class would be capable of.

If I'm a Cleric/Thief, I might make an exception and kill Pooky to get that Cloak of Non-Detection early. No clever thoughts yet on how to navigate Chapter 3 and pre-Spellhold Chapter 4. Once I get Imoen back, I'm going to retcon the whole affair as a dream she had when Irenicus was stealing her soul about the lengths "CharName" went through to find her and rescue her, because "CharName" was always the strong one. And "CharName" is the one who turns into the Slayer, because innocent little Imoen could never become anything that evil.

Anyone know for sure about the effects I have questions about? Anyone have any other good ideas or clever tricks for Chapter 3? Typing it all out like this, as much as I'd hate to give up the thief's innate detect illusion and the cleric's Protection from Evil and Turn Undead, I think Jester might be the way to go, (especially if I don't want to drive myself as insane as the characters I'm roleplaying).

[Deleted User]

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SomeSort

subtledoctor said:

Why not create a spell with timing mode 9, that combines the effects from Invisibility, Improved Invisibility, Sanctuary, Nondetection, and SI: Divination. And add an effect that sets APR to 0, and disables spellcasting and disables the 4 spellcasting buttons for good measure. Also, the effects from Absolute Immunity and Globe of Invulnerability (but blocking all 9 spell levels), and set all resistances to 100.

Did I miss anything?

Put it on a scroll or something, roll a thief with 3 STR, console yourself the scroll and cast it on yourself. Then you can be the trap-finding, lock-picking, subconscious telekinetic manifestation of Imoen's Bhaal essence.

I guess a problem is that certain enemies have "invisibility detection by script" which can see through any kind of invisibility, including everything above. For them, you would need to make sure Charname is kept away from the battle.

Because iPad.

Thinking about this some more, I wouldn't necessarily need to be invisible at all times around the NPCs. If I don't actually exist, then they won't see me whether I'm invisible or not. Really, the big rule is that CharName is not allowed to overtly interact with the world in any way. He can't carry stuff, (though I can play that he has a shared inventory and weight allowance with Imoen), he can't open doors, he can't open chests, he can't directly harm enemies or cast any spells that have an obvious physical effect, (summons, damage spells, healing spells, illusions, etc.) And he can't talk to anyone other than Imoen herself, though if someone talks to him first I can always play it as they're talking to Imoen and she's imagining they're addressing CharName.

Anything that does not have a directly observable effect should be fine. Intangible buffs like Protection from Evil or Bard Song (pretending there's no audible or visual component to it), confusion effects, trap disarming, (though Imoen can handle this fine on her own), Scouting/Scrying, identifying items, etc.

And most crucially, I can't be seen by enemies, because that will trigger changes in their AI script that would directly impact the real world. (Jahiera might get suspicious if a Goblin suddenly takes it upon himself to fire arrows at a figment of Imoen's imagination.)

Obviously for enemies that can innately see through invisibility that will be unavoidable. Maybe I'll play it that they're highly attuned to such matters, can sense Imoen's immortal soul, and are attempting to kill that in lieu of her physical body.

Still some practical challenges to address, but I'm already loving the idea of making a Chaotic Neutral Jester after all. I can make the saga about Imoen's slow descent into madness and how when a God goes mad, the entire world goes mad around her. I'm usually far more into the rollplay than the roleplay, but this is starting to sound like a lot of fun.

JuliusBorisov

Singing breaks Invisibility.

semiticgoddess

In EE, at least. In vanilla, songs didn't break invisibility, even the Jester's song.

SomeSort

JuliusBorisov said:

Singing breaks Invisibility.

I hadn't tried a bard yet in EE, so thanks for the heads up. There goes that idea just as I was starting to warm up to it.

Cloutier

Alternatively, you may have charname do some things, but play along with the rule that anyone who witnesses his existence has to die.

SomeSort

Cloutier said:

Alternatively, you may have charname do some things, but play along with the rule that anyone who witnesses his existence has to die.

The conceit is that CharName literally does not exist, so whether anyone observes him or not is irrelevant.

SomeSort

SomeSort said:

JuliusBorisov said:

Singing breaks Invisibility.

I hadn't tried a bard yet in EE, so thanks for the heads up. There goes that idea just as I was starting to warm up to it.

Wait, a stroke of fortune! Through research, I discover that "Bard Song Breaks Invisibility" was a patch 2.0 fix. iOS devices are left stranded back in 1.3, which in this case is a massive boon. Project: Slow Descent Into Madness is back on.