Machine Invisibility

Illusion

Level: Arcane 2; Components: V, S, F; Casting Time: Attack action; Range: Personal or touch; Target: One creature or object weighing no more than 100 lb./level; Duration: 1 minute/level (D); Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless) or Will negates (harmless, object); Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless) or Yes (harmless, object)

The creature or object touched cannot be detected by video cameras, electronic sensors, or other high-tech detection machines. The creature is also invisible to mechanical constructs such as gear golems, digital homunculi, and mechanical homunculi. If the recipient is a creature carrying gear, the gear is likewise undetectable. The subject is missing from still photos taken while the spell is in effect, closed-circuit television monitors don’t display the subject, and other machines are likewise fooled. The creature or object touched can stand on a scale and doesn’t appear to weigh anything. Infrared and heat sensors detect only the ambient heat levels. X-ray machines don’t reveal the presence of an object with machine invisibility. Microphones don’t pick up sounds that the subject makes directly, although they will pick up sounds that subject makes by interacting with the environment. A hidden microphone wouldn’t hear the subject’s voice but would record the sound of that creature throwing a brick through a window. Items dropped or put down by an affected creature become visible to machine detectors; items picked up disappear if tucked into clothing or a bag carried by the creature. Light never becomes invisible, although a source of light can become so (thus, the effect in a photograph or video image is that of a light with no visible source). Any part of an item that the subject carries but that extends more than 10 feet from it becomes visible, such as a trailing rope.

The spell ends if the subject attacks any creature. For purposes of this spell, an “attack” includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe. (Exactly who is a foe depends on the invisible character’s perceptions.) Actions directed at unattended objects do not break the spell. Causing harm indirectly is not an attack. If the subject attacks directly, however, the subject and its gear immediately becomes visible to machines.

While machine invisibility is useful for many tasks requiring stealth, it sometimes makes the subject’s life more difficult. A stoplight sensor under an intersection might not pick up a motorcycle with machine invisibility. Automatic sliding doors at the supermarket won’t open for the subject of machine invisibility. Talking on the telephone or radio is impossible.

Focus: A glass lens, which the caster fogs by breathing on it.