Dear fellow prisoners of the mists,
As should be obvious to anyone who's spend some time with this game, attaining balance between classes, spells, feats etc. is a challenge. Not only because there are so many factors involved that it's hard to assess the actual utility and power level, but equally because whenever we change something in one place, it easily end up having unforeseen consequences elsewhere.
One such case is True Seeing. In general, we aim to balance out things against each other in ways that generate varied gameplay with complexity and rich in nuances, where everyone has their weak spots and no one can feel too certain about their safety and superiority. This keeps people on their toes and adheres well to the themes of Ravenloft.
For those very reasons, we (long ago) nerfed True Seeing to not make it completely superior against any level of stealthiness, rather working as a more powerful version of see invisible that additionally granted large bonuses to spot and search. It gives the caster an edge, but not certainty.
What we didn't fully consider back then though was that this in turn meant that the spell was no longer able to spot people that cast Greater Sanctuary, and consequently, that has become a form of "certain win" spell for avoiding detection. It virtually guarantees you to be able to flee just about any situation.
Therefore, we are considering replacing Greater Sanctuary with something similar though still vulnerable, namely Ethereal Jaunt. This is the stats of the spell as we currently envision it:
Spell Level: Cleric 7; Wizard / Sorcerer 7
Innate Level: 7
School: Transmutation
Descriptor:
Component: Verbal, Somatic
Range: Personal
Area of Effect / Target: Caster
Duration: 1 Turn + 1 Round / Level
Save: None.
Spell Resistance: No
The caster becomes ethereal. An ethereal creature is invisible and insubstantial. As an insubstantial creature, the caster can move through other living creatures (but not walls or objects) and cannot be affected by physical or magical damage or effects. However, force effects (Magic Missile, Isaac's Greater Magic Storm and Isaac's Lesser Magic Storm) and abjurations affect an ethereal creature normally since their effects extend onto the Near Ethereal. An ethereal creature cannot attack other creatures, acquire items or gold, or cast spells. Casting spells or performing a hostile action will make the etherealness vanish.
Please share your thoughts on this. We of course realize that it may be frustrating to those who've come to rely on the spell, but we hope that you can at least follow our reasoning and try to see things in a larger perspective here. We don't take lightly in nerfing popular things like this and we only propose it because we genuinely think it would end up benefiting everyone (or at least the vast majority) in the long rung.
Sincerely yours. For real and truly!
