You have one bad guy (Strahd) and one good (Ezmerelda) running around in the final battle with Greater Invisibility.
And you have a 3rd guy, Bob, who is tired of Strahd both walking around Invisible.
Dispel Magic Text:
Choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range.
Now, I've seen a lot of threads around about how this works with Invisibility with some different ideas and want to give it another go.
OK, so Bob has 3 options:
Choose a Creature
Choose an Object
Choose a Magical Effect
OK, we are not choosing an Object here, so really 2 options.
Choose an Creature (Strahd): If Bob wants to Dispel Magic Strahd, he's going to have to know where Strahd is. Very dicey considering Strahd can take Legendary Actions to move around. However, assuming Bob can do this, all spells on Strahd may or may not be dispelled depending on the level of the spell(s) and maybe rolls of the dice.
Choose a Magical Effect: However, Bob could pick the Magical Effect 'Greater Invisibility'. In this case, now what? Do you get rid of all GI spells within Range? Is both Strahd and Ezmerelda SOL? Bob knows they are both around somewhere. Does he pick a target and hope it's the right one?
After reading over the description of the spell, I don't think the caster actually needs to know where the target is. You would probably still need a line of effect, but it doesn't specify a creature "that you can see", or any other qualifier.
When choosing a "Magical Effect", you choose a single instance of a Magical Effect, not all instances of the same spell, so you would say "Strahd's Greater Invisibility".
The important difference is that if you Choose "Strahd", rather than "Strahd's Greater Invisibility", you will also potentially dispel anything else that is active on him, which might include debuffs that your party has inflicted.
Choose an Creature (Strahd): If Bob wants to Dispel Magic Strahd, he's going to have to know where Strahd is. Very dicey considering Strahd can take Legendary Actions to move around. However, assuming Bob can do this, all spells on Strahd may or may not be dispelled depending on the level of the spell(s) and maybe rolls of the dice.
In practice this is almost always the correct option. Strahd still needs to take the Hide action in combat to escape notice and attacking or casting spells will generally give him away.
Choose a Magical Effect: However, Bob could pick the Magical Effect 'Greater Invisibility'. In this case, now what? Do you get rid of all GI spells within Range? Is both Strahd and Ezmerelda SOL? Bob knows they are both around somewhere. Does he pick a target and hope it's the right one?
The intent is that you're choosing 1 specific magical effect that you're aware of (in much the same way it's assumed you're aware of an object or creature you want to target.) "The effect of the Greater Invisibility spell" is a valid target but that still leaves Bob with the problem of finding Strahd to target the effect that's on him. This option is mainly useful when there's another spell on the target you don't want to get rid of or when the effect exists independently, like Fog Cloud.
You have one bad guy (Strahd) and one good (Ezmerelda) running around in the final battle with Greater Invisibility.
And you have a 3rd guy, Bob, who is tired of Strahd both walking around Invisible.
Dispel Magic Text:
Now, I've seen a lot of threads around about how this works with Invisibility with some different ideas and want to give it another go.
OK, so Bob has 3 options:
OK, we are not choosing an Object here, so really 2 options.
Choose an Creature (Strahd): If Bob wants to Dispel Magic Strahd, he's going to have to know where Strahd is. Very dicey considering Strahd can take Legendary Actions to move around. However, assuming Bob can do this, all spells on Strahd may or may not be dispelled depending on the level of the spell(s) and maybe rolls of the dice.
Choose a Magical Effect: However, Bob could pick the Magical Effect 'Greater Invisibility'. In this case, now what? Do you get rid of all GI spells within Range? Is both Strahd and Ezmerelda SOL? Bob knows they are both around somewhere. Does he pick a target and hope it's the right one?
Thoughts?
After reading over the description of the spell, I don't think the caster actually needs to know where the target is. You would probably still need a line of effect, but it doesn't specify a creature "that you can see", or any other qualifier.
When choosing a "Magical Effect", you choose a single instance of a Magical Effect, not all instances of the same spell, so you would say "Strahd's Greater Invisibility".
The important difference is that if you Choose "Strahd", rather than "Strahd's Greater Invisibility", you will also potentially dispel anything else that is active on him, which might include debuffs that your party has inflicted.
In practice this is almost always the correct option. Strahd still needs to take the Hide action in combat to escape notice and attacking or casting spells will generally give him away.
The intent is that you're choosing 1 specific magical effect that you're aware of (in much the same way it's assumed you're aware of an object or creature you want to target.) "The effect of the Greater Invisibility spell" is a valid target but that still leaves Bob with the problem of finding Strahd to target the effect that's on him. This option is mainly useful when there's another spell on the target you don't want to get rid of or when the effect exists independently, like Fog Cloud.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
This is how I played it, but I was starting to 2nd guess myself.