Behind the Spells: Unseen Servant

By Bret Boyd / June 3, 2009 / Articles, Behind the Spells, Front Page

Welcome back to Behind the Spells, the series that provides a historical background, secret effects,
and related material to classic spells of the world’s most famous fantasy roleplaying game. This 11th
installment concludes our series of Behind the Spells; we hope you’ve enjoyed the series. As always,
the rules (presented after the “Spell Secret” header) are compatible with any 3.5/OGL fantasy game,
and the story is narrated by an ancient gold dragon named Maxolt Alberiim.

Creator
The tale of unseen servant is a short but cautionary one.
Mindoc Vratt—a human wizard of minor ability—studied under Foran Poltt, creator of summon
monster. With a short attention span and a phobia of dirt, one wonders why Mindoc dabbled
in the arcane ways at all. The answer lies in two words—his wife. He married into his love’s
wealthy smithing family and, regrettably, thereafter did little of any consequence. After winning
the new spell contest at the Thesktin Magefair, apprentice hopefuls flocked to Foran’s door. He
selected them all according to their innate talents, save for Mindoc, who became an apprentice
because Foran needed the gold.
As with all of Foran’s apprentices, Mindoc’s final task before graduating to wizard status was to
create a new spell. The human knew exactly what he wanted to create. Combining his dirt
phobia and an almost fanatical dislike for familiars (“Why would you want a creature that harms
you when it dies and, gods forbid, defecates where you least expect it?”), Mindoc set about to create
what would become unseen servant, originally titled “arcane maid”. The process ran into
obstacles from the start.
Some of the central phrasing the spell needed stumped him, and the deadline to hand over the
new spell drew nigh. After overhearing yet more glowing praise for Foran’s summon monster
from a visiting wizard, Mindoc decided to use his master’s spell as the core of his own. Why not,
he reasoned. Both spells essentially do the same thing, right?
Despite this shortcut, the “arcane maid” performed as expected, gaining Mindoc wizard status
as well as praise from his colleagues. The invisible form could perform the rudimentary tasks
commanded of it but the animating force eventually proved to be quite different than anyone
could have realized. For decades later, after an unseen servant was conjured near her, a psion
named Fedohna sensed a presence where the spell’s supposedly mindless form toiled. She
spoke to the entity instead of simply commanding it, as everyone before her had done.
“Are you alive?” Fedohna asked.
“Yes,” answered a light, high-pitched voice.
After conversing for hours with the creature, Fedohna and the conjuring wizard went to the
Council of Hebris, the owners of the spell following Mindoc’s death and the largest arcane body
of that time in the region. Council wizards scrutinized the spell and discovered what Mindoc
had done—by inserting the summon monster component, Mindoc had inadvertently
summoned an invisible creature. The arcane construction and material components of the
spell caused it to summon the same type of creature every time it was used. In this case, the
creature was called an invisible attendant, a monster created during the Elemental Riftwar.
As for unseen servant, the arcane workings were changed to conjure a mindless and shapeless
form to perform the desired mundane tasks. An apology was offered to all invisible attendants,
starting with the one Fedohna discovered. Fortunately, their unique mindset precluded the
possibility of retaliation for what amounted to decades of magical kidnapping and slavery.
Spell Secret

Though few know it, Mindoc’s unseen servant can deliver touch attacks, since he wanted his
new spell to replace the use of living creatures. Regrettably, the arcane phrasing within the
spell requires extra verbal components that did not quite make it into the final version.
By making a successful DC 21 Spellcraft check while casting unseen servant, your servant can
deliver touch spells for the duration but is in all other ways restricted to the normal spell
limitations concerning distance from caster, etc. When delivering the touch spell, the caster
makes the touch attack roll after the servant has entered the target’s space.
Because this secret usage capitalizes on an uncompleted section of the spell, the servant might
collapse when used this way. After successful use of a touch spell, the caster must make a
Concentration check (DC 15 + touch spell’s level). If he is successful, the servant continues to
functioning while failure ends the spell.
Related Research
The new creature uncovered by unseen servant’s creation is a curious one. Few have
encountered the invisible attendant (or at least realized they encountered it). Fewer still have
discovered its single-minded directive and, thus, failed to uncover perhaps the greatest
storehouses of information that ever existed.
New Monster
Invisible Attendant CR 1/2
Usually N Small elemental (air, extraplanar)
Init +0; Senses darkvision; Listen +6, Spot +5
Defense
AC 13, touch 11, flat-footed 13
(+1 size, +2 natural)
hp 2 (1/2d8)
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +1
Natural Invisibility
Elemental traits
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Special Attack Steal Breath (DC 12 Fort save or dazed for 1 rnd)
Tactics
Before Combat Invisible attendants learn all they can be silently spying on any creature
deemed hostile (i.e. any creature who may know of its existence or its mission).
During Combat Invisible attendants use their Steal Breath attack before withdrawing.
Morale Unless an opponent has demonstrated the ability to detect them, invisible attendants
are fearless.
Statistics
Str 4, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; Grapple -4
Feats Ability Focus (Steal Breath)
Skills Hide +4, Listen +6, Sense Motive +6, Spot +5
Languages Any
Special Qualities Natural invisibility, tongues

Ecology
Environment Any, but based in the Elemental Plane of Air
Organization Solitary, pair, or cadre (3-5)
Treasure None
Advancement None
Special Abilities
Steal Breath (Su) As a standard action, invisible attendants can instantly suck the air out of a
single 5-ft. space they are adjacent to. Any creature in the target area that breathes reflexively
chokes and must succeed a Fort save (DC 12) or be dazed (unable to act) for 1 round. The save
DC is Constitution-based.
Natural Invisibility (Su) This is a constant ability that is inherent and not subject to the
invisibility purge spell.
Tongues (Su) Invisible attendants can speak with any creature that has a language as though
using a tongues  spell (caster level 5th). This ability is always active.
Like their invisible stalker cousins, invisible attendants have amorphous forms which appear
only as swirling clouds of vapor if proper detection is employed (true seeing).
Behind the Spells: Unseen Servant  is the eleventh in a series produced for KoboldQuarterly.com
by Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc.