Displacer Beast in Pathfinder

[Atsy Kiri]

So the story is that this past Friday, my gf and I went to her friend's house to play a session. He was using 3.5 while we were using pathfinder characters. This was our first session with him as DM and the first combat we get into is vs a Displacer Beast in the Underdark. The DB sneaks up on us, which is fine and dandy, but once it starts attacking us, the DM says that we're being attacked by an invisible enemy. My understanding is that once it attacks us, we should be able to see it and attack it, just with a -50% chance to hit. Instead we spent 30 mins pretty much raging at how the DB was raping us with its tentacles and there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop it. BTW we were playing a lvl 5 sorcerer and witch. Displacer Beast is CR 4. The DM keeps telling us it was our fault, we should have had Goggles of True Seeing or just ran around throwing gold dust everywhere (the latter was viable, but seems a bit ridiculous)

[Jonathon Vining]

I would advise not playing under this guy again.

-Professor Vining, Active Historian: Currently reporting on the nations and places in the Mythic Age (http://professorvining.tumblr.com)

On 14 July 2013 22:38, Atsy Kiri <atsy...@gmail.com> wrote:

So the story is that this past Friday, my gf and I went to her friend's house to play a session. He was using 3.5 while we were using pathfinder characters. This was our first session with him as DM and the first combat we get into is vs a Displacer Beast in the Underdark. The DB sneaks up on us, which is fine and dandy, but once it starts attacking us, the DM says that we're being attacked by an invisible enemy. My understanding is that once it attacks us, we should be able to see it and attack it, just with a -50% chance to hit. Instead we spent 30 mins pretty much raging at how the DB was raping us with its tentacles and there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop it. BTW we were playing a lvl 5 sorcerer and witch. Displacer Beast is CR 4. The DM keeps telling us it was our fault, we should have had Goggles of True Seeing or just ran around throwing gold dust everywhere (the latter was viable, but seems a bit ridiculous)

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[Bodhisattva]

Displacer beasts are explicitly not invisible; they possess a light-bending glamour. Invisibility may grant a 50% miss chance (just as the displacer beast possesses), but that does not mean that you cannot see the displacer beast. Truesight Goggles (Ultimate Equipment, p. 227) are 184,800gp, which you shouldn't be able to afford until around 13th level or so.

You are correct that Truesight Goggles or gold dust would have been ridiculous to carry on your person at any given time, excepting if you absolutely knew that you might be fighting a displacer beast, that you explicitly needed gold dust to handle it, and that you were conveniently provided with a reasonable way to acquire some.

Long story short, your GM took advantage of you and blamed it on you. This is the mark of poor GMing. While I wouldn't necessarily ditch this fellow completely, I would talk to him about how this was not a fair or fun way to present a challenge to you, nor was it consistent with established rules for the foe in question. If he repeats this behavior, I would stop playing with him.

Best wishes!

--
"Born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad..."
                                          - Rafael Sabatini, 1921, Scaramouche

[Atsy Kiri]

Thanks for confirming that I'm not clueless. I really wondered if I was wrong, because the GM is still arguing that it is our fault. Makes me happy, and thank you for the replies.

[assassinjwest2]

You are not wrong. the DM was being a jerk (as always), but never fear. Simply get a new DM, or use Flame strike on him. 

[NikosBlu]

The only reason for an "invisible" enemy in this case, would be if you couldn't see due to darkness, in wich case you still get the 50% chance! Introduce him to either the Monster Manual or this forum.