Faerie Fire vs Invisibility and Improved Invisibility

[Silver_Tiger]

I recently played at Total Confusion Convention and an interesting question of interpretation came up regarding Faerie Fire (FF) and--in this particular instance--Improved Invisibility (II).

The description of FF reads as follows: "A pale glow surrounds and outlines the subjects. Outlined subjects shed light as candles. Creatures outlined by FF take a -20 penalty on all Stealth checks. Outlined creatures do not benefit from the concealment normally provided by darkness (though a 2nd level or higher magical darkness effect functions normally), Blur, Displacement, Invisibility, or similar effects. The light is too dim to have any special effect on undead or dark-dwelling creatures vulnerable to light. The FF can be blue, green, or violet, according to your choice at the time of casting. The FF does not cause any harm to the objects or creatures thus outlined.

In our game the GM was running an 11th level wizard using Improved Invisibility (II), and I had cast FF in the wizard's square. The GM proceeded to move the wizard out of the square and continued to run the NPC as if her II had been blown. I pointed out that nowhere in the spell description did it say anything comparable to Glitterdust where a creature was covered with dust of any kind; and that the spell was merely outlining any creature in a designated square. Convinced, the GM proceeded to run the game as I had interpreted the spell.

But later that evening, in another slot, a fellow Druid companion was quite opposed to my interpretation saying that neither does the spell NOT say anything about continuing to outline a character even after exiting the square.

Is there an official ruling or guideline to answer my fellow's argument? The GM at that particular table was unsure how to interpret the spell and suggested I post on this site.

Thanks to anyone who would care to answer.

Chris M.

[Jeff Merola]

Faerie Fire doesn't target an area. It targets creatures within an area. So if you hit something with it, it sticks to them for the duration of the spell.

[BigNorseWolf]

This is the PFS forum, brace for a move to the rule forum.

Area creatures and objects within a 5-ft.-radius burst

A burst spell affects whatever it catches in its area, including creatures that you can't see. It can't affect creatures with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don't extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst's area defines how far from the point of origin the spell's effect extends.

The spell takes effect on the creature, not on the area. Once you're outlined you're outlined, no matter where you go. The spell would be pretty useless if you could just 5 foot step away from it.

[Pirate Rob]

I don't see any PFS specific question here, so you may do better in the rules forums. Having taken a quick read of faerie fire though I believe the answer is fairly obvious. (The area of effect is the creatures/objects when the spell is cast)