Have your PCs ever used a Mirror of Opposition?

Quartz · Mar 14, 2009

Mirrors of Opposition are often fun. But I was reading a Story Hour which ended in disaster where the PCs had earlier encountered a Mirror of Opposition, and it set me thinking: "They should have brought along the Mirror and unveiled it. Thereby getting the 7 (?) BBEGs to fight themselves." Instant allies!

Unveil mirror, let it generate opposites, engage non-opposites at range.

Have any of your players tried or pulled off this trick?

megamania · Mar 14, 2009

Nope.

I always make the mirror SECURELY (aka glued) to a wall across from the door I know they will going through. To remove the mirror is to crack / destroy it.

My group tried to suggest that a chunk of the glass kept the magic properties to do just that however..... :uhoh:

JustKim · Mar 14, 2009

I had a mirror of opposition in a game once. The actual mirror had been shattered by another group of adventurers, but afterward pieces began to surface as single-use weapons of desperation. One of the pieces fell into the hands of an enemy of the PCs, a young dragon, and tried to use it to kill them. Unfortunately for the dragon there was an effect in place that prevented the mirror from taking effect- I don't remember what it was, but it was something the PCs used just by chance.

The dragon had to get close to use the mirror shard, so at this point, the PCs were able to finish it off, wrap the mirror shard in cloth and add it to their arsenal. I hadn't planned for it at all, but it was pretty interesting to think that the PCs could now essentially kill any one creature in the world, no matter how powerful. As it turned out, it just sat in someone's bag over many levels and seemed like it would never be used.

The final confrontation of the game had the PCs storming the castle of a possessed queen. The fight with the queen and her guards did not go so well, so with one PC dead and everyone else in a bad way, one of the PCs finally broke out the mirror shard and showed it to the queen. The queen who was benign and good-aligned, a friend to the PCs except for being possessed. So her opposite materialized, and the PCs were now facing two evil queens.

The PCs were able to think fast and take out the duplicate by focusing on the queen. But for an awful moment, it really looked like a TPK.

genshou · Mar 15, 2009

Nope. But the PCs thought they ran into one once. Illusory spells can be devastating.

Umbran · Mar 15, 2009

JustKim said:
...but it was pretty interesting to think that the PCs could now essentially kill any one creature in the world, no matter how powerful.

Well, that's not quite true, right? The mirror gives them the ability to match an enemy's power - giving that enemy a 50-50 chance.

If you are close to being able to defeat it, but not quite, then it is a devastating attack. But if you are dealing with something you pretty much cannot touch, it's just a coin-toss, not the ability to just outright kill.

Lanefan · Mar 15, 2009

Umbran said:
Well, that's not quite true, right? The mirror gives them the ability to match an enemy's power - giving that enemy a 50-50 chance.

If you are close to being able to defeat it, but not quite, then it is a devastating attack. But if you are dealing with something you pretty much cannot touch, it's just a coin-toss, not the ability to just outright kill.

Except that the one that doesn't die is probably going to be severely weakened, thus turning an untouchable opponent into something that - with care - can maybe be finished off.

I ran a game once where the PCs had a MoO - the Centaur PC carried it around in his saddlebags. It was the type where whatever looked into it got sucked in, had to fight its clone, and if it won got spat out again. They killed a dragon this way, then tried the same trick on another; unfortunately it won and got spat out, and broke the Mirror in its thrashing around on exit.

Lan-"send in the clones"-efan

genshou · Mar 16, 2009

What happens when you unleash this on the Tarrasque?

Slife · Mar 16, 2009

megamania said:
Nope.

I always make the mirror SECURELY (aka glued) to a wall across from the door I know they will going through. To remove the mirror is to crack / destroy it.

My group tried to suggest that a chunk of the glass kept the magic properties to do just that however.....

Walls have hit points.

Daniel D. Fox · Mar 16, 2009

Yes and yes.

In my world, there is only one other plane - the Well of Souls. It is a dark reflection of the real world, and where all "magical" beasts, Hurmasti (undead) and sorcery originates.

The only way to pass through into the Well is through mirrors, focuses of intense metaphoric and real power. They've been along the brink of the Well of Souls, and doppelgangers (not the D&D definition, but the German meaning), passed through the "mirrors of opposition" to replace them in the real world. It became a focus of the campaign, as doppelgangers of themselves were committing atrocities in their name unbeknownst to them.

They have yet to catch their mirror selves in the campaign world.

roguerouge · Mar 17, 2009

Just used it last night, actually, in the last session of a ten year campaign. I was playing Johnny Urg, the Bard 17/Barbarian 1/Fighter 1/Frenzied Berzerker 10/Legendary Dreadnought 4. We were facing off against the BBEG of the campaign, having interrupted his deification ritual. The rest of the party was taking out his clerics, so I set down the wall I had been carrying (STR 42!) and attached the mirror to it. Next round I squirted Sovereign Glue on the ground and set the wall on it, waiting the round for the sweet bonding action. Then I taunted the big bad with my Improvisation-fueled bluff check, getting him to look at me and triggered the Mirror of Opposition.

Wackiness ensued.

Since this guy had very special protections, his opposite didn't do much damage to him. The basic effect was that the BBEG had to deal with it and the mirror for a few rounds, allowing us to kick his ass. Of course, one of our uber-powerful allies came in and mistook the mirror-BBEG for the real BBEG, but that's inevitable.

Also, since neither the SRD, nor EnWorld and Paizo's boards had a conclusive and unanimous call on what happens to the mirror opponent when you break the mirror, we ended up rolling a die to see if it ended up disappearing upon breaking.

A great trick to pull off.