A Mirror Image Question

[Abraxas]

Lets say your character has multiple attacks. If your character successfully attacks the caster of a Mirror Image spell with his first attack, can he continue to target the caster with succesive attacks and ignore the images?

 

[Hypersmurf]

"While moving, you can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded."

So once someone has determined which 'image' is real, they can hit you quite happily until you move, and merge and split off from the figments.

-Hyp.

 

[Abraxas]

Thats my interpretation also and I think its pretty clear.

however . . .

The DM in one of the games I play in doesn't interpret it that way. I am trying to figure out how it could be interpreted any differently.

 

[Gizzard]

I noticed this spell is a bit of a pain to DM, so I am curious how other people have done it.

When I first ran it I considered all the figments to be in the same space as the original creature; which was simple to adjudicate, but not exactly to the letter of the rules.

Before I ran the spell in the next session, a player pointed out that images could be up to 5' from each other. Hrm. OK, so I made up some "image" counters and sprinkled them on the board so each image had a tangible position.

But this caused people to be able to deduce which image was real by logic ("he hit me and then moved, so assuming he moves 30' then he's probably that one but certainly not that other one..."). It also caused the images to condense down whenever the creature did something observable, like attack (ie, all images of an attacking creature must be within 5' of the victim).

So, how do people physically DM this spell? I'm tempted to go back to my original method, since it was so much simpler. Both methods played out roughly the same, even in the case of area of effect spells (somewhat to my surprise.)

----

BTW, I played that once the "real" image is discovered he may be attacked freely by whoever discovered him for that round; but any additional attackers must still find out for themselves.

 

[Malin Genie]

I would apply the same '1 in (N+1)' chance (where N is the number of images) against subsequent attacks, even if the caster is struck by one of a series of attacks.

I see the caster as 'moving' while being attacked - if not, then she wouldn't get her Dex bonus to AC, and in fact if she wasn't moving, could be hit automatically! I don't interpret 'while moving' to mean 'on the caster's turn' when the rules don't specify this.

 

[Falling Icicle]

"While moving, you can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded."

So once someone has determined which 'image' is real, they can hit you quite happily until you move, and merge and split off from the figments.

-Hyp.

Yes, but note the "while moving" part. I believe the original poster was asking about a character who has multiple attacks per round being able to attack different images or attack the caster multiple times if he discovers which image is him and has attacks remaining. Since the caster can only move on his turn, the answer is yes.

A level 6 fighter, for example, could attack two different images in the same turn. He could attack one, discover it is not real, then attack another. Only on the Wizard's turn could he move and re-shuffle.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I rule that the magic of the spell does the work. The images usually appear to be near the caster, like a corona of duplicates. When someone tries to attack the caster, I roll to see if the attack is against the person or an image. If it's against an image, then the AC is usually pretty easy to hit, and an image goes away. If that same attacker has multiple attacks he can keep attacking, each time rolling to see if he hits the caster. Even if he hits the caster, and has more attacks left that round, I roll each time to see if the next attack is against the caster--arguing that the images are shifting constantly, not just on the wizard's turn.

Dave

 

[Abraxas]

I believe the original poster was asking about a character who has multiple attacks per round being able to attack different images or attack the caster multiple times if he discovers which image is him and has attacks remaining.

Yep, thats what I was asking about.

The DM (I believe) is hung up on the phrase "Enemies attempting to attack you or cast spells at you must select from among indistinguishable targets. Generally, roll randomly to see whether the selected target is real or a figment." in the spell description and is having us choose before each attack - even if one of our multiple attacks hits the caster.

 

[DaveStebbins]

I believe in earlier editions of the game, it specifcally mentioned the images constantly shifting about so hitting the caster with one attack did not guarantee hitting the caster with the next.

That said, I always thought it was a very powerful spell for its level. It looks like they may have specifically tried to weaken it a bit. I think I would agree with Hypersmurf's interpretation (as the majority of responses have).

Note that the FAQ has no less than five questions specific to Mirror Image. It recommends multiple times that you assume all the images share the same space as the caster. It also says to treat the images like creatures for things like magic missile, cleave and whirlwind attack.

-Dave

 

[dcollins]

My general recommendation for mirror image is just treat the mass as a single creature with bigger face.