Blindsight vs. Illusions

[Rozman]

So which Illusions will Blindsight nullify, if any?

I think Phantasms and Shadows will still affect someone with Blindsight normally, as their affects are respectively mental and physical.

Patterns I think will still affect them if their eyes are open, but if Blindsight is all they are using at the time, Patterns will have no effect. Not that most adventurers run around blindfolded a la Nethack...

Figments and Glamers are both not real, nor are they mind-affecting. I'd have to say that Blindsight would reveal these as untrue.

I wanted to see what everyone else thinks about this. I could see Glamers as affecting Blindsight, but then, most of them don't mask audio effects in the same fashion that they mask visual (i.e. Invisibility.)

Edit: Added 3.5 tag

 

[Celtavian]

re

So which Illusions will Blindsight nullify, if any?

Figments and Glamers are both not real, nor are they mind-affecting. I'd have to say that Blindsight would reveal these as untrue.

I wanted to see what everyone else thinks about this. I could see Glamers as affecting Blindsight, but then, most of them don't mask audio effects in the same fashion that they mask visual (i.e. Invisibility.)

Edit: Added 3.5 tag

I think figments would still work against Blindsight. They can generate sound, heat, visual, and tactile sensations. I think a creature with blindsight would sense the illusion in the same way it senses a wall or discerns a person.

It could say specifically somewhere that creatures with blindsight are immune to figments and glamers. I don't know. It doesn't really discuss how detailed blindsight is and whether or not illusions work against it. I tend not to give immunity to spells unless it specifically states an ability provides immunity.

 

[Thanee]

I'd generally say, that you can see through illusions, that only apply to a single sense, but those that apply to multiple senses, should still work.

The biggest problem with illusions is Detect Magic / Arcane Sight, who should also make it pretty easy to see through them (especially if you make a spellcraft check to determine the school of magic), but that's too easy and shouldn't be.

Therefore, I handle it like this.

If employing a spell, that is not potent enough to see through illusions directly (like True Seeing), you'll get a save against the illusion as per interacting with it. If it fails you can't see through the illusion and Detect Magic will not register a school (or even a wrong one), for example.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

If employing a spell, that is not potent enough to see through illusions directly (like True Seeing), you'll get a save against the illusion as per interacting with it. If it fails you can't see through the illusion and Detect Magic will not register a school (or even a wrong one), for example.

That is an excellent idea.

 

[Kershek]

If blindsight uses sonar to detect enemies, then I don't think it would see an illusion at all - there's no physical presence for the sonar waves to bounce back.

 

[Thanee]

This is not physics, this is magic!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Staffan]

I'd say it depends on what senses the figment/glamer affects. If it's visual-only, blindsight will reveal it (though if the blindsighted being is also using regular vision at the time, it may think it's an incorporeal being instead). If it makes sounds, blindsight based on sonar would probably be fooled.

 

[Kershek]

If it wasn't physics, then they wouldn't mention sonar when explaining how blindsight works