Choose Blur over Mirror Image

[thegreatbuddha]

You're all wrong. The PHB says that blur makes an opponent miss you 20% of the time. WotC is infallible. Regardless of mathematical equations, you will get hit 20% less. End of story. All hail WotC.
[/sarcasm]

 

[Rashak Mani]

Mirror Image is by far superior ! If a Fighter attacks you that blur 20% chance wont help too much... multiple images will.

Shield spell does protect the images... they are next to you... and if you have good Dex your images are very hard for a fighter to hit. (10+Dex+7 shield)

Magic Missile certainly is a bummer for Mirror Image... unless you have shield. Perfect combo. You have to take those images down one by one... or use area effect spells to blast the mage without bothering about which image is the mage.

 

[Caliban]

Shield spell does protect the images... they are next to you... and if you have good Dex your images are very hard for a fighter to hit. (10+Dex+7 shield)

I'm afraid not. Shield has a range of "Personal". It will only block attacks that target you, it won't move to block attacks for anyone else.

Magic Missile certainly is a bummer for Mirror Image... unless you have shield. Perfect combo. You have to take those images down one by one...

It doesn't work that way.

 

[Bonedagger]

Mirror Image is by far superior ! If a Fighter attacks you that blur 20% chance wont help too much... multiple images will.

Shield spell does protect the images... they are next to you... and if you have good Dex your images are very hard for a fighter to hit. (10+Dex+7 shield)

Magic Missile certainly is a bummer for Mirror Image... unless you have shield. Perfect combo. You have to take those images down one by one... or use area effect spells to blast the mage without bothering about which image is the mage.

I would say Caliban is right on this on. However as pointed out (By me... ) there are normally a good chance that you will have more images than a MM have missiles when two mages of equal levels meet. If you have an extra MI and the enemy mage doesn't get help, he can spend many actions trying to get rid of all the images with MM. But he can't really aford that. Because you'll maybe be casting stuff at him as well (Unless he succed in removing all the images) so he'll have to worry about his defences as well.

 

[Mort]

what about cleave?

If cleave works on mirror images (this question came up a long while back, can’t remember the consensus, but I think it would work), its effect against many fighters is greatly reduced. If the fighter has great cleave the spell is essentially useless. Blur, on the other hand, does not have this problem.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Now here's a question about Mirror Image and Magic Missile.

Magic Missile can only target a creature. A Mirror Image is a figment, not a creature.

Is someone casts Magic Missile, and the random roll to determine what is targetted indicates one of the images... shouldn't the Magic Missile fail for having no valid target?

The spell description says the images react normally to area spells, and any successful attack roll destroys one... but Magic Missile is not an area spell, and requires no attack roll.

I'd think if you split your four missiles, say, across four potential images, three of them would fizzle, and one (aimed at the true caster) would behave normally... and bounce off the Shield spell. But at least then your allies know which one to Smite until the caster's next action...

-Hyp.

 

[Bonedagger]

Now here's a question about Mirror Image and Magic Missile.

Magic Missile can only target a creature. A Mirror Image is a figment, not a creature.

Is someone casts Magic Missile, and the random roll to determine what is targetted indicates one of the images... shouldn't the Magic Missile fail for having no valid target?

The spell description says the images react normally to area spells, and any successful attack roll destroys one... but Magic Missile is not an area spell, and requires no attack roll.

I'd think if you split your four missiles, say, across four potential images, three of them would fizzle, and one (aimed at the true caster) would behave normally... and bounce off the Shield spell. But at least then your allies know which one to Smite until the caster's next action...

-Hyp.

I think it was generally accepted that that is the way it works, since the release of the first Baldurs Gate PC game.

 

[Petrosian]

Mirror images also fail if a targetted spell is directed at them, see the FAQ.

I think the reasoning was the very fact that the MM is directed at the figment and fails to do its job dispels the image;s believability just as strongly as if a sword swooshed thru it.

but, if that idea doesn't float your boat, you can come up with your own. net result is, when an image stops an effect, whether from a targetted spell like magic missiles or charm person or a fighter's swing, the image goes away.

Now here's a question about Mirror Image and Magic Missile.

Magic Missile can only target a creature. A Mirror Image is a figment, not a creature.

Is someone casts Magic Missile, and the random roll to determine what is targetted indicates one of the images... shouldn't the Magic Missile fail for having no valid target?

The spell description says the images react normally to area spells, and any successful attack roll destroys one... but Magic Missile is not an area spell, and requires no attack roll.

I'd think if you split your four missiles, say, across four potential images, three of them would fizzle, and one (aimed at the true caster) would behave normally... and bounce off the Shield spell. But at least then your allies know which one to Smite until the caster's next action...

-Hyp.

 

[LokiDR]

What about dispel?

Can I use MI to prevent myself from being the targer of dispel magic? I mean, if you have to choose the correct target with MM, you have to choose the right target for dispel.

 

[bret]

Re: What about dispel?

Can I use MI to prevent myself from being the targer of dispel magic? I mean, if you have to choose the correct target with MM, you have to choose the right target for dispel.

Dispel can target an area or an individual. I believe if it was targetting an area, it would either take all or none of the Mirror Images away. I'm not sure what should happen if you targetted a specific image, although I could easily accept someone ruling that that specific image winked out.