Creative uses for Illusion ("Image") spells

[sirwmholder]

So HyperSmurf, does that mean it would be best to cast a 'glowy illusion' on top of the floor... to memic a poorly constructed illusion over top a pit trap when it's just really a floor? Even if they disbelieve the illusion it looks like a floor... then they would believe they saw the 'covering' finally fall into place over a very obvious pit trap... thus buying the PC's time to retreat down the hallway while the pursuers test the ordinary floor.

Interesting idea,
William Holder

 

[sirwmholder]

On the topic of Illusion ideas my favorite was a complete replica of the BBEG's lair that was sealed off and a 'secret map' showed the location. The PC's scryed into it and saw the BBEG barking orders and pacing around his great room. The party had the mage teleport everyone inside. Once inside it was truly sealed off... there was no air. The BBEG was a persistent Illusion and the map was planted by him to kill the PC's... needless to say it worked.

Good gaming,
William Holder

 

[lukelightning]

How about an illusion of a patch of the dreaded green slime?

 

[Hypersmurf]

How about an illusion of a patch of the dreaded green slime?

Hey, yeah!

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

On the topic of Illusion ideas my favorite was a complete replica of the BBEG's lair that was sealed off and a 'secret map' showed the location. The PC's scryed into it and saw the BBEG barking orders and pacing around his great room. The party had the mage teleport everyone inside. Once inside it was truly sealed off... there was no air. The BBEG was a persistent Illusion and the map was planted by him to kill the PC's... needless to say it worked.

1) So, after casting the Persistent Image, how did the BBEG remove the air from the room? Wish?

2) How does one Scry on a location instead of a creature?

3) The duration of Persistent Image is one round per level. How did the BBEG know when to cast it, then cast Teleport to get out of the room (he had to be in the sealed room in order to have line of effect for Persistent Image), and then cast Wish to remove the air from the room?


It sounds like the DM screwed over the players and hand waved away some rules doing it.

 

[KarinsDad]

If I cast an illusion of a pit under this floor, you can't see it - there's a floor in the way.

I buy this argument for a figment image since figments cannot affect objects (e.g. the floor).

However, how about a glamer? Would Mirage Arcana allow a caster to craft a pit with a rung ladder where characters from some angles see the rungs, whereas characters from a different angle cannot? It can alter structures. Can it alter the floor to look like a pit?

If not, why not?

 

[Hypersmurf]

However, how about a glamer? Would Mirage Arcana allow a caster to craft a pit with a rung ladder where characters from some angles see the rungs, whereas characters from a different angle cannot? It can alter structures. Can it alter the floor to look like a pit?

Well, we know that invisibility is within the purview of a glamer, so I wouldn't discount the possibility out of hand.

When Hallucinatory Terrain says "You make natural terrain look, sound, and smell like some other sort of natural terrain", does it allow for, say, making a small hill look like a small valley? Would people on one side of the hill be able to see people on the other side of the hill, when it would normally block their sight line?

Does Mirage Arcana's 'altering the appearance of a structure' include see-thru-ness? For example, if I make the tower look like a collapsed tower, can I see through where the tower stood, but the collapsed tower does not?

Since it's a glamer, I'm inclined to say yes, the tower works... but I'm not so sure about the hill. How does line of effect work with terrain? If I have line of effect to the grass, does that mean I can affect 'the terrain' right down to the rock ten feet down, despite the ten feet of earth in between?

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

Since it's a glamer, I'm inclined to say yes, the tower works... but I'm not so sure about the hill. How does line of effect work with terrain? If I have line of effect to the grass, does that mean I can affect 'the terrain' right down to the rock ten feet down, despite the ten feet of earth in between?

Well, since glamers can make things seem to disappear and Mirage Arcana can make structures seem to change, I think the (surface of the) ground can be affected, just like any other large object in the area of effect.

Hallucinatory Terrain also should have the power to make a hill look like a valley, otherwise, it is merely additive (and the spell does not quite call out that limitation). Someone would find out real quick for such an illusion that they are "walking on air" instead of down into the valley.

With regard to line of effect, I agree that line of effect prevents the area from extending into the ground. But, it is not the ground below the surface that is being affected, it is the surface layer of ground. The surface is glamered, not the ground underneath.

 

[Hypersmurf]

With regard to line of effect, I agree that line of effect prevents the area from extending into the ground. But, it is not the ground below the surface that is being affected, it is the surface layer of ground. The surface is glamered, not the ground underneath.

But doesn't that mean you're stuck once again with a 2D overlay, not a 3D contruction?

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

But doesn't that mean you're stuck once again with a 2D overlay, not a 3D contruction?

Why? It's magic. If glamer magic can make something invisible, it is reasonable that it can represent 3D illusions for glamers, not 2D ones.

Nothing in the glamer rules really indicate such a limitation. Shouldn't it be whatever the caster thinks of?