d20 in a hall of mirrors

[humble minion]

So, my party is about to confront a BBNTBBEG (big, but not the biggest, bad evil guy)

They're pretty badly beaten up already, so rather than have a massive brutal beatdown (I did that LAST session!) I think I'll aim for tension and uncertainty. This works well with the BBNTBBEG in question, because she's a conniving, deceptive type who works largely through minions, illusion and messing with minds.

So, I want to run the combat in a maze of mirrors, with sliding wall panels etc designed to confuse people, get them lost, and split the party. Any suggestions how i should go about this? How should I handle PCs telling reflections from reality? Some sort of Spot check mechanic perhaps, or a Will save analogous to the save against illusions? How should I deal with mapping and/or tactical movement in an environment where I want PCs to be unable to trust the evidence of their senses? How do I generally get my PCs good and properly freaked out about the whole situation?

For what it's worth, this is a Star Wars game rather than a D&D game, so there's a lot of magic 'bypasses' to the whole situation I won't have to worry about. I thought I'd post it in the General forum rather than Other d20 because a) it's not a particularly Star-Wars-specific question, and b) there's a lot more posters in here, and it might increase my chances of getting a response...

 

[frankthedm]

You'd better decide ahead of time if rays will bounce off mirrors and if targeting a reflection wastes a spell.

Opposed Int checks are all i can think of for doing a hall of mirrors combat

 

[Particle_Man]

Well couldn't the force users in the game just close their eyes and "know" where/when to strike, a la Jedi training with the funny helmets that cover the eyes?

 

[arwink]

A couple of random ideas using the mirror image spell as the basis:

Every time a character stops moving, there will be 1d6 additional images reflected in mirrors around the hall (while not necessarily accurate if there are lots of mirrors, assume that some are blatently not-the-character because of other sensory clues such as sound). Any attack against the character rolls randomly to see whether it strikes the target or one of the mirrors. Roll attacks against mirror images (mirrors have an AC of 6 and 1 hp). If the mirror is destroyed, reduce the number of images of that character by one until the character moves at least 30 ft.

Characters must be able to see the mirrors in order to be fooled. Characters that shut their eyes. Characters can also take a move action to make a Spot check (opposed by the targets Hide with a +10 circumstance modifier) to determine which images is the real target.

 

[humble minion]

Particle_Man - the location in question is a strong nexus of Dark Side energy, and the BBNTBBEG is a powerful user of Force illusions, so I've decided that the Jedi's extrasensory perception won't help the a great deal here. The line between illusion, reflection, and reality is decidedly blurred, and a Force illusion/hallucination will be at least as real to force sight as to normal sight. It's perhaps a little bit of a GM fiat call, but it's one I'm willing to make so that the whole scenario works.

arwink - Mirror Image isn't a bad starting point, actually. I'll just have to come up with some method for having images appear via repeated reflection when the actual target isn't in line of sight...

 

[arwink]

arwink - Mirror Image isn't a bad starting point, actually. I'll just have to come up with some method for having images appear via repeated reflection when the actual target isn't in line of sight...

I'd just use the opposed Hide/Spot check mechanic there as well. Move out of LoS, make a successful Hide check, and your opponents lose your current possition in a sea of images (a kind of reverse invisibility. You get all the advantages of being hidden until they make a Spot check to line up your position.