Displacement - a bit wussy eh? Mirror image too...

[Plane Sailing]

I was just looking at Displacement from the photographed page from DDXP. I quote:

Displacement. Wizard Utility 16
The recipient of this spell appears to be standing slightly to the left or right of his actual position, making it harder for enemies to hit him.

Encounter * Arcane, Illusion
Immediate Interrupt. Ranged 5
Trigger: A ranged or melee attack hits you or one ally in range.
Effect: The attacker must reroll the attack roll.



Now I'm thinking "Hang on, a 16th level power, and it just forces a reroll once per encounter? Like that halfling racial power that a 1st level halfling can have (Corrin, "second chance") but ooooo, you could use it on someone else?

I would have thought that for a 16th level "encounter" utility spell it could at least give a guaranteed miss for a particular attack (and what if the attackers reroll is HIGHER the second time? Have I used an Encounter power to allow me or my buddy to take *more* damage?

I'm just really puzzled at the apparent power level of this spell. A high paragon spell to give me the protection that any 1st level halfling can get? Seems very weak to me.


Then there is Mirror Image.

On the face of it, moderately reasonable, except for this line:

Effect: three duplicate images of yourself appear in your space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Each time an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disappears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2.

Pardon?

Hobgoblin Warcaster:"You runty kobold minions attack him first"

Minions "But all his defences are 25 or higher! We can't even touch him!"

Hobgoblin Warcaster "Ah, but your wild waving will frighten away his mirror images"

Minion 1 rolls 1 "miss"" (one image goes)
Minion 2 rolls 3 "miss!" (another image goes)
Minion 3 rolls 2 "miss!" (final image goes)

Hobgoblin Warcaster now attacks the measly defence 19 wizard whose protections have been stripped away by the baby kobold minions...

????

There seems to be something wrong here to me.

I would have thought that each time an attack HITS you one of the mirror images should go (or better yet, each time an attack misses you by the bonus which is being added by the spell, it dismisses an image). Either of those would have made sense, but the apparent text just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[KarinsDad]

There seems to be something wrong here to me.

Yup. Wait until June when there are gigabytes of discussions on the strangeness of the new actual rules.

 

[Gargazon]

As Wizards have already said that some text on that page was incorrect or has been changed, I wouldn't assume all those abilities will be in the same form when the PHB comes out in June.

Mirror Image is, yes, completely useless as it can be broken by a housecat rolling 1s. I certainly hope it's changed or at-least made per-encounter as it's hardly worth being a daily power.

Displacement? I'd certainly like Displacement. Note that Displacement uses the LOWEST score from the two attacks that are rolled, effectively meaning you can negate an enemies' critical hit, cause that last attack that'd kill you to miss, stop yourself from becoming a Mind Flayer's mind slave... Heck, I'd love to make my enemy re-roll an attack then use its lowest score. Think how many situations that could get you out of! I see no problem with that being a paragon power.

My only concern with Displacement is that a Halfling Wizard will be a real pain in the arse to kill.

 

[Henry]

Both spells do seem a bit... wussified. If that's the final wording, I can't even see a reason to take the displacement, and the mirror image at level 10? I'd definitely be taking that Resistance over the Mirror Image.

 

[Henry]

Displacement? I'd certainly like Displacement. Note that Displacement uses the LOWEST score from the two attacks that are rolled,

where does it say that? All the images I've seen say what Plane Sailing quoted.

 

[Lurker59]

In some ways I agree it seems underpowered but two things make it more useful that a halfing racial ability. First, it is an immediate interupt action, meaning it doesn't take up a wizard's actions and can be used during anyone's turn. Being able to potentially negate a critical hit against yourself or an ally can be very useful, especially against something like a bodak's gaze attack.

Second, it is an encounter power so you can use it in every battle. Unlike most abilities it doesn't need to compete with the usefulness of other spells. In terms of an economy of actions it's (sort of) a free lunch. I'd imagine it's an ability that would be used in every battle, even just to reduce the amount of damage that needed to be healed afterwards.

 

[Transit]

I'm sure that in the final rules the text for Mirror Image will be changed to something like:

Effect: three duplicate images of yourself appear in your space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Any successful attack on you automatically misses instead. Each time an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disappears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2.

 

[Gargazon]

where does it say that? All the images I've seen say what Plane Sailing quoted.

Oh... well, that's certainly the case with the halfling racial power. I would've assumed it was the same for Displacement but if not the power is... slightly lamer. It just needs to be used with more caution. My comment about the Halfling Wizard still stands

I certainly hope these are not the final versions of the spells.

 

[erf_beto]

Then there is Mirror Image.

On the face of it, moderately reasonable, except for this line:

Effect: three duplicate images of yourself appear in your space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Each time an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disappears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2.

Pardon?

It's even worse when you remember that being invisible grants you +5 to ALL defenses - something that a 1st level warlock can do, even if in a restricted situation (Eyebite, invisible against one target, until beggining of your next turn)... :\

 

[Henry]

I'm sure that in the final rules the text for Mirror Image will be changed to something like:

Effect: three duplicate images of yourself appear in your space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Any successful attack on you automatically misses instead. Each time an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disappears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2.

First of all, that would make it better than the displacement power. Second, if that were the case, why the need for the +6 AC bonus? Very likely instead it would be just changing "misses" into "hits", which means the +6 still means something, makes it harder for the spell to be discharged, and gives diminishing returns just like the original spell.