frankthedm
First Post
Yes. It has worked for 30 years and it will keep working as long as I have anything to say about it.
Do you let Magic Missiles destroy Mirror Images?
- Thread starter Delta
- Start date
I allow the targeting to occur, and the MM to destroy a figment it strikes.
I know the 3.x RAW does not support this, but the history of the game does. Seeing no concrete evidence that the 3.x Illusion rules revisions were meant to change this classic spell interaction, I can only assume this is an unintended result of clarification of a subset of the rules that has been notoriously problematic.
IOW, I grandfathered the spell so it works the way it always did.
I know the 3.x RAW does not support this, but the history of the game does. Seeing no concrete evidence that the 3.x Illusion rules revisions were meant to change this classic spell interaction, I can only assume this is an unintended result of clarification of a subset of the rules that has been notoriously problematic.
IOW, I grandfathered the spell so it works the way it always did.
frankthedm said:
Not quite.
It did not work in 1E. In 1E, only weapons could disrupt a Mirror Image. Magic Missiles in 1E also only targeted creatures.
Ditto for 2E. 3E was the first time that spells could disrupt a Mirror Image, but even there Magic Missile still could only target creatures.
So quite frankly (pun intended), it has never worked this way. You've been using a house rule for 30 years.
I didn't see the 3.5 FAQ answer in this thread yet, so here is the applicable text:
"For all intents and purposes, the figments from a foe’s
mirror image spell are your foes. You aim your spells and your
attacks at the figments just as though they were real creatures.
Any spell you can aim at a creature you can aim at an image.
When you use a spell that allows you to select multiple
creatures as targets, such as magic missile, you can choose
multiple images as targets."
"For all intents and purposes, the figments from a foe’s
mirror image spell are your foes. You aim your spells and your
attacks at the figments just as though they were real creatures.
Any spell you can aim at a creature you can aim at an image.
When you use a spell that allows you to select multiple
creatures as targets, such as magic missile, you can choose
multiple images as targets."
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
mvincent said:
It's not supported by the rules, of course.
-Hyp.
True.
True, except that in 1Ed, illusions were indistinguishable from reality unless you successfully disbelieved in them- if you didn't, you interacted with them as if they were real.
Thus, the outcome of interacting with illusions depended entirely upon your DM's interpretation. There were always questions arising as to whether or not a party could cross an illusory bridge or if they'd fall through, etc.
Faced with illusory images of a mage created by Mirror Image, then, a mage who didn't disbelieve could target the images as if real..in fact, he had no choice BUT to do so.
Since the spell didn't pop the images, though, the next round, you'd be in the same variable targeting position- making spells like Sleep a superior choice when facing a Mirror Imaged foe.
And like I said, if you couldn't disbelieve in an illusion in 1ED, you interacted with it as if what you perceived was real. Ergo, you'd see several images completely indistinguishable from being living creatures, and could target them accordingly.
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