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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Effective Illusions
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<blockquote data-quote="Sir Brennen" data-source="post: 7155923" data-attributes="member: 553"><p>Fortunately, infravision and ultravision are not a thing in 5E, so for this edition, that question is moot. </p><p></p><p>But as has been pointed out, to be perceived, an illusion must either be emitting (or reflecting) light, or being implanted directly into the brain of the perceiver.</p><p></p><p>Per the SRD's description of illusion magic:</p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> So, there is a RAW distinction between illusions that exist only in the mind and those that are outside it. The former applies to spells like Phantasmal Killer, while the latter to Minor Illusion and Major Image. I could see the argument for Invisibility going either way. </p><p> </p><p> Minor Illusion's description says it can't create light (i.e, you can't create an illusion of a torch with it), so I'd say illusions are created by manipulating the way light is reflected back to a person perceiving it - the light bouncing off a wall is changed to look like it's coming off of something else in front of it. Minor Illusion doesn't have the juice to "boost" the light to be an actual light source.</p><p> </p><p>But regarding the strength of the light of something from a more powerful spell like Major Image, which has no restrictions on creating light: could you have a Major Image of a bull's eye lantern, and shine it's light to illuminate an object 60 feet away? Sure, why not ... if that's what you want to blow a third level slot on. As long as the <em>source</em> is in the spell's AoE, the light it casts can exceed the AoE. Even then, I might put limits - the light output can't exceed a large bonfire, for instance. And seeing through an illusionary light source would dim it by half for that creature.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sir Brennen, post: 7155923, member: 553"] Fortunately, infravision and ultravision are not a thing in 5E, so for this edition, that question is moot. But as has been pointed out, to be perceived, an illusion must either be emitting (or reflecting) light, or being implanted directly into the brain of the perceiver. Per the SRD's description of illusion magic: So, there is a RAW distinction between illusions that exist only in the mind and those that are outside it. The former applies to spells like Phantasmal Killer, while the latter to Minor Illusion and Major Image. I could see the argument for Invisibility going either way. Minor Illusion's description says it can't create light (i.e, you can't create an illusion of a torch with it), so I'd say illusions are created by manipulating the way light is reflected back to a person perceiving it - the light bouncing off a wall is changed to look like it's coming off of something else in front of it. Minor Illusion doesn't have the juice to "boost" the light to be an actual light source. But regarding the strength of the light of something from a more powerful spell like Major Image, which has no restrictions on creating light: could you have a Major Image of a bull's eye lantern, and shine it's light to illuminate an object 60 feet away? Sure, why not ... if that's what you want to blow a third level slot on. As long as the [i]source[/i] is in the spell's AoE, the light it casts can exceed the AoE. Even then, I might put limits - the light output can't exceed a large bonfire, for instance. And seeing through an illusionary light source would dim it by half for that creature. [/QUOTE]
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