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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack Simth" data-source="post: 5720460" data-attributes="member: 29252">Yes, anyone will.Which is a great way to make monkey-traps designed specifically for no other purpose than to get people to touch trap triggers.Which, really, is the way to go with traps.  Any trap in an occupied area, realistically, needs a simple way to get past it for the people who occupy the area.  Whether that's a trap that won't hurt them (fire subtype critters with fire-based traps, undead and negative energy traps, cold subtype critters and cold traps, attuned Symbol spells, properly aligned Forbiddance zones, et cetera), a simple way to bypass it (a key, password, et cetera), or knowing what to ignore (which door to not try and open, where the illusion is located, and so on).  Without one of those (or perhaps something similar), the occupants will fall for them, and get killed.1) Defense is harder than offense in general; this holds true in D&D as well.  A (Greater) Dispel Magic + Quickened Suggestion (possibly via Rod) is hard to defend against, for instance, and can very easily take down the Fighter who was depending on that Third Eye Conceal so that he wouldn't need to make Will saves vs. Murdering the party.  2) In a dungeon, sure.  But then, consider: Have you ever stopped and calculated the costs of all those traps, all those doors, the walls, the tunnels, and all that treasure in a dungeon?  Seriously; try it sometime.  The Stronghold Builder's Guide is 3.0, but it'll get you started.  A modern tank costs several hundred thousand to build.  A tank-busting missile costs several thousand to build.  You do the math.3) That was specific to a dungeon.  In a city, I don't need to worry about it - just my own illusion auras, which go away with one casting of Misdirection (or possibly Nondetection), which lasts pretty much all day.  If you're depending on Detect Magic to locate the assassin coming in disguise to hurt the king?  Well, I just Misdirect myself, and I no longer register as magic.  I walk blithly on by your checkpoint, murder the king, and leave.  Or maybe I giggle as I use the spell on someone important, so that they register as having an illusion aura... and you then interrogate them (or kill them, if you're not thinking sneaky) and now have the issue that you've ticked off someone important.Stop and calculate dungeon resource costs some time.  This is actually par for the course for building a dungeon.And I can create a lot of meaningless illusion auras with assorted Permanent spells (Shadow Evocation(Continual Flame) is a favorite of mine, as is Phantom Trap and several others).  You never exactly responded to the door scenario, after all.Not when you consider the expense of a dungeon in the first place, no.I never said you could.  Seriously.  Look back through my posts.  You don't make the aura on the real illusions go away.  You add the aura to things that are real, so that knowing something has an aura of illusion doesn't actually help (it has an aura of illusion about it?  OK... so have several real things you've run across.  How is knowing it's got an aura of illusion on it proof that it's not real?).  Oh, yes.  The other half of that is to cause time issues for them.  In the middle of a fight, if you can't immediately tell which golem is real and which isn't (as they both look the same under detect magic), which way do you run?  If you spend several rounds concentrating, then throw a pebble at one, you've already let the beast walk up to you and found out which one's real because it hit you.  This is the other reason for mixing with creatures.Illusions are used in conjunction with real stuff, not in isolation.Ah... I never said you use them on figments.  You put them on real stuff.  In such a way as to get the intruders in trouble.Sure, you do the Illusory wall over a pit.  Repeatedly; it's fun and cheap.  You also do Phantom Trap on locks.  Repeatedly; it's fun and cheap.But you also incorporate real traps with illusory auras on locks (Like, say, Phantasmal Killer).  You also make a few real traps look illusory via Magic Aura.  You also make a few locks with Phantom Traps look nonmagical.  You also have a few regular spell traps with Magic Aura to make them look nonmagical or illusory.The rogue says doors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are trapped.Detect Magic says doors 2, 4, 6, and 8 have illusory auras.Which door do you pick when the golem starts charging you?You're forgetting: Continuous concentration.  To get by with three castings, the wizard has to not be doing anything else (or sinking more resources... like that 500 xp... or one of a number of feats).  Oh, hey.  You're spending more resources than just a cantrip....And when you touch some of them, they blow up in your face, and set off alarms for the real critters to come.You keep treating these things like they're in complete isolation....D&D includes lots of <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm#doors" target="_blank">door materials</a> - including stone.  You can't rely on being able to tell from sound alone.Remember what I said about traps buried under illusions?Have you ever run across a secret door?  They exist in D&D.  If they were noticeably off from the wall, why would you need a search check?Doors can be made flush with walls.  It's not really all that difficult, even.They'll also get you killed.Again: Take a look at the cost of building a dungeon sometime.  It's far, far more than the equipage of the heroes that raid it.  Defense is much more expensive than offense.   By a LOT.  This is actually expected.Well, you're discussing feelings, now, which are inarguable.Yes.  See comments about tanks vs. tank-busting missiles.  That's expected, really.All DM's metagame.  It's part of the job.I'm starting to get tired of the sarcasm.Personal spells specify "you" in them.  Read, oh, Overland Flight as an example: (emphasis added).  Spells that can affect other people use the subject, the target, those within the area, or similar, instead.At an expense of 500 xp... sure.  Again: He's spent more resources, and defense is much harder than offense.  This type of thing is expected.Edit: Oh yes:Pebbles are free.If I throw a pebble at everything, I know whether or not it's an illusion immediately.  I don't need Detect Magic at all.  Are pebbles broken?</blockquote>

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