How powerful is Silent Image? As powerful as mass invisibility?

[Marius]

This was snipped from an above quote.

Don't these two clauses say, essentially, the same bloody thing? You can't make something appear to not be there but you can hide it. Either way, the object in question isn't recognizable as what it really is. I don't know about you guys, but it ammounts to pretty much the same bag of Oreos, yes?

I think the big thing that is unclear is that a Figment can't hide something directly (by making it invisible) but it can hide it indirectly, say by encasing it in another illusion such as a wall, a pillar, a Velvet Elvis, whatever.

So, while a Figment can't make something invisible, it can hide you and mask your presence if you don't move around or make alot of noise.

It was a semantical argument that had nothing to do with the main point.

And rangers arent worthless unless you only care about min/maxing, and not roleplaying.

 

[drnuncheon]

I think the big thing that is unclear is that a Figment can't hide something directly (by making it invisible) but it can hide it indirectly, say by encasing it in another illusion such as a wall, a pillar, a Velvet Elvis, whatever.

To drnuncheon;

I don't quite see what you are getting at. You're saying a figment can only create a two-dimensional object? I don't think so. A figment can be three dimensional and have depth and texture that can be easily seen.

Yeah, you do, because you said it in the first paragraph I quoted. The figment I was specifically refferring to is one of an 'empty room', which you couldn't do - there would be nothing for you to hide behind. What I was saying was that you could make a wall, say, 10' from the back of the room, and have it colored such that it looked like the room extended 10' farther and had the proper exits, furnishings, and such.

Why would you want to do this rather than just make a figment of a wall? Perhaps your pursuers are familiar with the room and would see that it somehow became 10' shorter, or perhaps there's furniture or exits and such in the room that would be missing if you just put up a plain wall. Thats all, nothing terribly complex.

J

 

[Kyramus]

(looks at the other posts and grrs)
The starting topic is about silent image being as powerful as mass invisibility. Obviously it isn't, the discusseion degenerated into the possible different types of illusion. Here's the spell per SRD.

Silent Image

Illusion (Figment)
Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect: Visual figment that cannot extend beyond four 10-ft. cubes + one 10-ft. cube/level (S)
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with)
Spell Resistance: No

This spell creates the visual illusion of an object, creature, or force, as visualized by the character. The illusion does not create sound, smell, texture, or temperature. The character can move the image within the limits of the size of the effect.

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With this as a guide line, it CREATES a VISUAL illusion of an OBJECT, CREATURE, or FORCE. A wall would be considered a big object in this case, and considering the level of the caster, leve a level 1 would be able to affect one 10 ft cube. Allowing for a wall where a doorway was.

The enemy chasing if they have scent, track or otherwise and not familiar with the area might miss this illusion wall because they didn't use their listen check, their wilderness lore to track, or for some reason has a cold and can't smell.

Now if you want to discuss figments, glamer, etc, open a new topic and run with the different types of illusion and cite examples. It gives people better idea what you are trying to argue about and point at.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I would call this a textbook perfect use of Silent Image. There were a lot of ways it could have failed, but my hats off to the them for their success.

Illusions are the potentially most powerful school of magic in the game because they indirectly "attack the enemy's plans" through disinformation. Sun Tzu would approve.

In practice it is rather difficult to pull off such a resounding success because the PCs typically find themselves on Offense, such that the other team has better information on the lay of the land.

 

[Apok]

It was a semantical argument that had nothing to do with the main point.

Yeah, I know, but I like to hijack threads.

And rangers arent worthless unless you only care about min/maxing, and not roleplaying.

True, but we don't balance classes by their roleplaying potential. All classes are equal from a roleplaying perspective.

See? Hijack! W00t!