D&D 5E Illusionist - is it as weak as it seems?

[cormanthor]

I am designing my own campaign world, and with the release of 5e, I opted to use that ruleset (for the most part). With that in mind, I've been pouring through the PHB staring at classes and their archetypes, looking for outliers. That's when I came across the Illusionist. Don't get me wrong; they've always been weak. But even the Diviner got a very nice boost into the realm of play-ability.

Basically, I'm left wondering -- am I missing something in regards to the power of the Illusionist (as compared to other Wizards), or is this arcane tradition in need of a home-brew overhaul? And if you recommend an overhaul, do you have any ideas to increase their power or player attraction?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

As is the nature of illusion spells, the efficacy of that subclass is going to vary heavily from game to game. There's a lot that you can do with their improved Minor Illusion spell.

 

[Celtavian]

Illusions are fun at low level. Once you start fighting creatures with Blindsight and Truesight, it becomes far less fun. There are so many of them at higher level.

 

[Paraxis]

What type of stuff are you looking for? Illusionist were never my thing in any edition but I don't see them as a weak tradition, illusionist are great at performing the only at-will illusion cantrip and can improve/change longer lasting illusions at 6th level both of those things make great at what they are supposed to do and that is cast illusions. The 10th level ability is nice, if a little late in the game.

So maybe it is because I don't play them but I don't see anything wrong with them.

 

[DaveDash]

What are peoples thoughts on illusion spells?

The whole "as soon as you interact with them you know they're an illusion" thing seems to make them weak.

 

[cormanthor]

With no "forbidden schools" anymore and every wizard is a specialist, the real difference in the archetypes boils down to the granted abilities at 2nd/6th/10th/14th level. This is where I see the illusionist as weak.

• 2nd level: Cast a specific cantrip twice per round effectively. Nice, but not really something I can see being a big deal. If my rogue needs to distract a guard, he'll do it himself.
• 6th level: Take your turn to effectively re-cast your illusion spell? Only in game benefit seems (at first glance) to be no new save.
• 10th level: Legit. I like this. Take an illusion and turn it into a real game-mechanic effect. Like shadow magic was in 2nd edition. No changes needed here.
• 14th level: A great sounding ability until you get to the part where it doesn't do anything. 14th level and I can't whack a guy in the head with an illusionary barstool?

These are the types of issues I have with the School of Illusion, and why I see it as weaker than the others. Keep in mind: Evokers can cast illusions too.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think the only problem the illusionist has is that illusions themselves are badly written such that they are potentially incredibly weak. If you assume that only illogical interaction breaks them, and that they work fine against appropriate versions of blind sight and tremorsense, they work ok.

Oh, and the 14th level illusionist power should deal cantrip damage with some minor bonus for the spell level.

 

[cormanthor]

Maybe I can make illusions quasi-real if cast by illusionist. Not directly in the gonna-hurt-somebody realm, but possibly make them think the pain is real, etc. This is something to look at for sure...

 

[fuindordm]

An interesting power for the subclass would be to boost the effectiveness of phantasmal force to 1d6 psychic/level instead of 1d6 flat.

 

[Ellington]

An interesting power for the subclass would be to boost the effectiveness of phantasmal force to 1d6 psychic/level instead of 1d6 flat.

I'd just like to point out that Phantasmal Force is an amazing spell. It targets Intelligence, which can be easy to spot if the hostile creature is low on (animals, beasts, brutes etc.) and requires an action to break. If the creature doesn't spend an action to break the illusion, it will believe it to be real for a whole minute. I've been using this to turn tough encounters into trivial ones in the campaign I am currently running an Illusionist.

I honestly am enjoying my time as an Illusionist right now. You need to be creative to make the most of your spells, but if you manage to do that you can solve problems in ways no other school can even dream of. It's also nice to see some damage spells added to the Illusionist repertoire this time around.