Illusions

[ShinRyuuBR]

Some illusion will be powers, like ghost sound, mirror image and invisibility. Some will be rituals, like the programmed images, mirages etc. Illusion is a keyword. The Shadow power source will be the best for illusions, though Arcane has the ones mentioned above.

 

[Lizard]

Based on what we've seen so far, highly flexible spells like Minor Image will be out; illusion/shadow magic will consist of very specific effects that will be easily quantified in battle. For example, we might see Phantom Terrain as an attack vs. will; if it succeeds, the creature acts as if the terrain is real until a save is made. Any long-lasting or complex illusions will be, of course, rituals. Look for color spray to be simplified (ala prismatic spray) and made the at-will attack for illusionists.

I remember 1e, when the only spell you needed was Phantasmal Force. For anything. "We walk across the illusory bridge!" Ah, the good ol' days...

 

[malraux]

I hate with 4e that they basically took the game and divided it in half to sell the rest off later.

Really? See that, to me, indicates someone with some sense at WotC. Its a given that more books will come out later, and that if we want the hobby to still exist people need a reason to buy those books. If the first few books make a complete set in both mechanical breadth and flavor breadth, then those later books are the very definition of superfluous. In addition, many of the classes in this complete set will have to be far more flexible than later ones, because those classes have to be able to do everything. Assuming you want the later books to be good and useful, and certainly both WotC and the hobby in general need them to be, you need to limit what appears if the first set.

 

[Evilhalfling]

In addition, many of the classes in this complete set will have to be far more flexible than later ones, because those classes have to be able to do everything. Assuming you want the later books to be good and useful, and certainly both WotC and the hobby in general need them to be, you need to limit what appears if the first set.

I just hope that the later books are not released so quickly that they can't take advantage of lessons learned once the general public begins playing by the new rules. There is also an issue of power creep, sometimes justified like PHBII fighter feats, other times just making matters worse (druid spells in SpC)

Im not sure I like having to build an unfinished world, so that I can fully integrate Primal and Shadow power users, (as well as my beloved halfling psionists)

perhaps I should stay with 3.5 campagins for a while longer. esp as my group is still unconvinced.

 

[OchreJelly]

I suspect the core wizard won’t have as much in the way of phantasms, shadow casting type spells. The wizard’s illusions seem to be mostly of the defensive or stealth type: invisibility, displacement etc.

If I had my druthers the illusionist will be a controller of shadow power source (strong indications point to this). Likewise they will probably do lots of shadow and psionic damage. “Say no” to blanket immunities across broad categories, although I would like to see the explanations on why the illusions would work on undead / contstructs. Maybe only mindless monsters will be immune. I guess this would apply to a psion/enchanter too.

 

[Celebrim]

I suspect that illusions are one of the sacred cows that have been killed.

Oh sure, I expect something to be brought back with the name 'Illusionist' attached to it, but I think flexible powers requiring interpretation are largely a thing of the past. I don't think you are going to see, "Make an image of whatever you want, and then figure out what it does or how the monster reacts to it." It might be at most "Make an image of whatever you want, and then whatever you make this happens."

Expect future illusions to do very specific things and have very specific effects. 'Mirror Image' is a good example of what future illusions are likely to be like:

Mirror Image Wizard Utility 10
Three duplicate images of you appear, imitating your actions perfectly and confusing your enemies.
Daily * Arcane, Illusion
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Three duplicate images of yourself appear in your space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Each time an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disappears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2. When the bonus reaches 0, all your images are gone and the power ends. Otherwise, the effect lasts for 1 hour.

Illusion based attacks probably attack the Will or alternately the target's Perception score (which would be semi-cool, but largely irrelevant since both will be about the same number). Some examples:

'Phantom terrain' : treat terrain in the area of effect as difficult, ongoing, save ends
'Hypnotic Pattern' : target is immobile, ongoing, save ends

Alternating you might see some summoning type powers:

'Phantom Minion': Create a basic minion soldier whose level is equal to your level. Spend your actions to move and direct it.

 

[dema]

Thanks for your thought. Oh well, so much for the free form, creativity I loved with illusions. The rules for them were always a bit weak, but given reasonable players and DM I think they created some of my fondest moments in the game. I still think that given the present format of powers we can attempt to have flexibility in terms of the narrative behind the powers, with the effects being the same.

So I guess an Illusionary wall, phantom terrain would all hamper movement. You have to make a save to pass through, or travel though the squares unhindered, otherwise you act as if the illusion were real. This may just work.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

You should wait till the Illusionist comes out most likely in PHB2. I suspect there since it is based around illusions we will see interesting powers and rules dealing with it.

 

[pawsplay]

Really? See that, to me, indicates someone with some sense at WotC. Its a given that more books will come out later, and that if we want the hobby to still exist people need a reason to buy those books.

Like the books being good and complete.

 

[Lanefan]

I suspect that illusions are one of the sacred cows that have been killed.

Oh sure, I expect something to be brought back with the name 'Illusionist' attached to it, but I think flexible powers requiring interpretation are largely a thing of the past. I don't think you are going to see, "Make an image of whatever you want, and then figure out what it does or how the monster reacts to it." It might be at most "Make an image of whatever you want, and then whatever you make this happens."

sarcasm
Yep...no creativity allowed here...can't have people thinking outside the box now, can we?
/sarcasm

The whole *point* of the illusionist was that it had a relatively limited number of spells but those spells could do a remarkably wide variety of things, depending on the creativity and imagination of the player involved - and what the DM would allow.

That said, illusions already got horribly screwed over in the 3e errata of a few years ago...hardly any surprise that the new game would just go further down the same path.

Lane-"I despise Wizards, but for Illusionists I'll make an exception"-fan