Illusory benefits

[czak808]

Illusionary magic has got to be the most versatile realm of spells. You can depict near anything/ one/ situation you can think up limited only by your imagination (and AoE).

I'm curious about the actual utilization of the spells of the illusion school of magic.
Has any player character used the illusion spells (silent, minor and major image) in a combat scenario? I'm curious as to how you made effective use of them.

Fools are made to suffer, not to be suffered

 

[Corsair]

Remember people only get a save if it is interacting with. When you make an illusion of a Wall of Stone, most people don't bother trying to interact with it. They just try to find a way around it. Often these sorts of illusions are almost as effective as the real thing because people don't even try to interact with them.

Further, failed saves means even if they run through the thing knowing it is an illusion, it is still blocking line of sight and providing concealment.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

There's Shadowcraft Mage to make figments painfully real...

The fact they still obscure sight on a failed save is pretty nice. In one group I was a part of, the Bard often used image spells to make it look like we were giant pandas. Which was both funny and practical -- the images covered us, so anyone who fails the save we got concealment against.

Don't neglect the significant range of the image spells. Often a good use for them is to create something in the far distance, as a distraction, to set up an ambush, and so on. Obviously the feat or metamagic rod of Silent Spell helps greatly with these kinds of uses.
There have been previous threads on listing creative sues for Silent Image, but I don't feel like searching google for them at this hour.

Some I remember included anti-army tactics like readied action to throw it up as a wall (possibly w/ protruding barbs) to spook charging cavalry horses. One involved faking a bridge over a chasm, I forget the specfics the person used. It might have been something like disguising a cruddy rope-bound bridge as a sturdier one via the overlapping illusion, so once too much weight gets on...

One unfortunate issue with illusion spells is the whole spellcraft...thing. Definitely consider going for the False Theurgy skill trick (C.Scoundrel), so once/encounter (or per 5 min. out of combat) you can trick any mages trying to spellcraft you into thinking you're casting the actual spell (instead of mimicing it). FT has no roll involved, no chance of failure. It's potentially very useful to an illusionist, thus.

 

[Zanticor]

There have been some really helpful illusionary threads out there and with a dc15 googling skill check you can find some real gems. The consensus has always been that you need a DM git that wants to work with the illusionist because of the enormous impact her/his rulings have on illusion spells.
- When do you get that save?
- How do the monsters react?
- Can you flank with that?
- and perhaps most importantly: What is needed for an automatic disbelieve.
You need to talk to the DM to find out if becoming an illusionist is something worth considering. I picked up the following trick on the net and propose it a good test for where your DM stands on this issue: You conjure a wall of black shadowy creatures that you can't see through and seem to grasp at everything (ghosts, shadows, wraiths anything incorporeal goes). This wall moves into combat and brings up all of the above questions. Don't expect your DM to answer all of the above in your favour but if the answers are that it just won't do anything and the monsters don't react at all and can see true it without a save: don't become an illusionist because you are in for a lot of bickering and hurt. If on the other hand the monsters don't get any saves and start fighting the shadows to no effect: lucky you, yours DM is a spineless git. Don't use the above to often or the DM might wise up.

Zanticor