If the images are occupying several squares in a line (usually due to a narrow corridor), and you know which one the caster is in, the enemy can still choose to target a specific square and then you wouldn't have to roll randomly. Generally, you roll randomly, but not always. Of course, this situation will come up very seldom and the only way the enemy would be able to choose his target in a narrow corridor is if it could fly and it was above them. Even if the images aren't in a line, you could choose not to roll, but then it becomes too difficult to really choose randomly when you know what square the opponent is in. As a DM, you then either have to make a choice to target the square that the player is in, or target an image. Rolling the dice removes the blame from the DM... but then you are still faced with the case of the PC possibly getting free movement. Would it really make a difference in combat though?
Is Mirror Image broken?
- Thread starter RigaMortus
- Start date
Liquidsabre
Explorer
MerakSpielman said:
Not at all. I just put out as many dice as images in the squares around the caster. If an NPC caster I roll random to see which position they really are at and adjudicate PC attacks as normal. If they strike an image it disappears. If it's a PC caster then we put out the dice for the images and I roll random to see which images/caster is attacked by NPCs/creatures.
We use Cleave & Magic Missle as viable methods to ridding the world of such dastardly images.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
I've never agreed with the FAQ answers on Mirror Image.
Magic Missile targets a creature or creatures; a figment is not a creature; a spell cast at an invalid target has no effect. Therefore a Magic Missile cast at a figment has no effect. The spell states that you determine randomly what you're targeting, so you can't tell the Missile 'hit the real caster' and have it bypass the figments.
Cleave triggers when you drop an opponent; a figment is not an opponent.
The images shuffle when the caster moves. If the real caster is determined - for example, he is successfully struck - then until his next turn, anyone who saw him get hit can target him with impunity. If he doesn't move on his turn, then people still know which one is real. As soon as he moves, the images merge and split off, and once more his identity is obscured.
The figments must each be within 5' of the caster or another figment, so while it's possible for them all to be in the same square, it's certainly not mandatory. However, there's no suggestion that the caster has any control over the placement of the images.
-Hyp.
Magic Missile targets a creature or creatures; a figment is not a creature; a spell cast at an invalid target has no effect. Therefore a Magic Missile cast at a figment has no effect. The spell states that you determine randomly what you're targeting, so you can't tell the Missile 'hit the real caster' and have it bypass the figments.
Cleave triggers when you drop an opponent; a figment is not an opponent.
The images shuffle when the caster moves. If the real caster is determined - for example, he is successfully struck - then until his next turn, anyone who saw him get hit can target him with impunity. If he doesn't move on his turn, then people still know which one is real. As soon as he moves, the images merge and split off, and once more his identity is obscured.
The figments must each be within 5' of the caster or another figment, so while it's possible for them all to be in the same square, it's certainly not mandatory. However, there's no suggestion that the caster has any control over the placement of the images.
-Hyp.
Last edited:
Mephistopheles
First Post
Keith said:
1d4+1/3 levels of caster (maximum 7 years)?
Casters select their targets when casting the spell and then when the spell has been cast it affects the target(s) if it is able to. The descriptive text for Magic Missile states that "Inanimate objects cannot be damaged by the spell". You can choose to target something that is not a creature but the missile(s) would impact with no effect as it was not a valid target. The same would go for something like Hold Person. You'd choose a target that happens to be invalid and then once you have cast the spell you find out that it didn't work.
The Mirror Image descriptive text states that any successful attack against a figment destroys it. For a Magic Missile to successfully attack one of the figments it would have to be able to affect figments, which it can't. The flipside comes from the section of Mirror Image which states "While moving, the character can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded". This means that when someone does get lucky and hits the real person that person can be in for some serious grief until they are able to merge/shift/split with the images to disguise their position again on their next turn.
For example, you've got an archer delaying to wait for an allied wizard to shoot a volley of Magic Missiles at an enemy wizard who has Mirror Image running. They get lucky and the archer sees one "image" of the enemy wizard take an impact from one of the missiles while the other missiles merely pass through their targets with no effect. He then acts and rapid fires at that "image".
If you allow Magic Missiles to destroy the Mirror Image figments in addition to potentially identifying the real caster (by noting the impacted image which doesn't disappear) I think it takes away from the usefulness of Mirror Image and simultaneously adds to the usefulness of Magic Missile. Mirror Image isn't so powerful that it needs more ways to take it down, while Magic Missile is already doing pretty well for a level one spell.
Lastly, I would not go with the ruling that destroying an image satisfies the requirements for a Cleave attack. A fighter in melee with a caster running Mirror Image is already likely to chop through the images in a few rounds. A fourth level fighter with Great Cleave already has some decent odds of either destroying all the images in one round or destroying images until he hits the real caster. So a spell which should have bought the wizard at least a couple of rounds of breathing space has just evaporated in a frenzy of sword swinging. At fourth level the wizard might be able to cast Mirror Image once during the fight, while the fighter can go on a Great Cleaving parade every round. By sixth level the fighter can open up a can of whirlwind on the wizard and his images, but by then the wizard has learned some new tricks. So the arms race goes.
Last edited:
