So the room is actually both light and dark at the same time? Because as soon as someone disbelieves, the illusion becomes transparent for them (and thus the room would become light.) So not only does Minor Illusion block light, but it apparently creates a quantum paradox as well. That's one heck of a cantrip.
D&D 5E Minor Illusion question
- Thread starter Warmaster Horus
- Start date
So the room is actually both light and dark at the same time? Because as soon as someone disbelieves, the illusion becomes transparent for them (and thus the room would become light.) So not only does Minor Illusion block light, but it apparently creates a quantum paradox as well. That's one heck of a cantrip.
This is a great thread.
I'm with the folks who wish to encourage creative spell use. If that means a cantrip can actually plunge a room into darkness, so be it. As somebody said, you'd still hear the crackling of flame and possibly feel the heat, so there would be plenty of clues leading to disbelief. The fact that it *can* be disbelieved itself makes it less powerful than darkness (along with the fact that darkvision would still function).
And the physics isn't even hard to conjure. Imagine that illusions do actually reflect light as if they were solid, but they then add some "information" to the light which tells the mind how to interpret it. Disbelieving is realizing that the light carries this information and grants the ability to disregard it.
People who come up with ways to turn open-ended spells into highly advantageous effects get rewarded at my table.
I'm with the folks who wish to encourage creative spell use. If that means a cantrip can actually plunge a room into darkness, so be it. As somebody said, you'd still hear the crackling of flame and possibly feel the heat, so there would be plenty of clues leading to disbelief. The fact that it *can* be disbelieved itself makes it less powerful than darkness (along with the fact that darkvision would still function).
And the physics isn't even hard to conjure. Imagine that illusions do actually reflect light as if they were solid, but they then add some "information" to the light which tells the mind how to interpret it. Disbelieving is realizing that the light carries this information and grants the ability to disregard it.
People who come up with ways to turn open-ended spells into highly advantageous effects get rewarded at my table.
tommybahama
Adventurer
I'm necroing this thread because this situation came up and I went looking for an answer. Our party of three was resting overnight in a seemingly safe spot off the Triboar Trail with a small campfire. The party was ambushed in the middle of the night by a group of seven goblins. They got a surprise round on us but we were able to quickly dispatch four of the little nasties that made the mistake of creeping into the light of the campfire. The other three retreated into the dark with their short bows. Our arcane trickster created a minor illusion to cover the campfire with an iron box to even out the odds. The DM was taken aback by the novel use of the cantrip but allowed it.
Unfortunately, it appears there was no consensus on this question. Has anyone seen an official ruling of any sort in the past six years?
An actual worthy thread necro, outrageous!
I always liked the interpretation that the iron box appeared to be the source of the light. That is NOT creating light as some suggested, the room does not have an increase in illumination, it merely shifts your perception of the light from the torch to the box….which is well within the purview of illusions.
that way if you disbelieve, the light doesn’t change…you just now notice it’s coming from a torch within a transparent box
I always liked the interpretation that the iron box appeared to be the source of the light. That is NOT creating light as some suggested, the room does not have an increase in illumination, it merely shifts your perception of the light from the torch to the box….which is well within the purview of illusions.
that way if you disbelieve, the light doesn’t change…you just now notice it’s coming from a torch within a transparent box
Only in a 5 foot cube and it is up to the caster.
The caster is creating a visual illusion. It is impossible to really scientifically quantify how it is doing this, but I am going to say the illusion is not really blocking or altering light at all, it is changing how you are perceiving it or seeing it. If it was actually changing light, disbelieving and saving would not cancel it (since the light would not be there).
If you put it in that context, the caster decides what it looks like inside its area of effect and is not able to do anything outside that area. So it could be an iron box that blocks light, but it does not change the scene outside the 5'foot cube at all. So assuming he wants to make that a black 5' cube completely dark because of a small iron box inside it covering the torch then I would say that is good, but he can not alter anything beyond this 5' cube.
The way to look at it is this: The caster describes what 5' area he wants to effect. How he effects that 5' area is entirely up to him. It can be anything he wants within the description of the spell. Beyond that 5' area there is no effect.
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Swarmkeeper
Hero
"The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect."
As part of "any other sensory effect", I would argue the image created by a minor illusion can't amplify, diminish, or negate existing sounds, lights, or smells.
As part of "any other sensory effect", I would argue the image created by a minor illusion can't amplify, diminish, or negate existing sounds, lights, or smells.
gatorized
Explorer
Consider the case of someone creating an illusion of a wall just in front of themselves to hide their presence. If visual illusions can't interact with non-illusory light, this does nothing, as light will pass through the illusion, be reflected by the caster, pass through the illusion again, and finally enter the eyes of anyone in the area. We can reason by extrapolation that this would make nearly all visual illusions ineffective. Therefore, visual illusions must be able to interact with light, if we want the spells to do anything at all.
gatorized
Explorer
Then no images can be created at all.
Sword of Spirit
Legend
This is only an issue if your world features real world physics and non-smart magic (ie, magic that operates within physics like technology rather than creating effects based on intention).
