Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Well, I don't agree with some of what Dash has just said, so I'll try to explain my interpretation further where those points are concerned...
I don't consider a mage plus four images to be a single unit for targetting purposes. They're five separate targets, which happen to be indistinguishable.
My personal view is that figments are not creatures, and therefore spells that target creatures fail when they attempt to target a figment. However, the FAQ (or Sage Advice?) declared that creature-simulating effects may be targetted as creatures, so regardless of my personal opinion on the matter, I'll use that point of view for the rest of this post.
Casting a magic missile at five goblins, the caster can choose to target five missiles on one goblin, or one missile at each of the five, or split them two-on-one and three-on-another, for instance. Given that figments, as creature-simulating effects, may be targetted as creatures, a caster throwing five missiles at a mage with four figments can choose to aim all five at one target, or one at each target, or some other split. The DM would then secretly determine which of the five was the real mage, and thereby how many missiles struck the mage, and how many figments were destroyed.
Similarly, the Message spell, with one target per level, could likely target all four figments and the mage separately, and destroy all the figments at once.
It's also worth noting that the mage and his four figments could end up strung out in a line 20 ft. long - as long as each figment is within 5 ft. of the mage or another figment - and thus one would be outside the bounds of a Magic Missile ('all of which must be within 15' of one another').
-Hyp.
I don't consider a mage plus four images to be a single unit for targetting purposes. They're five separate targets, which happen to be indistinguishable.
My personal view is that figments are not creatures, and therefore spells that target creatures fail when they attempt to target a figment. However, the FAQ (or Sage Advice?) declared that creature-simulating effects may be targetted as creatures, so regardless of my personal opinion on the matter, I'll use that point of view for the rest of this post.
Casting a magic missile at five goblins, the caster can choose to target five missiles on one goblin, or one missile at each of the five, or split them two-on-one and three-on-another, for instance. Given that figments, as creature-simulating effects, may be targetted as creatures, a caster throwing five missiles at a mage with four figments can choose to aim all five at one target, or one at each target, or some other split. The DM would then secretly determine which of the five was the real mage, and thereby how many missiles struck the mage, and how many figments were destroyed.
Similarly, the Message spell, with one target per level, could likely target all four figments and the mage separately, and destroy all the figments at once.
It's also worth noting that the mage and his four figments could end up strung out in a line 20 ft. long - as long as each figment is within 5 ft. of the mage or another figment - and thus one would be outside the bounds of a Magic Missile ('all of which must be within 15' of one another').
-Hyp.
