Mirror Image Sage Advice

[heirodule]

Eye closing

Rather than proventing someone from closing their eyes and then opening them, or having them attacked as if blind even if they have their eyes opened I propose this:

Closing your eyes is a free action which provokes an attack of opportunity

Doesn't that make sense?

 

[Snipehunt]

That would make sense, I guess, but we're talking about the blind-fighting fighter, who suffers little harm from being blind (or closing eyes, which is the same thing) except the 50% miss chance, which is also lessened, and certainly doesn't draw an AoO. As Hyp points out, willfully closing your eyes is often a good option for the blind-fighter, which is silly, but a consequence of the rules for closing eyes to fight medusas, etc.

Blind-fighting:

An invisible attacker gets no advantages related to hitting you in melee. That is, you don't lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, and the attacker doesn't get the usual +2 bonus for being invisible. The invisible attacker's bonuses do still apply for ranged attacks, however.

I really hope they change that FAQ.

Mirror-image now sounds to me like the Matrix scenes where people dodge bullets, arms flailing all over the place.

 

[kreynolds]

The limit on how many free actions you could take in a round was up to the DM, wasn't it?

Yup.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I don't really think it's silly. If you get rid of the 3.0 "Can't be flanked while blind" rule (which is really silly), the only times it's advantageous to close your eyes in order to fight are:
A. You're fighting a creature with a gaze attack--Bodak, Medusa, Umber Hulk, Ether Hulk, etc. No surprises here. For someone who trained to fight without sight, this should be the advantageous option.
B. You're in a situation that's so heavily illusory that your eyes deceive you more than they help you. (Mirror image is probably the only core example of this that I can think of). But, once again, this seems like a classic case of when Blindfighting SHOULD be helpful. It reminds me of the Star Wars blindfighting scene: "Your eyes deceive you."

And that's it. The rest of the time, it's best to keep your eyes open. It doesn't seem silly at all, given the conventions of the genre (creatures that can kill you with their gaze and illusions that make vision an impediment rather than a benefit).

As Hyp points out, willfully closing your eyes is often a good option for the blind-fighter, which is silly, but a consequence of the rules for closing eyes to fight medusas, etc.

 

[Anubus]

Huh, I was certain that the 1 free action a round thing was an official rule. Guess it's just a house rule that I've been using for so long that I forgot it was a house rule.

Looking through the SRD, you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, as a free action. So if a quickened spell is a free action, and you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, you must be only able to do 1 free action in a round. That's my logic anyway. Though I really thought I read the additional free actions are standard action thing somewhere......

 

[Hypersmurf]

Huh, I was certain that the 1 free action a round thing was an official rule. Guess it's just a house rule that I've been using for so long that I forgot it was a house rule.

How do you handle someone with Quickdraw who wants to throw four daggers using iterative attacks and Rapid Shot?

He can draw one as a free action, throw it as a standard action... and that's it?

-Hyp.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

You'd better hope that you don't want to shout a warning to your companions or a battle cry either. Under your house rule, the quickened spell would be a standard action then. . . .

Huh, I was certain that the 1 free action a round thing was an official rule. Guess it's just a house rule that I've been using for so long that I forgot it was a house rule.

Looking through the SRD, you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, as a free action. So if a quickened spell is a free action, and you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, you must be only able to do 1 free action in a round. That's my logic anyway. Though I really thought I read the additional free actions are standard action thing somewhere......

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

Looking through the SRD, you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, as a free action. So if a quickened spell is a free action, and you can only cast 1 quickened spell in a round, you must be only able to do 1 free action in a round. That's my logic anyway. Though I really thought I read the additional free actions are standard action thing somewhere......

That's faulty logic, similar to "I weigh 200 pounds, an ocelot weighs 200 pounds, ergo I am an ocelot" (which I am not)

TS

 

[Anubus]

You can only communicate/do so much in 6 seconds, so to me that makes perfect sense. You can't be barking orders to people while you trying to cast a spell, jump across a chasm, and drawing 4 daggers. It's an abstract combat system, so if you want to allow someone to recite some a 20 page poem as a warcry, in 6 seconds, go right ahead, but I won't allow it in my game.

As for quickdraw, it specifically says, at least in the 3.5 SRD, that you can draw multiple throwing weapons as a 'free action' equal in number to your number of attacks in that round.

And if you weight 200 pounds, and a creature weighs 200 pounds, are you the same creature, no, but can I lift either of you over my head, no. It's a judgement call, and I was just trying to explain where I might have gotten the idea from.

 

[Staffan]

The rule about no more than one quickened spell per round is a specific exception to the general rule that you can perform as many free actions per round as your DM allows. This is what the SRD has to say about free actions (I don't have access to the 3.5 PHB):
You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free.
Note the "or more" bit.