mirror image

[IceBear]

Yes, it has been clarified by the Sage (and others at WotC) that area effect spells will not cause mirror images to vanish. You have to specifically target an image to cause it to vanish, but you don't target an image with fireball or lightning bolt.

From the FAQ:

If I get hit by a fireball spell while I'm using a mirror
image spell, do all my images disappear? The spell as
written in the book seems to imply that they survive but it
would seem to me that any area effect damage should wipe
them all out.

Area spells don't destroy the figments created by the mirror
image spell, but targeted spells do. To determine if a spell is
istargeted look at the information that proceeds each spell
description. If there is a Target or Targets entry, the spell is
targeted. A spell also is is targeted if it has an Effect entry and
the effect is a ray or something else that requires a melee or
ranged attack to strike a foe, such as the missile created by the
Melf's acid arrow spell or the beam of fire from a flame blade
spell.

IceBear

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: mirror image

Jack, the specific language that you quoted says mirror images look "burned or dead after being struck by a fireball". There's no way you can reasonably conclude that a mirror image is destroyed by a fireball, when it explicitly says that they look burnt (not disappeared) afterwards.

It's not really what I meant, but I'm tired of arguing over this spell, and Icebear has cleared it up nicely.

I was thinking of a completely different effect (the images aren't destroyed, they just play dead, so to speak), and though it made sense at the time, it doesn't anymore.

 

[apsuman]

It seems that the core question of the thread has been answererd, but it seems to me that there is still some confusion about empower in general.

And since I made the assertion that is drawing the criticism, I thought i would speak up again.

I think the wording of the empower feat is pretty clear.

You would heal half again as many hit points (or somesuch)

Well, Cure Light Wounds heals 1d8(+1 caster level, max +5).

The proper way to empower that spell if it were cast by a sixth level cleric would be, first roll 1d8 then add 5, then take that sum and multiply it by 1.5.

so it would be (6-13) * 1.5 for a range of (9,10,12,13,15,16,18,19)

I chose CLW because it has a maximum in it, the +5 for caster level. Empower clearly states that it would heal half again as many hit points.


So, the Mirror Image question...

1d4+1 image/3 caster levels.

The lowest level possible to get 8 images would be at caster level 12, now I contend if you were to empower the spell (once) it would result in 12 images (8 times 1.5), if you were to empower the spell twice it would result in 16 images.

To me it is clear as day. It is the only way to resolve the empower feat uniformly.

That's not to say that the sage may say different, but I have thought he was on crack before, this would be no different.

g!

 

[Destil]

And finally, an opponent could just shut his eyes and attack and instead of having a 1 in 15 times his normal chance to hit, he would have a 1 in 2 times his normal chance to hit.

Course, nobody ever mentions shutting their eyes.

Usualy this would not be beneficial. In order for that to work well the attacker would need a non-visual means to pinpoint the caster, since the images take up more than a single five foot square, and in order to attack something that's invisible (like everything if your eyes are closed) you first need to pinpoint it.

If you have an excelent listen bonus, though, and can hit the DC20 check to pinpoint an invible creature this is the way to go. This check also assumes the caster is in combat or speaking, and is no more than 10 feet away from (+1 point per 10 feet for an archer trying to do this).

There are a few other options in the section on invisibilty, but most of them aren't much better, except perhaps groping, which could be quite usefull for a monk with a good nummber of attacks. With blind-fight grope also becomes a rather attaractive option, but you're still loosing one atatck for each square you search, and there's still a 25% miss chance. Between the two a 20th level monk would have an excelent chance of finding the spellcaster and getting their grapple on, but a 20th level monk, more likely than not, can just make the silly listen check. Also most monks with blind-fight will most likely also hav the Blindsight feat from Sword and fist by 20th.

Though it's a very clever solution. Personaly, though, I like nailing each with it's own magic missle better.