Mirror Image

[mojoutd]

Okay, 2 Questions.

1. How many players can stand in a five foot square. I know you can move through friendly space, but In terms of a situation. How many players can technically fit into a five foot square. I was under the impression it would be ONE, exactly.

2 Secondly, when mirror image is cast, one of my players, says to me, He centers all his images around him inside the Five foot square. I immediately lost it. And here's why.

1. Mirror Image functions like this. When you cast it it creates SEVERAL Dupilcates of yourself. They all then do the same thing as you,, move the same way, so that when people lookor your enemies try to hit you, they don't know which one is you.

The Writing on the spell is vague, but I'm fairly sure that the images don't do different stuff. They all move in exact the same way as you.

The spell says something that Images can move through each other. But why would they move through each other? You take a step left, and at the same timeevery other image takes a step left. I mean it would be plumb retarded to place an image standing in an opposite direction as you, since it does the same thing as you? The villian would immediately know that image wasn't you?

In summation, the Spell works because the images mimic everything you do. It confuses the Enemy because each one of the images COULD be you. What is the purpose of blending them around you? Especially if you are situated in one five foot square, along with your images.

What's to keep your enemy from Targeting the Five foot square that every image seems to be standing in? I mean, do you see the stupidity of placing them all in one five foot swuare? all that would create is a blob of images in one area, and wouldn't confuse the enemy at all. He would simply focus his attack dead center and be able to target you? Right?

Basically, is the player abusing the Spell? I believe him to be. The problem is the language on the spell is Vague, cause it says something like, Each image must be within 5 foot of the caster or another image.

I really need an answer about this.

 

[Vegepygmy]

What's to keep your enemy from Targeting the Five foot square that every image seems to be standing in?

Nothing. In fact, the spell description specifically states that your enemy can do so.

I mean, do you see the stupidity of placing them all in one five foot swuare?

Nope.

 

[T. Foster]

This post is tagged "1E/2E/OD&D" but it doesn't seem that's what you're talking about, with the references to "5 foot squares" and such...

FWIW the 1E spell description is pretty explicit: all images are within a 6' radius of each other, there's a blur/distortion effect on them, and the images constantly shift position, making it impossible to tell which is which.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

What's to keep your enemy from Targeting the Five foot square that every image seems to be standing in?

You can't target a 5 foot square with a regular attack (unless you close your eyes, in which cast there's a 50% miss chance). You can target a 5 foot square with an area attack, however, like a flask of alchemist's fire or an area-of-effect spell.

Here's the short version of how the spell works, as far as I can tell. Note that the "caster" here always refers to the being who cast Mirror Image (even if their opponent is also a "caster").

1) You create x number of duplicates. They all share the same square. Since there's not enough space, they partially overlap the caster and each other.

2) An enemy using a normal attack (not area-of-effect, not using a non-visual sense) randomly picks one of the "images" to attack. (One of the images could be the caster.) Note that an attacker who has more than one attack (iteratives, Rapid Shot, dual-wielding, etc) could split their attacks amongst the images.

a) If the enemy hits an image, it winks out.
b) If the enemy hits the caster, they take damage and the caster is temporarily identified.

3) If the caster is identified, they can move, which causes all the images to shift (so the attacker no longer knows which is which).

4) Mirror Image is great against most kinds of magic. A Fireball spell, for instance, will not cause the images to wink out (even though they're all going to get hit). They just all look like the (presumably injured) caster. However, Magic Missile is a great spell to cast in this instance, because you can pick one "image" with each missile, causing several to wink out and possibly also hitting (and therefore temporarily identifying) who the caster is.

5) Naturally, True Seeing sees through the images.

6) It is not a Will disbelief spell!

I vaguely recall the spell being far more complicated in 3.0. Ugh.

 

[Hypersmurf]

1) You create x number of duplicates. They all share the same square.

This is suggested as a way to run the spell in the FAQ, but it's not required by the spell text.

3) If the caster is identified, they can move, which causes all the images to shift (so the attacker no longer knows which is which).

Of course, since the caster can't move until his turn, observers who see the real caster struck will be able to target him until he gets around to shuffling the images again.

However, Magic Missile is a great spell to cast in this instance, because you can pick one "image" with each missile, causing several to wink out and possibly also hitting (and therefore temporarily identifying) who the caster is.

The FAQ agrees, but I've never found the language to support it - Magic Missile targets creatures, and a spell cast on an invalid target fails. Since a figment is not a creature, Magic Missile should work as written.

-Hyp.

 

[gnfnrf]

The FAQ agrees, but I've never found the language to support it - Magic Missile targets creatures, and a spell cast on an invalid target fails. Since a figment is not a creature, Magic Missile should work as written.

How about

Enemies attempting to attack you or cast spells at you must select from among indistinguishable targets.

The targets are indistinguishable to spellcasting. Successfully targeting one thing and failing to target another is distinguishing between them.

It's a bit weak, I know.

--
gnfnrf

 

[Hypersmurf]

The targets are indistinguishable to spellcasting. Successfully targeting one thing and failing to target another is distinguishing between them.

Successfully popping one thing and merely drawing blood from another is distinguishing between them as well. That's not distinguishing targets, though, that's distinguishing outcomes.

There's a druid wildshaped into a dog. He's a perfect dog... but his type is Humanoid, not Animal. When I cast Hold Animal, the spell has no effect, because he is an invalid target. The spell doesn't attempt to determine if he's an animal or not... it's just that if he isn't, the spell has no effect.

There's a statue painted to look exactly like an orc, next to an orc who is paralyzed. I can't tell the difference between them from where I am. I cast Magic Missile at one, and it works; I cast Magic Missile at the other, and it doesn't. The spell doesn't attempt to determine which is which; rather, if it is cast at an invalid target, the spell simply has no effect.

The spells don't distinguish the target; rather, the outcome of the casting is dependent on whether the target is valid. Belief is irrelevant; only what actually exists matters to that outcome.

-Hyp.

 

[Vahktang]

Of course, since the caster can't move until his turn, observers who see the real caster struck will be able to target him until he gets around to shuffling the images again.

He is still 'moving', doding around, looking about, etc.
He's not paralyzed, etc.
So the images do the same thing.

And, as the images are not creatures, they cannot be cleaved/great cleaved.
If they can, then you can cleave a spell, which opens up a whole bunch of other things.

 

[mvincent]

when mirror image is cast, one of my players, says to me, He centers all his images around him inside the Five foot square. I immediately lost it.

From the 3.5 FAQ (if desired):
"Although the spell description says the images from a
mirror image spell always stay within 5 feet of either the user
or another image, it’s easiest to assume that all the images
occupy the same space the spell user occupies. Any attack that
can reach the user’s space can affect an image."

Having tried it both ways, I agree: it is indeed easier to handle all the images as if they were in the same square (down the other path lies madness).

 

[mvincent]

The FAQ agrees

For reference purposes (if desired):
"When you use a spell that allows you to select multiple
creatures as targets, such as magic missile, you can choose
multiple images as targets."

Also, here is poll & discussion on the topic of magic missile vs. mirror image (for any that desire).