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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 6488495" data-attributes="member: 1457">Phantasmal Force is an oddball spell that does damage, but doesn't require an attack roll or allow a save. Instead:I'm curious how my fellow Dungeon Masters handle the above. For example, a PC casts Phantasmal Force as suggested by the spell: "a phantasm created to appear as fire, a pool of acid, or lava can burn the target." Under what circumstances would a creature, apparently lit on fire, use its action to examine the fire, rather than use its action to drop & roll? Or otherwise attempt to extinguish the flame?I was thinking maybe animals would be unaffected, since they have heightened senses and might realize something is not quite right. But the spell says "The phantasm includes sound, temperature, and other stimuli, also evident only to the creature." They'd smell their own burning flesh and hear their fat sizzle, in addition to feeling the searing flames. Perhaps an intelligent creature who witnesses the spell as it's being cast could use an Arcana check to try to identify that the spell is Phantasmal Force and not something like Heat Metal. But again: that'd take an action in and of itself. And a rational person, on fire would probably give it the benefit of the doubt and jump in a lake. That might be it: if the person takes steps to extinguish the flame, and those steps are ineffectual: the lake-jump doesn't stop the burning. But nope: "While a target is affected by the spell, the target treats the phantasm as if it were real. The target rationalizes any illogical outcomes from interacting with the phantasm." So the lake-jumper would assume and believe that the flames are magical, or greek fire, or rationalize some other explanation. It's sort of a catch-22. The target might attempt the Intelligence (Investigation) check if it had reason to suspect the phantasm isn't real. But while affected, the target rationalizes reasons for the phantasm to be real. Even companions yelling "You're not on fire! It's not real! It's an illusion!" would be rationalized away as the flames being spirit flames, or otherwise imperceptible. Clearly the Investigation check is supposed to come into play at some point, or it wouldn't be there (and the spell would be an "I win" button, if the caster had means of avoiding the target's attacks and maintaining Concentration). But, crucially, the spell does not simply have an automatic saving throw. That check is something that might happen--it's not something that always happens.So: given the spell's effects, when would it come into play?</blockquote>

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