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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9623221" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I should clarify, I wasn't the GM.  As for why I felt dismay, it was simply the fact that no one took the illusion at face value, and instantly went into "oh that can't be real, let's poke/prod/search to prove that it wasn't" routine that makes Illusions so pointless in games.(<a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/c-d/cloak-of-fiery-vanishing/" target="_blank">the item in question</a>, for reference)There shouldn't be a reason to assume that an Illusion is an illusion, in a game world where fantastical magic exists.  And yet, all to often, characters in game instantly react to illusions attempting to disprove their existence, when that level of scrutiny is rarely applied to "real" effects.In the case of the Cloak of Fiery Vanishing incident, the players' only clue that the NPC wasn't, in fact, reduced to ash, was their knowledge of game mechanics- they knew how much damage the fire spell did, and it didn't line up with their belief about the target's hit point total.  One could argue that their reaction smacks of metagaming...though that's not an argument I'd make personally- the boundary between what your character knows and what you, the player, know has never been clear cut in D&D, and everyone defines it differently anyways.The point is, either players nor DM's tend to take Illusions at face value, and both PC and NPC alike can be quickly seen to test the boundaries of such spells. I've hear people argue that because those spells do have boundaries, there's nothing wrong with this and it should be expected.Which makes using most Illusions rather problematic- if no one is going to fall for them, then why bother?  Just stick to the vast majority of spells that do have tangible effects.Another anecdote to illustrate my point.  Not long ago, my Wizard cast Wall of Force to trap a monster inside it.  The creature didn't take time to test it's boundaries.  Instead, it instantly realized "oh this is a Wall of Force" and used it's ability to Dimension Door beyond it's boundaries (that I didn't know it possessed when I cast the spell).Now that's a fairly typical event in a game, no doubt.But if that had been an ILLUSION of a Wall of Force, I'd instantly expect the creature to try and move through it, poke or prod it, or anything else required to prove it's fake.  Because that's what I tend to see happen.</blockquote>

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