School of Illusion is a 64 page, perfect bound addition to Fantasy Flight Games' Legends and Lairs line. It bears the cover motif that adorns all of the L&L line.
School of Illusion (SoI) covers, well, the school of illusion magic available to users of arcane spells. Is a separate "splat book" necessary for each individual school of magic (as the FFG website mentions that other schools are on the way)? In a word, yes. For everyone who has ever played or wanted to play a specialist wizard, some extra crunch and fluff to help build and develop a character comes in very handy.
So how does SoI do? I'll go through this book, chapter by chapter, to give my impressions. Actually, there aren't any "official" numbered chapters, rather FFG breaks the book into smaller sections: Introduction, the Devoted Illusionist, Prestige Classes, New Feats, Visual Guide to Illusions, New Spells, New Equipment, and New Magic Items.
Introduction - The intro of SoI begins with a short discussion of what exactly illusion magic is. It goes through and gives a clear, concise definition of the different types (figment, glamer, etc.) and then a quick note on saving throws against illusions and the effects of success or failure. The author then goes into the concept of "disciplines" within the school of illusion. These are similar in concept to the domains of divine spells. A discipline is a more specialized list of related spells within the school so that your illusionist could choose to become a master of Avoidance, Deception, Disguise, Fascination, Invisibility, Message, Shadow, Terror, or True Illusions. Is there a benefit to having a sub-specialization? There is and it will be explained in the next section.
Devoted Illusionist - The Devoted Illusionist is a 20-level alternate core class for those characters who really want to specialize. There are definite plusses and minuses to taking this core class as opposed to a wizard who specializes into the school of illusion. On the upside, the Devoted Illusionist can cast 4 0-level spells and 2 1st-level spells (plus any bonus spell) at 1st level. As they progress, they continue to be able to cast more spells per day than a wizard. The downside is that they can only pick spells from the Illusion and Universal schools (unless they have the Opposed Spell feat - described later). Other benefits of the class are that at 1st level, the character can choose one discipline that they have mastered. This mastery allows the Devoted Illusionist to channel stored spell energy into any spell in the mastered discipline, much like a cleric can cast a healing spell in place of a prepared spell. In other words, the Devoted Illusionist can lose a prepared spell so they can cast one from the mastered discipline (of the same level or lower). The Devoted Illusionist can choose another mastered discipline at 10th and 20th levels. There are other benefits to aid the Devoted Illusionist in creating their illusions. The Augment Illusion ability allows the Devoted Illusionist to ignore a level of metamagic feat costs when preparing spells. Illusion Focus gives the Devoted Illusionist a +1 bonus to caster level checks when they are trying to beat a creature’s spell resistance when casting illusions. Clear Senses allows the Devoted Illusionist to automatically succeed at a save vs. Illusions (unless cast by an enemy 4 levels or HD higher). Finally, Master of Illusion allows the Devoted Illusionist to see as if true seeing had been cast on him.
Prestige Classes - Like any good d20 supplement, there are several prestige classes in SoI. Each of them in this book is based on the various disciplines presented in the introduction.
Arcane Herald - Message discipline. Good at communicating and negotiating.
Deceiver - Deception discipline. Fools opponents and creates minor magic items whose dweomers fade quickly.
Dread Lord - Terror discipline. Uses fear to overcome foes.
Lord of Illusion - True Illusion discipline. Focuses on creating realistic illusions.
Master of the Ruse - Avoidance discipline. Pursues intrigue and mischief.
Mind Master - Fascination discipline. Controls others.
Mystic Infiltrator - Disguise discipline. Anonymous and untraceable spy.
Shadowmancer - Shadow discipline. Uses shadow magic to accomplish goals.
Unseen Master - Invisibility discipline. Unseen, they gather information, acquire objects, and slay enemies.
New Feats - Almost as pervasive as prestige classes, new feats appear in most d20 products and SoI is no different. This particular book only has 5, so I'll give a quick synopsis.
Illusion Library - You have access to all the spells in a particular discipline and can add them to your spell book automatically.
Infuse Reality - Adds shadow energy to illusions.
Infuse Truth - Illusions can affect undead and other creatures immune to them.
Opposed Spell - You can cast a spell from a school not available (can take multiple times).
Shadow Familiar - Familiar has been infused with shadow energy and can cast shadow walk 3/day.
Visual Guide to Illusions - This is simply a quick explanation of the various "flavors" of Illusion spells (sight-affecting, hearing-affecting, and so on).
New Spells - In any book that professes to be an addition/enhancement to the D&D magic system, there must be, by definition, a set of new spells, and SoI is no exception. This book contains 61 new spells (the back says "over 60"!) of the illusion school. After a quick perusal, some of the stand-outs included:
Apocalypse - target sees the end of the world occurring around him
Awakened Fears - targets fears rise up and attack
Conceal - small item you are carrying is invisible
Impersonate - you become the "double" of the creature you touch
Independent Illusion - illusions you cast can react to their surroundings without your input
Visitation - kind of a "virtual reality" conversation with the target
New Equipment - This chapter lists a bunch of new, mundane goodies your illusionist might find useful. The first section is about Spell Foci, essentially an "auxiliary material component" that amplifies the spell in some way. A new feat, Use Spell Foci, is described, but is not necessary to use the foci, it just makes it easier. The list of the various spell foci starts with fireworks and gives the effect they have when used in conjunction with specific spells. Very cool. The throwing rocket looks to be a lot of fun (think bottle rocket). There are some other items besides spell foci that are covered as well. A small list of drugs an illusionist might find useful in slipping a potential target prior to springing an illusion on them is included. (The destrachan was aids in sound-related illusions, for example.)
New Magic Items - SoI closes with several pages of new magic items. The Dagger of Gruesome Deaths makes the victim and others who witness the attack think he as been dealt a horrendous, gory, mortal wound while in fact causing no damage. The Ring of Fear Reflection comes in very handy against those foes what have any sort of fear-causing attack. The Staff of the Illusionist is truly the ultimate specialist magic item. Capable of a wide variety of illusion spells and a retributive strike, this staff is the must-have for the "with it" illusionist.
The Good - FFG's School of Illusion is a very good tool for any player wanting to create the penultimate illusionist character. Lost of great spells, magic items, and prestige classes make this an excellent resource.
The Bad - While SoI is a great addition to any gamer's library, it is not perfect. The biggest omission is the fact that the spell list only includes PHB and SoI spells. Where are the illusion spells from FFG's other books, namely Spells & Spellcraft and Path of Magic? It seems to me that FFG dropped the ball on this point. It would have been very easy to include these previously published spells in the list (and perhaps some of the better OGC illusions as well). As for the Visual Guide to Illusions, my initial reaction was "so what?" I thought that's what the descriptor line in the spell's write-up was for.
Final Thoughts - If you play an illusionist or think you might want to, School of Illusion is the book for you. While not perfect, it has a lot of great ideas and mechanics to add to your game. I can't wait to see the rest of this particular series. I give School of Illusion a very solid 4.
