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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8726325" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I don't cast illusion spells, save for those that are very clear about their effects, like mirror image or invisibility.&nbsp; The reason is, over the years, I've encountered many DM's who have a serious problem adjudicating illusions.What sort of illusion is &quot;unbelievable&quot;, in a world of magic, for example.&nbsp; A wizard can conjure monsters out of the clear blue sky, and so can an illusionist.&nbsp; But it seems like everything an illusionist does is put under a microscope, attempting to find some loophole or justification for the illusion not to function.People, I realized, don't like to be tricked.&nbsp; And some DM's, being people, don't like to be &quot;tricked&quot; either, or to feel like a player &quot;got one over on them&quot;.&nbsp; Because of how open ended even a low level spell like Phantasmal Force is, you run into situations where some DM's feel like &quot;It doesn't make sense&quot; for the spell to function the way it does.&quot;So wait, my monster failed his save, so now he is stuck attacking an illusion, taking 1d6 psychic damage every turn, unless he spends a turn doing nothing to make an Investigation check?&quot;And you reply, yes, that's about the size of it.&nbsp; And suddenly the DM turns into a rules lawyer, trying to find a way to salvage his encounter, no matter how illogical his attempts become.You can, of course, run into this kind of behavior with any kind of spell, but illusions seem to invite this sort of reaction more often.&nbsp; To the point that I'm perfectly happy to limit my activities to spells that have &quot;real&quot; effects, rather than turn every attempt to use an illusion spell into a debate with a sore DM.I'm not immune to this effect either, mind- it takes a great deal of will to remind myself that illusions are legitimate spells with rules when one comes up.&nbsp; The thing that annoys me the most is that players rarely make credible illusions, but decide to flex their creativity to call forth manifestations of incredible creatures, or even gods, as opposed to a more subtle approach.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8726325, member: 6877472"] I don't cast illusion spells, save for those that are very clear about their effects, like mirror image or invisibility. The reason is, over the years, I've encountered many DM's who have a serious problem adjudicating illusions. What sort of illusion is "unbelievable", in a world of magic, for example. A wizard can conjure monsters out of the clear blue sky, and so can an illusionist. But it seems like everything an illusionist does is put under a microscope, attempting to find some loophole or justification for the illusion not to function. People, I realized, don't like to be tricked. And some DM's, being people, don't like to be "tricked" either, or to feel like a player "got one over on them". Because of how open ended even a low level spell like Phantasmal Force is, you run into situations where some DM's feel like "It doesn't make sense" for the spell to function the way it does. "So wait, my monster failed his save, so now he is stuck attacking an illusion, taking 1d6 psychic damage every turn, unless he spends a turn doing nothing to make an Investigation check?" And you reply, yes, that's about the size of it. And suddenly the DM turns into a rules lawyer, trying to find a way to salvage his encounter, no matter how illogical his attempts become. You can, of course, run into this kind of behavior with any kind of spell, but illusions seem to invite this sort of reaction more often. To the point that I'm perfectly happy to limit my activities to spells that have "real" effects, rather than turn every attempt to use an illusion spell into a debate with a sore DM. I'm not immune to this effect either, mind- it takes a great deal of will to remind myself that illusions are legitimate spells with rules when one comes up. The thing that annoys me the most is that players rarely make credible illusions, but decide to flex their creativity to call forth manifestations of incredible creatures, or even gods, as opposed to a more subtle approach. [/QUOTE]

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