(Crossposted from the
News thread)
As I understand it, this means that Mirror Image is no longer any sort of defense against most targeted spells and many powers, right?
The Power Bonus to AC is effectively the same as a 3E Armor Bonus - that is, an Armor Bonus has no effect on touch attacks. So while the 3E Mirror Image can protect you from Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, or Charm Person, because they might target an image, 3E Mage Armor can't, because Magic Missile always hits, Scorching Ray ignores Armor Bonus, and Charm Person is a Will Save.
In 4E, Mirror Image increases your AC, so Magic Missile ignores it (since it opposes Reflex), and Charm Person ignores it (since it opposes Will)... but oddly, if the Magic Missile or Charm Person fails, it will still diminish your Mirror Image bonus (since they are attacks that missed).
Also, in 3E a Fireball would ignore the Mirror Image, but not diminish the protection; in 4E, a Fireball will likely ignore the Mirror Image (opposing Reflex instead of AC), but if the attack misses you, as well as taking half damage, you'll lose some of your Mirror Image.
I guess one balancing factor is that you'll be able to replenish the bonus back up to +6 any time you have a minor action available.
I notice that the Flying, Invisible, Blasting Wizard will be trickier to pull off - since both the Fly and Invisibility require a Sustain Minor, that leaves you with only a standard action, and if you blast you'll become visible...
Of the eight spells listed with an attack roll, seven use Intelligence - why does Thunderlance use Wisdom?
Always keep some kobold minions on hand for breaking through Walls of Ice. If you do it yourself, you take 2d6 damage for attacking, plus more for being close to the Wall. If your minion does it, he's effectively immune, since the damage he takes doesn't result from an attack roll (similar to how they're apparently immune to a Fighter's Cleave).
-Hyp.
