The perfect illusion

[Jay R]

Last night I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in a D&D game.

I’m playing a gnome illusionist, and I usually do pretty well with him. I keep the illusions at a level where they are believable, choosing what appears based on what fits into the situation. [Sometimes I create an illusion of an animal that the druid has just summoned, so it’s believable that it appeared here and now.] And of course I occasionally mess up, and cast illusions that nobody believes, and so have no effect at all.

Last night I was able to make an incredibly effective illusion, because everything broke just perfectly.

Pirates had mined our ship, intending to blow it up. They had brought four large kegs of gunpowder on board, and lit the fuse. Then, of course, they all jumped off, swimming as hard as they could to get out of the blast radius.

Let me repeat that. Most of our enemies were in a single small area, their minds filled with the fact that there’s about to be a huge explosion, and worried that they are still in range of the blast. And illusions work on minds.

My illusionist flew in and pulled the fuse away from the gunpowder. Then I said, “I turn back to the kegs, so I know what they look like.” The DM looked quizzical, so I added, “That will matter in a few minutes.”

Then the illusionist flew out and over the pirates in the water. He cast his Major Image spell (which includes sight, sound, smells, and thermal), and called out, “Hey guys, you forgot these!” That was to get them to look up, and see the barrels they themselves had planted and lit, tied into a single bundle, falling down on them with very short lit fuses. I had the kegs explode right before hitting the water.

Most of the pirates failed their saving throws, and believed it – because they were *already* expecting that explosion. Every one who failed their save died – even the two minotaurs and the half-giant – because they were expecting a devastating blast.

The imminent explosion from those barrels was already in their minds, so it was devastatingly effective. That’s the strength of illusion spells, if you have the right setup. Of course the one that saved took no damage at all – that’s the weakness of an illusion. But everything came together that night to make that illusion work.

I could never in 100 years get a setup that good again, in which one illusion could do that much damage in a single go.

And then, to cap the evening, the party druid completely disabled the ship with the remaining pirates on it with a single 1st level spell.

[Palanan]

First, that’s awesome, and it sounds like a spectacular finale to the encounter.

Second, why did everyone die who failed their save? Is this a feat or a class feature? I don’t see anything in the spell itself that could cause that effect.

And third, what was the first-level spell that the druid cast?

[Mr Adventurer]

Every one who failed their save died – even the two minotaurs and the half-giant – because they were expecting a devastating blast.

That's not how figments work.

[Jay R]

Evidently, both I and the DM have been led astray by our AD&D assumptions, and the character will be revamped. Oh well.

[Mehangel]

Evidently, both I and the DM have been led astray by our AD&D assumptions, and the character will be revamped. Oh well.

If you want your illusions to deal actual damage, you are limited mostly to shadow magic.

If 3rd party content is allowed, I would suggest using Spheres of Power, whose illusion sphere offers many tools which you may find helpful.

[Psyren]

The only way your illusions could actually do this would be Shadow spells (possibly with a penalty on the targets' save to disbelieve due to thoroughly expecting the boom) or a group phantasm like Weird (where the thing they fear is the explosion and they fail their fortitude save - but even then, they would die more or less from heart attacks rather than the "explosion.") Simply making an image of exploding barrels wouldn't hurt them in any way, though believing you're dropping real exploding barrels onto them might cause them to make other dangerous mistakes.

For the former, you would need to find a conjuration spell that can create explosives, and your Shadow Conjuration/Shades would basically mimic that.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Do you have levels in shadowcraft mage? If not, are you working towards it? Because this could be your character discovering that regular figments and phantasms can be far more dangerous, versatile, and useful than they should be. Say this occurrence is a one-off oddity, that your character accidentally dipped into the plane of shadow somehow, and it likely won't happen again. But if he pushes himself and learns what happened, he can start doing so on purpose, but it would require levels in shadowcraft mage if you want it to happen again.

[Arael666]

That's was such a good set up that most DM's would alow that, I personally would just rule that they drowned because they "thought" they were already dead.

Anyway, my favorite set up is still disguising a prismatic wall to make it look like an ilusory stone wall, which you pass through while being observed, making your enemies believe that that's just an ilusion and then.... well, I'm sure you know where this leads two.

I know there are better ways to use an 8'th lvl spell slot, but I just love this so much.

[Mr Adventurer]

I challenge this. If I think someone is going to poison me, and they hand me a drink and tell me they've put poison in it, and I drink it, but there's no poison, then I don't get poisoned. The illusory bomb deals no damage and doesn't affect anyone's mind; that's not how figments work. It's more like a hologram.

I would probably take a look at the Swim rules and see if there's something around being shocked - maybe they start floundering and forget to hold their breath, for example.

[Psyren]

"Make a Swim check with a circumstance penalty to get away from the not-bomb" seems reasonable to approximate them getting frantic, and could result in one or more drowning. The sudden panicked thrashing might also attract something hungry.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I challenge this. If I think someone is going to poison me, and they hand me a drink and tell me they've put poison in it, and I drink it, but there's no poison, then I don't get poisoned. The illusory bomb deals no damage and doesn't affect anyone's mind; that's not how figments work. It's more like a hologram.

I would probably take a look at the Swim rules and see if there's something around being shocked - maybe they start floundering and forget to hold their breath, for example.

I did mention shadowcraft mage above, which could do what the OP described. Granted, the OP (probably) doesn't have shadowcraft mage yet, but I went over that, too.

[Mr Adventurer]

I did mention shadowcraft mage above, which could do what the OP described. Granted, the OP (probably) doesn't have shadowcraft mage yet, but I went over that, too.

Obviously, but I don't really see how that's relevant, either in general terms (shadow magic is at least partially real, unlike a hologram that a figment is), or in terms of the rules (since shadow is a different sub-school to figment - though I admit I don't know whether the PrC addresses this properly).

[Segev]

I also want to say: this was awesome, and you shouldn't let any of the mechanical discussion in this thread make you think otherwise.

Since you're saying that the character is being revamped, I suggest that you do rebuild as a shadowcraft mage, and use the effect of this spell he cast as an in-story explanation for how he got there: he's always viewed it as affecting the mind, and his quasi-real illusions actually draw on the mental expectations of those who perceive him. Entering Shadowcraft Mage is an expression of what he's already doing, rather than "new powers." He is rebuilding as a Shadowcraft Mage because that's what he already is, and he's just being more faithfully represented, mechanically, rather than thinking of it as somehow changing him.

If Shadowcraft Mage actually makes him better at this stuff than you've been playing him, so much the better: his great success here has given him greater confidence and insight into doing even greater feats!

In all, wonderful annecdote, and I thank you for sharing it with us; please only regard our comments as encouragement to help you build your character to do what you described even better than he already is.

[ExLibrisMortis]

He is rebuilding as a Shadowcraft Mage because that's what he already is, and he's just being more faithfully represented, mechanically, rather than thinking of it as somehow changing him.

This. A good story needs (or "likes") good mechanical backing, but it's totally fine to do that retroactively, as you discover what your character is like.

[Jay R]

In fact, that character has been aiming at Shadowcraft Mage since he started. He gets his first level in it in 4,500 xps.