| THE ARCANE ARTS | Spell-casting advice for MUs of all levels | AL: Using OA spells in a western setting | Hold On To Your Illusions! | Magical disguises for wary wizards |
| - | - | The Alchemist | - | - |
| Ships of the Orient | Gaze Weapons | - | - | Dragon |
THE ARCANE ARTS (D130.7)
Get the Most From Your Magic: Spell-casting advice for magic-users of
all levels (D130.8)
Cantrips (D130.9)
First level (D130.9)
Long-Duration Magic-User Spells Table (D130.10)
Second level (D130.10)
Third level (D130.11)
Fourth level (D130.14)
Fifth level (D130.14)
Sixth level (D130.14)
Seventh level (D130.14)
Eighth level (D130.14)
Ninth level (D130.14)
Checks and balances (D130.14)
Arcane Lore: Magic from East to West (D130.16)
Clerical spells (D130.16)
First level (D130.16)
Second level (D130.16)
Third level (D130.16)
Fourth level (D130.17)
Fifth level (D130.17)
Sixth level (D130.17)
Seventh level (D130.17)
Druidic spells (D130.17)
First level (D130.18)
Second level (D130.18)
Third level (D130.18)
Fourth level (D130.18)
Fifth level (D130.18)
Cure Rot (d5 - alteration) (D130.18)
Sixth level (D130.18)
Magic-user spells (D130.18)
First level (D130.20)
Second level (D130.20)
Third level (D130.20)
Fourth level (D130.20)
Fifth level (D130.20)
Sixth level (D130.20)
Seventh level (D130.20)
Eighth level (D130.20)
Illusionist spells (D130.20)
First level (D130.20)
Second level (D130.20)
Third level (D130.20)
Fifth level (D130.20)
Seventh level (D130.20)
Hold On to Your Illusions!: Keeping illusions (and illusionists) in
balance (D130.22)
How illusins work (D130.22)
Illusions in the game (D130.23)
Table of Modifiers to Saves Against Illusions (D130.26)
Summary (D130.26)
The Faces of Magic: Magical disguises for wary wizards (D130.28)
Table 1: Magic-User Spells That Alter Appearance (D130.28)
Table 2: Spells for Mimicking Thieving Abilities (D130.29)
Altering appearance (D130.29)
Mimicking classes (D130.29)
Mimicking spells (D130.29)
Table 3: Clerical Spells Which Can Be Mimicked (D130.30)
Table 4: Druidical Spells Which Can Be Mimicked (D130.30)
Table 5: Illusionist Spells Which Can Be Mimicked (D130.33)
Table 6: Magic-User Spells for General Spell Mimickry (D130.33)
Better Living Through Alchemy: Potions and Poisons: the alchemist NPC
class (D130.34)
Table 1: Alchemist Nonweapon Proficiencies (D130.36)
Animal identification (I+3)
Glassblowing (D+1)
Metallurgy (I+0)
Mineral identification (I+1)
Plant identification (I+5)
Table 2: Alchemist Experience Points and Levels (D130.36)
Table 3: Alchemist Skill Levels (D130.36)
Table 4: Typical Alchemical Equipment (D130.37)
Alembic - 2 gp
Apothecary jar - 3 sp
Beaker - 2 sp
Bellows - 5 gp
Brazier - 10-20 gp
Cauldron - 30 gp
Crucible - 5 gp
Cruet - 1 gp
Funnel - 1 gp
Glass, chunks - 1 gp/pound
Glass tubing - 1 sp/foot
Glass-working tools - 50 gp
Graduate - 5 gp
Ink - 1-5 sp per bottle
Lens* - 10 gp
Mortar and pestle - 3-18 gp
Parchment - 1 sp/sheet
Prism* - 10 gp
Quill - 1-5 sp
Reagent bottle - 3 sp
Retort - 2 gp
Tongs - 3 sp
Vial, clay - 1 sp
Vial, glass - 3 sp
Vial, metal - 1 gp
Scale - 30-100 gp
Test kit - 10 gp
Table 5: Alchemist Substance-Creation Failures (D130.37)
Table 5A: Alchemist Failure Results Chart (D130.37)
The alchemist in town (D130.38)
Table 6: Potions and Compounds by Level (D130.38)
Research and compounding (D130.38)
Table 7: Typical Ingredients for Alchemical Powders (D130.39)
Table 8: Typical Ingredients for Alchemical Potions and Powders (D130.40)
The Dragon's Bestiary: An unusual plant for the GAMMA WORLD game (D130.54)
Whirrzlers (Propeller Plants) (D130.54)
Keeping a Good Watch: Wind these watches with care! (D130.58)
Geiger-counter watch (D130.58)
Caltrop watch (D130.58)
Garrote watch (D130.58)
Tracker watch (D130.58)
Acid watch (D130.58)
Escape-kit watch (D130.58)
Bomb-detonator watch (D130.58)
Compass watch (D130.58)
Rotary-saw watch (D130.58)
One-way receiving watch (D130.58)
Time-bomb watch (D130.59)
Bug-jamming watch (D130.59)
X-ray safecracking watch (D130.59)
Dart-gun watch (D130.59)
Alarm-detecting watch (D130.59)
Bug watch (D130.59)
Microreader watch (D130.60)
["Prices on the watches are between $100-500, depending on the campaign."]
Hold
On to Your
Illusions!
Keeping illusions (and illusionists)
in balance
by Brian Tillotson
| HOW ILLUSIONS WORK | The image: mental or physical? | Illusory damage: mind over matter | Disbelief: denying the image | - |
| ILLUSIONS IN THE GAME | Subconscious disbelief | Conscious disbelief | Modifiers to disbelief rolls | Damage from illusory spell effects |
| - | Illusory creatures in combat | Noncombat illusions | Illusory magical items | Invisibility |
| - | - | SUMMARY | - | - |
Illusions can be one of the most flexible
and creative aspects of the AD&D® game,
yet many DMs would rather shake hands
with a wraith than referee an illusionist
PC. The official rules provide no limits to
the power of illusion spells. As a result,
the histories of many campaigns include
one battle in which a low-level illusionist
single-handedly demolished a powerful
foe. This battle is usually followed by so
many DM-imposed restrictions that illusions
become useless in the campaign.
When can PCs or NPCs disbelieve illusions?
How much damage can an illusion
do? How complex can an illusion be? This
article looks at how illusions work, and
describes rules for using illusions without
upsetting game balance or restricting
creativity. Most of the article applies to the
phantasmal force family of spells, but
other illusion/phantasm powers are discussed
as needed.
In this article, ?illusionist? means anyone
who creates and controls illusions. This
individual does not have to be a member
of the illusionist class. Magic-users may
choose phantasmal force as a third-level
spell, master thieves may cast illusions
from scrolls, and some monsters and
magical items may create illusions.
How illusions work
The image: mental or physical?
A visual illusion is an image without
substance. It cannot affect objects or creatures
that do not perceive the image. But
is the image itself real? Does it reflect and
absorb light as a photograph or painting
would, or does it exist only in the minds of
its victims? Official publications give no
explicit answer, but there are two reasons
to believe that illusions are as visible to the
eye as to the mind.
First, if illusions directly affect the mind
of the viewer, then they should be blocked
by techniques which protect the mind.
However, no mental defenses are effective
against illusions. As examples, the psionic
discipline mind bar and the spell Serten’s
spell immunity are each effective against
many mental invasions, yet neither is
described as defending against illusions.
Thus, illusions are unlike mental attacks.
Second, projecting illusory images into
viewers? minds seems unreasonably powerful.
According to the Players Handbook,
page 75, ?all believing creatures which
view the phantasmal force” are affected
by it. The viewers can be at any distance,
and need not be known to the illusionist.
To affect all viewers? minds directly requires
magic to reach over tremendous
range and area, and into an unlimited
number of minds. (Consider an illusion of
a flying dragon viewed from miles away
by a large army.) Further, each viewer?s
image must be different to account for
distance and viewing angle. This unique
perspective must be handled automatically
by the spell because the illusionist might
not know where all the viewers are. If
that?s how it works, then phantasmal force
and its kin are powerful spells indeed!
Illusions seem more reasonable if they
work like mobile three-dimensional paintings.
Painting with magic, the illusionist
creates an image which is seen by the
viewers? eyes. The magic is restricted in
range and area of effect. The illusionist
need not locate all the viewers; anyone
who looks at the illusion will see the image
with the correct perspective.
The answer to whether the image is
imaginary or real determines how illusions
work in a campaign. If the image exists
only in viewers? minds, then the DM might
rule that the illusion cannot be seen by
viewers of whom the illusionist is unaware,
or that only a limited number of
viewers can be affected. If the image is
real, then the image should be visible even
when viewers know that it is an illusion.
In that case, illusions could be used for
special visual effects, such as obscuring a
view or providing light. This encourages
creative, nonviolent uses of illusionist
magic, which is another good reason to
choose the ?real image? interpretation
In the rest of this article, it is assumed
that illusory images are real. This interpretation
applies only to the phantasmal force
family of spells. Some illusion/phantasm
spells, such as spook and phantasmal
killer, are obviously mental attacks.
Purely audible illusions, most of which
are cantrips, are harder to interpret. Officially,
a successful saving throw (or disbelief
roll, in the case of audible glamer)
makes the target unable to hear the
sound. This seems like a mental effect. As
discussed above, however, this is inconsistent
with what is known about mental
attacks and defenses. Furthermore, it is
unlikely that audiovisual illusions such as
improved phantasmal force would have
real visual images but mental sound effects.
A more reasonable interpretation is
that auditory illusions produce real
sounds. A successful saving throw reveals
that the sound?s cause is magical, but does
not make the sound inaudible.
Illusory damage: mind over matter
The greatest source of conflict about
illusions is their ability to do damage. How
can an image with no substance hurt
anyone? The answer is that it can?t ? but
the victim?s mind can.
to fear or stress are not always healthy.
People who narrowly escape injury are
often left weak and trembling. Many faint;
a few actually die of fear. Luckily, this
mental trauma is usually short-lived. The
victim looks himself over, sees that he is
unhurt, and begins to feel better.
With illusions, the victim gets no such
relief. Consider a typical case: John the
Stealthy sees the white-hot flames of a
fireball erupt about him. This is upsetting
in itself, but in addition, John?s clothes and
hair vaporize as he watches, and his skin
blisters and chars before his eyes. Needless
to say, John is going to be pretty
shaken up by the experience. Illusions that
depict wounds with images of blood and
gore should leave any believer weak and
shaken, corresponding to a loss of hit
points. Some victims would be rendered
unconscious, and the weak-hearted few
might even die.
DMs could leave it at that, letting illusions
do damage to the point of unconsciousness,
but rarely or never letting
them kill. This has a number of advantages
for the campaign. It gives charitable
DMs a way to defeat characters without
destroying them; it also lets a party of
good characters capture enemies and
collect loot without being wanton killers.
The official view seems to be that illusions
cannot kill, as shown by case 14.10
of the BATTLESYSTEM? supplement (page
26): ?Illusions that do ?killing? damage
actually only put their victims into a cataleptic
state.? Unfortunately, the duration
and effects of catalepsy are not defined. A
reasonable choice is to use the definition
of unconsciousness on page 82 of the
DMG, (i.e., the creature remains in a coma
for 1d6 turns and thereafter requires at
least one week of rest).
The wounds caused by an illusion need
not be imaginary. A creature damaged by
an illusion must touch or be touched by
part of the image (i.e., the creature must
be in the area of magical effect). Suppose
that illusion magic does more than create
a visible image: It gives power to victims?
minds to create real injuries on their
bodies. Illusions like this can injure as well
as frighten. This is a reasonable interpretation,
since the description of the illusionist
spell mirage arcane states: ?As with all
powerful illusions, the mind of the beholder
will cause appropriate effects upon
the viewer?s body.? An illusion would not
immediately kill a victim, since the mind
would stop creating wounds when zero hit
points was reached. However, unconscious
victims with real wounds could bleed to
death unless they received aid within 10
rounds (DMG, page 82).
Illusions powerful enough to inflict real
wounds might also be used for healing. If
a character expects a cure light wounds
spell and sees wounds being healed, his
mind might cause actual healing if the
illusion is not detected. Of course, situations
where the injured character truly
would not suspect illusory healing are
rare. An example would be a badly
wounded PC meeting a kindly stranger
who claims to be a cleric, but is really an
illusionist.
Note that the damage potential of illusions
comes from both the mind and the
eyes acting together. Thus, creatures
which do not see the illusion due to blindness,
sleep, or unconsciousness cannot be
harmed. Likewise, unintelligent creatures
such as dinosaurs, insects, and slimes
cannot be damaged directly by illusions
because they are too stupid to understand
that they should be hurt. Indirect harm is
still possible, of course. For example, a
skeleton is too mindless to be harmed by
an illusory fireball, but would take damage
if the creature fell into a pit concealed by
an illusion.
Disbelief: denying the image
The essence of an illusion?s power is
belief, so a good defense against illusions is
disbelief. Successful disbelief occurs when
the observer is convinced that what he
sees is not real, despite the evidence of his
senses.
For disbelief to be possible, there must
be differences between each illusion and
the reality it simulates. The scales on a
dragon may be the wrong shape, or a
soldier?s feet might not touch the ground.
Spell-casters of higher level and greater
intelligence can minimize these differences,
but an intelligent observer might
still notice them. Noticing some peculiar
feature, the observer might attempt to
disbelieve. This need not be a conscious
act ? the viewer might suddenly realize
that the troglodyte he is fighting doesn?t
smell bad enough to be genuine.
Disbelief is automatic if a viewer touches
the illusion and it doesn?t respond realistically
(e.g., someone swings a sword
through a goblin without even getting its
attention). According to the description of
phantasmal force in the Players Handbook,
?the illusion lasts until struck by an
opponent ? unless the spell-caster causes
the illusion to react appropriately.? If the
illusionist is controlling the image and
causes it to react ? blood spurts, rock
chips fly, a character appears to walk
across a bridge, etc. ? then disbelief is not
automatic.
Illusions in the game
One problem with illusions is deciding
when characters should try to disbelieve.
Player characters should have a chance to
notice errors, but the illusion should not
be obvious. To meet this need, some DMs
give lengthy descriptions of every object
and creature the party meets. This technique
taxes a player?s patience and burdens
the DM with excessive preparation
time. Alternatives are to never give the
party a clue, or to risk giving everything
away with clues like ?John thinks the
toads hop funny.?
The problem of NPC disbelief is even
more difficult. To always try to disbelieve
is unfair to the PC illusionist. To never
disbelieve is unfair to the NPC. To play it
by ear is sticky business: Try as you might
to be objective, it?s hard to forget that
what the NPC sees isn?t real, and it?s even
tougher to convince your players that
you?re being reasonable.
The disbelief system presented here
applies to both PCs and NPCs; it is based
on the idea of subconsciously detecting
and interpreting errors. Detecting an
error means that the character?s mind
notices something unusual about the image
? perhaps the way a monster moves.
Interpreting an error means finding some
way to explain it; is the creature an illusion,
or is it just limping? Detecting errors
and interpreting them are different
events. More intelligent and skilled illusionists
make fewer errors, and more
intelligent viewers are better at spotting
errors. Interpreting an error as an illusion
(i.e., disbelieving) is a function of experience
and willpower.
To see how good the image is, the DM
subtracts a secretly rolled 1d20 from the
sum of the illusionist?s intelligence and
level. The result is called the image quality.
Any viewer whose intelligence is greater
than the image quality detects an error,
and that viewer?s subconscious immediately
tries to disbelieve (i.e., interpret) the
image. The disbelief roll is a standard
saving throw vs. spells, with magicalattack
adjustments for wisdom. Like the
error-detection roll, it is secretly rolled by
the DM.
If the illusion-caster is not a member of
the illusionist class, the character?s level
for purposes of the image-quality roll is
less than his actual level. The effective
level for magic-users is two lower than the
actual level, just as for the fourth-level
magic-user spell dispel illusion. A highlevel
thief has a 25% chance of failure
with a scroll, so a thief?s effective level is
five lower than his thief level. Creatures
that use magical items to create and control
illusions are effectively zero level,
unless they can also cast illusion spells ?
in which case, a monster?s hit dice equate
to illusionist level directly. A deck of illusions
controls itself; it is effectively 12th
level with an intelligence of 15.
Each sufficiently intelligent viewer has
an automatic chance to disbelieve when he
first observes an illusion. For example, a
7th-level illusionist with 15 intelligence
casts a spectral force which is seen by a
fighter, a magic-user, and a thief. A 20-
sided die is rolled and comes up 9. Subtracting
this from the illusionist?s level and
intelligence total yields an image quality of
[(7 + 15) ? 9 = ] 13. The fighter?s intelligence
of 9 is too low, but the magic-user?s is 17
and the thief?s is 14. Thus the magic-user
and the thief, but not the fighter, have
detected errors and get an automatic
attempt to disbelieve the illusion.
Normally, there is only one subconscious
attempt to disbelieve for each sufficiently
intelligent viewer. More attempts to disbelieve
occur if the illusion and the viewer
come into contact (e.g., an illusory fireball
bursts among the party, or a character
touches an illusory wall). If only one important
sense component (usually touch) is
missing, then a disbelief roll is made for
viewers whose intelligence is higher than
the image quality. If more than one important
sense component is missing, the
viewer gets a disbelief roll regardless of
intelligence. If disbelief fails, the viewer
does not recognize the illusion. Successful
disbelief means that the viewer recognizes
the illusion, and any illusory attack in
progress causes no damage to the viewer.
Damage remains from any previous attacks
which were not disbelieved.
Which sense components are important
depends on the image, the viewer, and
other conditions. For example, when
touching a wall created by phantasmal
force, touch is the only important missing
sense. The same illusory wall would be
missing two important senses if the viewer
knocked on it to produce a sound. A fireball
involves mainly visual, tactile, auditory,
and thermal senses, only one of
which is missing from a spectral force
spell. Blows struck by illusory monsters
should include sound as well as touch.
Dragons have an acute sense of smell
(Monster Manual, page 29), so smell is
important for any illusion which affects a
dragon.
To continue the scenario above, let us
assume that the magic-user and the thief
failed to disbelieve the illusion at first
sight, so all characters believe the image.
The illusion depicts a blue dragon which
breathes on the three. The lightning
breath normally includes visual, tactile,
auditory, and thermal aspects. Only one of
these, the tactile sense, is missing from
spectral force, so only the magic-user and
the thief get a subconscious attempt to
disbelieve. The magic-user succeeds, so
she takes no damage and knows that the
dragon is an illusion. If she can communicate
this to the others, they receive a +4
on any subsequent attempt to disbelieve.
The fighter and the thief attack the dragon
with swords. The thief hits, so he gets
another automatic chance to disbelieve. If
he succeeds, he is still wounded from the
dragon?s first attack.
Beings with superhuman intelligence
automatically detect some illusions. According
to Legends & Lore, page 7, beings
with 19 or higher intelligence automatically
detect first-level illusions; those with
20 intelligence detect second-level illusions,
etc. The level of the illusion depends
on its level as an illusionist spell. This
means that phantasmal force cast by a
magic-user is a first-level illusion, not
third. Cantrips are zero-level spells, so
illusion cantrips are automatically detected
by creatures with 18/51 or higher intelligence
(as might be obtained by using wish
spells, as per the DMG, page 11).
The disbelief attempts described above
occur automatically, secretly, and instantly
(in game time). Player characters, of
course, may attempt to disbelieve at any
time. To prevent a chorus of ?I disbelieve!?
on every encounter, explain that a character
can do nothing else during the round
he attempts to disbelieve. This is because
the character hasn?t spotted anything
wrong with the image, and must spend
time looking ? looking hard ? for errors,
and deciding whether any errors are
significant. For example, when blasted by
some magical effect, a character may
attempt to disbelieve voluntarily. If successful,
the character recognizes the illusion
and takes no damage. If the disbelief
fails or the effect turns out to be real, the
character receives no saving throw, because
while everyone else was jumping
out of the way, he was standing there
looking for errors in the image. Likewise,
if the character chooses to disbelieve an
attacking monster, the character may not
attack and may not use shield or dexterity
to defend against that monster during that
round. The character can still defend
against attacks from other opponents.
The character is always free to disbelieve
new developments when they affect
him (e.g., a fighter who has already attacked
an orc during a round may nonetheless
choose to disbelieve if the orc
suddenly uses a fiery breath weapon).
Spell-casting is not disrupted if the spellcaster
successfully disbelieves an attack
either consciously or subconsciously.
Conscious disbelief requires only a save
vs. spells. A character (or player) who
decides to disbelieve has already noticed
something peculiar or has been told that
the image is an illusion, so image quality is
irrelevant to the decision. Conscious disbelief
is often necessary for thick-witted
characters, since their low intelligence is
unlikely to exceed any reasonable image
quality. A conscious attempt at disbelief in
no way reduces the character?s chance to
subconsciously disbelieve.
A special form of conscious disbelief
occurs when a clever or desperate character
decides to close his eyes. Unable to see,
the character might to be unharmed if a
pending attack is an illusion with only
visual components. This is a reasonable
tactic for someone like a lst-level thief
who thinks (or hopes) that the huge red
dragon in front of him might be an illusion
After all, he is unlikely to make his
disbelief roll either consciously or subconsciously,
and saving vs. breath weapon
would only change the texture of ashes he
leaves behind. The character must close
his eyes before the DM announces an
attack; if he waits to see what the attack
is, he will be affected by it. A character
who avoids damage this way has not successfully
disbelieved an illusion. He can
still be harmed by the illusion if it attacks
when he opens his eyes. Naturally, closing
one?s eyes in combat gives opponents who
are not illusory lots of nasty ideas.
Many factors affect the difficulty of
disbelieving an illusion. In general, anything
which increases or decreases the
doubt in a viewer?s mind affects the
chance to disbelieve. The list of modifiers
in the table with this article cannot be
complete, but it should give a general idea.
All factors are assumed to provide bonuses
or penalties to the disbelief roll.
Some might be more appropriate as modifiers
to the image quality, but that would
merely complicate matters.
All but the last two modifiers listed here
are suggestions ? use them, change them,
or ignore them as you see fit. For example,
illusory creatures popping in from thin air
normally give viewers + 1 to disbelieve,
but if a monster summoning spell had
recently been used, viewers would disbelieve
at ?2 because they have already
seen a similar effect. An illusory creature
unharmed by a lightning bolt would normally
add +2 to disbelief rolls, but not if it
were a magic-resistant creature like a
mind flayer.
Damage from illusory spell effects
When a damaging illusion is believed,
damage is determined randomly. The
illusionist can only dictate the image;
damage is determined by the victim?s
mind. Level-dependent effects, such as the
number of damage dice for a fireball,
operate at the actual level of the spellcaster,
regardless of class. If the illusion is
created by a magical item, use the appropriate
level for an item of that kind (e.g.,
6th level for a wand).
To understand this limitation, consider
that the only visible difference between a
5-HD fireball and a l0-HD fireball is the
intensity of the flame. Low-level illusionists
are not skillful enough to simulate the
intensity of more powerful spells. Do not
waver on this point; a low-level character
doing 20 or more dice of damage per
round will wreck a campaign faster than
any magical item.
Unlike normal spells, an illusory magical
effect can be repeated from round to
round, doing additional damage. Fortunately,
this process is self-limiting, since an
intelligent victim usually receives a disbelief
roll for every attack. Otherwise, the
effect only stops when the illusionist is
attacked or decides to stop.
A single illusion spell can create only one
kind of effect. To switch from fireballs to
lightning bolts, the illusionist must cast a
new illusion. Note that there is no reason
that an illusory magical effect should
appear to come from the illusionist. An
illusory fireball could originate anywhere
within the illusion?s area of effect. The
illusionist is free to draw attention away
from himself by appearing to do nothing
while some unseen agent demolishes the
opposition.
An important issue is that of how many
separate creatures one illusion can include.
Can a 6th-level illusionist conjure up
an army of 20 paladins, each armed with a
long sword + 5, Holy Avenger? It could be
done, but the illusion might not be very
believable if any fighting takes place. In
combat, the illusionist must control each
illusory being?s attempts to hit, simulate
injury on both the bogus creature and its
opponent, and control attempts to dodge
opponents? blows. When a blow is not
dodged, the illusionist must create a convincing
image of bloody death. Each of
these effects taxes the illusionist?s skill,
concentration, and stamina.
An illusionist can control illusory creatures
with as many hit dice as he has
levels (e.g., a 6th-level illusionist could
create and control six 1-HD beings, one 6-
HD being, etc. This limit reflects the ability
of the illusionist to control the many details
of combat. Higher-level illusionists
have more skill. Human and demi-human
creations can be used; the difference
between illusory lst-level fighters and
10th-level fighters is the skill with which
the illusionist handles them in combat.
Created creatures must be all of one species,
but may differ in equipment, hit dice,
and tactics.
If the illusionist exceeds the hit-dice
limit, then details are being neglected and
all opponents get an automatic attempt to
disbelieve during every round of combat.
(This is in addition to any other disbelief
attempts to which the viewers may be
entitled.) The illusionist can control twice
as many hit dice of illusory creatures if
none of the creatures are in combat. (This
can be used as a bluff.)
The illusionist must roll to hit for each
illusory being?s attack, since he can control
the attempt to hit but not the victim?s
attempts to dodge or parry. Use the appropriate
attack matrix for each creature?s hit
dice or level. High-level illusory cavaliers
and fighters get multiple attacks appropriate
to their level, but weapon specialization
or bonuses for strength, weapon of
choice, or race do not apply. Damage is
determined randomly, as appropriate for
the creature or weapon. Sufficiently intelligent
opponents get a disbelief roll whenever
the illusion hits or is hit.
The armor class of illusory creatures is
the same as for normal creatures of the
same type. Illusory warriors may be
equipped with whatever armor the illu-
sionist chooses. No magical or dexterity
bonuses are allowed unless the total illusory
hit dice are reduced by the amount of
the bonus.
The DM should decide how the total hit
points for all creatures in an illusion are
determined (e.g., a random roll: 1d8 for
monsters, 1d10 for fighters, etc., or always
5 hp per hit die). The illusionist assigns
these initial hit points to individuals as he
sees fit, since the illusionist decides how
much effort is expended in each creature?s
defense. When an illusory creature
reaches zero hit points, the illusionist?s
mental fatigue is so great that he cannot
make the creature evade the death blow.
If the creature fails to fall dead, all viewers
? not just direct opponents ? attempt to
disbelieve every round that the creature
remains active.
Armor class and hit points are rather
fuzzy concepts for semi-invulnerable
creatures such as lycanthropes and for
regenerative creatures such as trolls.
Disbelief rolls are made whenever a creature
should be hit ? thus, if a viewer
strikes a bogus werewolf but appears to
do no damage, he still receives a subconscious
attempt to disbelieve (regardless of
intelligence, if more than one sensory
component is missing). Regeneration reduces
the initial hit points available. For
example, a 9th-level illusionist conjures a
troll; 45 hit points are rolled. The illusionist
gives the troll 25 hit points initially. If
the troll is wounded, up to 20 hit points
can be restored by regeneration. Beyond
that, the troll cannot regenerate.
The illusionist may choose to combine
an illusory magical effect with illusory
creatures (e.g., a bogus magic-user could
appear to cast a spell). In such a case, the
level of the magical effect must be subtracted
from the hit dice available to the
creatures.
An anomaly of illusions in melee is that
illusory creatures do not get parting blows
when an opponent turns to flee. The opponent
has turned his back, so he cannot see
the illusion and therefore cannot be hurt
by it. Likewise, an illusory thief cannot
backstab.
Effective use of illusions in combat requires
the illusionist to concentrate on the
details of the battle. The spell programmed
illusion can create an illusion of
creatures performing some action, but
cannot react to opponents. Programmed
creatures are as likely to attack the air as
to strike an opponent. Similarly, if the
illusionist stops concentrating on an improved
phantasmal force or spectral force
spell, fighting degenerates to programmed
action for the duration of the spell. Anyone
who strikes a programmed creature
recognizes the illusion. Even a programmed
dragon breath would be relatively
harmless because there would be no
way to simulate injury. Each victim receives
an automatic attempt to disbelieve;
those who fail take only half the normal
damage. (These limitations do not apply to
the spell shadow monsters and its descendants,
which create semireal monsters
that react to opponents.)
Noncombat illusions
The effectiveness of illusions in combat
is usually limited by the chance for victims
to disbelieve whenever damage is done.
Illusions are often more effective if used to
confuse or mislead rather than injure. In
such cases, disbelief becomes irrelevant.
A single illusion spell can simulate one
significant effect. For example, one illusion
could cover a pit with illusory grass. Another
could create an illusory building,
light an area as if by a light spell, or create
a wall of fog. Of course, the object or
effect must be no larger than the illusion
spell?s area of effect.
Illusions are useful for defensive concealment.
An illusory wall with arrow slits
would offer no physical protection, but it
would give 90% concealment to archers,
thus improving their armor class by four.
This would be true even if all opponents
knew that the wall was an illusion, since
the image of the wall would continue to
conceal the archers.
An illusion can effectively blind an opponent.
An illusory darkness spell would be
impossible to see through, even if the
opponent recognized it as an illusion spell.
Table of Modifiers to Saves Aginst Illusions
| Illusion's Condition | Saving-throw modifier |
| Illusion CAST by an opponent believed to be an illusionist | +1 |
| Illusory creature appears from thin arir | +1 |
| Illusory creature or effect is the same as a real creature or effect already used by opponent | -2 |
| Illusory situation is obviously inappropriate (e.g., orcs and elves working together, fireball underwater) | +2 |
| Illusion lacks important sensory component | +1 per missing sense |
| Illusion of of a "normal" creature, but it is unharmed by weapons | +1, +1 per plus of weaopn |
| Illusion is of a "normal" creature, but it is unharmed by magic | +2 |
| Illusion is of a stationary object (e.g., a wall) | -1 |
| Illusion is seen poorly (e.g., through fog or over distance) | +4 |
| Illusionist has never seen creature or effect which he depicts in illusion | +4 |
| Viewer's ally claims to have disbelieved illusion | +4 |
| Viewer is a cavalier | +2 |
Unlike regular darkness, the illusion can
move anywhere within range, continuing
to cover the opponent.
Illusory magical items
Illusions can include magical items
which produce visible effects (such as
wands). The power of these devices is
limited by the illusionist?s level, just as for
an illusory spell. A 1st-level illusionist can
create an illusory wand of fireballs, but it
can only do 1d6 hp damage. The level of
the magical item is subtracted from the
total hit dice that the illusionist can control
in melee (e.g., a 6th-level illusionist could
blast opponents with bogus 5-HD lightning
bolts from an illusory wand wielded by a
bogus 1st-level spell-caster).
Illusory magical items can enhance an
illusion?s credibility. For example, casting
six fireballs in a row is pretty unlikely
unless the spell-caster is using a wand.
Illusory magical weapons are also possible.
If a fighter hits an elemental and
causes a visible wound, the elemental is
likely to conclude that the fighter?s
weapon is magical ? even if both the
fighter and the wound are illusions, and
the illusionist doesn?t know that magical
weapons are needed to hit elementals. The
exact weapon bonus would be difficult to
guess from the image, so the DM should
roll 1d4 to see what bonus the victim
thinks the weapon has. Add this number
to the illusionist?s damage roll. Note that
the number must be sufficient to hit the
creature (e.g., at least +2 for an elemental).
The ?weapon? has no actual bonus, so
the illusionist?s unmodified ?to hit? roll
must be sufficient to hit the victim.
Invisibility
Some players may want to use phantasmal
force as an invisibility spell. Both
spells belong to the class of illusion/
phantasm magic, but they are quite dissimilar.
Phantasmal force is a general-purpose
spell that is maintained by concentration
and can be used to attack; invisibility is
highly specialized, requires no concentration,
and is dispelled by aggressive acts.
Despite these differences, the DM may
decide to allow illusory invisibility. If so,
the result will differ from the invisibility
spell. Illusory invisibility lasts only as long
as the illusionist concentrates (or for a few
extra rounds if improved phantasmal
force or spectral force is used). The area
of effect and range are the same as for
phantasmal force.
Inanimate as well as animate objects
could be made invisible. Many objects
could be made invisible as long as all remain
within the area of effect. Unless its
eyes remain visible, an invisible creature is
effectively blind because light does not
reach its eyes. Disbelief does not reveal
the hidden object?s identity, but will let the
viewer know that he sees an illusion.
True invisibility is a good defense against
illusory attack. The illusionist cannot create
visible wounds on an invisible victim.
Indeed, the illusionist doesn?t even know
when the creature has been hit, so illusory
attackers do not react correctly. If the
invisible creature is hit by an illusion, treat
it as a programmed attack: The invisible
creature automatically attempts to disbelieve,
and takes only half normal damage if
disbelief fails.
An illusionist cloaked in a normal invisibility
spell is revealed when attacking,
even if the attack is carried out by an
illusory creature. Merely casting an illusion
does not constitute an attack. Only
when the illusion is used to actively damage
its viewers will the illusionist?s invisibility
be dispelled.
The system presented here solves some
problems and helps bring illusions into
balance with other forms of magic. Disbelief
is handled consistently. Damage and
complexity of illusions are proportional to
the illusionist?s skill. Low-level illusionists
can befuddle stupid opponents or damage
weak ones; high-level illusionists can fool
nearly anyone. Members of the illusionist
class can use better illusion spells to damage
powerful opponents.
No system covers every possibility that
can arise when creative players use a spell
like phantasmal force that ?can create the
illusion of any object, or creature, or
force. . . .? Decide what the principles of
illusory magic are in your campaign, then
make sure your players are aware of them
before illusions are used. When a situation
comes up which the system doesn?t cover,
keep the game friendly by not using questionable
techniques until you reach some
agreement on how such techniques will
work. Enjoyment of the game is a cooperative
venture; with a little understanding
from the players and the DM, illusions can
add a lot of spice to an interesting world.
[For another view on saving-throw modifiers
for illusions, see Illusory Solutions,”
by Matt Battison, in this issue of DRAGON®
Magazine.]
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