Now you see it . . .
. . . but is it really there?.
Shedding light on illusions in AD&D
by Philip Meyers

If you have played Dungeons & Dragons or Advanced Dungeons
& Dragons for any length of time, you must have run across the spell
Phantasmal forces. Actually it’s called Phantasmal force in AD&D and
Phantasmal forces in D&D, but many of the suggestions below are applicable
to both. This article offers a more concrete approach to these
often troublesome spells, an approach meant to supplement rather
than replace the existing spells.

In the beginning, there was the simple Phantasmal forces spell and
nothing more. In the Original D&D volume Men & Magic it appeared,
and still appears, as a second-level spell whereby the Magic-User
created an illusion “of nearly anything the user envisions.” Any harm
done by the illusion became actual damage if the illusion was believed
to be real. In the relatively new D&D introductory rulebook, one
which predates AD&D, Phantasmal forces is listed as a second-level
Magic-User spell in terms virtually identical to the original version.

The only real advance thus far in the lore of illusions came with the
publication of the AD&D Players Handbook. There, Illusionists are
made into an official character class, and the old Phantasmal forces
spell is redescribed and expanded into a whole family of spells. These
spells, linked by compound crossreferences, are Phantasmal force, Improved
Phantasmal Force, Spectral Force, Permanent Illusion, and
Programmed Illusion.

The Phantasmal force spell is explained at far greater length than in
the D&D books, but the new description fails to give any more
guidance on the really troublesome aspects of the spell. The new
version allows the spellcaster to depict “any object, or creature, or
force” as the subject of the illusion. Is there anything a spellcaster
could envision that does not meet this description? Taking a broad
view of the word “force” as it appears here, the description takes in
everything in the universe, and is thus identical in scope with the “anything
the user envisions” language of the earlier rule.

One might argue that simple energy, like fire, is not a “force” under
the rule. After all, force causes mass to accelerate, as students of
physics know. But if we’re going to get technical about it, we should
note that true Newtonian forces exist in equations only and not in
reality. One could not create an illusion of a Newtonian force because
such forces cannot be displayed visually. Thus, we must accept a
loose idea of “force” here, or the rule becomes meaningless. The only
question left is why the wording was changed if the same meaning
was intended.

The Phantasmal force spell is explained at far greater length than in
the D&D books, but the new description fails to give any more
guidance on the really troublesome aspects of the spell. The new
version allows the spellcaster to depict “any object, or creature, or
force” as the subject of the illusion. Is there anything a spellcaster
could envision that does not meet this description? Taking a broad
view of the word “force” as it appears here, the description takes in
everything in the universe, and is thus identical in scope with the “anything
the user envisions” language of the earlier rule.

One might argue that simple energy, like fire, is not a “force” under
the rule. After all, force causes mass to accelerate, as students of
physics know. But if we’re going to get technical about it, we should
note that true Newtonian forces exist in equations only and not in
reality. One could not create an illusion of a Newtonian force because
such forces cannot be displayed visually. Thus, we must accept a
loose idea of “force” here, or the rule becomes meaningless. The only
question left is why the wording was changed if the same meaning
was intended.

Also, it goes almost without saying that the “object, creature, or
force” requirements does not mean that a single object, or a single
creature, must be the subject of the illusion. An illusionary pit of
sharpened stakes, a text example, consists of more than one object. It
follows that the spell can be used to depict any number of objects or
creatures, so long as they all fit within the area of effect.

Another minor problem concerns illusions cast by monsters. A
Horned Devil has the power to create illusions, as do a number of
other creatures, but the Monster Manual does not say how far this
power extends. Is a Horned Devil’s illusion power confined to the
equivalent of a Phantasmal Force spell, perhaps combined with an
Audible glamer? This seems likely in view of the new Wand of Illusion
description in the DM Guide, which seems to equate the term “illusion”
with the Phantasmal force-Audible glamer combination. Still,
one might ask whether a Rakshasa can create a Veil in order to
“create the illusion of what those who have encountered them deem
friendly,” since it might be necessary for this creature to disguise the
true nature of its lair in order to achieve this purpose.

There are more serious problems with the spell description. Chief
among these is the idea of “disbelief.” According to the new rules, a
creature is entitled to a saving throw against the spell only if it initially
disbelieves the illusion. This throws up another barrier which the viewing
creature must overcome if it is to save itself. The problem is, when
does a creature disbelieve an illusion? The text gives no clue, so the
answer must be: whenever the DM decides that it does. This puts the
DM in a very uncomfortable position, for the success of the spell will
largely depend on the DM’s ruling, and a DM who has not thought
some about the problem could easily decide a hard case the wrong
way, thus antagonizing the players. The players will naturally dislike
anything that makes outcomes less certain; why bother with a Phantasmal
force when a nice, simple Fireball will do the job? Or a nice,
simple Stinking Cloud? There is a clear need of something that will
make individual applications of the Phantasmal force spell more predictable.

Judges Guild attempted to solve this problem for the old Phantasmal
forces spell with a system that appears in their Ready Ref Sheets,
Volume I, at page 17. This system makes the victim’s number of
levels/hit dice the basic measure of whether the victim believes the illusion
and is thus affected by the spell. Minor modifications are allowed
for the intelligence and wisdom of the victim and for the nature
of the illusion itself, but an idiotic Hill Giant still is affected less often
than a genius elf.

The system thus merges two distinct ideas. The first is that since
spells tend to fail more often when used against large/experienced
creatures, such creatures deserve better saving throws versus the
Phantasmal forces spell than smaller, less experienced ones do. This is
the basic idea behind saving throws in general.

The second idea is the modifications, which are based on an entirely
different theory, but do not account for the extreme cases. A Hill
Giant, with his low intelligence, would generally be less likely to become
suspicious of a pit that appears in front of him out of nowhere
than a genius elf, who is probably a Magic-User himself and is thus
alert to the possibility of an illusion.

This is a form of situational analysis; in effect, we are asking how
likely it is that a creature will figure out that it faces an illusion under
the individual circumstances. This probability depends on internal factors,
like the creature’s intelligence, and upon external factors, such as
whether the creature saw the illusion first appear or not.

The Judges Guild system merges the situational factors and a creature’s
general resistance to magic in one die roll. It is a basically sound
approach and is fine for use in D&D. In AD&D, however, it should not
be used. The new Phantasmal force spell separates the situational and
general factors. The latter are obviously accounted for by the saving
throw that is allowed if the creature first disbelieves the illusion. It
would seem, then, that the “disbelief” called for as a prerequisite to a
saving throw is meant to be based on situational factors only, since it
would be redundant to call for two saving throws in a row both based
on hit dice/levels.

Assuming this to be true, the next problem is to come up with a
reasonably simple system for determining disbelief, picking up where
the rule description leaves off. Intelligence, which measures a creature’s
problem-solving ability, seems the most important of the internal
factors. Wisdom, in the form of intuition as to the best thing to
do, should somehow be taken into account, though it is not as important
as intelligence. Previous experience with illusions is obviously
of value to the potential victim of another one.

As to the external factors, surprise is one factor likely to prevent the
victim of the spell from thinking clearly and should thus be counted as
a penalty to disbelief where present. The primary external factor, however,
is the situation itself. A suspicious image, like a dragon turtle on
dry land, gives greater cause for disbelief than the image of a troll who
has been living in the cave next door for twenty years. The following
categories are recommended for evaluating situations:

1. Information recommending disbelief. When an associate calls
out that an illusion is present, only an idiot would fail to try to disbelieve
the illusion. The same goes for creatures who know they face an
Illusionist.

2. Strong Suspicion. Here the circumstances are such that even a
creature of low intelligence might not believe its eyes. The illusion of
the Dragon Turtle on dry land falls in this category, as would an illusion
of a pit that appears from nowhere in full view of its potential
victim.

3. Suspicion. A situation belongs in this category if, of all the possible
explanations for what the creature sees, an illusion is the most
probable explanation. In answering this question, be sure to remember
that the number of possible explanations is limited by the knowledge
of the creature; an isolated caveman might not even know what
an illusion is. An example of a suspicious illusion is one of a pit that appears
out of the sight of the victim but in a place it knew to be solid
only a round ago.

4. Doubt. Here an illusion is one explanation, but other equally
probable explanations for the image exist. When a monster appears
out of thin air, it might have been summoned by a Monster Summoning
spell, or it might be an illusion; without additional information,
these alternatives are equally likely to the victim.

5. Neutrality. This is the default category for illusions neither expected
nor unexpected under the circumstances. An illusion is a possibility,
but some other explanation is more likely. If a wise and wary
troll came across a pit in a place it seldom visits, it would most likely
conclude that some worthless dwarves had dug it there. An illusion of
a crew of archers leading the way for the party (not seen to appear out
of nowhere) is perfectly neutral and non-suspicious. 

6. Expected Image. Here the circumstances actually support the
victim’s belief in the illusion. In other words, the victim sees something
it expects to see, and the possibility of an illusion hardly ever crosses
its mind. An example would be the troll known by the victims to reside
nearby — assuming, of course, they were also unaware that a party
had already slain the troll; if they learned of this fact, they would be
strongly suspicious of the illusion.

It will be up to the DM to assess the situation each time an illusion is
used. Once a situation’s category has been selected the table below
should be used to determine the victim’s percent chance of successfully
attempting to disbelieve the illusion:

                            Situation

Intelligence	1	2	3	4	5	6
0 (Non-)	*	*	*	*	*	*
1 (Animal)	0	0	0	0	0	0
2-4 (Semi-)	0	0	0	0	0	0
5-7 (Low)	80	60	30	10	5	0
8-10 (Average)	90	70	60	30	10	0
11-12 (Very)	95	80	70	60	30	5
13-14 (High)	100	90	80	70	40	10
15-16 (Exceptional)	100	95	90	80	50	20
17-18 (Genius)	100	100	95	90	60	30
19-20 (Supra-genius)	100	100	100	95	70	40
21+ (Godluck)	100	100	100	100	90	50

Adjustments: + 20% if olfactory or thermal component expected but absent
    + 20% if audial component expected but absent
    + 10% if subject of spell is an Illusionist
    -10% if victim surprised (1st round only — see below)
    +10% if victim’s wisdom is 15 or more

Notes: The adjustments do not apply for creatures of INT 4 or less —
their chance is always 0. For non-intelligent creatures, see discussion
below. A creature that makes its “attempt to disbelieve” percentage
then gets a save to see if it actually does so.

This table is based on the intelligence/expectancy ideas developed
previously. A non-intelligent creature might enjoy immunity from illusions
under this system, since arguably such creatures have no mind
which can be affected by the spell. On the other hand, one might say
that an illusion simple enough to have meaning to a non-intelligent
creature, like a raging fire to a black pudding, could be used against
such a creature. In such a case the non-intelligent creature should be
treated as creatures of animal and semi-intelligence are.

Speaking of which, it is the intelligence range of 1-4 that fares the
worst under this system, for these creatures are smart enough to
comprehend the subject matter of illusions but not smart enough to
grasp the concept of an illusion. Since they always believe what their
senses tell them, they should never get a saving throw versus the spell.
The only real limitation on illusions usable against these creatures is
the “comprehension limitation” discussed below.

Creatures of intelligence 5 or higher can comprehend the unrealness
of an illusion and thus gain a percent chance of disbelieving it.
Creatures of low intelligence are quite vulnerable to plausible illusions,
whereas only an expected image would have a decent chance of fooling
a god. The adjustments following the table give some concrete
superiority to the Improved phantasmal force and Spectral force
spells. An illusionary raging fire that is totally silent and generates no
heat when approached would allow the victims a 40% bonus on their
disbelief percentage. Similarly, a silent, collapsing ceiling would be
“penalized” 20% (from the spell-caster’s point of view).

There are some situations in which an illusion will fail to harm its
victims regardless of their hit dice or intelligence. Of course, magicresistant
creatures who make their magic-resistance roll will not be affected
by an illusion. Creatures who cannot understand the harmful
nature of an illusion will not be affected, since the whole idea of the
spell is that the victim’s fear of harm causes the harm to be real. A
creature who does not understand the nature of the threat is in a position
no different from that of a creature which cannot see the illusion
at all. To a band of orcs an illusionary Sphere of Annihilation is just a
globe of darkness, thus it should not be able to harm them. On the
same theory, creatures which rely primarily on senses other than sight,
like bats, should not be affected by an illusion unless it has a
component that has meaning to them.

In theory, the Phantasmal force spell might work — when it does
work — as follows. First, the victim perceives the illusion. Next, the
victim understands the illusion, probably as something potentially
harmful. Then the victim either fails to disbelieve the illusion (or more
accurately, fails to attempt to disbelieve the illusion), or misses its
saving throw. Magical energy then does damage to the victim in accordance
with the victim’s belief of the illusion.

All four steps must be carried out for the spell to be successful. A
creature which cannot see or otherwise perceive the illusion never
gets past step one. The ignorant creature is saved by step two, at least
as far as actual damage is concerned. A third type of problem arises
when the victim of the spell is not allowed sufficient time to go
through steps one to three. For instance, in the case of an illusionary
lightning bolt or fireball there is no time for the victim to believe and
comprehend the illusion, since the harmful effects occur almost
instantly. A creature cannot be said to believe or disbelieve a lightning
bolt until after the bolt has come and gone. The logic of the spell
seems to require belief before harmful effect, and if we are to retain
any realism here at all, such illusions should not be possible because
minds don’t work that fast. In general, any illusion of a split-second
phenomenon should not be allowed.

Subject to these limitations, the foregoing table will give at least
some creatures a chance to save themselves from illusion spells in a
relatively rational way. Note, however, that the table should not be
used when a dungeon creature uses an illusion against player characters;
it is up to the characters to go through the sort of reasoning discussed
here and decide to disbelieve or believe what they are seeing.
As for dungeon creatures, each should be given its own disbelief roll
and saving throw, though 5- or 10-creature collective saving throws
could be used when individual rolls would be too much work. In the
case of a continuing illusion, a new disbelief roll should be made each
round, and each new roll should take into account changes in the
situation. A creature which is still within an illusion of a raging fire by
the second round, assuming it did not save against the spell in the first
round, would get its second round roll in category six, since the creature
believes the illusion and expects to get burned again if it remains
within the fire. If, however, an associate were to call out that the fire
was an illusion, the second-round roll would be in category one. Note
also that any penalty for lack of a thermal component would be
negated on the second and following rounds, since the creature “got
burned” on the first round. The purpose of a thermal component is to
make the creature feel the heat as it approaches the illusionary fire,
thereby reinforcing its belief that the flames are real. Similar reasoning
should be applied to the other penalties as well.

As the foregoing discussion shows, the Phantasmal force spell can
give rise to complex problems when used in actual play. But things
aren’t as bad as all that. The hard part will obviously be picking a
category that correctly matches the situation. A DM who feels
uncertain about which grade of expectancy to choose can always
open the floor for argument from the players, assuming that the
players have something worthwhile to say. Most illusions will fall into
classes 1, 5, or 6. The other categories exist primarily to catch thoughtless
players who design incredible illusions, and it should not be necessary
to invoke them often in a good campaign.

One nagging problem remains unsolved by this system. Take two
parties of 5 first-level characters each. Neither party has any magic
items, and both are identical except for the fact that the second party
has a first-level Illusionist with it, instead of an additional Fighter.
Suppose that the first party encounters a Hill Giant as a wandering
monster. Chances are they will have to flee, possibly with casualties,
unless they are extremely lucky in melee. The second party, by
contrast, has their Illusionist cast an illusion of a 1”x2”x4” pit of
sharpened stakes in the path of the charging giant. From the table, the
giant stands a 40% chance of believing the illusion outright. If he fails
to attempt to disbelieve, he must then make his saving throw or fall in
the illusionary pit and take 6-36 points of damage (4-24 for the fall, 2-
12 for the stakes). After a few flasks of flaming oil and perhaps a
round or two of melee, the giant has had it. Thus, the party with the Illusionist
is a great deal more powerful than the other party, and will
gain experience a lot faster.

The point of this example is that the Phantasmal force spell is too
powerful to be a first-level spell. Its damage-doing effectiveness puts it
on a par with Hypnotic Pattern, Blindness, Stinking Cloud, and Web,
and it deserves to be ranked as a second-level Illusionist spell. If you
decide to do this for your campaign, Improved phantasmal force must
be made a third-level spell, and Spectral force must become a fourthlevel
spell. As a consolation to first-level Illusionists, there could be the
creation of a new first-level spell, Phantasmal Images. This spell is
similar to a Phantasmal force in all respects, save that it cannot do
actual damage to the viewing creatures. This by no means makes it
useless, for in combination with an Audible glamer or Ventriloquism
spell it can have great intimidation value in the hands of ingenious
players. Even without such extras, an illusionary wall still looks solid.
The Magic-User Phantasmal force spell is fine where it is. The Magic-
User’s lack of facility with illusion/phantasm spells explains its 3rd.
level rating.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Familiarity factor prevents illusionists
from stealing the show

by Gregory Quinn
and Dale Young

(Source: Dragon #66)

A party of intrepid adventurers moves
silently along the dungeon corridor.
They turn a corner and see before them a
door. It is a testimony to the age of the
dungeon, this door made of worm-eaten
oak and rusty iron. The thieves listen,
and the magic-user and illusionist make
ready with their spells. A brawny fighter
kicks in the door on the first try, and the
party enters a room. It is empty — but
suddenly, through secret portals, orcs
enter and surround the party. The fighters
flail away at the enemies to the left and
the magic-user casts a Sleep spell
toward the enemies to the right. A few of
them fall in mid-step, but the surviving
orcs push on. The illusionist then casts
Phantasmal Force in the guise of a fireball
and fells all the orcs in the vicinity.
The members of the orc band that are
still alive on the opposite side of the
chamber (where the fighters are) flee in
fear of the obvious power of the second
magic-user.

Hold it.
Who did what to whom?

For many AD&D players, scenes like
this are not rare when it comes to running
a character in the illusionist class:
an illusionist can be quite powerful in the
right circumstances. At the other extreme,
an illusionist sometimes seems to
be the most “useless” character since
the monk. The problem with the monk
and illusionist, or any other “useless”
character, arises from the fact that many
DM’s are uncomfortable with the classes
and don’t have a firm idea of how to give
them their due. In the case of the illusionist,
how does one deal with the illusionist
mimicking the magic-user? This is a
problem the authors have had repeatedly.

The problem is twofold. How does the
DM give enough credit to the illusionist
without stealing thunder from the magicuser,
and still not do anything out of the
ordinary to tip off players that the party
they have just encountered might contain
an illusionist?

Our introduction to the illusionist
came through our first DM. We were novice
players, and whatever he said was
law. As our characters rose in levels, the
methods the DM used for secreting treasure
became more sophisticated, and
eventually we came upon our first illusionist
trap -cum- treasure trove.

The DM’s way of determining our
characters’ belief or disbelief of the illusion
was to roll a number of d6’s against
our wisdom. The number of d6’s depended
on several conditions, and the
calculation took a fair amount of time.
This immediately told everyone (the
players) that there was an illusion at
work here somewhere, when only dumb
luck would have actually informed our
characters of that fact. This proved unsatisfying.
Now, with our added experience
in playing and DMing gained in the
meantime, a neater solution seems to be
at hand.

Reflecting on those early methods of
handling illusionists brought us back to
these obvious basic points:

(1) Magic is magic, whether it is druidical,
illusionist, clerical, or magic-user
magic. Defense for the player is vested in
the saving throw, which allows for the
innate ability of a character or item to
defend itself or otherwise escape harm.

(2) Using the saving throw against
spells for some illusions is fine, but then
an illusionary fireball based on a Phantasmal
Force is as good as a real fireball.
That, naturally, will not do.

(3) A reasonable evaluation of how
well the illusionist can form the illusion
has to be made. Remember, the illusion
is a projection of the caster’s imagination,
based on his experiences. Consequently,
an illusionist — regardless of
level — who has never seen a fireball
won’t do a very good job of reproducing
the image of one. And since practice and
study is mandatory for any magic-user,
several witnessings of a real fireball
might be necessary before the illusionist
gets it right.

Next must be considered the relationships
between the various illusion spells:

(1) The best illusion spell is Spectral
Force, because it encompasses visual,
audial, and textural (thermal and aromatic)
sensations. The saving throw against
this would be vs. spells, with no modifier.

(2) The next best is Improved Phantasmal
Force; the saving throw against
this spell is made at +1 to the die roll.

(3) The Phantasmal Force spell allows
a save at +2.

This helps put the spells in qualitative
order. On top of this:

a) Add +4 to the saving throw if the
illusionist has never seen whatever spell,
creature, or object he hopes to imitate.
2) Add +3 if he has seen it once.
3) Add +2 if he has seen it twice.
4) Add +1 if he has seen it three times.
5) After three times of observation, no
modifier is needed.

Now, take the opening scene and advance
the magic-user and illusionist a
few levels. In this case another party,
bent on doing this innocent band of adventurers
serious harm, has divided its
force to attack from two sides. The
magic-user unleashes a many-hit-die
Fireball on one group while the illusionist
does “the same” to the others, using a
Spectral Force spell. Our heroes are victorious.
Since all the spoils belong to the
victor, the booty is collected from the
smoldering remains. For the DM, now
begins one of the great all-time tedious
jobs of rolling saving throws for items
—but only for the victims of the magicuser’s
spell. The illusionist, having studied
the Fireball spell of the magic-user
and waited for the time that he could use
Spectral Force to “duplicate” it, has done
substantial damage to the enemy and
maximized the gain for the party — without
running the risk of destroying valuable
items in the “blast” of his illusionary
attack.

In this system for progressive saving
throws based on the familiarity of the
illusionist with what he is trying to create,
the DM calls for normal saving throws
without revealing betraying distinctions
about the illusion to the players. One of
the main reasons for this system was to
prevent exposing information that the
player characters wouldn’t normally discern
because, ironically, of their familiarity
with game mechanics. In other words,
it looks like a normal saving throw for
normal magic, so why shouldn’t it be a
regular, run-of-the-mill enchantment instead
of an illusion?

The simple two-part system of saving
throw modifiers given above could stand
on its own if it were not for additional
information brought out in the DEITIES
& DEMIGODS™ Cyclopedia. The book
lists resistance to illusion spells among
the characteristics of beings with ultrahigh
intelligence. At the other end of the
scale, non-intelligent creatures are not
affected by illusions because they rely
on all other senses without the power of
cognizant belief being a factor, if it exists
at all, in their dim intellect. Saving-throw
adjustments based on intelligence are
summarized on this chart:

na: not applicable

Additional modifiers (when applicable):
+4, +3, +2, or +1 for the
familiarity of the illusionist, as
stated earlier.

For creatures of the low to highly intelligent
categories (5-7 to 13-14), a well
studied Spectral Force spell will be as
effective as an actual magic spell (no
bonus to an intended victim’s saving
throw). As the target’s intelligence moves
more toward either extreme, the save
becomes slightly easier to make. The
specifications for Spectral Force keep
the magic-user and illusionist on more
or less equal footing. Spectral Force is
acquired by the illusionist at the same
time as the magic-user acquires his first
really destructive spells (such as Fireball
and Lightning Bolt), so the saves should
be the same.

Finally, what of the rule that if one person
disbelieves an illusion, this enhances
others’ chances of disbelieving?
First, the individual not affected must
communicate effectively to his companions
what is happening. In the case of an
illusionary lightning bolt or fireball,
communication is made much more difficult
by the immediacy of the event. But
if the party encounters what appears to
be a red dragon, the unaffected character
or characters (as determined by discreet
saving throws made by the DM —
not the player) have the time and usually
the opportunity to point out that something
is not right here. New saving throws
can be rolled each time a different character
or creature tries to convince another
that things are not what they seem.
There is a +4 adjustment on saving
throws, as described in the Players
Handbook, for those characters who are
being told (by a disbeliever) that what
they face is an illusion. If this bonus is
applied to the same single saving-throw
attempt for each “persuader” communicating
with a single “believer,” the cumulative
bonuses (+4, to +8, to +12,. . .)
might make a saving throw “automatic”
in mathematical terms. But this never
necessarily means that the save is automatic.
The cardinal rule of DMing is not
to give players a free lunch: If a player
does not choose to tell the DM that his or
her character is attempting to see past
the illusion, that is the player’s privilege
— and very probably his bane.

Now, back to the opening tale. Using
the saving-throw bonuses from the table
given earlier, let’s see how the orcs fare.

The intelligence of an orc is average
(low), in the 8-10 range. Let’s say that six
orcs were not slept. The save vs. spell for
a 1-hit-dice creature is 17. Phantasmal
Force was used; the saving-throw modifier
for that spell against a victim of 8-10
intelligence is +2, so the orcs actually
need 15 to save. If this illusionist has
been with this party for his entire career,
he has most likely never seen a fireball,
so his imitation will be more based on
speculation than observation. The number
needed for the orcs to save now becomes
11, after applying an additional +4
bonus because of the caster’s unfamiliarity
with the image he is creating. Because
the spell’s effect is immediate, the
orcs who save have no chance to tell the
others about the illusion.

In the second scenario, again the intelligence
of the intended victim(s) will be
average, since the new opponents are
men. Assume an average level of five in
the fighter class for the victims of the
illusionist. The base number needed to
save here is 14. The illusionist has by
now had ample opportunity to study the
fireball of the magic-user. According to
the chart, there are no modifiers in that
intelligence range for a Spectral Force
spell, and (in this case) no penalties resulting
from lack of familiarity on the illusionist’s
part. The saving throw is unmodified,
and the same as for the real
fireball unleashed by the magic-user.

This saving-throw system also applies
to any other illusion that might be generated,
not just those images that mimic
the magic-user. An illusionary pit would
suffer from the same constraints as the
other situations, except a pit is more
common than a Lightning Bolt or a Fireball
spell, so the “familiarity factor” could
logically be minimized to no penalty.
However, the rank odor and echoes
emanating from a pit will do more to reinforce
that image in a victim’s mind than
just a black gap in a path or corridor. The
weighting of the saving throws for the
various types of illusion spells still holds
in cases like this.