Be careful with Phantasmal
Force:
Illusions can kill if used
with skill,
but ‘fake’ healing is only
a feeling!
by
Tom
Armstrong
Sealtest watched and listened as Ros,
his apprentice, studied. The younger
man was poring over his spell book. He
had just recently mastered the ability to
cast spells of the third level of difficulty,
and was trying to decide which one to
memorize. “There’s Lightning
Bolt and
there’s Fireball,” he mumbled. “Both
powerful spells. But what if the monster
is immune to fire or if there is not enough
room to safely strike with the lightning?”
He thought for a bit longer, and suddenly
his eyes brightened. “I know!” he fairly
yelled. “Phantasmal force!”
Sealtest smiled indulgently, sighed,
but did not discourage the young man.
The mission they faced was not overly
difficult, and, the teacher thought, I
should be able to bail out this youngster
when he miscasts the spell. . . .
The Phantasmal Force spell,
as described
on page 75 of the AD&D™ Players
Handbook, has been an endless source
of arguments and discussions in my
group. The spell description is not very
comprehensive, and any player in a difficult
situation looking for a loophole can
easily find one in this spell unless the DM
is extremely careful.
For instance: David Wainwright, in his
letter in issue #46 of DRAGON™ Magazine,
says, “If belief [in an illusion or
phantasm] can cause wounds, then belief
should be able to cure as well.” The
principal argument against that statement
is that the damage taken as a result
of belief in an illusory pit, for example,
and consequently in the ensuing fall, is
not actual damage, but “mental” or
“shock” damage: that is, damage induced
by the believer’s mind because the mind
“knew” that the “fall” would cause harm
to the body. The mind conceived the
concept of “pit,” knew that such a fall
would cause damage, and told the body
that it was hurt. Since there was no evidence
to the contrary, such as another
character telling the unfortunate one
that there was no pit, the believer was
hurt.
The human body operates at the direction
of the brain, which receives input
from the senses. Sight, sound, smell,
taste, and touch are all used by the brain
to determine what environment the body
is presently in. If the senses tell the brain
that the body is in danger, whether or not
the body is actually in danger, the body
produces adrenalin, the heart beats more
quickly, the muscles tense somewhat,
and reflexes are quickened. All of these
reactions are involuntary; the character
has no control of them.
Belief in illusions has to do with the
concept of psychic shock, first documented
in 1919. Virgil H. Moon, in his
book, Shock, Its Dynamics, Occurrences
and Management, defines psychic
shock as “. . . the resulting of the symptoms
[of shock] without external or
physical trauma.”
This is precisely the situation when a
character falls into an illusory pit. Blood
vessels constrict (a result of the adrenalin
surge), blood pressure rises, and the
mental shock — psychic shock — of
striking the bottom of the pit is relayed to
the rest of the body. Since the body is
keyed up to expect damage, it is receptive
to any external stimuli. An outside
observer who disbelieved the existence
of the same pit would see the believer
flail his arms about, possibly scream,
and fall to the ground. The simple shock
of striking the floor would be transmitted
to the body as a fall into the pit — and
(thinks the brain) since the body did fall
into the pit, it must have taken damage.
A modern example of the same situation
is illustrated by a story from the local
newspaper back in 1979. A woman was
driving her car down a residential street,
going about 15 mph. An oncoming vehicle
struck her car head-on while going
about 20 mph — and the woman died.
The county coroner determined that the
woman’s body had taken no external
damage, and there were no internal physical
injuries. The stated cause of death
was heart failure due to shock.
If such damage is possible, then the
question of “creating” an illusory cleric
to heal the actual damage a party has
taken becomes ridiculous! The illusory
“cleric” would, if conjured, dutifully pray
(silently, since there is no audible output
from the Phantasmal Force spell) and
would make what appear to be clerical
somatic gestures, but there would be absolutely
no actual healing done.
Also applicable in this instance is the
fact that Cure Light Wounds, Cure Serious
Wounds, Cure Critical Wounds,
and Heal spells will only heal physical
damage to a body. A character might
believe he had been healed (by an illusion),
but since no actual healing had
been done, he could very well bleed to
death while believing himself to be
healthy. The body, in and of itself, cannot
know that it is healed. Skin and muscles
do not perceive that a spell has been
cast, since magic was not actually carried
out. Wounds do not heal, bones do
not mend just because the mind thinks
they are doing that.
This prohibition on illusory healing
does not apply, of course, if the damage
being healed was caused by an illusion.
If the damage was “psychic shock” damage,
it could be healed by an illusory
cleric — provided the character believes
both illusions — but any real damage the
character might also be suffering at the
time can only be really healed through
rest or real magic.
The Dungeon Master must keep separate
records of how many hit points a
character has lost to illusory damage
and how many to real damage. Then, if
an illusion-caster can plausibly cause an
illusory cleric to come upon the party, he
could actually offset psychic shock
damage the party members may have
taken — but not any damage done by
real claws, arrows, sword thrusts, or
whatever. Again, to be healed of illusory
damage, characters must believe the existence
of the illusory cleric. It is suggested
that the DM roll all saving throws
vis-a-vis illusions. Otherwise there can
be a problem with players and characters
believing only the illusions they
want to believe. Having the DM secretly
determine belief or disbelief — so that
players can’t necessarily suspect when
an illusion has been cast — puts the
“choice” between belief and disbelief
out of the player’s hands (minds?) and
back with the dice where it belongs.
Also ridiculous is Mr. Wainwright’s
statement that “. . . if your character can
fall into and take damage from an illusionary
pit, then your character should
be able to cross an illusionary bridge.”
No matter how much the character would
like to believe that a bridge is there—
even if the illusionist could arrange it so
that the bridge did not simply appear
before the party — the first character to
set foot on said “bridge” would quickly
discover that, with the exception only of
certain magical spells, the basic laws of
physics still apply. Gravity still works:
the unsupported body will not perceive
the imaginary manifestation of a bridge,
but will fall and accelerate until it strikes
the ground. There have probably been
thousands of characters who have fallen
into real pits because the floor (or bridge)
they believed to be there was actually an
illusion.
The Phantasmal Force spell, to be effective,
must be employed after much
forethought. It is not enough to cause a
monster, a pit, or whatever to simply appear
from nowhere. The spell caster
should be familiar with what he is attempting
to create. An illusionist or
magic-user trying to cause a red dragon
to appear and breathe on the nasty orcs
will find it’s not quite that simple. First
and foremost, has the caster ever seen a
red dragon? If he has, then he may have
a good chance to fool the orcs. But if he
doesn’t know what a red dragon looks
like from personal experience (and good
memory), the result of his spell might be
ludicrous. He might get a reaction out of
the orcs, but it may be one of them falling
down from laughing so hard.
Phillip Meyers, in his article in issue
#43 of DRAGON™ Magazine, “Now You
See It...But Is It Really There?”, advocates
the use of a percentage saving
throw to determine belief or disbelief in
an illusion, based on (1) the plausibility
of the created situation, (2) the intelligence
of the creature(s) viewing the illusion,
and (3) possibly the character class
of the individual(s) viewing the illusion.
This system works fairly well, though it
does give the characters a better chance
than the monsters in some instances, but
it is also rather unwieldy because of the
amount of number-juggling involved.
In my campaign, we use the normal
saving throw vs. spells, adjusted by any
wisdom bonuses or penalties and for any
special abilities or devices party members
may have available. The reason for
the use of a wisdom adjustment, rather
than the adjustment based on intelligence
advocated by Mr. Meyers, is that a
Phantasmal Force is actually a mental
attack, and is, in fact, listed as one of the
“mental attack forms involving will force”
on page 11 of the Players Handbook.
The prescribed saving throw can be secretly
modified by the DM if the situation
warrants it.
Mr. Meyers also says the Phantasmal
force spell is too powerful a spell for a
1st-level illusionist to possess. But, consider
the following: (1) Out of the 12
spells from which a 1st-level illusionist
must pick but one, the Phantasmal Force
spell is the only one actually capable of
doing damage to an opponent. When
your character is first level and has perhaps
but 1,2,3, or 4 hit points, it is vital to
have something to at least slow down the
nasties that are trying to eat you. (2) The
Phantasmal Force spell has no audial
component. This means that most monsters
are going to be highly suspicious of
illusions that are mobile, such as illusory
monsters, yet totally silent. (3) The caster
must use his common sense (wisdom?)
in deciding what illusion he will
create and how it will become apparent
to the intended victim(s). Even moronic
creatures and characters will be suspicious
of a pit that appears before their
eyes out of nowhere, although they may
not have time to react to their suspicions.
If they do have time to react, they will
most likely be curious, and, if they touch
it, the illusion will be dispelled.
The caster of this spell must be familiar
with his intended subject. The creatures
he is attempting to affect with the
spell may well know more about the
types and numbers of other monsters
living in their area, from (presumably)
having lived there for a good portion of
their lives. If a new “creature” is suddenly
introduced into this familiar environment,
the denizens may well be suspicious
of its origin — particularly if they
know a spell caster is in the adventurers’
party. If the caster is inept enough to
cause a red dragon to appear from nowhere
in full view of everyone, the intended
victims should be sharp enough
to doubt its reality. However, should the
caster cause the victims to come across
a “sleeping dragon” in natural surroundings,
and if the beast should then happen
to wake up and “breathe” on them, the
chance for them to believe the illusion
would be considerably better.
There is the Audible Glamer spell to
lend credibility to the illusionist’s phantasms,
but it must be cast prior to the
accompanying Phantasmal Force, since
the latter magic will be dispelled as soon
as the illusionist ceases to concentrate
on it. The combination of the two spells,
therefore, will take at least two rounds to
cast, and won’t be a very attractive alternative
when enemies are advancing on
the party and time is of the essence.
The DM can adjudicate the results of
an intended illusion without much problem.
All he needs to do is put himself in
the victim’s place and view the illusion
through his, her, or its eyes. Is the illusion
an image of a being or object that
might reasonably be found in this vicinity?
Are the circumstances surrounding
the illusion conducive to the appearance
or discovery of the illusion? Is the illusion
understandable by the creature or
character at which it is directed? The
illusion of a Fireball being cast (for instance)
is not understandable by creatures
that have never seen one before.
According to the Fireball spell description
in the Players Handbook, “A streak
flashes from the pointing digit (of the
spell caster) and . . . flowers into the
fireball.” A monster that doesn’t know
about magic will see a streak coming in
its direction, but will not know it is supposed
to represent flame until the illusory
fireball takes shape. At that point, the
monster may or may not realize that the
result is supposed to be flame, since no
heat is created by a Phantasmal Force.
Similarly, a monster with infravision will
most likely doubt an illusory monster
because its eyes will not detect the heat
radiation that the creature is accustomed
to detecting from all living creatures.
Characters (and their players) should
be alert to the possibility of illusions being
used against them by the DM’s minions.
I once rolled up a dragon for an
encounter, determined that the dragon
knew some magic, and rolled the spells
randomly. Phantasmal Force was one of
them. At the time I was disappointed,
because I didn’t realize the capabilities
of the spell at that point in my experience
as a Dungeon Master. However, I decided
to go with what I had rolled, and
this is what happened:
The dragon created an illusion of a
large blue dragon sleeping in a small
clearing surrounded by rocks. The party
indeed came upon the “sleeping dragon,”
and decided to charge en masse,
hoping to kill it before it awoke. The real
dragon was watching from high in the
sky, and caused the illusion to react realistically
— right down to bleeding and
awakening abruptly. The illusory dragon’s
reaction in the next round was to
“breathe” at one of the party members. I
asked the hapless person to make a saving
throw, and it failed. The party had
received no saving throws before then,
since the dragon had caused the illusion
to be an image such as might ordinarily
be found. After the next three rounds,
the party had lost three members to
“lightning bolts.” (No one had yet managed
to penetrate the armor class of the
“dragon,” so it had not been dispelled.)
When all of this began, I had told the
players that “The dragon rises to its feet
and breathes, but he makes no noise.”
But not one of them picked up on that
tidbit of information. When a character
finally managed to hit the “dragon” it
was, naturally, dispelled — whereupon
the real dragon flew down and chuckled
at the situation. Three of six party members
were dead from an illusion they (the
players, and through them their characters)
should have detected. The characters
were not babes in the woods, and
should have realized all was not right
when they found out they were confronting
a silent foe.
All things considered, the Phantasmal
Force spell requires much more thought
and preparation than do most other
spells. Anyone with the proper training
can cast a fireball with scarcely any
thought at all; to cast a successful illusion
requires a great deal of common
sense, accuracy with respect to detail,
and creativity. Successful use of the
spell requires a player to pay extremely
close attention to what is going on
around his character and to react accordingly.
To have the best chance for
success, the illusion-caster must think
ahead of all the possible ramifications of
his illusion. Does the rest of the party
know about the illusion? That is, will he
inform them of his intentions, thereby
taking the chance that the enemy will
also hear and possibly understand? Or,
will he keep it to himself, hoping to ensure
that the monsters will not then automatically
know an illusion is being
cast? Many players won’t want to be bothered
with all this detail, and under conditions
such as these might not use the
spell very often or at all. Or, players
might realize that the game experience is
enhanced if the DM requires illusionmakers
to think out their situation and
consider the possible consequences of
their actions if they are to prosper in his
game.
Illusionist ideas
Dear Editor:
Being quite fond of illusionists, I read issue
#66 of DRAGON Magazine with some
interest,
and decided it would be worth offering my
reactions.
First, I disagree with Tom Armstrong’s
assumption that there is no physical element
in illusionary damage — that it’s entirely a
product of mental shock. It’s a well-known
fact that a hypnotized man with his hands in
lukewarm water will blister and receive burns
if he is told the water is scalding hot. In the
same fashion, as I se it, an illusionary fireball
could fry a body to a crisp, even though its
effects were mental. The same thing will apply
to other forms of attack, like wounds. Some
readers may have heard of stigmata — wounds
which spontaneously open and bleed in imitation
of Christ on the cross (at least, I take this
as an example of mind-over-body; those who
take it as a religious sign will have to bear with
me).
Now, the reason Mr. Armstrong stressed
the illusory nature of damage was to argue
that an illusionist couldn’t create an illusory
cleric to heal wounds; however, even if illusions
are capable of affecting the body physically,
as I assume, this doesn’t mean the body
can be healed the same way. After all, it takes
more effort to build up than to destroy, so it
might take a far more powerful spell than a
phantasmal force, or even a spectral force, to
work healing magic like this. A mirage arcane
spell might be powerful enough (since it
allows the subjects to eat phantasmal food
and be nourished), but that’s sixth level. I
would assume that nothing less than a fifth
level spell could actually rebuild the body
(excepting special ones such as dispel exhaustion).
Even then, I’d insist that if the party
knew the cleric was illusionary, they couldn’t
summon up enough belief to heal themselves.
This would put pretty reasonable limits on the
use of the spell, I think — the only way you
could effectively use an illusory cleric would
be if you were high enough to have a permanent
illusion of one following you around, and
didn’t tell the others in your party.
I agree that saving throws should be improved
if the illusionist is unfamiliar with his
subject, and adjusted for phantasmal force
(as opposed to spectral force), the way Quinn
and Young suggest. However, I wouldn’t improve
saves quite as much as they do (a maximum
of +2 if the illusionist has never seen the
subject before). After all, an illusion does
have one sizable weakness over a magic-user
spell: a fireball cast by a magic-user does
damage even if the subject makes a save, but
a phantasmal fireball disbelieved is entirely
useless — no damage at all. That in itself limits
the power of illusory attacks. I also think
saves should be reduced if the illusion is particularly
convincing for some reason. For
example: a magic-user uses a wand of frost,
then an illusionist creates a phantasmal cone
of cold while holding the same wand.
Mr. Armstrong suggests that some monsters
may not be affected by illusions if they
fail to recognize, say, that a fireball is actually
a form of fire. I probably wouldn’t take that
into consideration in my dungeon, but if I did,
it would work to the advantage of illusionists
as well; intelligent creatures or characters
who have not seen a fireball or a blue dragon
(but had the intelligence to know what it was)
would probably save at a minus, since they
lack the familiarity to spot any errors in the
illusion.
Finally, I think the new illusionist spells are
outstanding — good job, Mr. Gygax.
Well, since I have the typewriter going, I’d
also like to add something on the subject of
languages. Both articles on this subject were
excellent, but there was one aspect they
didn’t touch upon. Just as Eskimo, in our
world, contains over a dozen different terms
for “snow,” some languages in a D&D game
will go into certain subjects in far more detail.
Druidic speech, for example, might have ten
to twenty words that all translate into “withered
tree” or “dense forest,” since a non-druid
wouldn’t perceive any distinction between the
terms. It’s a minor point, of course, but it
could cause some confusion, since even a
tongues spell would probably be unable to
clear things up. (“The druid’s crazy! He keeps
saying we should meet under the oak with
green leaves!” “No, you fools! I didn’t say
green leaves, I said green leaves!“)
Fraser Sherman
Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.
(Dragon #69)
Phantasmal plea
Dear Editor:
I am surprised that Mr. Gygax has not given
an official ruling on the illusionist spell phantasmal
force. All the controversy it has
received, on such things as illusionary clerics
healing people, walking over illusionary
bridges, real damage being taken by the recipients
of the spell, etc., should have signaled
Mr. Gygax that there is a recurring and serious
problem with this spell. An official article, or a
letter in “Out on a Limb,” would be greatly
appreciated by me and many other AD&D
players.
Clifton Jessop
Rochester, N.Y.
(Dragon #78)
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