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Lysander
2009-07-16, 02:47 PM
This is a classic of the genre. An illusion that can show each person what they fear the most, or who they love, or all kinds of other uses.


Subjective Image
Illusion (Figment)
Level: Brd 2, Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect: Visual figment that cannot extend beyond four 10-ft. cubes + one 10-ft. cube/level (S)
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with)
Spell Resistance: No

As Silent Image, but the illusion appears to each viewer differently as a personal example of the same thing. For example, a Subjective Image of a mother would appear to each person as their own mother, or their idea of someone motherly if they don't know what their mother looks like. A vague concept like hope or fear would appear as a personal example of something that best evokes that emotion. The caster cannot tell how each person personally views the illusion.

The illusion can be highly subjective or controlled. For example an illusion of "a beloved pet" leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination while an illusion of "a beloved pet, chained to a sandstone boulder, being eaten by green dragons" can create a specific scene with each person's own image of a pet substituted in.

Subjective Image can be used for communication rather than trickery, even across a language barrier. Although it doesn't translate text from one language to another it can be used to illustrate concepts so that anyone can understand them.

DracoDei
2009-07-16, 03:11 PM
If you want that last concept to be a designed-in use, rather than just a good suggestion, you might want to build in an option to voluntarily nerf the save DC down to 0 or something.

Lysander
2009-07-16, 03:26 PM
If you want that last concept to be a designed-in use, rather than just a good suggestion, you might want to build in an option to voluntarily nerf the save DC down to 0 or something.

It really is up to the wizard. Any illusion can be made unbelievable. Make the image appear miniature in the palm of their own hand hand, or as a translucent obviously false image, or even display a painting or drawing of the concept on illusory paper. As long as it doesn't look real there is no will save to disbelieve it.