PDA

View Full Version : The philosophy of Mirror Image



BillyJimBoBob
2010-07-31, 09:34 AM
It is interesting to me that such a low level, you might say minor magic, has such an ambiguous place within the rules.

I recently posited a question to the Simple Q&A D&D 3.5 (by RAW) thread. The responses I got just seemed to open up other questions. Here is the conversation:


Q 44

I'd like to hear some opinions on the RAW and RAI for Mirror Image (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirrorimage.htm).It's the word "generally" that I'd like to discuss, in this context: An opponent caster has MI cast, and he has a total of 5 Images (himself and 4 Images). A Magic Missile was cast from a scroll with 6 missiles (more than the max allowed, my GM likes to tweak minor items for fun), one targeting each Image, and the spare randomly rolled to see if it hit the caster.

But I'm wondering if all 6 Missiles shouldn't have been randomly rolled to see which Image they hit? That would seem to follow the process outlined "generally", but of course the very word indicates that there could be specific cases where you would not roll randomly, although there is no attempt made to describe such cases.
A 44

"RAI" discussions are outside the scope of this thread. As for the "generally" part, the Mirror Image spell cannot dictate the choices of the attacker, who can choose specific images to target (such as "the leftmost one").
More of A 44

You're thinking in terms of D&D tactical disposition, where standard (Small+) size creatures will occupy separate squares. However, the figments aren't subject to this limitation, so you generally won't have just 1 target/square, including at the time of casting. Thus the Mirror Image spell is immediately useful when cast, even if the spellcaster doesn't get to move right after casting.

Yet because Mirror Images faithfully mimic the actions of the spellcaster, they can reveal themselves to be false. If the spellcaster climbs stairs, those images pretending to climb stairs who aren't actually on stairs will be obvious. Other interaction with the surroundings, not necessarily including moving to a different square, can reveal the real spellcaster. Example: An arrow (or Magic Missile) shot at an image, if it hits and sticks (or doesn't go poof), will reveal that the spellcaster is there, even if all figments suddenly sprout arrows. The attacker will know which target is real. With the Point it Out skill trick they can also designate the right target to an ally who can act before the spellcaster has a chance to move again. This, I think, is the part you're overlooking; it's the counterpart to the "Generally, roll randomly" stipulation. When you've managed to discern which target is real, you don't roll randomly.
Magic Missile isn't going to let you assign 1 missile per target and wait to see which images go poof before assigning any remaining missiles. This is a limitation specific to Magic Missile, not Mirror Image. An archer with iterative attacks would be able to send all remaining arrows at the spellcaster image that didn't go poof.My observations here are thus:

The MI can not be said to exactly duplicate the actions of the caster. If this was true, then the rules quotes "While moving, you can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded", and "You can move into and through a mirror image. When you and the mirror image separate, observers can’t use vision or hearing to tell which one is you and which the image. The figments may also move through each other" would be invalid. If the MI mirrored the casters actions exactly, then there would be no way for either the caster of an Image to merge with and off again from any other Image, to confound the ability to track the real caster. And so I have to disagree with Curmudgeon. If the caster of MI climbs stairs, I do not believe that the Images will appear to be climbing stairs as well. They will instead appear to be moving to the same stairs and also ascending. Some may even precede the caster up the stairs. All the while merging and splitting off to confound detection of the real caster.

Thus, the spell text "The figments mimic your actions, pretending to cast spells when you cast a spell, drink potions when you drink a potion, levitate when you levitate, and so on" can not apply to movement. Else if you moved 5 feet towards an Image, it would move 5 feet away from you, preventing the described merge-and-split-off behavior.

Another point of contention is how Images take damage and "pop." The sole descriptive sentence is "The figments stay near you and disappear when struck." This is augmented somewhat by "Figments seem to react normally to area spells (such as looking like they’re burned or dead after being hit by a fireball)." So we're left to assume that a direct attack can cause an Image to pop, such as an arrow from a bow or a Missile from a Magic Missile, but an AOE spell such as a Fireball does not count as "striking" an Image.

Thoughts or rules debate?

denthor
2010-07-31, 09:42 AM
Originally Posted by BillyJimBoBob
Q 44

I'd like to hear some opinions on the RAW and RAI for Mirror Image.It's the word "generally" that I'd like to discuss, in this context: An opponent caster has MI cast, and he has a total of 5 Images (himself and 4 Images). A Magic Missile was cast from a scroll with 6 missiles (more than the max allowed, my GM likes to tweak minor items for fun), one targeting each Image, and the spare randomly rolled to see if it hit the caster.

But I'm wondering if all 6 Missiles shouldn't have been randomly rolled to see which Image they hit? That would seem to follow the process outlined "generally", but of course the very word indicates that there could be specific cases where you would not roll randomly, although there is no attempt made to describe such cases.


If you have shield spell up then who cares the Magic Missle is absorbed by the spell. Have your DM roll randomly for every missle so that they can all target you Magic missle says automatic hit no two targets more than 30 feet apart. In other words the spell is a targeted spell. The opposing wizard must say which image he is targeting. By the next round the images will have reshuffled and he could not single target your wizard.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 09:45 AM
Indeed they wouldn't be able to perfectly mirror you. Since it is specifically mentioned that they can pass through each other and that you can do it to confound others, I believe that they don't "mirror" you as much as pretend to be you, mimicking the actions in a general sense with a crude intelligence.

For example: if you were to run upstairs, they'd run them too, occupying spaces you normally would, like forming a line.
And yes, it seems only actual attacks can "pop" the images. If it isn't clear by the rules, I'd assume that, instead, only single-target effects would pop them.