Beguilers and Constructs: Explain Silent Image Shenanigans

[Urpriest]

I've heard it mentioned before that if a Beguiler boxes an unintelligent Construct or Undead in with a Silent Image that resembles a wall then the thing will just stand there, trapped. I don't fully understand which rules are supposed to support this. While Constructs don't have any immunity to figments, aren't they just as capable of interacting with them and making a will save as anything else?

[Veyr]

Being mindless (Int —) but aware (Wis 1 or greater), the creature recognizes the barrier but has no reason to question it, barring explicit orders to do so. It takes as granted that it cannot get through the wall.

If the mindless creature does not consider the wall an impediment (has a Burrow speed, perhaps), then it would most likely immediately attempt to burrow through it, and therefore interact with it and be entitled to a Will save. Otherwise, however, it would take the wall as fact, and make no attempt to interact with it (because it is aware it cannot go that way).

[eclipsic]

I can see this a lot of different ways:

1. The mindless have a memory, of sorts, so while a silent image might block their line of sight, they are peripherally aware that there is a world outside their new "illusory box", and they might try to overcome the obstacle, which would grant them a saving throw. As an example, picture the mindless pursuing opponents around a corner, even though the opponents are out of sight.

2. The mindless are just that, mindless, and without external stimuli to provoke them, they just might stand still and do nothing. Especially if their orders were to "guard this room", their illusory box might become their new room, and with nothing there to guard it from, they become quiescent. No interaction would grant them no saving throw. This is classic "out of sight, out of mind" thought process.

3. Movie zombies, when confronted with a sudden obstacle, tend to try to feel their way around it, in a very limited manner, but this would suffice to provide a saving throw as well.

4. The mindless have senses equivalent to human senses (Sean K. Reynolds wrote a good article on his website about this: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/undeadseethroughillusions.html) and simply not being able to see beyond a silent image does not mean they cannot hear or smell the opponents, which would probably provoke them into contacting, and thus interacting with, the illusion.

I think it would all boil down to your DM's idea of how the mindless function. I'm about to start a campaign in which I play a beguiler, and the Dm is very fond of constructs, so I'd be interested to know what everybody else thinks about this.

[Ernir]

Silent Image and its bigger cousins aren't as much about confusing your character's enemies with game mechanics as they are about describing the situation in a way that makes the DM agree that the enemy is confused. It is usually easier to get a DM to agree to such a thing if the enemy in question is described as "mindless".

[Kantolin]

If an image of a wall wouldn't stop a mindless creature, would a wall of force?

If all constructs immediately try to pound through any wall in their way, layer some walls of stone or plunk a wall of force down and then go about your business.

I've always ruled that a construct simply is aware that there is a wall there. If his orders are in fact to punch through walls, then he's going to spend a lot of his time not-punching through real walls or conjured walls, so most constructs just sit there if boxed.

[Veyr]

If ordered to break the wall, the mindless creature will not think anything odd of the impossibility of this order, and continue to do so, no matter how futilely, until told to stop. By the same token, if ordered to walk through a fake wall, it will.

However, if ordered to chase intruders, and the intruders throw a wall in front of them, without specific orders to the contrary the creature will go around the wall because that is its usual behavior with respect to walls. It does not consider the sudden appearance of the wall odd or worth investigating.

[Greenish]

4. The mindless have senses equivalent to human senses and simply not being able to see beyond a silent image does not mean they cannot hear or smell the opponents, which would probably provoke them into contacting, and thus interacting with, the illusion.They're mindless. They may sense the enemies, but if they don't have a way of attacking them, they'll do nothing, because they can't do the thing they were told to do.

[Zaq]

Basically, if a zombie/golem/etc would normally be rubbing up against walls and trying to blindly walk through solid stone, then yes, they won't be stopped by a Silent Image of, well, a closet. If, however, you check the dungeon walls and don't find streaks of gore from zombies rubbing up against it or grooves where golems have worn a patch down . . . well, something's fishy.

Your GM might not like you using Silent Image to neutralize anything mindless, but if that's the case, they should talk to you about it instead of suddenly turning zombies into wall-hugging Roombas. (That, or you should request that they be consistent about it. It'd be funny if all zombies just constantly walked into walls relentlessly because they might be illusions holy crap.)

[Tvtyrant]

It would be fun to have it walk through a real door chasing through you. "You lock the door, and here a massive sound like thunder as the wall shakes. A moment later the Golem bullrushes through the door and begins to chase you again."