Quick ilusions question

[Biotroll]

Hi there playground.
I just need to ask you a question that came up during our last session. My players have seen ilusion (major image) of fire on roof of tavern they were resting in. This ilusion was acompanied by smokesticks thrown on the roof as well. When they woke up because of the smoke they ran out and seen the ilusionary flames.

Now, I have made them roll a spellcraft check and all of them failed (as nobody has any ranks in it :smallsigh:), nobody interacted with the ilusion in any way. They just grabbed their stuff and walked away, so they didn't even witness that the flames died quite fast. When they came back later they saw that the roof was not burned at all and figured out it was ilusion. However this was something that the player of gnome bard couldn't stomach as he has bonus against ilusions but we never rolled saving throw at all.

I told him I will ask if I rulled it right and apologize if I didn't, but what's done is done. So, here I am. Did I rule it right, was it reasonable or was it totaly wrong?

Thanks for answers.

[eggynack]

It looks like you ruled correctly. The relevant rule is, "Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion." Thus, if he never did anything having to do with the illusion, he didn't have the capacity to roll against it. Gnomes have neither a particular ability that lets them interact with illusions despite extenuating circumstances like these, nor a bonus to spellcraft rolls to identify an illusion, so that wouldn't help at all.

[Korahir]

You did everything right in terms of the saving throw, but why did you let them roll spellcraft? I always assumed that someone has to actively try to identify a spell to be able to roll spellcraft.

[Yora]

Yes, not getting a Will save was clearly correct in this situation. If they stayed and watch for 5 minutes and notice the fire not spreading at all, that might have been reason to get suspicious and get a save. Or if they tried anything to put it out.
But if they just run at the sight of it, that's clearly a situation that allows no save.

[The Random NPC]

As Korahir points out, not only did you rule correctly, but was especially lenient by allowing a Spellcraft roll.

[CRtwenty]

As others have said, had he done something that warranted a saving throw against the illusion (EX: Basically anything other then assuming it was real and walking away) he would have gotten a racial bonus on the save.

No save was required though, so no bonus applied.

[Biotroll]

Good, that's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. :smallsmile: And I think I gave them spellcraft check because I wanted them to find out it's illusion at that time. It made rest of the session a bit more difficult for me as they had nothing to do for a while and I was figuring out how to connect them to the story.

Anyway, thanks for all those quick responses.:smallsmile:

[Chronos]

Examples of things they could have done that would warrant a saving throw:

Studying the fire carefully, to (for instance) try to figure out how or where it started.
Saying that something seemed funny about the situation, and wondering if there really was a fire.
Attempting to take any action to fight or put out the fire.
Feeling the door of their room for heat (assuming that the illusion was a low enough level to not include thermal).
Jumping through the flames, or any other action that would have exposed them to damage if it were a real fire.
Hearing someone else say that the fire is an illusion.
Seeing the spellcaster casting the illusion, and making a Spellcraft check.

In any event, any such roll should probably include a circumstance penalty, to account for the illusory fire being accompanied by real smoke.

[KillianHawkeye]

Good, that's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. :smallsmile: And I think I gave them spellcraft check because I wanted them to find out it's illusion at that time. It made rest of the session a bit more difficult for me as they had nothing to do for a while and I was figuring out how to connect them to the story.

Anyway, thanks for all those quick responses.:smallsmile:

In cases like these, I have learned to always have a backup plan. Never, EVER, write an adventure that includes a single weak link upon which your story or plot hooks rely. Never depend on your PCs succeeding or failing in task X as a requirement for finding out vital clue Y. In fact, try to have at least 3 different vital clues to jump-start the storyline, because chances are high that players could miss one or two of them.

Just my 2cp.