[3.5] Question: Gnome Illusionist potential?

[Yael]

I've been asking myself about the power of illusions; yet they are way too imagination/roleplay oriented/based, I think they have the power to change the course of a battle (incoming troops), a chase (a dead end just before the escaping character), or an escape (same as before, but placing the wall just where you passed). But how can this school be so strong? I don't get why the legendary ''Killer Gnome'' is called like that just by using illusions. Can anybody help? Or I just misunderstood the concept of the Killer Gnome and it's refeered to another class?

[MirddinEmris]

Well, strength of illusions strongly depend on the player's imagination and DM's interpretation of rules, so school can vary from high-powered to nearly worthless. But you asked about Killer Gnome and it refers to gnome caster with PrC Shadowcraft Mage from Races of the Stone and, in particular, it's overpowered ability Shadow Illusion, which allows you to duplicate any evocation and conjuration(summoning, creation) spell much like spells Shadow Evocation/Conjuration, but with a difference that "reality" of this duplicates depends on a spell level (1st level is 10%, 2nd is 20% etc), and this class ends with a capstone that adds 20% of "realism" to this ability. It's not that hard to reach a number higher that 100%, so when a target of the spell SAVES against it, the effect is even bigger that on a failed save. There are some downsides to this ability, like every spell will have SR Yes, even if the original didn't, but spontaneous casting of every evocation and conjuration (summoning,creation) spell from your class list (not even spells known, but entire list) is very much worth it.

That and the fact that it's very easy to boost DC for your illusion spells sky high even without Tainted Scholar.

[nedz]

Like MirddinEmris said.

Silent Image, in the right hands, has the power to win an encounter, with one spell, at level 1. It is unreliable in that there are many resistances to Illusions, even Scent can foil a Silent Image so things like Wolves can be tricky.

At mid levels your illusions are better but monsters which are outright immune become more common until most are at high level.

It's best against humanoids, though you are only targeting Will saves.

Then there is the Shadow line of spells, which the Killer Gnome build cheeses out. These give immense flexibility albeit at the cost of two saves. It's very easy to get high DCs so these are less of an issue than you might think.