Combat Illusionist

[jguy]

I have had an idea rolling around in my head for awhile now and I wonder if it is possible to make it reality. The idea is to be an illusionist that casts nothing but illusions to affect the battle field. No fireballs, no create pits, no charm person, just Silent Image and the like up on through.This would all be to assist the party in certain mechanical ways.

My first thought would to use Silent image to create a Wall of Stone. Unless the enemy had a spellcaster, they would not know I cast Silent Image instead of an actual wall of stone spell as long as they don't try to run through it, but why would they? I similar thing would be a wall of blades. Another idea would be to create several illusionary pits around the floor to herd people to were I want them.

My other main idea would be to use Major image to effectively give all my teammates a massive miss chance, almost like a Mass Displacement spell or Mass Mirror Image. Create illusions of the party standing side by side, doing the exact same thing so the enemy doesn't know which is which.

I realize this would also require a very understanding DM would doesn't just decide everyone sees through the illusions or they all have spellcraft ranks specifically to go "He cast Silent Image! Just run through the wall!"

So is this possible? And if so, does anyone have any further ideas to improve it?

[WinWin]

You mean aside from Shadowcraft?

Modifying terrain and the like works well on low/non intelligent creatures. You're going to see some major limitations the moment you encounter an opponent capable of casting True Seeing or similar.

Party composition will also determine the effectiveness of your tactics. Your illusions will probably impede chargers in your party, unless you continually shift terrain to their advantage. Rogues will love the concealment provided by illusions. The difficult terrain provided by illusions will also be of benefit for trippers/opportunists.

You will probably lose steam as you encounter more powerful opposition, through levelling. This might be a good time to start including a few non illusions or quasi-real shadow illusions into your characters repotoire.

[jguy]

If you know something is an illusion, doesn't that make it instantly see through? So what if I had a telepathic bond with all my teammates and told them instantly through it when I am casting an illusion, wouldn't they automatically save and see through it? Hell, if I do a wall of blades and the fighter casually walks through it and I have the blades cracking/braking on his skin, wouldn't that make him super intimidating?

Also, True Seeing is a pain but it is a very high level spell that requires an expensive component. If it popped up here and there I'd understand but if the DM suddenly has every caster we see already have it up and cast then I would start to feel annoyed.

Shadowcraft kind of defeats the purpose in that what is the point of making a quasi-real fireball when I could just cast fireball? This is all a challenge/test to me on my creativity and quick thinking.

[Reprimand]

Also illusions can provide flanking for allies until the enemy realizes it's a fake.

Usually they have to interact with the illusion to get a will save. If they pass they know it's fake.

[Grams]

Take Vow of Nonviolence and Vow of Peace if you want to challenge yourself and get rewarded.

[VexingFool]

I have a player who just started in my game who is using a similiar concept. I probably did not do a very good job with monster reactions to the illusions. I need to reread the rules for illusions and the spell descriptions to make sure I'm doing things right for him.

A way to communicate to your allies is definitely a good idea. My player did exactly what you were thinking and conjured up a illusionary wall of stone to cut off some advancing Ogres. But then the other players finished off the group they were working on and did not know it was an illusion so did nothing for a round until the caster dropped the spell. He could have informed them it was an illusion but decided to cast another spell.

Now that the characters have seen the Ilusionist in action, I'll probably give them a bonus to their saving throws for friendly illusions even if he does not communicate it to the party.

While writing this post I went and read some of the rules for Figments, Silent Image, Major image, Saving throws and disbelief. Yeah i botched it up pretty good last game. Ahhh well.... I'll try to be a better DM next time. :smallredface:

[JHShadon]

You could also make illusions crazy enough to make enemies pause for a moment because they have to think "What the hell is that?", something like a sunflower with a cow's head in the middle(yes, it's from this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EovMZAgjB4)) or a frog with a cat's head or whatever crazy thing you can think of, the only limit is your imagination.

[Psyren]

If they see it come out of nowhere they may get a chance to save. For one thing, I would imagine that wrenching a wall of stone out of the earth would make some kind of noise or at least vibration, while creating a silent hologram of one would do neither.

There's also missed projectiles flying through it, people that might want to try and climb it, and the factor of whether they've seen you use illusions in that fight before. If they have reason to believe you're using illusions at all they may try to test everything you throw out there.

[Particle_Man]

Part of the trick is never letting it be generally known that you are an illusionist. Unlike most high level characters, you don't want a reputation that can be discovered via knowledge checks. :smallsmile:

I did something like this with a gnome pathfinder sorcerer once. It was funny.

[jguy]

For the Wall of Stone illusion/not illusion with it just appearing, why does one guy go "That wall came from nowhere, it must be an illusion!" when Wall of Stone also just comes out of nowhere but people would go "It must be real!" Shouldn't that logic mean at least a few times people should charge face first into the real Wall of Stone thinking it is fake?

Also, with missed projectiles passing through the wall, what says a missed arrow goes over the shoulder Vs bouncing off armor/shield or hitting the floor in front of him?

[Lanaya]

If you know something is an illusion, doesn't that make it instantly see through?

No. It would entitle you to a save against the illusion which you could normally only make by interacting with it, but if you failed you wouldn't be able to see through.


If they see it come out of nowhere they may get a chance to save. For one thing, I would imagine that wrenching a wall of stone out of the earth would make some kind of noise or at least vibration, while creating a silent hologram of one would do neither.

You're not wrenching stone out of the earth, merely creating new stone where there was none before. It's conjuration, not transmutation. No doubt there would be differences between an actual wall of stone and a silent image which a learned mage would immediately notice, which is represented by one's ranks in spellcraft. An ordinary commoner with no understanding of magic won't automatically know that a real wall of stone would make lots of noise or appear in a certain fashion.