How to be useful in combat as an illusionist.

[SangoProduction]

Even if it were possible to be omniscient and always fool your way out of even being in a fight, and the DM never pushes the issue, that's going to tick the rest of the group off. So, let's just assume you can't out and out avoid the combat.

What do you actually do in combat? How do you contribute?

[Nifft]

Prep: before combat, make an illusion which shapes the battlefield. For example, the Rogue is hiding inside an illusory wall, or the two archers are standing on the other side of an illusory rubble pile which hides a pit trap.

During: invisibility is a superior sanctuary, plus it's great for positioning & one free sneak attack. Blur is a solid beatstick buff. Phantasmal Killer has two saves (ugh) but it's the lowest-level save-or-die; point it at an enemy with Evasion.

After: It's easier to for the party to rest when you're all hidden by an illusion.

[Kelb_Panthera]

You contribute to your side by sowing confusion amongst the enemy.

Images can look like more combatants, obstacles, or weather/magical phenomena.

Glammers can make fortification look like open paths, allies look like enemies, vice-versa for either, or be used to hide or disguise some of the party for an ambush.

Phantasms step on enchantment toes by compelling the enemy to certain behaviors.

Shadows step on conjuration and evocation toes by being able to affect the enemy directly.

The enemy can't hurt you or your friends if they can't figure out how to get to you. Granted, the front-liners get a bit less benefit than the other casters and skill types but it's still useful tactics.

[Buufreak]

Essentially, its force will saves until the enemy is able to be mopped up. Not much different from most other high level wizard play, as far as I am concerned, just a little less corporeal, which isn't a bad thing.

[Acanous]

Illusions are flexible and honestly very powerful for the levels you find them at, with the down side that they are easily defeated by the right tactics. Meaning that illusions are best used sparingly and are hilariously effective against mindless opponents. Find a room full of zombies? Illusion a closed door over the open door, suddenly they’re just sitting there while you plink them to death. Oozes, plants, vermin, all very easy to manipulate with illusions.

Set up a tactic with your allies, like “after I cast an illusion I’ll say abracadabra” so they get a bonus on the save, and can see through your BFC. Illusion a fog cloud and your allies Enjoy one way concealment. You can do similar with Darkness, and funny enough you can cast a borky Light spell in a pinch so long as they fail the save.
Illusion is great at copying other schools, and it does it’s own thing too. It’s highly flexible and the biggest counter to it is if the enemy knows what you’re doing. So keep that in mind and enjoy.

[NerdHut]

If your DM is willing to be generous with the function of your illusions, you can do some significant debuffs.

Depending on the spell you use, you can create the appearance of something being there, and even if your opponent saves, it can still be distracting. Putting a caster inside a black sphere with loud noises may still require them to move or make a concentration check to cast a spell (not the strongest options, but it makes their life difficult).

[RoboEmperor]

Just cast silent image to create walls. Every wall requires a will save to pass and once its true nature is revealed cast another silent image. Will save after will save after will save.

[ViperMagnum357]

Be neutral and take the PRC Wizard of High Sorcery from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting, which is first party. At 3rd level you can take your first Red Robe Mystery; take Magic of Mystery. That ability forces a CL check to detect any of your spells' auras, using any divination spell or effect to reveal the effects of your spells like an Illusion or Invisibility, and each effect gets only a single chance to pierce your spells. Why is this important? Because it forces a substantial CL check with no retry to ALL such effects, including all the ones that are normally automatic, such as aura detection and True Seeing. Season that with things like Nystul's Aura to conceal your magical equipment.

That allows a dedicated Illusionist to function straight into Epic with minimal problems-provided you keep your CL in top shape.

[Acanous]

Illusion also gets better the more you know about your opponent and the setting. If you find yourself against a captain ahab or a hook, you could illusion a white whale or a crocodile to have them completely flub their turn going after or fleeing from it. The DM will like how you seem to care more about his villains and the setting, so it’ll enrich the whole game to have you research the baddies.

[Nifft]

Plus, as an Illusionist, you probably have access to four schools of non-illusion spells.

Is a grease or a caustic mire spell more effective when your opponents think it might just be an illusion? Maybe.

Is an animate dead spell more effective as a surprise tactic when you can dress up your skeletons as kidnapping victims (which might be the exact people you used to create the skeletons in the first place)? Yes, yes it is.

[Bad Wolf]

Which schools have you banned?

[Venger]

Even if it were possible to be omniscient and always fool your way out of even being in a fight, and the DM never pushes the issue, that's going to tick the rest of the group off. So, let's just assume you can't out and out avoid the combat.

What do you actually do in combat? How do you contribute?

Assuming your gm allows you to actually be an illusionist and doesn't have everyone just know everything:


the name of the game is absolutely to keep your enemies guessing. If I had to sum up playing an illusionist effectively in one word, it would be this:

Confusion.

No, not that one (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/confusion.htm), but rather the concept as a whole.

The problem that a lot of players who are new to playing illusionists (by which I mean characters who specialise in illusion, not just specialised wizards) run into is trying to focus too narrowly on illusions. What do I mean by this?

Well, illusions are dangerous/useful when paired partially with real things, right? If you hide the secret door that you and the party ducked into with, say, a silent image of smooth stone over the seam so that the guards going up and down the hall, it's really only useful because there was a wall there in the first place for it to blend into, right? You wouldn't just cast a wall in the middle of nowhere, that would look silly.

Think of your magic as a whole like this. you don't need to conjure from whole cloth, you just need to embellish slightly on what is already there. Like when you're trying to make a master of disguise, when you're not impersonating a specific individual, but rather want a safe "adventuring face'', you always go for "minor details only" since it grants a +5 to the check.

By the same token of logic, there is often an advantage to being subtle with your illusions rather than bombastic with them. Remember the adage about special effects in movies, a contemporary example of IRL illusions: If you notice it's there, then it's failed.

First timers with illusion spells are tempted to do stuff like make dragons appear to ward off enemies with the x image spells. the shortish duration, limited range they can move around in, and their high likelihood (in most cases) to be "interacted with" in the form of attack makes them generally poor choices.

Think of illusion as an optical illusion (technically, it is anyway) and your job as supplying the enemy with what they are expecting to see rather than what they're not.

You're running down that stone hallway again away from the guard patrol. there is a T intersection at the end. Wat do? Don't make a wall, they know the halls, they'll be entitled to a save or might just open fire. make a silent image of long shadows falling in the opposite direction.

You seldom want to surprise your enemies with illusion. Quite the opposite, you want to lull them into a false sense of security. This makes it much more satisfying (and fun) when you go in for the kill, depending on your preferred method of dispatch.

What I've been talking about up till now is using illusion on its own. But, since it's more of a garnish than a main dish, and a caster can't survive on illusions alone, you'll probably be supplementing it with other kinds of spells too (whether it be through other schools as a wizard, through wands as a beguiler, or through other slots as a sorcerer or chameleon, since I don't know exactly what kind of class you're planning on)

since illusions function best by building off what's "already there" as it were, like by covering the seam for the secret door earlier on, they go really well with conjuration spells.

the consequence for believing an illusory allip is real? waste your actions for a few rounds.

the consequences for failing to believe a real allip is real? enjoy your wis drain.

If you have summoning spells in your repetoire, a great way to enhance their usefulness on the battlefield is by supplementing them with illusions via spells like minor image (especially for monsters like allips, who don't make any discernable sound) or phantom battle.

if you can summon one allip in a battle, you're a real badass, but if you can suddenly summon 2 or 3, then your enemies will be quite disheartened. assuming one makes the save against a fake, after the real one drains some wis from one of them, they won't know what to think, and that can really turn the tide in a battle that you're (in actuality) outnumbered in.

just as making things appear (with the "image" line, nightmare terrain, illusory pit, etc) is an important part of illusion, so too is making things disappear. invisibility is good for more than just getting SA dice an extra time (though it is pretty great at that)

you're running down the hallway (again) from the guard patrol. there is no T intersection or turns. no secret door either, your DM is wise to your ways. wat do? A wall won't work, he reminds you, they patrol this place regularly and know how long the hall is by exactly how many paces they take every day. not wholly unreasonable, you think.

well then, if a fake wall that they can see is out, then the inverse must also be true. wall of stone + invisibility (or invisible spell if your DM is okay with that use of it) = winning. the guards see you going down the hall plain as day and chase after to hit a stone wall. you could probably wrangle a little damage out of that (it'd hurt) and they'd certainly be confused about how to overcome a wall that they can't see (digging/pickaxing their way through would be difficult without being able to ascertain progress) and depending on the height of the ceiling, you might be able to prevent them from climbing over by sealing off your escape route entirely.

while the specifics may vary depending on exactly what kind of character you want to play, just remember:

fake things can only blend in when there's something to blend in with. either use the environment or conjure something. you always want there to be a consequence for the enemy when they disbelieve your illusions.

[Darth Ultron]

There are a ton of illusion combat spells once you get beyond Core. Net of shadows is a nice low level spell to hit a foe with. Phantom Foe is nice too. Shadow Spray and Spectral Weapon can both do attacks.

Illusion is the art of misdirection and befuddlement so you are usually support of some kind slowing down the enemies or setting your team up for a devastating attack. Also think outside the box. Casting 'greater invisibility' on the party rogue may seem the obvious choice but remember he can probably get in a sneak attack anyway. ON the other hand a raging barbarian hitting FF opponents can be truly horrifying.

Play it all close to the chest and never let people know what you are actually doing (but maybe write it down in case they challenge an outcome). Mix deception with reality as well to really mess with everyone. Try and figure out what the enemy fears, and then set up an illusion
of it. Try and figure out what they want, and create an illusion of
_it_ that they then go after ignoring you. Try and figure out what
they don't care about, and hide inside that illusion.

Misdirection. Confusion. Getting inside the enemy's head and
twisting it inside-out. Illusions aren't very powerful by themselves;
the illusionist is not a combat monster, any more than a charisma-
heavy rogue is likely to be. Both of them go for the weak space
between the enemy's ears. (A certain amount of Bluff and Sense
Motive might also be appropriate. Still Spell and Silent Spell
are very useful feats for an illusionist, too.)

[ZamielVanWeber]

Just cast silent image to create walls. Every wall requires a will save to pass and once its true nature is revealed cast another silent image. Will save after will save after will save.

This is untrue by the way. It requires a will save to not think you are about to run face first into a wall like an idiot but if some crazy dude thinks he can burst that wall (or just angrily swings at the wall in a salty rage) they will pass through harmlessly.

Be careful using the image spells in combat as they are subject heavily to a DM"s purview and thus an identical scenario may be replied differently between DM"s. Do not be afraid to ask ahead of time what they think so you have a better idea of what the spell does Ina situation.

Also are you an illusionist wizard and, if so, is Chains of Disbelief from UA an option because I love that. Otherwise dig a bit for illusions that apply debuts or just make a mess of the battlefield: a surprising number do not apply to your allies.

[Arbane]

I'm currently playing a 6th-level Illusionist in a PF game, and the GM's been fairly permissive with what an illusion can do. Turns out a scary enough illusion can turn aside a stampede or severely disrupt a charge.

Thanks, Illusionary Flaming Dire Hippo! :D