Brainstorming New Pattern Illusions

[GalacticAxekick]

As part of a homebrew project, I'm trying to dramatically it calmly expand the variety of Illusion spells in 5e. I want it to be possible and viable to play a Wizard who only learns illusions.

One area of untapped potential is Pattern spells. For those who dont know, Patterns in 3e were a special category of illusions which do not aim to decieve your senses, but instead to attack you through them. The only patterns remaining in 5e are Color Spray and Hypnotic Pattern. I want your help to brainstorm more.

[GalacticAxekick]

Some loose ideas, for starters:

Flash/Bang. A cantrip which blinds or deafens the target for the rest of the turn. The Bang option also threatens to startle targets, breaking concentration and causing them to release things they are holding.
Strobe. A pattern of coloured light that would inflict seizures, knocking targets unconscious.
Subliminal Message. A complex pattern of subtle sensory stimuli that implants ideas in the targets mind
Hypnotic Mark. Identical to Hypnotic Pattern, except fixed on a surface such a piece of paper. An illusory trap of sorts.
Condition/Trigger. A complex pattern of subtle sensory stimuli that associates a certain trigger (an image, sound, or even smell) with a response. You can produce the trigger by casting this spell again, or it can occur naturally.
Brown Note. A sickening noise that poisons or even incapacitates listeners

[Segev]

White noise – a sursurus of meaningless noise that drowns out normal sounds. Wisdom (perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made by creatures in the area or to detect things in the area have disadvantage, and normal conversation requires an Intelligence (Investigation) check against the spell save DC to be understood. If the speaker wants to be heard and speaks up to talk over the noise, this check does not suffer disadvantage. If the speaker shouts loudly, he can let others make the check at advantage, but is also audible at a much greater distance; he is shouting, after all.

Potentially useful for hiding verbal components.



A higher level spell that creates an image of something so objectively ugly that it forces a saving throw (probably Intelligence or Charisma), causing petrification on a failure. Save again at the end of each affected creature's turn if the image is no longer in line of sight.

[GalacticAxekick]

A higher level spell that creates an image of something so objectively ugly that it forces a saving throw (probably Intelligence or Charisma), causing certification on a failure. Save again at the end of each affected creature's turn if the image is no longer in line of sight.I assume you mean petrification and not certification XD

This is interesting! Mechanically, this could easily be based on the Medusa's Gaze! Thematically, I don't think it makes sense for an illusion to literally petrify its targets, but it could reasonably paralyze them!


Medusa's Gaze
7th level illusion
Casting Time: Action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration (up to 1 hour)

You transform your appearance into one so objectively hideous that it strikes horror into the hearts of all who meet your eyes.

When a creature that can see you starts its turn within 30 feet of you or enters within 30 feet of you on its turn, and if you can see the creature, you can force the creature to make a Charisma saving throw. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is instantly paralyzed. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save is restrained.

If the restrained creature is still within 30 feet of you, if it can still see you, and if you can still see it by the start of its next turn, you can force it to repeat this saving throw, and is paralyzed on a failure. If these conditions are not met, the creature is no longer restrained.

Whether the creature is paralyzed instantly or over time, the paralysis lasts until the creature is no longer within 30 feet of you, until it cannot see you, or until you cannot see it.

Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the initial saving throw. If a creature does so, it can't see you until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at you in the meantime, it must immediately make the save. If you see yourself reflected on a polished surface within 30 feet of yourself and in an area of bright light, you are affected by this very spell.

[Segev]

Fair enough paralysis vs. petrification, but I will point out that the mythical Medeusa did not have a gaze. People turned to stone because she was that hideous.

[GalacticAxekick]

Fair enough paralysis vs. petrification, but I will point out that the mythical Medeusa did not have a gaze. People turned to stone because she was that hideous.I'm aware.

Nonetheless, the Medusa in 5e's Monster Manual (https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/monstres.php?vo=medusa) has a feature called Petrifying Gaze, which I copied almost word for word to quickly draft this spell.

[sandmote]

If I'm understanding the 3.5e rules correctly, the following seem to define the limits for what a Pattern is.

A Figment exists and is visible to all and can change creature's behavior but has no physical effect on anyone.
A Glamer (as spelled in the online SRD I use) is like a figment, but also hides something affecting the same sense.
A Phantasm exists only in the mind of the target, but the target's belief in the illusion is strong enough to cause them harm.
A Pattern has an effect directly on the mind of the target without replacing what's there, but is also generally visible.
A Shadow creates something that has physical effect, rather than purely mental ones.

I suppose the existence of such distinctions make sense, even if it doesn't seem to be followed in practice (ex: an Illusory Pit is visible to all, but creatures within range are forced to make a save, despite the fact it is listed as a "figment" on my copy of Complete Arcane).

But my general note here is going to be that I'm not sure Patterns have much design space to play with. If it's visible and affects people, it is easier to figure out what a new spell does if it physically creates something. So unless you intentionally mean to create a Pattern, it is probably much easier to make your spell an evocation or conjuration. For instance, my first idea for a suggestion was an illusory smell knocking off the Stench feature of monsters like troglodytes. And then I remembered that Stinking Cloud already fills the niche for anyone who just wants that sort of spell.

This is further complicated by the fact that Illusions change what a person considers as fact when the act, but changing what conclusion a person will reach based on a particular set of facts falls into the realm of Enchantments. For instance, your idea for a Condition/Trigger spell seems very similar to the existing Suggestion spell.

You could probably add the 3.5e Wu Jen's Apparition spell as a lower level version of your Medusa's Gaze though. To be honest though, I'm not sure how many Phantasms you can come up with that don't read "you can inflict some condition on some creature(s) in range," and in a lot of cases they're competing with about three other spell schools to claim each particular effect.

Running through the official conditions now:

Blinded: already covered by Color Spray (illusion).
Charmed: "immunity to charming" feels like a functional replacement for "immunity to mind-effecting spells," but I'm not sure what illusion spell wouldn't just be replicating effects associated with enchantments.
Deafened: if its worth writing up a spell to deafen, I think illusion is the top school for such a spell. A conjuration or evocation creating the same effect would likely be attention grabbing outside its intended range.
Exhaustion: If the spell's level is high enough it could go okay. Probably inflict 1-2 levels of exhaustion to a lot of enemies (their lifespans are measured in rounds already).
Frightened: already covered by Fear (illusion).
Grappled: most effects restrain instead.
Incapacitated: already covered by Hypnotic Pattern (illusion) and Sleep (enchantment).
Invisible: These spells are listed under the "Glamer" category in 3.5e.
Paralyzed: already covered by Hold Person (enchantment) and related spells. Maybe a pattern spell inflicts paralysis on multiple targets for only a single round?
Petrified: could work, but long term is covered by Flesh to Stone (transmutation)
Poisoned: "Retching and reeling" is easier to justify; don't think this makes sense to cause with a pattern.
Prone: Probably not worth casting, I admit. Maybe if you add the rider from Shocking Grasp?
Restrained: Covered by several conjuration spells, and would probably have to be a Shadow spell for any illusion to do it.
Stunned: usually just a worse Paralyzed, but could work with Patterns.
Unconscious: could work as an upgrade to Hypnotic Pattern, as the creatures would be unaware of anything that happened while they were out. I'll suggest "Eldritch Pattern," for this, as I too don't know many synonyms for the word.

[BerzerkerUnit]

My most sincere apologies for being "that guy" but here are some quick and dirty options:

For literally any evocation spell:

"Illusory Evocations"
1st level Illusion
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Instant
When you cast this spell it appears to duplicate the effects of a common evocation spell with an instant duration of first level and below, however any target of the spell makes a Wisdom save instead of the save normally triggered by the duplicated spell, taking 5d4 psychic damage on a failure and no damage on a success. If the spell had a secondary effect such as the forced movement of Thunderwave, the target suffers that effect on a failure as well. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this spell is rendered unconscious but stable.

Casting at higher levels. When you cast this spell with a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, this spell can create illusory mimicry of a spell of the level equal to the slot used to cast. The damage of this illusory spell is increased by 2d4 for each level above 1st. For example, casting this spell with a 3rd level slot could recreate a Fireball and the damage on a failure would be 9d4.

For all the summons:

"Imaginary Friends"
3rd level Illusion
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 1 hour
When you cast this spell it appears to conjure an Undead, Fey, or Shadow as seen in the Summon spells for those creatures. The illusionary creature has statistics identical those outlined in their respective spells, however all of their damage is psychic. At the end of any turn in which they damage a creature, that target can make a wisdom save against your spell DC. On a success they see the summoned creature as an illusion, it becomes translucent to them and they become immune to its damage and other effects. If they announce this to their allies, such allies make their next Wisdom save or Investigation check to recognize it as an illusion with advantage. Creatures reduced to 0 hit points by these illusory creatures are rendered unconscious but stable.

Casting at higher levels. When you cast this spell with a spell slot of 4th level or higher you can instead duplicate a Summon spell with a level equal to the level of the spell slot used or apply the increased level of the casting to the creature's statistics as outlined in their respective spells.

[GalacticAxekick]

My most sincere apologies for being "that guy" but here are some quick and dirty options:Both of these options look pretty good! But neither of them are Patterns.

The defining trait of Patterns is that they aren't meant to trick anyone. They arent fake phenomena or creatures like flames and bears

They are sensory effects that hurt or affect you. Like a flashing light that, real or not, na makes it hard to see.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Both of these options look pretty good! But neither of them are Patterns.

The defining trait of Patterns is that they aren't meant to trick anyone. They arent fake phenomena or creatures like flames and bears

They are sensory effects that hurt or affect you. Like a flashing light that, real or not, na makes it hard to see.

Then

Coldsnap- wide area numbness causing weapon fumbling and acrobatics checks to recover or stay standing. Repeat save at end of turn.

Wrong Way Turns- 1 hour duration, no save, level 1. target creep needs to make investigation checks as action to move where they want otherwise roll 1d8 and determine the direction they walk randomly. Once the target succeeds on a check, effect ends. Upcast to target more creatures. Combo with Seeming to make targets fight among themselves.

Covered with scorpions- cantrip, on failed save target feels like they are covered with scorpions. Unless immune to poison they are frightened and speed is reduced to 0 until end of their next turn.

[sandmote]

Okay, taking the rambling from my previous post:

Crashing Illusion
1st-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You conjure an image of a heavy object of your choice hurtling through an area in range at speed, which appears capable of great harm. The area can be up to 30 feet long, up to 10 feet wide, and up to 10 feet tall. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is knocked prone and cannot make reactions until the start of its next turn.

(Artificer, Cleric, Wizard)

Shut Down Senses
2nd-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round.
You create a twining pattern of numbness that blossoms through the air inside a sphere with a 20-foot radius within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is your choice of blinded, deafened, and unable to smell or taste.

A creature outside the pattern's area must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against your Spell Save DC to notice the pattern appear.

(Artificer, Wizard)

Eldritch Pattern
6th-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a glowing stick of incense or a crystal vial filled with phosphorescent material)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 Minute.
You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 30-foot cube within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes stunned for the duration.

The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.

(Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)

Crashing illusion is a lot better if you note the rules that spells with areas forming a line, cube, or rectangular prism affect any 5-foot square overlapping with thee area of the spell.

Shut Down senses seems good enough for ambushes that I don't think I can justify a longer duration.

Stunning also forces the target to fail Str and Dex saves, so I don't feel Eldritch Pattern can be dropped below 6th level. On the same note there may be a good case to make it higher level.

[GalacticAxekick]

I'm not sure Patterns have much design space to play with. If it's visible and affects people, it is easier to figure out what a new spell does if it physically creates something. So unless you intentionally mean to create a Pattern, it is probably much easier to make your spell an evocation or conjuration.True! But I do intentionally mean to create Patterns. My goal is to write so many spells for each school of magic that a Wizard could exclusively learn spells from one school up to 20th level. Ideally, I want enough spells for the Wizard to pick and choose (rather than take the only options available), and I want the spells to be powerful enough that the Wizard isn't crippling themselves to play out a gimmick.


For instance, my first idea for a suggestion was an illusory smell knocking off the Stench feature of monsters like troglodytes. And then I remembered that Stinking Cloud already fills the niche for anyone who just wants that sort of spell. Stinking Cloud is a 20-foot radius sphere of visible gas, tangible gas, which causes creatures to waste their actions retching.

A Stench Illusion, like a troglodyte's Stench, could be a 5-foot radius sphere is invisible odor, which inflicts the poisoned condition. It could be cast on a target (a creature or an object) and follow that target around! And as an Illusion, it would be impossible to wash or blow away!

There's plenty of design space for your suggestion.


This is further complicated by the fact that Illusions change what a person considers as fact when the act, but changing what conclusion a person will reach based on a particular set of facts falls into the realm of Enchantments. For instance, your idea for a Condition/Trigger spell seems very similar to the existing Suggestion spell. This is an excellent point. Condition/Trigger is too similar to an Enchantment, and so I'll scrap that idea.


I'm not sure how many Phantasms you can come up with that don't read "you can inflict some condition on some creature(s) in range," and in a lot of cases they're competing with about three other spell schools to claim each particular effect. Many spells inflict the same conditions. Color Spray, Blindness/Deafness, Blinding Smite, Wall of Light, Sunbeam and Sunburst all inflict the Blinded condition, for example. But differences in area, duration, saving throw (or lack thereof), and additional affects make these spells very different from one another.

I think there's design space to have Illusions cover the same conditions as other spells, and even as other Illusions! Running through some of the official conditions, for example:

Blinded: A cantrip (let's call it Flash) could blind a single target or even a small area for the rest of the current turn, allowing the spellcaster to run away, run through, or perform actions unseen. At 1st level, Color Spray offers a short-ranged and short-duration blinding effect. I would argue that Color Spray should always blind targets for the rest of the current turn, and have a chance to blind them for longer. A higher level spell (let's call it Strobe) could create a persistant source of blinding light (akin to a disco-ball) with a small chance of inducing a seizure (aka, unconsciousness)
Charmed: Hypnotic Pattern covers this, and is probably the only justifiable way an Illusion could cover this.
Deafened: A cantrip (let's call it Bang could deafen a single target or even a small area until the start of your next turn, allowing the spellcaster and his party to speak, move, and take actions unheard. A lot of effects could be associated with this: such as startling the deafened creature into losing concentration on spells and dropping what they are holding, or simply being audible from great distances and being a useful distraction or signal.
Frightened: This is covered by Fear (which, ironically, I believe should be an Enchantment rather than an Illusion). I think there's room for a Jumpscare Illusion which causes a frightening image and sound to appear when a certain condition is met, but that's more of a Figment than a Pattern.
Paralyzed: The Gorgon Stare idea mentioned elsewhere in this thread covers this niche nicely!
Poisoned: Stench of course! At higher levels, a Brown Note Illusion could fill a large area with a sickening noise.
Prone: A Vertigo illusion could be written to targets lose all sense of balance and move in random directions (or worse, the direction of the caster's choosing!) A creature might be able to resist the forced movement... by falling prone, putting enemies between a rock and a hard place. "Do you run away and take an opportunity attack, or stay where you want to be and fall on your face?"
Unconscious: Covered by the aforementioned Strobe spell, of course. Consider another spell that could scare a target into fainting (like a more powerful version of Jumpscare). True, that would be more of a Figment than a Pattern, but it's still an interesting idea!




Crashing Illusion
1st-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You conjure an image of a heavy object of your choice hurtling through an area in range at speed, which appears capable of great harm. The area can be up to 30 feet long, up to 10 feet wide, and up to 10 feet tall. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is knocked prone and cannot make reactions until the start of its next turn.This is a cool idea! Definitely more of a Figment than a Pattern, but cool!

But if the target's are falling prone because they're ducking to avoid the heavy projectile, it might make more sense for creatures who succeed on the save to fall prone, and I think that subversion of expectation is hilarious. What a way to take out-hard-to-hit targets with great Dex saves and AC!


Shut Down Senses
2nd-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round.
You create a twining pattern of numbness that blossoms through the air inside a sphere with a 20-foot radius within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is your choice of blinded, deafened, and unable to smell or taste.

A creature outside the pattern's area must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against your Spell Save DC to notice the pattern appear. It's hard to image a twisting pattern that causes numbness, so thematically this is a bit of a stretch. But I like the idea of an illusory flashbang that renders targets blind and deaf while you ambush them.

Honestly, a simple flashbang might be a better Pattern for that niche!

A totally numbing Illusion would probably resemble Mental Prison, minus the damage and restraining effect, but with greater limits to the target's senses.


Eldritch Pattern
6th-level illusion

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a glowing stick of incense or a crystal vial filled with phosphorescent material)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 Minute.
You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 30-foot cube within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes stunned for the duration.

The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.This overlaps heavily with Hypnotic Pattern. Probably too much to justify making it its own thing.

I like the idea of an "Eldritch Pattern" though: an otherworldly image that seriously affects creatures who see it. Something Lovecraftian, or something akin to "seeing the face of God" in Old Testament terms.

I'll write that as a high level Divination available to Clerics, Warlocks and Wizards!

[GalacticAxekick]

Coldsnap- wide area numbness causing weapon fumbling and acrobatics checks to recover or stay standing. Repeat save at end of turn. I love this idea! I think I'll make this version a cold-based Evocation and a single-target version a numbing Illusion.


Wrong Way Turns- 1 hour duration, no save, level 1. target creep needs to make investigation checks as action to move where they want otherwise roll 1d8 and determine the direction they walk randomly. Once the target succeeds on a check, effect ends. Upcast to target more creatures. Combo with Seeming to make targets fight among themselves.I'll use this idea too!


Covered with scorpions- cantrip, on failed save target feels like they are covered with scorpions. Unless immune to poison they are frightened and speed is reduced to 0 until end of their next turn.Thematically, why does being covered in (illusory) scorpions immobilize the target? I would expect something more like Infestation, which forces the target to make panicked movement.

Besides that, this is a Figment, not a Pattern. If you want to determine whether an Illusion is a Pattern or not, ask yourself "Would this still be effective if the target knew it isnt real?". If the answer is "no, it wouldn't be effective" then the answer is no, its not a Pattern"

[BerzerkerUnit]

I love this idea! I think I'll make this version a cold-based Evocation and a single-target version a numbing Illusion.

I'll use this idea too!

Again, this isnt a Pattern.

If you want to determine whether an Illusion is a Pattern or not, ask yourself "Would this still be effective if the target knew it isnt real?". If the answer is "no, it wouldn't be effective" then the answer is no, its not a Pattern"

I think the name of the last one was confusing the intent. If you suddenly felt 10s of 1000s of creatures crawling all over you, you wouldn't have time to know it isn't real, on a failed save you'd immediately be overcome with revulsion and try to scrape whatever is making the tingling off, likely out of fear of being bit or stung.

Consider all other illusions, on a failed save the target has the option of suffering the effect normally (temporary move 0) or -using their action to make an investigation check vs your save DC- at which point they would be visually confirming that what is there (nothing) conflicts with what they think is there.

Also note: I don't recall "pattern" being a tag line, key word, or anything of the sort for the past 3 editions. I'm not saying it never was, just that this is the first I'm hearing of it.

Illusion defaults typically to "investigation action voids its effect" or "you weave shadow magic in to make it real enough to work anyway." Color Spray should, by all reasonable metrics, be evocation since it seems to conjure actual light, but it works as illusion because the target does not have time to determine whether it's real or not, they're just blasted by it and by the time they can reason out whether it was real or fake, their eyes adjust and the effect has ended.

Covered with Scorpions, a spell that doesn't cover you with scorpions or create illusory creatures, just overwhelms your tactile sense with the feeling of being eyes deep in a nest of vermin. It's a weak save or suck that a creature's natural tendencies provide some defense against. IE if you don't give a flip about poison, you can probably ignore being covered in potentially poisonous things, but for anything else, the concern about the pain/risk of death would be enough to give them pause unless they succeed on the save, and if they fail the save but still think "hey, wait a minute, I don't remember stumbling into a scorpion nest/spider webs/beehive" they can stop to confirm, in which case the fear will end, they'll be able to move, but will have spent their action to do so (a fine trade off by any player's standard). As a DM I'd probably let something like a bear ignore it as well given their honey pursuits, but that's an edge case that deserves an on the spot call rather than word count.

So by your criteria of "creates a sensory effect that does a thing" it does seem to fit. Coldsnap was explicitly the same, it overwhelms target's sensory inputs to feel like they're suddenly frost bit. That has a significant advantage over an evocation effect in that actual resistance or immunity to cold might not do anything to prevent it from working, unless you wanted to add the same kind of rider, IE a creature that doesn't give a flip about cold will ignore what they perceive as a sudden temp drop because they're built to withstand that.

Since Hypnotic Pattern, Eldritch Pattern (above), and Mental Prison if you just think of it like Kaleidoscope in every direction, seem to do a fine job otherwise, I don't think there's too much design space outside 1 spell per sense and 1 to blast them all.

[GalacticAxekick]

I think the name of the last one was confusing the intent. If you suddenly felt 10s of 1000s of creatures crawling all over you, you wouldn't have time to know it isn't real, on a failed save you'd immediately be overcome with revulsion and try to scrape whatever is making the tingling off, likely out of fear of being bit or stung.

Consider all other illusions, on a failed save the target has the option of suffering the effect normally (temporary move 0) or -using their action to make an investigation check vs your save DC- at which point they would be visually confirming that what is there (nothing) conflicts with what they think is there.Yes, this Illusion differs from other deceptive Illusions because the target has no time to make an investigation check. But it's still deceptive. It's still not a Pattern.

The definition is thematic, not mechanical. The definition is "Illusions which harass rather than decieve", and not "Illusions which do not allow Investigation checks".


Covered with Scorpions, a spell that doesn't cover you with scorpions or create illusory creatures, just overwhelms your tactile sense with the feeling of being eyes deep in a nest of vermin. Again, that's just another way of saying "illusory scorpions". It isnt "an image that the target mistakes for scorpions", true! But its "a tactile sensation that the target mistakes for scorpions". That's why it inflicts fear, and that's why poison immunity negates it. Its deceptive, and therefore not a Pattern.


Also note: I don't recall "pattern" being a tag line, key word, or anything of the sort for the past 3 editions. I'm not saying it never was, just that this is the first I'm hearing of it. Here you go. (https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:School_(Subschool))


Illusion defaults typically to "investigation action voids its effect" or "you weave shadow magic in to make it real enough to work anyway." Color Spray should, by all reasonable metrics, be evocation since it seems to conjure actual light, but it works as illusion because the target does not have time to determine whether it's real or not, they're just blasted by it and by the time they can reason out whether it was real or fake, their eyes adjust and the effect has ended.If an Illusionist can weave together any image they choose, I see no reason why they cant create a abstract mess of blinding, seizure-inducing, or hypnotic colours. This is why Colour Spray exists in particular, and why Patterns exist in general.


So by your criteria of "creates a sensory effect that does a thing" it does seem to fit.The criteria is "sensory effect that does a thing regardless of how you interpret it."

A bright light is blinding whether I tell you it's no brighter than a candle. Bitter cold is crippling no matter what the thermometer days. But the feeling of scorpions is not intimidating if you know that they are not real scorpions. Tge interpretation of the sensation, and not the sensation itself, is the key.


Since Hypnotic Pattern, Eldritch Pattern (above), and Mental Prison if you just think of it like Kaleidoscope in every direction, seem to do a fine job otherwise, I don't think there's too much design space outside 1 spell per sense and 1 to blast them all.If thats what you think, alright. I'll continue to brainstorm more.

[BerzerkerUnit]

I don't know man, sounds pretty arbitrary. Like the difference between being blinded by a bunch of flashing lights and truly believing someone threw a bunch of paint in your face seems pretty arbitrary. And if you had the opportunity to name a spell "Shivers and Tingles- the spell that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system to trigger a fear response but isn't creating actual fear because that's an emotion rooted in the interpretation of sensory inputs (exactly like the input that predator or hazard is near) and therefore covered by Enchantment, or you could call it "covered with scorpions"... Well, I know which one I picked.

[GalacticAxekick]

I don't know man, sounds pretty arbitrary. Like the difference between being blinded by a bunch of flashing lights and truly believing someone threw a bunch of paint in your face seems pretty arbitrary. Are you trying to say "the difference between real blinding lights and illusory blinding lights is tenuous, because they both do the same thing?"

If so, I agree! Colour Spray could be almost perfectly replicated by an Evocation spell, for sure! That's how you know it's a Pattern and not a deceptive Illusion! Because there is no option to "disbelieve": only to "endure" or "avoid".


And if you had the opportunity to name a spell "Shivers and Tingles- the spell that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system to trigger a fear response but isn't creating actual fear because that's an emotion rooted in the interpretation of sensory inputs (exactly like the input that predator or hazard is near) and therefore covered by Enchantment, or you could call it "covered with scorpions"... Well, I know which one I picked.Yes, of the spell induced fear directly it would be an Enchantment.

Yes, if the spell induced fear by creating a scary stimulus it would be a deceptive Illusion.

Both of those are reasonable ideas for spells. I'm only saying that neither is a Pattern

[sandmote]

For clarity's sake I'm going to refer to patterns, figments, phantasms, ect. below in the same manner I refer to schools of spells. Given the nature of the forum, I want to note I'm aware they're all subschools of illusions.
True! But I do intentionally mean to create Patterns. My goal is to write so many spells for each school of magic that a Wizard could exclusively learn spells from one school up to 20th level. Ideally, I want enough spells for the Wizard to pick and choose (rather than take the only options available), and I want the spells to be powerful enough that the Wizard isn't crippling themselves to play out a gimmick. And I consider this a feat which would be both worthy and impressive. But I worry that within the category of illusions, a lot of patterns will come out seeming forced (as I think that Shut Down Senses did).


A Stench Illusion, like a troglodyte's Stench, could be a 5-foot radius sphere is invisible odor, which inflicts the poisoned condition. It could be cast on a target (a creature or an object) and follow that target around! And as an Illusion, it would be impossible to wash or blow away!

There's plenty of design space for your suggestion. A good idea, but one that I would count as a glamer. My concern is a lack of design space among pattern spells specifically, not illusions in general.


I think there's design space to have Illusions cover the same conditions as other spells, and even as other Illusions! Running through some of the official conditions, for example: Note that more than one of your own ideas in the following list read "more of a figment than a pattern." I think that the issue you will run into is that patterns are going to largely be Area of Effect spells inflicting a particular condition (or something that works like a condition with different effects) for a short time. This isn't a wide design space, even before you consider that many variations of this effect will turn to be simpler as conjurations, evocations, enchantments, figments, phantasms, or shadows.


A higher level spell (let's call it Strobe) could create a persistant source of blinding light (akin to a disco-ball) with a small chance of inducing a seizure (aka, unconsciousness) I suspect this idea is in slightly poor taste. Aside from that, I think a persistent source of blinding light would be an evocation rather than a pattern. See Faerie Fire, Moonbeam, Daylight, Dawn, Wall of Light, Sunbeam, and Sunburst.


I think there's room for a Jumpscare Illusion which causes a frightening image and sound to appear when a certain condition is met, but that's more of a Figment than a Pattern. As a point of reference, you can have a Glyph of Warding to create the effects of the fear spell, which I think functions that same as your Jumpscare.


This is a cool idea! Definitely more of a Figment than a Pattern, but cool!

But if the target's are falling prone because they're ducking to avoid the heavy projectile, it might make more sense for creatures who succeed on the save to fall prone, and I think that subversion of expectation is hilarious. What a way to take out-hard-to-hit targets with great Dex saves and AC! I was thinking the targets try to avoid the object, and anyone who does poorly enough fails to land on their feet. If you're looking for spells to have more differentiated effects, your change would probably give the spell a better niche.

Upon review I would agree it is more of a figment, but I also think that if I write it so no one except that targets actually sees such an object, it would be more of a phantasm than a pattern. Again, I clearly see a design space between figments and phantasms where pattern spells exist, but which is nonetheless appears very small. {I'm sure there's a requisite joke on this, but my attempts to formulate it have proved illusory}.


It's hard to image a twisting pattern that causes numbness, so thematically this is a bit of a stretch. But I like the idea of an illusory flashbang that renders targets blind and deaf while you ambush them.

Honestly, a simple flashbang might be a better Pattern for that niche! How's the following descriptive text instead?


An incomprehensible and unhinged pattern erupts in the air from a point of your choosing within range, forming a 20-foot sphere that overloads the senses.


I like the idea of an "Eldritch Pattern" though: an otherworldly image that seriously affects creatures who see it. Something Lovecraftian, or something akin to "seeing the face of God" in Old Testament terms.

I'll write that as a high level Divination available to Clerics, Warlocks and Wizards! I intended this as a higher level equivalent to Hypnotic Pattern, since that's a quick and easy way to write spells. See my previous concerns about how much variation in pattern spells you can really have before the effect they make more sense in a different school or subschool.

Edit on account of taking ages to write and format:

Colour Spray could be almost perfectly replicated by an Evocation spell, for sure! That's how you know it's a Pattern and not a deceptive Illusion! Because there is no option to "disbelieve": only to "endure" or "avoid". I think this helps clarify for me how Patterns aren't just filling a space between Figments and Phantasms, but it does also feel a bit like an admission that there's very little space in the area for spells that count as patterns.

Particularly, I think that Color Spray creates a physical effect that makes someone unable to process the differences in light, where an evocation is simply so bright that all neurons traveling from the eye to the brain start reporting "all rods and cones activated."