Mirror Image query (3.5)

[Harperfan7]

What happens if you are mounted when you cast it? I'm having difficulty figuring this out.

[holywhippet]

Hmm, up to your DM to some extent. I'd expect either a mirror image of your mount as well - or your duplicates will be on the ground near your mount. Worst case scenario is that the images hover in midair mimicking your movements but with no mount beneath them.

[Escheton]

nah, just a bunch of bitchseat copies

[Zergrusheddie]

Well, based on the fact that "they drink potions when you drink a potion" I would assume that it creates an illusionary horse as well.

[Prodan]

Your possessions are copied in your mirror images. The horse is a possession. Therefore...

[holywhippet]

He didn't say horse though, he said mount. What if you are riding on the shoulders of another PC? More to the point, what if you then dismount - do the illusionary mounts all vanish? If they do you can identify the real image as it will be the standing next to the real mount which remains.

[Hendel]

Your possessions are copied in your mirror images. The horse is a possession. Therefore...

First, I am not sure if a mount is considered a possesion. It does not get your saving throw like possesions do but there are nifty things that you can do with a ride check. It is only a possession in the sense that it belongs to you.

Anyway, that being said, the spell is a personal spell and it says that it creates "illusionary duplicates of you." It does say they mimic you but it does not say it mimics your mount, etc.

The strictist reading would be just the caster gets copied. If an opponent wants to strike your mount they are free to do so (unless it has Share Spell for some reason). If you are on or off the mount, all of the duplicates continue to move so that it is a random shot for your opponent each time.

[Thurbane]

Mirror Image is one of those spells that causes all kinds of thorny, situational rules disputes...

[Optimystik]

And what if you're standing on a hillock when you cast it? Do your duplicates appear around it, down on ground level? Do they all get crammed into the same square as you? Do they appear floating in midair on your level? Does the spell create illusionary hillocks to go with yours?

I suppose if you're battling on the grounds of your estate the hillock could be a "possession," but somehow I doubt it.

[Siosilvar]

Does the spell create illusionary hillocks to go with yours?

Best. Interpretation. Ever.

No, you just get images around you at wherever the ground level happens to be there.

[Curmudgeon]

As a DM, I enforce strict adherence to the letter of the spell description.

The figments mimic your actions, pretending to cast spells when you cast a spell, drink potions when you drink a potion, levitate when you levitate, and so on.

If you're climbing stairs, they mimic climbing stairs (whether on the stairs or not). If you open a door, they mimic opening a door (even if there's only the one).

An attacker must be able to see the images to be fooled.

Anyone with a decent Spot skill can avoid being fooled if the Mirror Image caster interacts with their environment. However, since this doesn't happen when the figments first appear, the Spot check requires conscious use.

Trying to spot something you failed to see previously is a move action.

[Defiant]

Your possessions are copied in your mirror images. The horse is a possession. Therefore...

Gain a colossal MECH as a mount. Litter the battlefield with massive mirror images.

[Optimystik]

I agree with Curmudgeon - the spell states the images mimic drinking potions, but nowhere does it say that it actually creates illusionary potion bottles for them to quaff. Rather, it seems your duplicates would just pantomime your actions.

[Rainbownaga]

Mirror image doesn't really make much sense anyway when you analyze it too much. It's a spell with a game-mechanic effect that has some handwave fluff over the top.

My personal suggestion is (assuming the caster has some ranks in ride) to have all the mirror images clinging to the mount and constantly switching places. Attacker targets the wizard sitting in the saddle- Oops, the caster was actually the one hanging onto the side of the horse by one stirrup.

I agree with Curmudgeon - the spell states the images mimic drinking potions, but nowhere does it say that it actually creates illusionary potion bottles for them to quaff. Rather, it seems your duplicates would just pantomime your actions.

So you are suggesting that all the images are naked as well? Trying to follow the exact wording of this spell divorces it almost completely from its mechanics (for example you can have a pair of the naked mages wandering off wherever they want to) and it still makes the crunch seem illogical (viz the area vs. singular attack).

I strongly suggest just keeping the crunch and handwaving the fluff; unless you're capable of reconciling all the contradictions and complexities, in which case you're a better man than me.

[Optimystik]

So you are suggesting that all the images are naked as well?

Not at all, but neither am I suggesting that the spell faithfully recreates every item in your bag of holding/potion belt just in case you pull something out of it during combat.

There are limits to these things, and I think a herd of illusionary horses is probably past that limit.

[Prodan]

The figments mimic your actions, pretending to cast spells when you cast a spell, drink potions when you drink a potion, levitate when you levitate, and so on.

They can't pretend to drink potions if the spell does not provide an illusory potion.

Unless you are going to argue that it means they wrap their hands around an imaginary potion bottle and drink air, in which case I would like to point out that makes the spell useless for its intended purpose. What's next, them pretending to pull out snake's bladders (but no actual component) for spells, whilst the caster pulls out a real one, thus making it incredibly easy for a readied action attack at the real caster to hit the intended target?

I'll give you the horse, but the potion seems within any sane person's definition of reasonable.

[Optimystik]

I'll give you the horse, but the potion seems within any sane person's definition of reasonable.

Relax, I wasn't disputing the potion; merely using it as an illustration of the grey area of the spell. The illusions would hold fake potions in my games.

[Ormur]

My interpretation would be that it replicates the your appearance, the things you are wearing, the things you are manipulating and possibly your mount (if it's not an independent creature because that would give that creature mirror image to or two castings of the spell for one) and then positions the illusion so it makes sense in relations to the ground within the range of the spell.

If you are holding a potion vial they too are, if you climb up stairs they can't, they'll just look like they're walking silly on the floor. If you stand on higher ground they still appear on the ground. They only hover or fly above if you are doing it and then in relation to the ground below them in the same way you are.

[AvatarZero]

DnD has a lot of situations like this. For instance, if you've got a specific excuse in mind for how hit points work you're pretty much guaranteed to encounter one or two situations per session where what you imagined doesn't work.

Is it dodging at the last minute? Then why does poison still work on an attack that doesn't kill you? Are attacks penetrating your armour? Then why do you never need to get it repaired? Does it represent some utterly undefinable combat instinct that consistently turns a fatal blow into a glancing one? ...then why is it as hard to heal these glancing blows as it is to heal a mortal wound on a lv1 Commoner?

I reckon when it comes to situations like this, your best bet is to work out what happens first, based on the rules, and then narrate something that makes sense. Mirror Image works. Therefore, it generates an image of you on a horse if you're on a horse when you cast it. You get off the horse, so do all your copies. Move away (no image can be more than five feet from an image or you) and the horses disappear.

More important than all that, wouldn't a horse be spooked by all these phantom horses? Do they need special training to not throw you immediately when you cast a spell? I don't read the Monster Manual very often but I'm pretty sure that horses don't have the Spellcraft skill; they can't tell if the spell you're casting is friendly or not, so they might try to interrupt you. What if you cast Mage Armor on your horse? Would it attempt a Will save?

[Curmudgeon]

I agree with Curmudgeon - the spell states the images mimic drinking potions, but nowhere does it say that it actually creates illusionary potion bottles for them to quaff.

Well, I'm not quite that harsh. The spell says it creates figments that mimic drinking potions, and it's feeble to do that without giving those figments illusory potion bottles. It's a very poor illusion if the "illusory duplicates of you" appear without your clothing, gear, or attended objects.

I draw the line between the illusory creature (with their attended gear) and everything else. If the caster pulls out a potion bottle, the figments do so, too. But Mirror Image has no provisions for duplicating environment (stairs, doors, hills, & c.) or other creatures (including mounts).

A personal range spell can't replicate another creature, because that's just not allowed.

Personal: The spell affects only you.

[ka_bna]

I thought about an other angle. From the SRD: "Figments seem to react normally to area spells (such as looking like they’re burned or dead after being hit by a fireball)."

Therefore the figments can and will (re)act independently from you (when the figment is hit by a fireball and you're not). So I'd rule the figments appear walking around you.
If you'd say it is obvious who is the real caster, don't forget: "While moving, you can merge with and split off from figments so that enemies who have learned which image is real are again confounded."

[El Dorado]

Maybe the images are drinking the same potion. Yanno, like passing a bottle around. . .

[Harperfan7]

I'm not sure most of you are seeing my problem. If you are on a mount (horse or not), the mount shouldn't be affected by the spell because it is a separate creature. The problem is that if the mount isn't affected, then there are several copies of you floating nearby in midair minus the horse, which makes it very obvious which "you" isn't an image.

One person said they would all be riding bitch, but I'd think it'd be fairly easy to tell which one is in the correct spot.

Maybe this spell just isn't for mounted casters...

[ka_bna]

The problem is that if the mount isn't affected, then there are several copies of you floating nearby in midair minus the horse, which makes it very obvious which "you" isn't an image.

My point was that the copies aren´t literal copies: if one gets hit by a fireball and you, the copy can burn independently. If they can burn independently, they can walk so too.

Easy solution, be a druid with acces to this spell. Cast it, and your companion gets the benefit too.