Illusion Spells Are Far More Tactical Than We Give Them Credit For

When we think of magic, we tend to picture the big, flashy spells first; lightning bolts, mind control, walls of fire, and raising the dead to do our bidding. The spells a lot of us ignore, though, are illusions. After all, outside of disguising the party to look like guards or townsfolk during a stealth mission, becoming invisible, or creating the occasional distraction, what is illusion good for, anyway?

Well, if you're creative with it, this particular school of magic can be a literal game changer.

May not be real, but it sure is effective.

While the following tips are geared toward Pathfinder, make sure you read the fine print in your particular edition. You may find that the power level of illusion is something you underestimated in a lot of other games, too.

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Wasting The Enemy's Time, Energy, and Resources

Illusionists are never going to deal the most damage in a combat situation. That role will go to the sorcerers and evokers if we're talking about spellcasters, or to the fighters, rangers, and barbarians overall. Actually putting the hurt on the enemy isn't an illusionist's job once initiative is rolled... it's ensuring that the enemy can't make sound tactical decisions because you have limited their options.

What do you mean there's no gunships? I can SEE them!

Take, for example, one of the most basic illusion spells; silent image. This spell allows you to create a rather large illusion that takes up several 10-foot squares even at a low level. Even better, you can make larger and larger illusions as you go up in level. Now say there are archers up on the hill, and they're preparing to tear apart your allies with a vicious volley... you have the ability to conjure an illusory wall between them and your allies. While the wall isn't real it will block their ability to see. This gives your allies a 50% miss chance, and if they step out of the squares they were in before the wall manifested then the archers are essentially firing blind. While the wall won't stop any projectiles, or hinder movement, it is an effective protection that enemies would have to interact with in order to disbelieve it.

For a 1st-level spell, that's not nothing.

This mindset can put a lot of other illusion spells into a different perspective for many players. For example, minor image might be able to conjure an image of a warrior about to strike that would fool a mindless undead, or distract a goblin from a fellow PC. Even if they just waste one turn attacking that smoke and mirrors, that's one turn their actions didn't harm your party. And if they fail a save after interacting with it, then hoo boy, your illusion can eat up several rounds of that enemy's efforts as they try to fight something that isn't even there while your allies seize the advantage.

While bigger illusion spells may be quasi-real in the case of shadow effects, or impose negatives on those who fail saves against them (like you see with illusory poison or wall of nausea), the way to get the most out of them in a tactical situation is to make sure they waste as much of the enemy's time (or suck up as many of their resources) as possible. Even if it's just putting a misty barrier between an ally and the enemies surrounding them that can cut off flanks, grant concealment, and buy the ally some much-needed relief as they try to do their job.

Because while mirror image and invisibility spells are useful, and phantasmal killer is always going to be classic, your real job is to ensure the enemies are swinging, shooting, and casting at things that aren't really there. Because they have to interact with the illusion to know it isn't real, and that buys you and your allies time.

Assuming, that is, you don't use your illusions to avoid combat in the first place by turning invisible and getting the guards to chase figments that look like you and the party down a side corridor.

Weaknesses to Watch Out For

While illusions are more useful than a lot of us give them credit for, they're also a nuanced school of magic that has a lot of holes in it. Illusions come in many different shapes and sizes, and with a lot of different labels. Some are mind-affecting, and some aren't. Some are patterns, some are shadows, and some are figments. It's important to read them carefully so that you know which ones are going to be effective on which enemies, and in what situations.

Additionally, creatures that have alternative senses simply aren't going to be affected by certain illusions. A blind creature with tremorsense, for instance, isn't going to react to a purely visual illusion. A creature who tracks by scent, or by hearing, won't react to an illusion with no smell or sound respectively. Any creatures with true sight are going to look right past anything that isn't real (a major concern for later in the game), and spell resistance is going to be an issue for a lot of creatures.

None of these are deal breakers, of course. It's simply important to know and understand what the strengths and limitations of your spells are before you go too deep into using your special effects to alter the battlefield in favor of your friends.

Check Out Some Gaming Stories!

For folks who haven't been keeping up on my recent changes, I've been largely hosting my Table Talk feature on Vocal, rather than here on Improved Initiative. I talked about this a bit ago in You're Not Missing My Updates (They're Over on Vocal). The short version is that Vocal pays a lot more than my blog does, and I'm trying to capitalize on that as much as I can... but it's tough getting eyeballs and fighting the algorithm. So take a moment to check out some of the following pieces!

- Game Masters Shouldn't Leave Players Twisting in The Breeze (A Red Flags Story)

- Silver Raven Chronicles Part One: Devil's Night

- Silver Raven Chronicles Part Two: From The Ashes

- Silver Raven Chronicles Part Three: The Raven's Nest

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