Sights and Sounds
As you may have already noticed from the previous articles this week, we’re continuing our year-long cycle of theme weeks devoted to spell schools this week with Illusion Week, devoted to the most sly and cunning school of magic, and, in many ways, the most misunderstood. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the various illusion-themed feats, magic items, and class features on display so far, but we all know that the biggest spectacle on a week devoted to a school of magic surely has to be the spells. I can only hope that the following new illusion spells are up to the task.
Illusory Double
You create a figment that looks, sounds, smells, and even feels exactly as you do. By default, the figment seems to wear clothing identical to whatever you are wearing as you cast the spell, but you can choose to have it appear to be wearing something else, instead, if desired. By actively concentrating on the illusion, you can directly control its actions, but the real utility of the spell comes in the double’s ability to react on its own, without your direct intervention.
You can give the double general instructions on how to act, and it will carry out those orders to the best of its ability, even without your direct input. You might direct the double to “patrol the battlements,” in which case it would do so, without needing to be told exactly which battlements or in what way to patrol them. The double is capable of speech, and can even carry on a conversation without your direct control, although it is not intelligent, and if the conversation becomes particularly complicated or difficult in any way, it is likely to respond in odd ways or make strange non sequiturs. In the same way, it has limited ability to respond to other situations on its own: if the figment is hit by an arrow or a sword, it will react accordingly, developing a wound, being knocked back, and so forth. This pseudo-intelligence is limited as well, and sometimes the double may respond incorrectly, such as by acting wounded when someone pins a medal on him, or something similar.
Because of this occasional odd behavior, any character who spends at least an hour interacting with the double is entitled to a new Will save to disbelieve, with a +4 bonus.
Invisibility Sphere, Stationary
This spell functions like invisibility, except that it makes a large area invisible, rather than a single object. All creatures and objects in the affected area, except for the ground and any plants or foliage (such as grass, shrubs, trees, etc.), are rendered invisible so long as they remain within the spell’s area. Creatures and objects that enter the area (or leave and re-enter) become invisible as soon as they enter the affected area. Any creature inside the affected area can see the other creatures and objects within the spell’s area, as though they were not invisible.
When stationary invisibility sphere is cast, the caster may attempt to exempt certain objects from the spell’s effect (such as allowing a castle to remain visible, while hiding the defenders, for example, or ensuring that large and prominent boulders or other landmarks remain visible, so as not to arouse suspicion from casual observers). In order to do so, the caster must make a Spellcraft check. The result of the check provides the caster with a number of discretion points that can be spent on negating the spell’s effects for individual things. The cost of each item depends on its size and nature, as outlined on the table below.
Phantasmal Image
As silent image, except that the image is visible only to the targets of the spell: no one else can see them. Additionally, because of the nature of the spell as a phantasm, instead of a figment, the target is automatically entitled to a Will save to disbelieve the image, even if he doesn’t interact with it directly. A successful Will save allows the target to identify that the image is false, but does not prevent him from seeing it.
Phantasmal Noise
This spell creates an illusory noise that only the targets can hear. The exact nature of the noise can be whatever you like, including human speech, but you cannot replicate sounds that you are not familiar with (you can attempt to guess what an unfamiliar noise or voice might sound like, but if the target is more familiar with the sound than you are, they may detect that something is amiss, or not even realize that that is the sound it was supposed to be). You can make the sound seem to originate from any point within the spell’s range. Each target hears the same sound, though other creatures in the area hear nothing. If so desired, you can make the noise loud enough to be distracting, in which case the spell imposes a -4 penalty on Perception checks made to detect noise. It cannot be made loud enough to be deafening, or to impose any other penalty.
A creature who succeeds on his Will save is aware that the noise is not real, but can still hear the sound (and still suffers the -4 penalty, if applicable).