mr-frog@sdcsvax.UUCP (11/25/83)
Whatever your solution to the illusionist problem is, keep in mind that they should not be too much more powerful (at low levels) than another class. Some of the things that others mentioned doing with some illusions were a bit much - the illusory paladin, or the 1000 umber hulks. The one suggestion about the hit dice limit wasn't bad, though. We specify that illusions disappear when hit for damage (no, illusory armor doesn't count -- they are ac=9), otherwise we find that they are just too powerful. Every creature facing an illusion gets a save. Every time. Without exception. We didn't want all illusion spells treated as 7th level mu spells with regard to saves, so we just ignored the way the dmg and ph worked illusions. Appropriate pluses or minuses are tacked onto the save (a fire giant gets substantial pluses against an illusory fireball, while a white dragon would probably get a minus), but in all cases a save is given. I can't stress that enough. An intelligent and experienced monster that has survived a given spell will not likely fall for a phantasmal force of it (no sound, heat, etc), but just might fall for a spectral force of the same. The way to handle the higher level illusions vs. lower level ones is to give the lower level spell a plus to the save, and the higher level one a minus. Thus shadow magic would be pretty deadly, since it actually does damage. Another rule of thumb we use is that when an illusion does damage, it goes away. For instance, that paladin that was mentioned would go away when he first struck someone for damage (assuming the target failed his save, otherwise no damage would be done and the "paladin" would still disappear). Also, an illusionist should not do much more damage than 1d6 per level of the illusionist - so a first level illusionist wouldn't get too much more than 1d6-2d6 from an illusory storm giant striking an enemy (give bonuses for imagination and believability). Of course, higher level spells can do more, and perhaps are able to stay around after a hit or two, possibly striking more than once for damage. As always, higher level spells can do more. Who knows, maybe a fifth or sixth level spell could make a "fake paladin" for a turn or so. Out of all the character classes, I think that illusionists are the hardest to dm because illusionist spells are so versatile. It calls for many "command decisions" as a dm, calculating saving throws and figuring the damage done by a given illusion. I manage to muddle through, but it isn't easy. I'm sure glad we only have a couple in our campaign. Dave Pare ucbvax!sdcsvax!mr-frog