What To Ask Before Playing An Illusionist

Author: pandaniel

At first glance, the school of Illusion in D&D 5th Edition might seem like the school of magic that promises close to nigh-limitless freedom. Meet the basic parameters of the spell, and the only limit is your imagination!

Unfortunately, that is not quite the case. While these spells can let you create illusions, such as any kind of sound or an image within a certain size, the rules and guidelines that resolve the potential implications of these illusions are severely lacking. This leads to spells from the school of Illusion being the most prone to DM fiat of any school, and perhaps an area of the game that is most prone to DM fiat on the whole. Likewise, the School of Illusion Wizard Arcane Tradition has some features that have several different valid interpretations.

One of our Core Tenets is that communication is key. Disrupting the flow of the session to argue because you and your DM have different expectations for how the spell you cast operates is no fun for anyone at the table. The purpose of this guide is to act as a checklist of subjects to discuss with your DM that can help you align your and the DM’s expectations on how this school of magic, and the School of Illusion Wizard, play at your table.

First, let’s dive deep into the areas where illusion spells lack clarity, where disagreements between players and DM might arise. When you want to cast an illusion spell, clearly communicate what you are trying to accomplish, and check whether this is possible, potentially by coming up with a system for common occurrences in your game. The following are several common uses for illusion spells that should be cleared with your DM before the game to determine what their outcomes are. It is possible that the answer to many of these questions is “it depends.” The goal is to try and establish some baselines for expectations rather than prescribe an answer for every possible situation.

If I cast a spell that replicates another spell’s appearance, will creatures treat the illusion as the replicated spell until further investigation?

This might sound specific, but this use case generalizes to how spells will work at your table for copying the appearance of other things too. If you were to create a wall of fire with major image that both looks and feels like hot fire, will an enemy walk through the fire without knowing for sure that it is an illusion? Or will it try to not get close to what just seems like a wall of fire?

Knowledge of the arcane is not privy to most creatures in many of the officially published settings. Creatures defaulting to treating illusions as if they are fake without reason can be unfun for both the illusion caster and other party members. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGE) lists an optional rule called Identify a Spell which allows for creatures to make an Intelligence (Arcana) check with their reaction or action to identify a perceived casting of a spell, or it’s effect. The DC for this check equals 15 + the spell’s level. This would allow arcanists to know a spell is an illusion, whereas commoners will often struggle to find this out without further investigation.

When will a creature physically try to interact with an image? 

Many spells list that physical interaction with illusory images will reveal them to be an illusion, as things can pass through them. Do creatures have preconceived assumptions about illusion spells? Are they generally poking walls and such to see if something is an illusion? The viability of illusions greatly depends on how your DM intends to play monsters, thus this is important to clear up.

What counts as physical interaction? 

An arrow flying through an invisible wall can probably be counted as physical interaction, but what about a spell that misses its mark? XGE explains under Invalid Spell Targets that a spell cast on someone or something that can’t be affected by the spell does nothing to that target, but it still takes up a spell slot.

A fireball or fire bolt might not count as physical interaction when cast at an illusion of a wooden table, but it could lead to someone wanting to check whether that table is an illusion, as most wooden tables are not impervious to fire damage or being set alight. One additional question to ask is whether your fire bolt visibly misses the table, or if nothing happens at all. 

How does physical interaction work with illusions that should be penetrable?

Now that your table has determined what counts as physical interaction, the next course of action is to think of situations where this might not work. The illusion of a fog might sometimes come up, but if an arrow passes through a fog, does that make it obvious it is an illusion? The rules are clearly defined in that when a physical interaction is visible, an illusion is revealed. However, some groups might find this unrealistic and rule it differently. 

When will a creature decide to do an Intelligence (Investigation) check?

Similarly, some of these spells also state that creatures can use their action to examine images to determine that something is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check. It is unclear as to what makes a creature want to investigate an illusion, are they just constantly using their actions to investigate things? Or does something need to happen for them to even have the idea that something might be an illusion?

What are illusions anchored to?

This might be a bit vague, so here is an example: Let’s say a Bard needs to stow away a Halfling and a group of Dwarves who want to return to their place of origin in his boat to get into town. The Bard decides to hide them in his barrels, and casts an illusory image of fish atop the merry band. What happens with the illusion once they start to travel? Will it stick in place anchored to the spot above the water where it was originally cast?  Will it be anchored to the boat, and stick in place? What happens if the barrels are moved? 

There are many ways to rule this. One way would be to allow illusions to be anchored to something big enough to stand out as a ‘location,’ e.g. on a boat, or land, etc., but this is hard to define. Another would be to allow the caster to decide what the spell is anchored to (within reason).

This is something that is not specific to illusion spells alone. The biggest issues with this lack of clarity arise on vessels, be they on water, air or land. Will the nicely placed web just fall overboard when the ship you are on moves during the epic high seas fight? Make sure to talk with your DM, as this is bound to come up at some point.

How would you rule illusory noises?

Some spells allow the user to create noises. An interesting idea might be to use this to drown out other noises. Is this possible? And to what extent? This might be an in-the-moment question, so make sure to clear it up before you try.

Another related question is if noises can harm creatures if the spell description does not contain the text that explicitly states that the spell is unable to deal damage. An example of such a spell is programmed illusion. Would a loud enough shriek lead to a creature being hurt?

How does minor illusion work?

This spell allows you to create a sound with the choice to make it play for the entire duration, or not. A creature that hears this illusion can use their action to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to try and identify it is indeed an illusion, but it is unclear whether this check can be made after a sound has stopped playing. Could a creature continue to attempt Investigation checks within a minute of the sound being created? Longer? Even after the spell has ended? Minor illusion lacks explicit guidance in this area, and this ambiguity can be cleared up ahead of time.

How does phantasmal force work in your game?

Phantasmal force is a weird spell using the Rules as Written, and many of its ambiguities are bound to come up in your game if you want to use it. (And you should, it can be a very effective spell!)

The spell states that an affected target rationalizes any illogical outcome of the illusion. Check with your DM whether a target ever makes an Intelligence (Investigation) check to examine the spell without prompting from others. The spell description makes it seem as if they wouldn’t have any reason to, but this can differ from table to table.

Another question would be whether the illusion can move. Can an illusory lion prowl around a target and snap at them any time they come closer? Can a fire be animated?

Can this spell lead to obscurement of vision for the target? A visible phenomenon can include a variety of things, and a swarm of bees could very well block someone’s line of sight. Check whether something like this is possible in your game.

Is this spell able to limit movement in any way? Can an illusory bear trap keep someone in place?

Another thing to ponder is whether creatures with Truesight can see through illusions made by phantasmal force. The spell description states the illusion takes root in the target’s mind, which would imply it is not a vision-based illusion, and thus Truesight should not apply. Jeremy Crawford has tweeted out something similar, but this response has not been officially codified in the Sage Advice Compendium, and Jeremy Crawford’s tweets are not considered official rulings at many tables.

How common is knowledge of distort value in the setting we are playing?

Distort value can be a fun spell to use in the right campaign, but its usefulness greatly depends on the type of game your DM is running. Distort value allows you to either double an object’s perceived worth, or halve it. However, if merchants are generally checking for the effects of this spell on goods, it might not be a spell you should look into using or even learning or preparing. 

It could be within reason that commoners would not have the required knowledge of spells to even know something like this exists, but merchants in a cosmopolitan trade hub city might. Ask before you commit one of your precious learned spells or preparations to this spell!

How does creation work?

Creation allows you to make a nonliving object, but unlike true polymorph or the School of Illusion Wizard’s Illusory Reality, it lacks a clause that says they cannot be magical.

Creation is by itself not an amazing spell, but the ability to create magical objects is probably too much for most games, so if you would like to do this, do check with your DM. Perhaps you could turn a nonmagical weapon into a magical one for the purposes of bypassing damage resistances.

How do you handle mirage arcane?

Mirage arcane is probably the most archetypal high level illusion spell. It is the spell School of Illusion Wizards most want to get their hands on, and for a good reason. This spell is wonderful…at the right table. There are two things that are important to figure out before you decide to pick up this spell, being the following.

The first thing you should figure out is what exactly can be part of the illusion. The spell description starts off with stating “look, sound, smell, and even feel“ can be part of an illusion, however it later states it can include “audible, visual, tactile, and olfactory elements”. While look, sound and smell are all accounted for in that description, “[t]actile sense is focused mainly on sense of pressure, traction and touch, excluding temperature and pain.” It would also be a reasonable interpretation to define tactile as “related to the sense of touch,” as both pain and temperature are part of that. One of the examples in the spell’s description is making an open field resemble a swamp, an illusion which must include temperature, at least through the wetness and humidity of a swamp, so make of that what you will.

Closely related to the last question, is whether this spell can deal damage to creatures. According to Jeremy Crawford, the answer would be yes. Although pain is included in touch, and Jeremy’s tweet states that it can do damage, it would still be wise to check this with your DM, as some might houserule it in an attempt to nerf the spell, as so many illusions spells are prone to.

Mirage arcane is a mischievous spell; it says creatures cannot be “concealed,” but it does not explain what it means with this. Assessing this clause through the lens of natural language would mean preventing the spell from turning creatures invisible. At some tables, however, encapsulating creatures (providing cover) might also be considered concealing them. Do keep in mind that you will always be concealing creatures with this definition from an angle, so this is probably not the intended reading.  

How is seeming played at the table?

Seeming and disguise self are quite similar, but there is one important difference between them: Enemies can be affected. And as seeming does not have a clause that allows creatures to see through the illusion once they are aware of them, we can block someone’s vision on a failed Charisma saving throw, without repeated saves or concentration. Seeming is normally not the most amazing spell, but this use case does make it an interesting pickup, so make sure to clear this with your table before using it.

Illusory Reality

At 14th level, School of Illusion Wizards get access to Illusory Reality. This is their subclass capstone feature, and probably the standout feature out of all of them. It would be good to make sure you know what you are getting if this is your reason for picking this Wizard school.

What counts as a singular object? 

This question will decide the scope of what you can and cannot accomplish with Illusory Reality. How much detail can be part of one object before it is considered multiple? The rules state the following in regards to determining what counts as an object:

The above rule is a starting point, but still leaves ambiguity. A building is reasonably construed of multiple objects: a roof, walls, and more. However, is a book then also multiple objects? Sheets and a cover? What about a door—are the hinges, the doorknob, considered discrete objects that are part of the door?

Ultimately, there is no easy guideline to follow to decide what is and what isn’t a single object, and thus this is something to be talked about with your DM. Try to figure out beforehand if “tricks” you’ll often want to use are possible at your table. If something comes up during the game that is not similar to something you have talked about already, ask your DM if this is something you can accomplish before you have completely made up your mind.

What statistics can be expected for different kinds and sizes of illusions that have been made real?

Now that you have created a truly real object, it has real game statistics, including hit points and Armor Class. It is important to know these statistics as a School of Illusion Wizard will often conjure objects that can be debilitating to other creatures, and thus they might want to destroy them.

The Dungeon’s Master Guide (p. 246) has general guidelines on the statistics for objects, but they are rather limited. It gives decent approximations for most objects, but its limitations become obvious when a steel cart has the same amount of hit points as a 10′ by 10′ by 10′ steel cube. A potential way to work around this issue could be to use maximum hit point rolls for ‘massive’ objects, but another way could be to look at spells with similar effects. Wall of stone, for example, could be a good spell to look at when you are trying to determine how sturdy a wall created with Illusory Reality might be.  

Do created objects have a cost value?

Rules as Written, you make an illusory object real, which would give it a value and everything else that comes with being that object. An illusory copper coin would be an actual copper coin for a limited amount of time. Some DMs might change this, and instead say that it is not worth anything, because it was once an illusion. Do talk with your DM if you want to know which way this is ruled in your game.

Can this ability be combined with seeming to place real armor on casters and stop them from using spells?

The Player’s Handbook says: “If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with…you can’t cast spells.” Most enemy casters that aren’t wearing armor in the first place aren’t proficient in them either, so if you can somehow get them in armor, you’d be able to block their spellcasting. This requires you to use a 5th level slot, and the enemy to fail a Charisma saving throw. There are easier ways to get enemies out of the battle at this point (wall of force), but this is a very funny alternative. However, if you are interested in making use of it, run it by your DM ahead of time.

What, if any, limit will I have on the amount of illusions I move around with me for later purpose?

Some spells, e.g. programmed illusion or major image, can be cast to last either until dispelled or just a very long time. By casting a lot of these spells in downtime to then move them about (either by “anchoring” them to something depending on your rules, or by using your actions to move them) you could later make use of them via Illusory Reality (and maybe even together with Malleable Illusions) to encase enemies with a multitude of walls. This can get rather monotonous, so make sure to see to what extent this is allowed.

Malleable Illusions

Are these spells I think are compatible with Malleable Illusions actually compatible?

This would seem to be rather straightforward, but it still might be worth a quick check to verify whatever spells you had in mind to utilize this feature are compatible. For example, Jeremy Crawford suggests a key factor is what he describes as changeable characteristics.

For further research, you will likely be able to come up with a hundred more questions after watching this video Sage Advice segment.

Illusionists can be very fun to play, and can let you show your table the power of imagination. Hopefully with this guide, you and your group can set clear expectations, so that illusion spells can be a useful tool with ample creative charm without becoming a source of frustration for both players and DMs.

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