At 4th level, it has +10 to hit (assuming 18 Int), and AC 20, and deals 1d4+4 damage. Compared to acid arrow (+10 to hit, 3d8 A +1d6 persistent), it does less damage on the initial cast, but has a good chance of dealing more over time with it's two actions a round. Plus a canny wizard can counter pick the illusion to match the weaknesses of the target. Plus the flanking ability is cool.
Though a question that just came to me, can it use Demoralize or Feint?
I assume it is untrained in those skills, so yes, but it's bonus to those skills would only be...0? It doesn't even have ability score.
Maybe the answer is just flatly no?
We don't have enough information to come up with the values it would need in order to perform those actions.
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Best thing about this spell is that bards get it. So many fun monster songs on my phone to bust out whenever I want to summon anything in the game. Not to mention the option of making an illusory duplicate of yourself to sing a quick duet while stabbing your foes to death. Its pretty solid, though it is easy to remove from play so it plausibly won't last long enough to do more than Acid Arrow.
Yeah, the fact that a successful attack or a failed save ends the spell means this probably only lasts for 1 round when engaged by someone.
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Yeah, the AC isn't super hard, but every attack on it is an attack that isn't on a PC
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Nonlethal is a plus for me. I don't plan to use illusions on constructs in the first place, and I always prefer making the choice of whether or not the enemy lives after the fight rather than in the fight. They may have information, or need to be freed to send a message, or not need to die. If they do need to die you can stab them to death after you knock them out, but if they need to not die you can't stab them to life after you kill them.
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Nonlethal only matters if it's the last hit
One question I have is: If you create a illusory archer, can it make ranged attacks with its bow (with the range of the bow)? The spell description doesn't seem to limit strikes to melee and even gives the example of a seemingly wielded weapon.
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If it weren't limited to non-lethal damage I'd almost say it was too powerful.
Nonlethal doesn't really mean anything outside the small number of enemies immune to it. Damage is still damage.
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Nonlethal doesn't really mean anything outside the small number of enemies immune to it. Damage is still damage.
Setting aside immunity, if nonlethal is the damage that brings the enemy to 0 hp, it means they don't die. That arguably makes it "better" than lethal damage because it's much easier to kill an unconscious foe than it is to bring back a dead one.
I have noticed that the damage lines up nicely with that of Daze.
I've also noticed that Summon Fey gives you access to the Sprite at level 1.
They have Colorspray, which is awesome, and Daze as well.
A "real" summoned Sprite could really sell an Illusionary Creature Sprite.
Their ability to turn invisible and their tinyness means there will always be an excuse for them to vanish and reappear.
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It doesn't actually make a creature. The illusion doesn't get any of the creature's powers. It's only listed attack is the ability to Strike (though others have noted, it doesn't specify melee strikes). It's a second level spell that can make an image of a lich, so it certainly shouldn't give all the abilities of a lich.
So is there any reason an illusory creature couldn't cast an illusory lightning bolt, for example? I'd think that would work, though it would likely allow a disbelieve check for damage disparity.
There is, in fact, nothing stopping this. I've theorized about creating an archer with elemental enchanted arrows in a prior thread. As long as your attack is believable for the amount of damage you're doing, go nuts and have fun hitting literally any weakness imaginable with a single spell.
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Here's how I handle Illusory Creature, which I think is in line with both the flavor and power level of the spell, and still allows for interesting, creative use.
-The illusion can use any stride actions it has access to. If it is a flying creature with a fly speed, then it can of course fly that speed.
-Illusions can do social skills using the skill of the caster (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Deception). Other skills shouldn't matter much since illusions aren't really Climbing or Tumbling - it just might give viewers free Disbelieve checks if the illusion did something that was completely implausible (a Zombie tumbling through a square, for example).
-In general, nothing the illusion does can cause any targets to need to make saving throws.
-The illusion can use any strike actions it has access to. These strikes can be ranged, melee, or spell attacks. To deal damage the attack must make an attack roll.
-The effect of getting hit by such a strike can only do the stated illusory damage (d4+mod) to one target per strike, modified by resistance/weakness. To be affected by the resistance/weakness the target has to believe the attack is doing that certain type of damage - an illusory archer with "good" arrows would only do bonus "good" damage if the enemy has concrete reason to think that's what they were. If something would cleave or hit multiple targets, it can only hit and damage one of them.
-Spells cast by the illusion cannot affect anything beside the illusion itself. For example it could "cast" invisibility, enlarge, or shrink on itself as all that does is modify the illusion in a believable way. The spell casting itself is just an illusion after all and not actual additional magic.
Everything above is, of course, at the discretion of the GM, since there could be some extremely specific circumstances or extremely creative uses of the spell that should be rewarded. Like if a character was deathly afraid of spiders and you "summoned" a giant spider to jump out behind them I might consider it reasonable for them to have to save against being Frightened, not because the illusion has that power but because the circumstance might warrant it.
An illusory creature could not cast a magic missile that did damage, but could appear to cast a cantrip like "Produce Flame" to do an attack roll to hit a target with "fire" damage. They could use something like "Acid Splash" as well but there'd be no splash damage - just the d4+mod damage like any other illusory attack.
In terms of disbelieving the illusion, the enemy either needs to spend an action attempting to do so (some kinda Seek action against it) or the illusion has to do something completely implausible which would allow for a free action Disbelieve (like a dragon illusion hitting for just 3 points of damage). If the enemy, say, got hit by an illusory arrow attack and the damage was plausible, they could spend an action Seeking for the arrow or arrow hole in themselves and get a Disbelieve check off that, but it wouldn't be free of them to do so.
This spell does require a good bit of GM consideration though. I do wish the spell as written had a little bit more clarity - not because I want things set in absolute stone but because when running organized play it's nicer to be at least somewhat consistent in lining up GM rulings with player expectations.
I assume it is untrained in those skills, so yes, but it's bonus to those skills would only be...0? It doesn't even have ability score.
Maybe the answer is just flatly no?
We don't have enough information to come up with the values it would need in order to perform those actions.
The illusion using skills is totally up to the GM being prepared to improvise and allow it. It is outside the spell description.
But if the GM were to allow it then you should be using the skill of the caster. Because the illusion is not really a creature in that sense but a remote extension of the caster. Either the specific skill used or perhaps the Deception skill of the caster as a stand in skill.
I've also noticed that Summon Fey gives you access to the Sprite at level 1.
They have Colorspray, which is awesome, and Daze as well.A "real" summoned Sprite could really sell an Illusionary Creature Sprite.
Their ability to turn invisible and their tinyness means there will always be an excuse for them to vanish and reappear.
If you cast Summon Fey at level 1, you can't let the Sprite use color spray, as summoned creatures can't cast spells of the same or higher level as the summoning spell used to summon them.
Sprites also don't have an ability to turn invisible.Were you thinking about alternating between summoning 'fake' sprites with Illusionary Creature and 'real' sprites with Summon Fey?