Can one be immune to illusions?


Advice


This may seem like a silly question but I’m just coming back after about a 5 year hiatus from roleplaying. I’m making a 10th level fighter who will have 5 mythic tiers and I’m wondering what the best way to shut down illusions is. We are playing in a campaign with a lot of illusions, generated both by the DM and another player who is playing some sort of Bard Illusionist. They both like to cast Hydrophobia and then use an illusion to make people think they are in water and thus start suffering the effects. So with this many illusions being thrown around, I want to make sure I never fall for them if possible. Or am I stuck with just trying to increase my will save?

Silver Crusade Contributor

I believe that there's a Universal Path ability which, if taken repeatedly, eventually grants constant true seeing. You might not be able to get it fully charged until 6th tier, though.

Probably other options. I have to sleep, unfortunately. :(

Sovereign Court

you can simply invest in items that would allow you to see through illusion, like gem of true seeing, they are expensive , so you probably need to wait a couple more levels, not quite sure if you get some extra gold for having 5 mythic tiers.

Guess the other possibility, is to make a legendary weapon or item whatever , which grants you true seeing, check out the universal path mythic ability.

It should be noted that if your group is focused so much on illusion, they might just take the mythic ability which makes illusions real...so not like it would matter in the end.


If you're playing Mythic, I'm assuming money isn't an issue. True Seeing (such as from the 184K Truesight Goggles) would mean you'd see thru every illusion. The GM might be mean and say you could still be affected, but I've not played with one that would myself.

Arguably, I'd say items granting tremorsense (such as the Tremor Boots for 20K) would give you substantial bonuses, if not immunity, to illusions that would be touching the ground. I'd probably lean towards a substantial Will save bonus as a GM (akin to Mind Blank of +8 or perhaps a little lower) because of conflicting signals.

Most immunity to illusion comes from racial bonuses. Unfortunately, if you aren't that way from the start, it's hard to become immune down the road. The best you can usually hope for is resistant (via Will saves). Perhaps there's something I'm missing, but I can't think of any right off.

Sovereign Court

You would need both True Seeing and to be immune to mind-effecting spells to be totally immune to illusion. (Even that is a bit crazy. You can't become totally immune to any other school of magic.)

True Seeing wouldn't help against hydrophobia. It would only be proof against figments. (Patterns etc don't actually appear - they're just in your head - so you can't see through them.)


Kalindlara is right, Mythic Sight is a 6th Tier ability and requires you to take it a second time to gain At Will True Seeing. If your campaign is money starved, I'd go that route. Although if you aren't money starved, I'd probably use the $$ to buy the Truesight Goggles. The feats and abilities gained from Mythic tiers are very powerful. If you had to take one, I'd go with Mythic Iron Will feat to let you roll twice and take the higher result, as it could be used for more than just illusions.

Sovereign Court

Bradley Mickle wrote:
If you're playing Mythic, I'm assuming money isn't an issue. True Seeing (such as from the 184K Truesight Goggles) would mean you'd see thru every illusion.

Mythic doesn't necessarily mean immune to spending caps, I'm running a Mythic game right now where the players are level 9/mythic 2 and they still have a long, long list of things they'd love to buy but can't because they simply don't have the gold. Being Mythic just means you have been imbued with a small amount of power from a far greater source, it doesn't give you a Coinpurse of Infinite Gold (no matter how cool that would be)


Yeah unfortunately it's best not to rely upon having money to spend as the DMs from this group, regardless of who it is, tend to be pretty stingy with the loot.


Then unfortunately, you're stuck either upping your will save(via class or feats), or burning two mythic tiers.


The only problem I'm seeing with Mythic Sight is "This ability doesn't apply to illusions and magical effects that were cast by other mythic creatures or that are affecting other mythic creatures." Which basically makes it useless as all party members are mythic and the DM uses mythic enemies. So Will saves it is I guess.

Sovereign Court

Just be a dwarf with Hardy & Steel Soul. +5 to all saves vs spells & spell-like abilities. (And consider going Samurai instead of Fighter for resolve points. Otherwise it plays very similarly.)


He can't change his race at this point, I presume. He's already a 10th level fighter with 5 mythic tiers.


Doug Henning says the answer is "no."


A fighter with the viking archetype can take rage powers in place of fighter bonus feats from level 6. Like, say, moment of clarity (6), perfect clarity (8) and ultimate clarity (10). Ultimate clarity makes you immune to illusions (among other things) for 1round once/rage.

Mind you, if less than total immunity is OK I'd go with CLH's idea.


A race change is possible as this character hasn't been introduced yet, my previous character recently bit the dust. I was looking at a Duergar for my race for the invis and enlarge person, but I'm open to other suggestions.


How far out of the norm would your GM let you go?


Reason I ask, maybe a Wyrwood out of the Bestiary 4. It's small, but frankly, your damage in Mythic comes from Strength so much that isn't a big loss. Especially by level 10. You'd get Construct traits.

Sovereign Court

Bradley Mickle wrote:
Reason I ask, maybe a Wyrwood out of the Bestiary 4. It's small, but frankly, your damage in Mythic comes from Strength so much that isn't a big loss. Especially by level 10. You'd get Construct traits.

That plus true seeing would do it. Unless there are weird mythic illusions that beat construct traits and/or true seeing. (I don't know mythic.)

Dark Archive

Trueseeing will not overcome all illusions. Many illusions affect senses other than sight. Many other illusions are only in the mind of the target. Still other illusions are partially real.

So, in short. NO.

Illusion
Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened.

Figment: A figment spell creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. It is not a personalized mental impression. Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A figment that includes audible effects cannot duplicate intelligible speech unless the spell description specifically says it can. If intelligible speech is possible, it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the figment produces gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like (or copy another sense exactly unless you have experienced it).

Because figments and glamers are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. Figments and glamers cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these spells are useful for confounding foes, but useless for attacking them directly.

A figment's AC is equal to 10 + its size modifier.

Glamer: A glamer spell changes a subject's sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.

Pattern: Like a figment, a pattern spell creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting spells.

Phantasm: A phantasm spell creates a mental image that usually only the caster and the subject (or subjects) of the spell can perceive. This impression is totally in the minds of the subjects. It is a personalized mental impression, all in their heads and not a fake picture or something that they actually see. Third parties viewing or studying the scene don't notice the phantasm. All phantasms are mind-affecting spells.

Shadow: A shadow spell creates something that is partially real from extradimensional energy. Such illusions can have real effects. Damage dealt by a shadow illusion is real.

Saving Throws and Illusions (Disbelief): Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion.

A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline.

A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. A character faced with proof that an illusion isn't real needs no saving throw. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.


Quote:
(Even that is a bit crazy. You can't become totally immune to any other school of magic.)

Fairly certain that the Spellbreaker Inquisitor gets pretty close for its capstone ability =]. Only applies against arcane spells though iirc.

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