Can a blind attacker destroy mirror images?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Is there a chance for someone unaffected by mirror image, such as a blind man or someone simply closing their eyes, to destroy an image?

If not, should there be? After all, a blind swing or shot may well pass through an image before hitting the real target.


"An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply)."

If the spell has no effect on the attacker, then, for that attacker there are no images. Therefore, there is nothing to be destroyed.


I would say only on a miss by less than 5 (or is it 4).


quibblemuch wrote:

"An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply)."

If the spell has no effect on the attacker, then, for that attacker there are no images. Therefore, there is nothing to be destroyed.

I'd say there'd still be something to be destroyed.

Sure, if the attacker is blind normal miss chances apply unless the attacker has other means to pinpoint the target (namely, attacker will probably have to target a square instead of directly targeting the caster and even if he choses the correct square would still have a 50% miss change due to concealement)... but, if attacker picks the correct square, mirror images will be there moving around the real caster.

I'd say that a miss by 5 or less would still destroy an image when targeting the correct square, since those would still be randomly hit by the "near miss".


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The spell description literally says if the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect.

Sovereign Court

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Quote:
An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply).

I would say that a blind attacker can't hit images.

Just like there's no chance of accidentally shooting allies without Precise Shot. Pathfinder doesn't do accidentally hitting something else. You hit or you don't.

It isn't totally realistic, but it it's consistent, which is also valuable.


What quibblemuch said.


I don't see why it wouldn't kill an image the only effect the spell has is a miss chance. the kill an image if you miss by 5 or less is just a byproduct of attacking into their square and slicing through images, which you can still do even if you can't see them and is not an actual effect of the spell, no more than reaching out and touching an illusion and getting a save to disbelieve is an effect of the illusion spell. its just something that happens because the illusion exsists.


No.


good argument I see your point.


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vhok wrote:
good argument I see your point.

The point is that it's literally in the spell description that Mirror Image does jack and crap if the attacker is blind. And part of the effect of Mirror Image is the ability to destroy the images.

If you're pulling apart a spell description and say that this part is an effect of the spell, but that part isn't, you are in some deep house rule territory. The rules are pretty clear in this case.


the effect of mirror image is a bunch of images that give you a miss chance. even if your eyes are closed if you swing into his square and cut one in half it still goes poof. they don't cease being there because your eyes are closed, they just don't give you more miss chance to hit them instead of the guy.


Nope. Still wrong.


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vhok wrote:
the effect of mirror image is a bunch of images that give you a miss chance. even if your eyes are closed if you swing into his square and cut one in half it still goes poof. they don't cease being there because your eyes are closed

Please quote the part of the spell description that states that "if the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect except it still totally does and they can still hit the images". 'cause I'm not seeing it. A blind attacker can no more hit your mirror images than an area effect can.


I feel like "the blind attacker has a chance of missing you because they do not know where you really are" is already encapsulated in the rules for blindness. You do not create an additional chance of the blind person missing you because you have illusory duplicates.

If the blind attacker has another means of seeing (e.g. blindsight) to pinpoint precisely where you are and what you're doing so that they can attack you, that sense won't be fooled by purely visual illusions.

I mean for goodness sakes, the text of the spell specifies *exactly* what to do if you are invisible or the person attacking you is blind. I know this is the rules forum and people here can argue about anything, but the RAW is extremely clear.


An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply).

so by this line a blind person can attack the person who has mirror image without hitting a single image, so being blind make you unable to attack the mirror image

Edit:If the attack misses by 5 or less, one of your figments is destroyed by the near miss.

i have forgot this line so only by a miss of 5 or less that a blind person can destroy a mirror image


So, does this mean the 50% miss chance does not apply to destroying images?

Also, if the attacker rolls high enough to hit his opponent, but misses because of being blind, I assume this triggers the 'miss by 5 or less' and destroys an image instead?


_Ozy_ wrote:

So, does this mean the 50% miss chance does not apply to destroying images?

Also, if the attacker rolls high enough to hit his opponent, but misses because of being blind, I assume this triggers the 'miss by 5 or less' and destroys an image instead?

you can't target the image while blind (and you can't even when not blind) so the 50% miss chance can't apply to those image, and if you miss because of the 50% miss chance its not the same as missing by 5 or less, you didn't make a near miss because of his/her AC but you miss because of concealment


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John Murdock wrote:
_Ozy_ wrote:

So, does this mean the 50% miss chance does not apply to destroying images?

Also, if the attacker rolls high enough to hit his opponent, but misses because of being blind, I assume this triggers the 'miss by 5 or less' and destroys an image instead?

you can't target the image while blind (and you can't even when not blind) so the 50% miss chance can't apply to those image, and if you miss because of the 50% miss chance its not the same as missing by 5 or less, you didn't make a near miss because of his/her AC but you miss because of concealment

Not sure the rules care about that distinction. If you roll to hit the target, and miss by 5 or less, you don't even roll the 50% miss chance, correct? So an image would automatically be destroyed.

In any case, I think the wording of the spell "If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect"

kind of answers all of the questions.


you always roll for concealment first, normally people roll both attack and conceal to make thing go faster, but you roll first the conceal then you roll your attack, but yeah the wording the spell has no effect kind of answer the question


John Murdock wrote:
you always roll for concealment first, normally people roll both attack and conceal to make thing go faster, but you roll first the conceal then you roll your attack, but yeah the wording the spell has no effect kind of answer the question

Er, no, you only roll concealment miss chance on a successful attack:

Quote:

Concealment Miss Chance

Concealment gives the subject of a successful attack a 20% chance that the attacker missed because of the concealment. Make the attack normally—if the attacker hits, the defender must make a miss chance d% roll to avoid being struck.
Quote:

Total Concealment

...
A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of the normal 20% miss chance for an opponent with concealment).


then i stand corrected, i hate having wrong information, thank you

i should always check the info my friends give me in the future from now on


Yeah, I think most of the time it shouldn't make a difference, but there may be some corner case where it matters. Someone with mirror image and blur or some other form of the 20% concealment might be such a case.

Grand Lodge

A couple of things:

1) No. No images were harmed in the making of this attack. The spell has literally no effect on a blind (or closed-eyed) individual, and likewise that individual has no effect on the spell.

2) The way the rules are written for blindness/invisibility is rife for metagaming. If you are blind and cut the air, you should not know whether it's because you missed a person or because you swung at an empty square.

THREAD DRIFT ALERT!
Here's what I do for blindness/invisibility:

1) I roll miss chance behind the screen for EVERY SINGLE ATTACK. If there's nobody there, the miss chance doesn't matter. But I roll it anyway.

2) If they swing at the correct square, AND they beat the 50/50, but they miss the creature, I check the other AC's. If their attack was enough to touch, but not enough to get through armor, I tell them they made contact. That gives them very important information, and I feel it's fair.

3) If I attack and stay invisible (say, with a will-o-wisp or greater invis), I tell them what square the attack came from. (Then I 5-ft step!)

These are absolutely houserule interpretations, but honestly, I feel comfortable using them even in PFS, because I feel they're fair and apply it fairly in both directions. I've never been challenged on it, though I did have one player tell me later, "I love the way you ran that, and I totally would, too. But it's not RAW." Which is true. By RAW, the player rolls the miss chance. I just hate that rolling a 20 and a 64 tells you that the enemy isn't there.


3) do you do this even if the attacker has reach?

Grand Lodge

_Ozy_ wrote:
3) do you do this even if the attacker has reach?

I tell them the direction. I don't tell them that it was from a reach weapon, no.


Also, btw, will o' wisps don't stay invisible when attacking. They can attack and then become invisible as a move action 'as per the spell', but they do become visible when they attack because it doesn't say otherwise. Pixies, on the other hand, can stay invisible while they attack.

Grand Lodge

_Ozy_ wrote:
Also, btw, will o' wisps don't stay invisible when attacking. They can attack and then become invisible as a move action 'as per the spell', but they do become visible when they attack because it doesn't say otherwise. Pixies, on the other hand, can stay invisible while they attack.

UMR says a creature with natural invisibility does not become visible when attacking. But I can see your position and may change mine. Regardless, that's tangential to the current discussion :) .


tchrman35 wrote:

A couple of things:

1) No. No images were harmed in the making of this attack. The spell has literally no effect on a blind (or closed-eyed) individual, and likewise that individual has no effect on the spell.

Mirror image has no effect on the blind. Why do you assume the blind have no effect on mirror image?

An illusory wall has no effect on the blind , but a blind character walking through the illusory wall still interacts with it causing everyone else to disbelieve it.


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Because the spell specifically says:

"If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect"

without any particular qualification. If a blind attacker destroys an image, that's an effect. Illusory wall does not contain similar 'no effect' language.

Scarab Sages

tchrman35 wrote:
2) The way the rules are written for blindness/invisibility is rife for metagaming. If you are blind and cut the air, you should not know whether it's because you missed a person or because you swung at an empty square.

You might know. Just because you are blind or they are invisible, doesn't automatically mean you can't locate the enemy, it just means you can't locate them with your eyes/sight. Your hand-to-eye coordination is terrible, but you still may know if you are swinging into an empty square or not.


_Ozy_ wrote:

Because the spell specifically says:

"If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect"

without any particular qualification. If a blind attacker destroys an image, that's an effect. Illusory wall does not contain similar 'no effect' language.

I assumed the duplicate images as the effect of the spell and destruction of the image as the effect of the attack. Guess I'm wrong. Anywho.


As Figments they only exist in your mind so it makes sense that a Blind Person can't destroy an image by a near miss because they have no awareness of there blow passing through the image they see.

Of course been Figments they can't discharge a spell charge... except the rule is they do.

Stupid spell. :-|
Also the spell scales up massively in power depending on the AC of the person casting it.
Like I said - Stupid Spell.


Now, if you have blur up, do your mirror images also get a 20% miss chance? ;)


No. You're either playing a game of cups or pin the tail on the donkey. No getting the best of both worlds.

Grand Lodge

_Ozy_ wrote:
Now, if you have blur up, do your mirror images also get a 20% miss chance? ;)

There are myriad forum discussions about this very interaction. I have no good answer for you. It's also tangential to the current discussion. :)


_Ozy_ wrote:
Now, if you have blur up, do your mirror images also get a 20% miss chance? ;)

If a character has both Mirror Image and Blur or Displacement the effects stack.

First you roll to see if you actually hit the character (concealment), then you check to see if it was the character or an image that was hit. A miss due to concealment does not destroy an image.

Blindness / closure of eyes is it's own thing and negates all of the above.


An illusion cannot be blurred by another illusion. The illusion can look blurry because you are blurry, and you can be displaced, but by definition the illusion IS what it looks like. If you hit the blurry elf shaped illusion to the left of the elf, that is the image, you've hit the image, you pop the image.


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BigNorseWolf wrote:
An illusion cannot be blurred by another illusion. The illusion can look blurry because you are blurry, and you can be displaced, but by definition the illusion IS what it looks like. If you hit the blurry elf shaped illusion to the left of the elf, that is the image, you've hit the image, you pop the image.

The character become blury, the images copy the character.

If you roll => target's AC and fail to hit the target due to concealment (the attack roll is never against an image), nothing was hit. Not the target, not an image, nothing.

If you are successful with your attack against the character, including any additional rolls for concealment, you then check to see If an image was hit or the intended target. This is the final roll (baring immediate actions, etc.).


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

If I remember correctly, the defender only rolls for concealment when he would otherwise be successfully hit in the first place.


Ravingdork wrote:
If I remember correctly, the defender only rolls for concealment when he would otherwise be successfully hit in the first place.

Correct. But you only roll for Mirror Image if the attack actually hits the target.

Mirror Image wrote:
If the attack is a hit

.

This extends beyond just spell effects that grant concealment, e.g. fog, dim light, etc. Mirror Image does not, for example, suddenly negate environmental effects that grant concealment.


Likewise, you roll for concealment if 'the attack is successful'.

So, we can't roll for mirror image until we know that the concealment fails, and we can't roll for concealment until we know that mirror image fails.

Hooray! Invulnerability! ;)


quibblemuch wrote:
The spell description literally says if the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect.

That does not mean you cant effect the spell.


Actually, effect can also mean "to bring about." Unless you're implying that you are unable to cast Mirror Image while blinded, DrDeth's statement is correct.

I can't believe I turned on epic music just for this.

Edit: Proper nouns are difficult sometimes.


Does someone who can see the mirror images have a chance to hit them by randomly swinging? Nope, they only hit if they would otherwise hit the caster. Whether the image can appear to dodge or deflect the attack somehow, or whether it simply grazes the image without causing harm, a lower chance to hit the caster will never mean a higher chance to hit the images.

Edit: Just checked the spell description and it does appear that a lower chance to hit the caster can mean a higher chance to hit the images. My bad.


Snowlilly wrote:

]

The character become blury, the images copy the character.

Not in dispute. But the image isn't actually blurry. The image is altering itself so that it looks like you do blurry. The images quasi existance in space is where it actually appears to be.

Quote:
If you roll => target's AC and fail to hit the target due to concealment (the attack roll is never against an image), nothing was hit. Not the target, not an image, nothing.

That doesn't work. The images aren't concealed. Blur and displacement don't work on "you and your illusions" they only work on you. you can't miss them from concealment, so you only roll to see if you miss from concealment if you're swinging at the real mccoy.


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DrDeth wrote:
quibblemuch wrote:
The spell description literally says if the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect.
That does not mean you cant effect the spell.

the wording is clear the spell has no effect so you can't affect it since it has no effect on you and the only way to destroy an image is if you miss by 5 or more but for that to happen the spell must be able to affect you which is not the case for a blind character


John Murdock wrote:
DrDeth wrote:
quibblemuch wrote:
The spell description literally says if the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect.
That does not mean you cant effect the spell.
the wording is clear the spell has no effect so you can't affect it since it has no effect on you and the only way to destroy an image is if you miss by 5 or more but for that to happen the spell must be able to affect you which is not the case for a blind character

this is just conjecture and has no basis in fact. you can definitely affect things that cannot affect you.

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