I'm guessing something like people use it to prove they are smart (if they get people to fall for their illusions that is)
If you're under an illusion of having more worth than you actually have, we call it an excessive pride.
You can also argue that excessive prode makes it harder for you to see yourself and others for what they are.
It's all about appearances.
The prideful person is overly concerned about what others think about them, and will do whatever it takes to impress upon others how important/rich/powerful/beautiful they are, often by dismissing or diminishing the accomplishments or abilities of others.
The use of illusions makes you look better/cooler/richer/etc than you really are, and is very useful in making an impression.
Creative Director
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Yup. It's pride because Illusion is the one that's most about hiding the truth and making yourself appear better than you are... but also because of the classic element of how, back in the 1st and 2nd edition D&D days, players of illusionists abused the HECK out of those spells, since there was less guidance on how to handle an illusory fireball or wall of ice or conjured monster than there is today. Players of illusionists were often able to do everything that a wizard could, but better, since they got to decide what their illusory spell was as they cast it. They were, in a way, a lot like proto-sorcerers who could essentially cast on the fly. And this led to players of illusionists, in my games at least, being more arrogant and proud about how their magic is better than everyone else's.
I have a problem with that explanation.
The schools of magic were associated with the seven virtues, not seven sins. That means illusion, now associated with pride, was initially associated with honest pride.
Illusion is about deceit.
Honest pride is about truth.
Perhaps there is no lining up of school with virtue.
/cevah
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Creative Director
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I have a problem with that explanation.
The schools of magic were associated with the seven virtues, not seven sins. That means illusion, now associated with pride, was initially associated with honest pride.
Illusion is about deceit.
Honest pride is about truth.Perhaps there is no lining up of school with virtue.
/cevah
What now exists as the Thassilonian magic tradition did not exist before the Runelords, though. This tradition of magic was invented by the runelords, and therfore it wasn't an option for pre-Runelords wizards. Therefore, the seven Thassilonian schools of magic were NEVER actually associated with the seven virtues.
When I sat down to work out the seven Thassilonian schools of magic, we did so by associating them with the seven deadly sins. The concept of those sins being corruptions of virtues of rule didn't enter the setting until some time later, quite some time after I'd already gone through the process of figuring out which of the sins mapped to which of the seven schools of magic. (Looking back through the notebook in which I first started mapping them out, that page is sandwiched between maps I was designing for the last third of Savage Tide, around the time that Dungeon #146 or thereabouts.)
So there's no problem at all. The seven Thassilonian schools of magic line up to the sins, NOT to the virtues, and were never INTENDED to line up to the virtues. Thassilon was never really about the virtues of rule—it abandoned that concept very early on. The virtues of rule were more of an Azlant thing, really, and it's not called Azlanti magic, after all. ;-P
(Additionally, as clarified in the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, the virtue that opposed pride was not "honest pride" but humility. The "honest pride" element is something from the very start of it all we've since refined.)
Well, I never studied history. I used the wiki and got honest pride.
Being something of a writer myself, I know how history can be created after the future. It does hang well together, so I have no complaint.
Thanks for the history lesson.
/cevah