Church Inquisitor and Pierce Illusion

[behemoth]

Need some clarification around this ability...

Pierce Illusion (Su): You have the ability to penetrate illusions and disguises at will. When ever you see an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, you immediately make a Will save to see through it.

So does this effect all Illusion spells? I am looking at the list and some things stand out like Blur, Displacement, Invisibility, Mirror Image...even Silence is of the Illusion school.

Or would it be limited by those spells whose Savings throws are Will disbelief and theclass ability is beneficial in that they don't need to actually interact with the illusion?

I am divided on this as I can see some different side to this:

1. unless the spell says that there is a way to disbelieve the illusion, then this ability doesn't kick in. (So for example, they don't have a chance to penetrate invisibility).
2. But if I use this, then it means that the ability would not work against blur, mirror image, etc. and it seems like it should.

Help! :)

[Chris Salvato]

behemoth wrote:

Need some clarification around this ability...

Pierce Illusion (Su): You have the ability to penetrate illusions and disguises at will. When ever you see an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, you immediately make a Will save to see through it.

Sounds to me like the INTENT of this ability is to see the true nature of something or someone that others may be trying to prevent you from seeing - i.e., the character is so adept at noticing the slightest flaw in any illusion that he is a master at exposing such tactics.

In that respect, all illusions and spells that add to a disguise check would obviously be affected, but I'd go further to say that any illusion that makes something appear as if it were something else would also be affected.

However, since Blur, Displacement and other concealment-granting effects aren't making the target appear to be something else - they merely make them harder to focus on/accurately target - I'd say the ability does NOT apply. In addition, I believe Blur and Displacement do not grant Will saves to avoid the effects, so where would you base the DC which the CI would have to make?

IMHO, unless the spell allows a spot check and/or Will disbelief save, the CI does not get to use this ability.

Chris

[ignimbrite78]

Chris Salvato wrote:

behemoth wrote:

Need some clarification around this ability...

Pierce Illusion (Su): You have the ability to penetrate illusions and disguises at will. When ever you see an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, you immediately make a Will save to see through it.

Sounds to me like the INTENT of this ability is to see the true nature of something or someone that others may be trying to prevent you from seeing - i.e., the character is so adept at noticing the slightest flaw in any illusion that he is a master at exposing such tactics.

In that respect, all illusions and spells that add to a disguise check would obviously be affected, but I'd go further to say that any illusion that makes something appear as if it were something else would also be affected.

However, since Blur, Displacement and other concealment-granting effects aren't making the target appear to be something else - they merely make them harder to focus on/accurately target - I'd say the ability does NOT apply. In addition, I believe Blur and Displacement do not grant Will saves to avoid the effects, so where would you base the DC which the CI would have to make?

IMHO, unless the spell allows a spot check and/or Will disbelief save, the CI does not get to use this ability.

Chris

I concur.

I would also like to add a question:
if memory serves spells like ilusionary wall require interaction for the Will save; does this mean that pierce illusion allows a save to see through the illusion without interacting? It kinda reads that way ...