Can an illusion cover a light source?

[Flynn Walker]

Hey folks,

In a certain PFS scenario I was GMing the other day the party had something of a disagreement with a blindheim. After half the party had failed their saves against its blinding gaze, the Bard used silent image to create a blindfold over the blindheim to prevent further blindness.

I allowed it at the time, though the blindheim made its save and could still see. My question is how would an illusion actually work with a light source like that? Would the light still shine through or would the party, without making a save to disbelief, not see the light at all?

[cranewings]

I'd rule that the characters would perceive the room as being dark, but could still act as if they could see. A successful roll to detect the illusion would be noticing that there was something wrong with lighting and that what they were seeing didn't make sense.

So, yes, you could cover the light,and people would "think" it was dark, but they could still see.

Like when you are dreaming, see two things in the same place that don't go together, and suddenly become lucid when you realize it. That's how the will save functions in character in my opinion.

No matter how much the bard might like to black out a light with illusion, he can't because the illusion is not their to block the radiation. If it was evocation or conjuration, sure - just not with illusion.

[Beckett]

In 3E, doing this would not hide or extinguish the light, just the item. Lets say you cast light on a rock, and then cast invisibility on the rock, it would still be casting light, and while invisible, it would still be percieved ina practicle sense by it's lack of space. Similar to in the movies when an invisible guy gets water dumped on them.

Likewise creating a fake blindfold probably wouldn't help either. If it is a gaze attack, I don't think that darkness is relavent. The illusion would offer concealment, but not cover, which is what they would need to break line of effect to prevent the gaze attack. I could be wrong, though.

[Starglim]

It hides the light source (and obstructs the blindheim's vision, if it fails its save) but doesn't block the light emitted. In this case the blindheim's ability depends entirely on the brightness of the light and works normally.

That seems to be a particularly scary encounter. Half of the party in the game I was running refused to even step into the doorway in line of sight of the thing.

[Flynn Walker]

Hmmm... I think I agree that the illusion shouldn't have stopped the gaze. If illusions can't have physical effects (at least, at this level) then the blindfold would no more stop the light than an illusory falling whale would crush the party.

I think it might actually stop the party perceiving the light, so it would appear as darkness to them, but the physical effects of the light are still there.

Starglim - I can't help but agree. Every time I've seen this scenario played that blindheim has been the biggest challenge. This time it managed to end up in the hallway between the gnome rogue and the rest of the party, meaning they couldn't flee without leaving the rogue there to die. That nearly ended badly.