Mirror Image and Traps requiring an attack roll


Rules Questions


<<SPOILER ALERT>> for Rise of the Runelords... please do not read if you do not want to know details in the adventures within the campaign setting...

Okay, so my half-ogre bard was in the depths of Thistletop, facing off against Nualla and her minions. He had cast Mirror Image prior to being trapped in that hallway with the portcullis and opposing statues that attack after the gate closes.

The statues require an attack roll to hit, but Mirror Image, RAW, says:

"Whenever you are attacked or are the target of a spell that requires an attack roll, there is a possibility that the attack targets one of your images instead."

Now, at the bottom of the Mirror Image spell description, it also says:

"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)."

Traps don't normally "see". Therefore, Mirror Image would NOT have any effect in this case? If that's the case, and traps requiring attack rolls don't normally "see", then wouldn't it stand to reason that there's a 50% miss chance on the attack roll, since it's mechanically flailing to hit without some sort of targeting?

Sorry if this has been asked before, I rolled a 1 on my Search Messageboards roll... thanks in advance for any feedback.


I would argue that traps aren't fooling by visual illusions, but don't have a 50% miss chance due to "blindness". They just attack where they attack. So, no benefit from Mirror Image, normal attack roll.


Ignoring any hard RAW rulings I think the common sense answer is as follows:

Traps do not have eyes nor do they think. They are designed such that when a trigger mechanism is activated the traps attacks in the "targeted area"*. Magic that fools vision should not be effective (such as Mirror Image) nor should the trap have a miss chance due to being "blind".

*Targeted area being a very generic term to mean a fireball could go off in an area, or a scythe trap that swings through a set of squares, etc.

Edit: I think in general the idea is that traps are given a lower to hit (for their CR) to represent that they are based on mechanism making attacks rather than actual people swinging, which is why the 50% miss chance doesn't apply.


I'll have to agree. Your images are just that, images. They're not physical copies of you can can't set off a trap by stepping on a stone or opening a door or anything. You have to set the trap off yourself and the trap targets a location, not a person. The to hit and ac is to see if you can dodge or if your armor can resist the traps force, thus the trap missing you. It is not the trap trying to hit you.

Think of it rather as, the trap is guaranteed to hit the spot you are standing in. The roll to hit is actually to see if you are capable of dodging it or if your armor can absorb the blow. This would explain why even low leveled traps have ridiculous to hit bonuses. (level 1-5 quests easily have +20 to hit traps.)

Tl;DR Traps cannot see because they are literally incapable of doing so. Mirror image's miss chance does not apply.

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