Disbelieve Project Image

[Umbral Reaver]

If you disbelieve a project image or otherwise recognise it as an illusion, does it retain its spellcasting ability?

[Aspasia de Malagant]

Sure, why wouldn't it?

[LazarX]

You could be looking at it with True Sight and it can still blast you with fireball.

[nobu_the_bard]

It doesn't lose its abilities even if the target knows it is fake. When I played an illusionist, it was one of my tricks to get some utility out of my specialty when I was up against True Sight.

[Umbral Reaver]

I thought so, but wasn't sure. It seems stupidly good.

[Claxon]

Does the damage go down if you realize it's an illusion?

[Aspasia de Malagant]

Claxon wrote:

Does the damage go down if you realize it's an illusion?

No, the illusion is just a conduit for your spells. It may be unreal, but your spells aren't (unless you funnel more illusions through it of course, lol).

[Petty Alchemy]

It's a [Shadow] spell, which means it's actually real.

[Claxon]

Petty Alchemy wrote:

It's a [Shadow] spell, which means it's actually real.

Quasi-real.

And I was thinking it because of spells like Shades and Shadow Conjuration, which are coincidentally [Shadow] spells and have reduced damage because they're only partly real (if you disbelieve). However, I think Aspasia is right, the Projected Image is just a conduit, you're still casting the spells using your normal spell slots and power, all the changes is the effective origin point.