Silly question about Major Image

[Third Mind]

Hello everyone, the following is just a silly question and I doubt it'd work, but I wanted to see what your thoughts were.

Major image is like Silent Image but with smell, sound and thermal effects and can move if you concentrate. That we all know.

Here's where the silly question comes in. A thermal effect would indicate that people could feel heat coming off of the illusion yes? If so, how much heat? Could one make an illusory bonfire and keep all ones associates warm in the middle of winter if they believed the bonfire was real?

Just curious. As I said I doubt it works, but I think it'd be fun if it did.

[Arcanic Drake]

..... Good question... My immediate response was to say: "Of course not, illusions aren't real. It only gives the sensation of heat." But then I thought about it and something came up. An illusion like Major image is a figment not a phantasm. A phantasm would give you the sensation of heat, but only affect your mind. A figment "creates" the non-solid image and add effects to it. The sound, smell, and heat are "real."

To answer your question, probably not. The spell only gives off enough heat to make it convincing and isn't hot enough to burn things. The "fire" is colder than a real one and wouldn't produce enough heat. But really, its up to you and your GM how to do it. What ever works in your game.

[Valdimarian]

I'd personally say that it doesn't actually make you warm, but it makes you feel warm.

A 'fun' GM trick would be to create a phantasmal flame that makes people 'feel' warm around it, but then they start making Fort saves overnight due to the actual cold (and I suppose Will saves due to them 'interacting' with the lack of real heat).

That would actually make a really cool encounter. Someone in a cold climate / high mountain pass creates a story about an 'eternal bonfire' and then kills / consumes the people who freeze to death around the 'bonfire'.