| dynilath |
1.I am demoralized by an illusion and shaken for several rounds. But during those rounds a team member reminds me that it is an illusion, and I success the will save. Am i still shaken after that check?
Or illusions just can't demoralize anyone?
And can I use a major image created by myself to demoralize others?
2.I want to create an illusion of a creature i never met, but i cant make a visual copy of something unless i know what it looks like. So i need to make a corresponding knowledge check. Do i need to make such check everytime i need to make such illusion? What would it be like in PFS?
3.Do a illusion that nobody believes cause soft cover?
| Rub-Eta |
1) Unless the spell itself is creating the shaken condition, a successful Will save will not remove the condition. If the spell itself is the source of the condition, the spell will note if multiple saves are allowed and what a successfully saved check would result in.
The only way to become shaken by an illusion spell that doesn't apply the shaken condition itself would be an Intimidate check from the caster, through the illusion (or some other mean that does rely on the illusion spell, but I can't think of any). I would grant some bonuses to the Intimidate skill with clevar use of Image spells, but I'm not a PFS DM.
2) As long as you've successfully made the corresponding check, you're done. You don't forget things (But I don't know how PFS handles that between tables and sessions. You should post and ask on the PFS forum for a clear answer regarding all PFS questions). You can not re-roll knowledge checks. In my game, you would have to collect more information before you try again (go to the libarary and study or gain a rank in that Knowledge skill).
3) Illusions can never provide soft cover. Some can provide concealment, however. At a PFS table, don't expect anything of this unless it's specifically mentioned within the spell.
Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion.
A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline.
A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. a character faced with proof that an illusion isn't real needs no saving throw. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.
| Pizza Lord |
1. If you've failed the save, then you are still shaken or demoralized until the duration of that effect ends (unless the spell says otherwise). Regardless of whether you find out it was caused by an illusion or not. If you die to a phantasmal killer and your ghost is floating around in the ethereal plane watching your party members deal with it and they mention it's an illusion, you don't pop into your corpse and come back to life. Illusions can mess you up, whether it's as simple as a distraction or as horrifying as causing fear, madness, or death.
2. Generally, to create an accurate illusion, you need to have encountered a creature, object, or force. You don't just need a basic appearance or body-shape, you need to know how it moves, how its skin/fur looks in the sun or the moonlight. While not all illusions take advantage of all senses, you should know how it smells, how it sounds when its breathing, or growling, or whether its eyes glow green or yellow or red in torchlight.
A knowledge check may suffice for certain common creatures or a variant on a common creature, but I would be very restrictive on it.
For instance, I think we all know what a cobra snake looks like, but I doubt all of us have actually encountered and been in a situation where we could study one and be able to convey the actual look in its eyes as it sways back and forth in front of us. Just reading a journal about a cobra snake, even one that describes that it has a hood, or that it swayed hypnotically, or what the writer felt as he looked into the cobra's eyes may still leave glaring imperfections and 'unrealistic' or 'flawed' movements and details that someone, even someone who also hasn't encountered a cobra snake before, might pick up as unnatural and possibly illusory.
Similarly, if you've never seen the sun, you can hear or read stories from those who have and you might know that it's a big, burning ball of blinding light, but you might also have heard that it's red, or yellow, or even orange at times. You can't accurately convey that image without some experience based on your current environment, are you accounting for haze or clouds or is it just going to look bright and clear like you heard it was from one particular account you read instead of how it would really look. Is it supposed to be the same size all the time, or is it bigger or smaller at dawn? At dusk? How much bigger? What part of of the sky or horizon is it supposed to be at this time of year?
I could try and describe rain, I could be very accurate but it's just something you need to experience to get 'right'. Seeing a waterfall, falling water, a tidal-wave, steam, or even a veritable 'rain' of water dripping from a cavern ceiling and stalactites just doesn't convey how an outdoor rainstorm/shower should look and sound or even feel (some illusions can give a chilly or wet sensation, though they can't actually make you or your clothing wet, usually a giveaway.)
There's just going to be something wrong if you haven't actually experienced something for yourself (barring some learning that borders on hyper-telepathy that can convey full sensory experiences of others' encounters.)
3. Illusions provide no cover, only the illusion of cover. They can provide concealment, which should obviously apply in the case where cover doesn't, like someone shooting at you through an illusory door (which they haven't disbelieved).