Huh. That is seriously less clear than the rules for Mirror Image from Starfinder. That one clearly defines what happens in area attacks or other damaging effects that don't target you directly.
So RAW on PF2 is going to be a bit hazy. Best is to determine how to run it for your own group.
Personally I would follow the example of how it works in Starfinder and go with that. Area damage like fireball and splash damage from a bomb would not destroy an image. If the bomb misses you and destroys an image, I would have the splash damage affect the actual character because that seems to make sense.
The spell description is very clear regarding attack vs AC and how that affects the images. Nowhere does the description mention or seem to care about damage. Putting those two ideas together, it appears the only solution is that splash and area damage do not affect images.
Can splash and area damage hurt the caster? Yes, it just wouldn’t destroy any mirror images.
The spell description is very clear regarding attack vs AC and how that affects the images. Nowhere does the description mention or seem to care about damage. Putting those two ideas together, it appears the only solution is that splash and area damage do not affect images.
Can splash and area damage hurt the caster? Yes, it just wouldn’t destroy any mirror images.
I agree. Area of Effect damage doesn't seem to affect the images just attacks that hit or miss. Definitely should be clearly spelt out though.
Question: A Grapple is an attack with a skill roll. Does it count as an attack that can hit?
Question: A Grapple is an attack with a skill roll. Does it count as an attack that can hit?
I would say that question is more GM fiat than the former. For me, I would rule athletic attacks that would impair the illusion’s ability to be able to properly shuffle amongst the others break it. That would include grapple and trip. A knock-back of 5’ may not be enough to disrupt the illusion, but 10’ or more could and I would say that image is gone. Disarm attempts can be easily faked with the object just reappearing in an illusion’s hand.
All of this are just my thoughts and doesn’t have any further backing or dispute by rules. I could be convinced otherwise based on specific circumstances, but I feel that is a generally solid approach.
The other assumption could be that any athletic attack that misses the true target ends up just being a miss with no effect.
Question: A Grapple is an attack with a skill roll. Does it count as an attack that can hit?
I would assume so. You roll for targeting an image instead of the actual character for the mechanics of Mirror Image. It doesn't say that you have to actually roll anything to hit for the actual attack. So even using Assurance with Athletics in order to grapple, you could still follow all of the rule text of Mirror Image without any problems.
Though that is only for the initial grapple attempt. Once you have an enemy grabbed or restrained and are just maintaining the grapple, that becomes less clear. Mechanics would say that you do have to deal with the Mirror Image mis-targeting chance again. Descriptively, I am not sure how I would explain that.
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The other assumption could be that any athletic attack that misses the true target ends up just being a miss with no effect.
AC is just a normal DC specifically for weapon attacks. Generalizing the second paragraph of Mirror Image to account for skill based attacks should work just fine.
So you could make a grapple attempt, miss, but not critically miss, and destroy an image. Same with trip.
The description for that is that grabbing or tripping something and having nothing there but illusion would break the illusion.