Illusion Magic

A conversation about the affects of disease and infections brought up the idea of hallucinations which got me thinking how that might work. Illusions are similar so naturally I got to thinking that illusion magic would make for an interesting topic.. just what could you do with it and how could it work?

Some basic ideas first of the kinds of effects and illusions you could produce and as an extension perhaps we'll get an idea of what's reasonable for hallucinations brought about by illness.

Illusions magic to me is magic that fools the senses.. mainly sight and sound and requires that an individual believes what they see. It can also manipulate the senses providing perks like enhanced sight and sound. ie night vision or sound amplification.

The basis for all illusion spells in SotA from a mechanical standpoint is to summon visual an audio content but that content has no substance. This can range from creatures to world building objects. The catch is summoning something appropriate.

Example: Let's say there's a small called Illusion Wall or something similar. It would only work when cast near a doorway and the effect would be to hide the doorway with a wall piece that matches the set of walls on either side of it. The requirement for this to work is that both the doorway and adjacent walls have to have some sort of variable that tells the game that they're related so that the spell knows which wall piece to replace the door with.

Obviously this spell wouldn't work on something that's standing right there and has an int of 2 or higher above a rock.. but you could use it in preparation for a battle to hide or confuse enemies who might not be able to find you unless they 'disbelieve' the illusion.. either with an int check or seeing someone walk through it etc.

Other spell possibilities.. let's call this one Mirror.. the target is doubled and anything it does the 'copy' will also do until struck with a weapon or spell. Multiply.. create many copies to confuse opponents. Again just taking an 'image' of the target.

Another possible spell could create one or more images of creatures that spawn naturally in the area.. the mechanics of the spell would seek out nearby spawn points to see what's appropriate. Naturally these images will attack anyone hostile to the caster.

You could also do a deafness spell.. blurred vision could be a shader effect..

Naturally light and darkness spells would fall under this category.

I think an illusion school of magic has a lot of interesting possibilities..

Oh naturally a disbelief of any illusion would either cause it to disappear entirely or maybe it would glow and be translucent until it wears off. This kind of effect should be default for the caster. (Wouldn't want them to confuse themselves)

 

My feeling is that if you have 3 different cultures in the game and you're trying to think of a kind of magic for the 3rd one, this can be a great idea. But if you don't, don't waste it. It's a good way to add flavor to some new society which exists in some future expansion.

And I would do this throughout the game. However many cultures there are in the game, give them each one solution to something but don't bleed stuff all over. It's better to save it. If you put all your ideas in the first game, you're stuck with ninja pandas by year 3 trying to get something new.

 

lol Where were the ninja pandas again? Wow? Makes me thankful I never played. Most of my stuff I'm presenting lately I'm thinking is probably EP2 or later material.. Although I'm especially fond of playing magic users.. just occasionally I'll think of something I find very interesting.. like how you could really implement real illusions or hallucinations.. or having a lot of diversity in different schools of magic (ie rune magic vs totem magic vs traditional Britannia magic) all at the same time and how the study of them might interact.

So yeah.. no worries from me if it doesn't make EP1.. Ep2 or later would still be awesome. I just think it'd be interesting to design and implement and then see how it functions and gets used by players.

 

Spells that cause some sort of hallucinations for the opposition would be AWESOME.
I used to pay to hallucinate, hopefully ill be able to pay for the game and make other people do the same!

 

cool post, good idea!

 

Hallucination spells: very cool. I'm imagining your character seeing an attack from a pack of wolves.. and in reality he's just flailing away at thin air. Would make for some very interesting and sometimes comical gameplay.

 

Meanwhile while he' figuring out he' being tricked.. you're off to the side preparing to snipe him with your crossbow or a more powerful spell you needed time to prepare.

Illusions would make for some very interesting strategic play and yes hopefully some very amusing scenarios.

 

Invisibility would probably be the most basic illusion spell. I remember AD&D first edition had an illusionist subclass

 

I wouldn't put invisibility as the most basic illusion. Invisibility is a multifunctional win button. Even if it drops as soon as you attack, or are attacked. Even if it drops when you MOVE. No, I'd say the most basic illusion spell would be something like, "you see my health and mana at the following levels". You could have a version that makes you look badly wounded, then when PvP players try to finish you off, you turn out to have been at full health and turn the tables, or a version that sets you at full, to scare someone who is watching the health bars, and they see that yours isn't dropping while theirs IS.

 

I liked how in Dungeons & Dragons Online a blindness spell would actually blacken your screen with a heavy fog. This added a level of immersion instead of just increasing your "chance to miss" attacking a target. This would be a cool effect of an illusion spell.

 

Great ideas. Deafness that actually turns off your sound, blindness that darkens your screen. Illusory wall that blends with adjacent wall tiles. I also like the idea of your illusion displaying false health appearance.

Another low level illusion spell could be to disguise a poisoned or rotten food item as something delicious. OR display a worthless wooden arrow as a valorite barb of dragon slaying( to sell!)

 

I can see the illusory goods being used in player to player trades. I imagine the main auction houses will have "True Seeing" effects up pretty damn quick. Also let's not forget the value of "Fairy Gold" that is valid coinage when spent, but the next day...

 

Color me a tad weird but I just don't think we should have spells who's sole purpose is to rip people off. I'd rather just not go there. There are PvP implications here as well. Imagine that you cast this illusion and sell a fake item to a PvPer who discovers what you've done but can't do a darn thing about it because you're non-PvP. They can't go to the authorities because the illusion is gone and there's no proof. Likewise.. the non-PvPer also has no recourse either.

 

Just exploring the idea, Bowen. Though, if you want recourse, use illusion busting magic when you trade in the open field. Or, just use the official AH who's NPC's dispel illusions for you.