Handbook of Erotic Fantasy: Shadow Clones (Patreon)

You know what’s cool? Illusions that require you to use your noodle. I’m talking carpets laid over pits. Wyle E. Coyote tunnels. Cheating at cards. Countermanding the enemy officer’s orders in his own voice. Replacing MacGuffins with illusory MacGuffins so that nobody knows you’ve stolen the MacGuffin. This is the kind of happy-go-lucky master of deception mess I imagine when I think about illusionists.

But do you know what’s not cool? Freaking mirror image. I mean sure it’s good. Having an army of shadow clones to distract the enemy is all kinds of advantageous. But do you see all those action lines around Warlock? Those are the frustrated, yearning action lines of a man desperate to plunge his sword into some provocatively exposed flesh. And if you’ve ever faced down 1d4 images plus one image per three caster levels, then you know exactly what that frustration feels like.

I think Laurel’s reaction is pretty typical. Before I sat down to write this post I asked her, “Do you like fighting enemies that use mirror image?”

“No!” She looked around wildly as she said this, as if I had a vrock or an evil sorcerer hidden in my back pocket.

“Well why not?” I asked.

“I get that momentary ‘I did it’ feeling, followed directly by, ‘No, fuck you.’” 

And I think that just about sums it up. Getting hit by paralysis or magical sleep or stuffed into a force cage is obnoxious. But at least there you know that you’re out of combat for a while. When the monster is wearing a mirror image though, it might as well hike up its skirts and wink at you: “I bet you’d like to hit this, wouldn’t you? My pretty little AC is ready for a good pounding. I’ve been a bad orc, and deserve to be punished.” And there you are swinging away for all you’re worth, straining with every fiber of your being to show that bad little orc who’s boss. 

My point is that nobody likes a tease. So unless you’re trying to frustrate your players (which, as Ninja demonstrates, can be fun under the right circumstances) I think it’s better to leave mirror image to the players.