Infamous 1e Class Guide: Illusionists

 Introduction

The Illusionist is the specialized subclass of the traditional Magic-User, with the major difference of that the class revolves entirely around illusions and deception. Perhaps one of the most mysterious, and challenging classes available to play. This is not due to the class itself being weak, as the drawback of the Illusionists is that your imagination is the only limitation on how effective and illusionist may be. Of course, the major benefit to this class is that the only limitation on your effectiveness is your imagination. The requirements for playing an Illusionist are a minimum intelligence of 15, and at least 16 dexterity. This is due to the complexity of illusion spells, the complexity of such magic requiring immense focus and skill to cast properly. Contrary to the deceptive nature of the class, Illusionists may be any alignment of the character's choosing.

First Level: Phantasmal Force

One glance at the Illusionist class should tell you one major thing, that they are much more effective than Magic-Users at the lower levels. This is due to two differences in each class, the first being that Illusionists have a slightly more forgiving experience table. This only means that an Illusionist will gain new spells very slightly sooner than their Magic-User counterparts. The more notable difference is Illusionists gain access to the 3rd level Magic-User spell, Phantasmal Force, as a 1st level spell. Illusionists should nearly always take this spell immediately, as it's boundless utility extends beyond any other first level spell in the game. Why is this? Only due to it's sole existing limitations being the fact that you are incapable of moving during concentration on the spell, the lack of noise created by the spell, and that most are not creative enough to fully utilize this spell. Phantasmal Force is the quintessential spell of any fledgling Illusionist. The spells exact wording states that the caster will create a visual illusion, affecting any and all creatures who fall victim to believing the illusion. This extends all the way up to suffering damage expected from an attack, such as illusory missiles, or falling onto a pit of illusory spears or spikes. This illusion will last until struck by an opponent, or until the Illusionist ceases concentration upon the magic. Any form of damage suffered by the spellcaster, or some form of movement will end the spell early, as concentration is broken. Creatures who attempt to disbelieve the illusory magic will gain a saving throw against the spell, where none is otherwise applicable, and allowing the enlightened creature to share this information with companions. After confirmation, or successful saving throw against the spell, only then will other allies who are aware of the illusion save at +4. Creatures who have not yet witnessed the illusion will however be completely unaffected until the point of observation, in which circumstance the illusion performs naturally. The restrictions on what can be created by a Phantasmal Force are none, in that it can take the form of any object, creature, or force, as long as it is within the spell's area of effect. Naturally, movement of the illusion within the spell range is allowed. Perhaps the most terrible part of this spell is that the damage that opposing forces will suffer by it's hand will always take exactly the damage that the creature believes should be taken. For instance, being blown away by an illusory Fireball will deal any amount of six-sided dice worth of damage to a group of creatures. Lastly, note that illusory damage never will outright slay an opponent, as they may only be rendered unconscious by the power of the illusion.

Illusionist vs. Magic-User

The Illusionist, though it may seem initially better than Magic-Users be a far stretch, will be surpassed by a Magic-User later in the game. This mostly comes in the form of the Magic-User gaining far superior options later on for the means of battling against more intelligent foes, as a Magic-User's Fireball is more reliable than an illusory force, even when an illusion might be of a lower level of casting. Even an Illusionist's Phantasmal Force has one minor disadvantage to the Magic-User's 3rd level variant, being simply that this spell is a 1st level illusion. Characters and beings with 19 or higher intelligence will gain immunity to 1st level illusion spells, such as an Illusionist's Phantasmal Force. Naturally, an Illusionist is further defeated by beings of supreme intellect, as a creature with an intelligence of 25 will be immune completely to all illusion spells the moment such an illusion is suspected. Magic-Users have other options upon which they may fall back on as the need arises, while an Illusionist's toolkit becomes limited when in the presence of highly intelligent foes. The opposing Magic-User is much more likely to have such an intellect, as that character will not need spend any valuable points on his or her dexterity, as an Illusionist would. There is a minor benefit to having a lower intelligence, being that the character is not as susceptible to psionic attack as others would be, but that is a much more uncommon case than simply being immune to illusion spells. At the higher levels, Illusionists will run into another problem, in that an Illusionist will be unable to make use of certain magic items that a traditional Magic-User would otherwise be capable of using. This applies mostly to only the most rare and sought after magical artifacts, such as the Robe of the Arch-Magi, or any magical items pertaining to the Wish spell. On that subject, Illusionists will never gain a sort of wishing magic, though spells such as Alter Reality come to mind in replacement. An Illusionist will also acquire new levels of spellcasting slightly slower than Magic-Users, as they will not gain access to a 5th level spell until 10th level is reached, and will not gain 6th level spells until 12th level, etc. Note that all other aspects and weaknesses of Magic-User will almost always apply to Illusionist as well, such as needing a spellbook to memorize spells.

Play it Right... Again

Perhaps one of the biggest downfalls of people who play the Illusionist class is the fact that they only think to cast their illusory magic in combat, using it as some sort of weapon. Any sort of illusion when put to use can outright solve most problems which involve people. For example, on one occasion an Illusionist in Farvion has placed an illusion upon his party members in a cart, making everyone seem as though they were mere bags full of cabbage and herbs, and not in fact, living people. Tricks such as these make Illusionist one of, if not the absolute best class for smuggling. Another concept an Illusionist might use is to conjure a false bridge or floor covering, so that when the opposing force attempts to cross, they are cast into whatever lies beneath your illusion. Get creative, and come up with some brilliant illusion ideas that you can use in your games!

Higher Levels: Secrets of Light and Darkness

The Illusionist is not completely worse off than Magic-User at high levels, as a 10th level Illusionist (The level bearing the title of the same name,) will be capable of researching and creating magic items in a similar vein to the traditional Magic-User, with the primary exception that objects and spells crafted by these characters will in almost all cases relate in some form to illusions. This is accomplished the same way, of course requiring your DM's approval for any spells or classes created by your character to be allowed into the world. The definition of what exactly "relates" to illusions is left intentionally vague, as to say that if a player should find good justification on why an idea might qualify as "illusion like," (even if the spell in question is not an Illusion/Phantasm,) it is advised that a DM allow this spell's creation if the proper necessities are met. This also assumes the spell complies with what the DM rules as a reasonable spell or class, as it is advised a DM be cautious in any event when a character's creation might prove too strong for the world to handle.

Conclusion

Illusionist is a very powerful force of utility that that is rivaled by none in 1st edition, and should be treated as such. Having an Illusionist in the team is incredibly useful, as even if the team lacks a Magic-User, a creative and imaginative player is more than capable of picking up the slack if need be. The more creative you get with your illusion spells, the better off you'll be when the need for your skills arises.