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Cake day: October 24th, 2023

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  • Original comment:

    I agree with all of this under the caveat that your DM interpretation of the “what constitutes interaction” in 5e can also have more influence on your success than clever or clumsy play. DMs I’ve played with have varied from very loose discussions about their concerns for balance to self crippling houserules that wind up with illusionist NPCs failing to do anything because of a broomstick and blanket being flailed at them by a fighter. Specifically speak with the DM running the game and come to a common understanding before you start. Find out how interactions and passive checks will work against your illusions ahead of time in that game!

    Edit because I’m turning into a lich and forgetting which editions we’re talking about:

    Major Illusion, Hallucinatory Terrain, and Greater invisibility are amazing staples of illusion and you can look to Shadow Evocation and Shadow Conjuration as patches for any missing features a wizard should have in your party. Other than that I think… take standard wizard spells and ban schools based on your party if you have the chance to plan with them. Also consider the synergy that lies (enchantment) can have with misdirection and see if you can fill that role or support your local lying bard/rogue/beguiler.

    Illusion for gnomes in 3.5 invariably leads to talking about their shadow magic prestige class from Races of Stone and the ability to change what disbelief entails as well as cast evocation and conjurations as shadowy illusion that become more and more real as you progress. This is amazing for high powered campaigns but personally I recommend house ruling metamagic level out of the %realism formula. This prestige class is in no way necessary though as illusion rocks and gets license to make memorable scenes in ways other spell schools don’t!