Quote:
Originally Posted by MikMod
I agree. It is not at all clear cut as the excerpts from RAW that I have posted clearly show.
The illusion spell has limitations, and those are spelled out most clearly in the quote, flagged by SJ as the general rule: that an illusion behaves as the wizard believes the world to be. This shows it is not interacting with the real physical world, but the world as imagined by the spell caster. Which is why an illusion of an owl cannot see things in the dark that you don't know about.
And let's think about the purpose of the spell, which is to make somebody else think something is there, which is not there. It's a mental projection, nothing more, designed to fool and maybe harm. It's not a scouting or seeing spell at heart and I don't believe that an illusion of a rattlesnake will be able to tell you how many warm bodies are around that corner. And if this was the general ruling, that you can stand on an illusion of a chair, then it is so powerful as to be completely unbalanced. Want to fly? Just conjure a giant eagle and it can carry you. Want to break down that wall, just rustle up an elephant and its have it over in a second. Drowning? Just create an illusory bubble of air around you.
In fact, re passing through doors it is explicitly stated, as quoted RAW, that illusions can never do that (no exceptions mentioned). They pass through tripwires, and walk over hidden pits. "If you try and walk over an illusory bridge your foot will pass right through it". (Whether you think your walking over the bridge or not!) Because they cannot affect physical reality. Why? Because objects cannot believe in them. Illusions are not real!
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These statements all look to be true to me, illusions interact with the world as
known to (not imagined by) the spell caster but illusions
see the world objectively (page 137, 8th para of "Creation Spells") and this helps to inform the wizard about how the illusion will act. If a wizard sees a pit in the room through an illusion's eyes and the illusion attempts to walk over the pit, it will fall in.
You can make a
useful illusionary scout (page 139, right before the pit example), which means the illusion will accurately see things around the corner that you don't know about and your illusionary owl will definitely see in the dark
if you have Mage Sight (see page 137).
Whether an illusionary owl can see in the dark if you do not have Mage Sight is not clear from the rules. That's a gray area, as Skarg mentioned.