Illusions/images as doppelgangers

[phiwum]

Can one cast an illusion or image of a particular person that is faithful enough to fool acquaintances? Friends? Family?

My guess is that those who know the person on sight (only) could be fooled, with maybe a 5/IQ rolls, acquaintances 4/IQ, friends 3/IQ and family 2/IQ. These rolls would be independent of disbelieving, but one would notice differences in appearance (perhaps) and behavior that would make them suspicious enough to consider disbelieving.

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Can one cast an illusion or image of a particular person that is faithful enough to fool acquaintances? Friends? Family?

My guess is that those who know the person on sight (only) could be fooled, with maybe a 5/IQ rolls, acquaintances 4/IQ, friends 3/IQ and family 2/IQ. These rolls would be independent of disbelieving, but one would notice differences in appearance (perhaps) and behavior that would make them suspicious enough to consider disbelieving.

Yes, the rules for this are on ITL 138, strangely under the Disbelief by Animals section. And yes, the person the illusion is mimicking has to be known to the viewers.

Because illusions are so powerful and easy to exploit, I would almost certainly require a wizard to have a mundane artist skill as a prerequisite for this kind of exact duplication of a likeness, or at least make a separate roll to render the likeness accurately enough to fool anyone.

[phiwum]

Ah, totally skipped the "Disbelief by animals" section when skimming for this issue. Thanks!

[Shostak]

It sounds like there will be a second printing of In the Labyrinth that will feature corrected errata and some minor tweaks. If so, reorganizing this section would be helpful, since much of the info under Disbelief by Animals really is more general than the subheading suggests.