Fantasy Trip Illusions

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

I would say it depends on the character's background. For example, in the real world, in the modern United States military, during basic training all troops are given some training in how to deal with chemical weapons; when I went through Air Force basic training (mumble-mumble-ty nine years ago) we were taught that they existed, we were shown the MOPP gear, and were told that if we were going to be serving in an area where chemical weapons were known to be deployed, we would receive additional training on how to wear the gear, exposure to tear gas, and so on. The other services received more, and more extensive, training.

By analogy, a fantasy world character in a well trained and well equipped military unit in a rich country might be given similar training in magic and how to deal with magic from a soldier's standpoint, but would an average peasant levy, bandit, or gladiator, someone who picked up a sword by necessity and learned on the job, have the same knowledge?

Um...I don't think the analogy is really that similar. If you think about it, all you actually need to stop an illusion of yourself is the understanding that it isn't you and can't be a "clone" (if that is, in fact, the case -- not sure how Steve would rule on that one). You don't need to actually fight one to figure that out, so in this case, you don't NEED to put on the MOPP gear to know that the issue exists. And this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I would expect would be common knowledge among people living in a fantasy world -- just as we all commonly know that poison gas exists here. The good news for the fantasy folk is that their solution to the illusion problem is the same cantrip they were all taught as children about disbelieving an illusion/image before it can hurt them or someone else. Whereas for us, if you HAVEN'T gotten the MOPP training, and/or if you DON'T actually have the gear, you're toast, regardless of your general knowledge about poison gas...

(And, for whatever it's worth, I was an Army grunt before I joined the USAF (and thus went through all that "extra" training -- which lasted about an hour and a half, and consisted of us putting on a gas mask -- NOT full MOPP gear -- going into a sealed tent where they popped a tear gas cannister, and then taking off our gas mask while they asked questions of us which we had to shout the answers to -- to insure we inhaled some of the gas. We then staggered outside to try and get the gas out of our lungs and eyes -- and, in some cases throw up.) By contrast, when I was actually deployed to a war zone where the USAF (which I joined after college) thought we might actually confront poison gas (in August 1990 when Sadam invaded Kuwait), we were given roughly 8 hours of additional training in both the classroom and in a gas chamber, including making us replace filters over and over and over again, practice donning the MOPP gear over and over again, teaching us how to detect gas ourselves, letting us smell the odors we could expect from different gasses, and then the same "tear gas" experience the Army gave me back in the late 70's. In short, the USAF's training was far better and more thorough than anything I received in the 1st ID in '78-'79. So maybe you not getting the training was a good sign! ;-) )

To my mind the best rule for what talents an illusion of a real person has is what the person the illusion is based on actually has, talents-wise -- mostly, however, that illusion's going to be a standard, central-casting issued Myrmidon with whatever equipment I give him and whatever talents are necessary to use it. I can't control what people "believe" but I can get my teeth into what actually IS. More importantly, if recent history has taught us nothing else, some people will believe anything, and others will believe nothing at all. It's hard to run a game that way...