Fantasy Trip Illusions

[tbeard1999]

Originally Posted by JLV

Actually, this post from a different thread raises what might be a large loop-hole in the rules. I'll quote it in its entirety here so everyone understands my point:



My question is this: shouldn't a character be able to automatically disbelieve an illusion of himself? He probably should still be required to declare he's disbelieving (and lose his opportunity to make an attack), but shouldn't be required to roll for success since he patently KNOWS the other version of him can't be real -- it wasn't summoned, because he's still there and in control of himself -- and couldn't fight with himself that way anyway -- so it has to be an Image or Illusion, and thus he should be able disbelieve with absolutely no problem. Obviously his friends might not be able to figure out which is which, especially if they weren't in the room when the illusion appeared, but the person himself? Absolutely.

I think this loophole should be closed in the next edition of TFT...

(Great story, though! And obviously, closing this loophole makes things like "doppelgangers" more useful than they might otherwise be...)

I don't think so. "Disbelieving" is a misnomer. It's actually a very simple spell that unravels the illusion if successfully cast. The short story at the front of Wizard explicitly states that the protagonist's opponent *knows* that he's facing an illusion, but he still fails to disbelieve.

If you don't agree with this explanation, I see no problem with giving a bonus to someone attempting to disbelieve in cases where they are certain they are facing an illusion. I wouldn't make it automatic, though. I draw inspiration from the treatment of illusions in the classic Trek episode "Spectre of the Gun". Even though the humans *knew* they were facing illusions, the slightest uncertainty would doom them. Hence Spock's telepathic hypnosis.

And yeah, that was an epic campaign. I had the perfect mix of players - enough "flakes" to keep things interesting and enough "stables" to keep the game more or less on track.