Creatures and sizes

[MiB1213]

Is there any good rule of thumb when fighting the hex sizes of creatures in ITL or elsewhere. Question rose today when a spell caster wants to know what would constitute 1 hex creature when casting illusion.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by MiB1213

Is there any good rule of thumb when fighting the hex sizes of creatures in ITL or elsewhere. Question rose today when a spell caster wants to know what would constitute 1 hex creature when casting illusion.

If the rules don't say otherwise, then a creature is one hex. At least, that's a general rule of thumb.

Some regulars here have tied critter size in hexes to ST in a way that's roughly consistent with the size of creatures as described in RAW, but it is an inference based on induction and isn't really necessary in day-to-day play.

If the creature he wants to summon up as an illusion isn't listed in ITL, then pick the nearest you can find. A horse, for instance, is two hexes. An elephant is a massive 10 hexes[1]. A rhino must be between the two.

Of course, if he's looking for a one-hex illusion, he's hopefully thinking smaller. Big cats are almost all 2-hex, with the jaguar an exception. Bears are a little less clearly stated. The cave bear is explicitly 2 hexes. I'd put the grizzly as the same. I might put the "less formidable" bears as 1 hex.

I'm kinda curious what he wanted to illusion up.

[1] I'm guessing that this is a megahex plus three hexes on one side.

[hcobb]

Hex facings for various critters including the elephant are given in TFT Companion

[phiwum]

Thanks, Henry!

It was shaped as I guessed -- but of course, the number of hexes was pretty suggestive.

[Axly Suregrip]

When casting an illusion it is best to stick to the creatures that may be summoned. This way if you foe has a basic understanding of magic, he will be left guessing if it was summoned vs illusion. That is, if you create a troll illusion before them, they know there is no Summon Troll spell and will immediately attempt to disbelieve.

There are four 1-hex summon creatures:
- wolf
- human fighter (Summon Myrmidon)
- bear
- gargoyle

Bear is one of the toughest 1 hex creatures to beat, so it tends to be a great one as an illusion. Gargoyle is handy if you need a creature that can fly into HTH. Please note that an illusion cannot separate into pieces. So, you can have an illusion of a fighter with a longbow, but he won't be able to shoot any arrows (illusionary arrows will never separate from the fighter).

[hcobb]

The most useful 1-hex illusion I've found is to duplicate your experienced meat shield. You get the full benefit of their talents and melee gear, the enemy doesn't know which figure to disbelieve, and the meat shield lasts twice as long.