02-16-2018, 06:27 AM
It's also important to point out that not all illusions affect the mind. The Figments created by Silent Image are basically extremely realistic holograms and are not mind-affecting. All undead are immune to Mind-Affecting spells, not Illusions in general. Figments (like Illusory Wall) fool the senses, not the mind. Some DM's for whatever reason can't seem to wrap their head around this and insist that all illusions are mind-affecting which just isn't true. So normally Illusions can be quite useful but it all comes down to how the DM interprets them in their game.
As for animals and insects, I think for simplicity a save throw would be enough. But in the age of the internet the Player or DM can look up what kind of senses each creature has and could decide on a case by case basis how well they could see through the Illusion.
To Vidar's point, if suddenly a 'psychic tandem war elephant' steps out from the bushes you're going to pause a moment to at the very least wonder, WTF! So I personally agree that it should take an action unless they are blind or have some kind of unusual supernatural perception that is always active. But even an animal with scent has to take a moment to sniff the air.
As for animals and insects, I think for simplicity a save throw would be enough. But in the age of the internet the Player or DM can look up what kind of senses each creature has and could decide on a case by case basis how well they could see through the Illusion.
To Vidar's point, if suddenly a 'psychic tandem war elephant' steps out from the bushes you're going to pause a moment to at the very least wonder, WTF! So I personally agree that it should take an action unless they are blind or have some kind of unusual supernatural perception that is always active. But even an animal with scent has to take a moment to sniff the air.