Mirror Image: Instant Backup Dancers
Usable By: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 2
School: Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Duration: 1 minute
Components: V, S
Three illusory duplicates of yourself appear in your space. Until the spell ends, the duplicates move with you and mimic your actions, shifting position so it’s impossible to track which image is real. You can use your action to dismiss the illusory duplicates.
Each time a creature targets you with an attack during the spell’s duration, roll a d20 to determine whether the attack instead targets one of your duplicates.
If you have three duplicates, you must roll a 6 or higher to change the attack’s target to a duplicate. With two duplicates, you must roll an 8 or higher. With one duplicate, you must roll an 11 or higher.
A duplicate’s AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier. If an attack hits a duplicate, the duplicate is destroyed. A duplicate can be destroyed only by an attack that hits it. It ignores all other damage and effects. The spell ends when all three duplicates are destroyed.
A creature is unaffected by this spell if it can’t see, if it relies on senses other than sight, such as blindsight, or if it can perceive illusions as false, as with truesight.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
God I want to love Mirror Image, I really do. Every character I tend to play wants some level of deception, some tricksy tools to befuddle my enemies and give me a window to sneak off after causing some mayhem. Mirror Image gives you illusory duplicates of yourself that are supposed to partially fulfill that fantasy, but mechanically, it doesn’t really feel like that. In practice, Mirror Image feels like a sidegrade to Blur, and not delivering on the multiples of me I really want to play with.
This fundamentally has to do with its total effect; you simply get three duplicates of yourself that you can’t really control. They are right around you, and you shift between their positions uncontrollably. They always perfectly mimic you, so you can’t send them around or get them to feign different actions. All they then do is create this minigame where you can force enemies to strike your duplicates instead of you. You can’t do a lot with this to feel like a tricksy illusionist beyond dodging some hits, which is fine, but not what I personally want out of something called Mirror Image.
It not requiring concentration is a big boon to it. A lot of characters are going to find in the middle to upper tiers this is easy to cast prior to engaging a fight and can block three hits pretty consistently. That’s great to have. In the low tiers, I struggle to want to spend a 2nd level spell slot on this effect, especially if I’m not playing a character in the front line, and I really don’t ever want to cast this if I’m already engaged in a fight. This makes it somewhat clunky all throughout the game, but on wizards and sorcerers past 9th level when 2nd level spell slots start to feel more expendable, Mirror Image can often just be a free boon for a handful of fights per long rest.
Bladesingers, Trickery Domain clerics, and other front line options like Abjurerers can get a decent amount of free blocks with this, making it a reasonable addition to most mid tier sheets. If that’s all you’re looking for, Mirror Image is great. Its mechanics are unique, but its limitations with the illusions bum me out a bit. Undoubtedly a useful spell, just not my favorite.
Mirror Image FAQ:
Can I wipe out Mirror Images with Magic Missiles?
It would be nice to take out all of an enemy caster’s Mirror Images with one Magic Missile spell so that your party’s fighter can attack the caster himself.
But alas, Magic Missile is unerring and can only be cast at a creature. Illusions aren’t creatures. On the bright side, the Mirror Images won’t protect the caster from your Magic Missiles.
Will a Fireball destroy Mirror Images?
Again, the answer is no. The illusions are only destroyed by successful attack rolls. Area of effect spells don’t count. When the smoke clears, there will be four crispy wizards.
Can I use Mirror Image and Blur at the same time?
Absolutely! That’s a great spell combo for when you really really need to avoid being hit. Maybe toss in a Mage Armor as well.
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