Campaign Design - Spells: Reverse Illusion

Reverse Illusion (from Relics & Rituals)
Illusion (Glamer)

Level: Bard 6, Sorcerer/Wizard 6, Trickery 6
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Close (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 caster levels)

Target, Effect, or Area: Glamer covering up one 20-foot cube + one 10-foot cube per caster level (S)

Duration: Permanent (D)

Saving Throw: Will disbelief
Spell Resistance: No

Reverse illusion covers non-illusory objects or creatures with a glamer crafted to make the subject ot the spell appear less than real. An iron golem cloaked in reverse illusion might appear slightly insubstantial, and the boom of its footfalls might not quite match the timing of its actual steps. A pit cloaked in reverse illusion might flicker occasionally, showing a solid stone pathway where the "pit" seems to be, and a pole stuck into the pit would seem to strike a hard surface where open air should be.

Basically, the objects cloaked by reverse illusion give off the telltale signs that would lead a cautious observer to disbelieve in what he was observing. In fact, the signs are so evident that observers who are knowledgeable in such phenomena would assume that faulty or poorly constructed illusion magic was at work, and no disbelief attempt is required for observers to categorize the reverse illusion as a true illusion.

Just as interacting with an illusion in a way that might suggest it to be illusory is required before an observer can make a disbelief saving throw, observers must interact with the real object cloaked by reverse illusion in a way that demonstrates that it might in fact be real before they can attempt to make a disbelief saving throw against the reverse illusion glamer itself. For example, if a crossbow bolt is loosed at the iron golem, and the bolt doesn't pass through the illusion, the observers might begin to question their assumptions. Anyone who makes a successful Will save to disbelieve in a reverse illusion will observe that the object in question is real. Anyone who fails would still see the item as illusory.

Reverse illusion has little effect on creatures of less than 7 Intelligence since they will miss the subtle glamers that make the cloaked object appear illusory and simply assume from the start that the object is real. More intelligent or insightful companions may convince the slow-witted observers of the "illusion" at their own risk.

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