Study Up on 5E D&D Magic — Illusion Spells

Salutations, nerds! Next up on the docket is illusion magic for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Illusion is the school of magic spun to ensnare the senses of others, to hide things or plant ideas. I’m going to be honest that I don’t really understand why illusion and enchantment are different schools of magic in 5E D&D except illusion creates sensation and enchantment can take full control of a creature. Illusion sits in a weird place because if you’re really good at illusion magic then they kind of become conjurations. Maybe this is part of my bias against enchantment magic because I feel like if you’re good enough at picking your illusions you can get the same effect without hitting an automatic “you believe me” button. Illusions in 5E D&D can be really fun. Just be careful not to be too heavy handed about it or you could leave your enemies asking what you’re hiding.

Arcane tradition — illusion

The School of Illusion Arcane Tradition doesn’t start off all too strong. You get a cantrip and you can change the illusion you’ve already cast on the fly. All right, cool. Things get interesting at 10th level when you can make a copy of yourself to take an attack for you once per long or short rest as a reaction. The School of Illusion capstone means you can make part of your illusion real for a minute, but it has to be inanimate and you can’t use it to hurt any creature.

All in all the School of Illusion Arcane Tradition feels like the worst parts of enchantment and conjuration magic. The School of Illusion doesn’t really give you a whole lot mechanics-wise and honestly if I were going to play an illusionist wizard I would probably be an enchanter and cast mostly illusion spells.

If you can fool the senses of another creature then why would you default to sight so often? You can show a man a room on fire but if you let him smell the smoke and feel the heat without seeing a single lick of flame he’s going to be much more likely to believe. I can’t think of a much better distraction for an enemy than showing them — and making them feel — insects burrowing into their flesh.

“Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, to miss things that are there, to hear phantom noises, or to remember things that never happened. Some illusions create phantom images that any creature can see, but the most insidious illusions plant an image directly in the mind of a creature.” — from the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook

10 notable illusion spells

1. Disguise Self. Alters your physical appearance but not your actual being. It’s possible for people to realize the magical disguise but as it stands this spell is a nice subtle visual illusion that can play into your acting skills.
2. Distort Value. Make something appear more valuable than it is to squeeze more coins out of a merchant. This is an illusion and not an enchantment because it’s focused around reflecting the idea a person has in their head of what makes the object more valuable and making them see the thing.
3. Dreams. Go into and shape another creature’s dreams. I have never seen someone do this and it not be fun before. It’s one of those spells that makes the story better.
4. Illusory Dragon. This is exactly what it says it is and I think it’s stupid. First of all you’re not fooling senses and actually creating a shadowy dragon with shadows from the Shadowfell. There’s actually a physical thing there, which is the only reason this spell works because otherwise whose going to believe there is suddenly a dragon in front of them? Making this thing out of shadows kind of makes it a conjuration. Fie on this I say!
5. Invisibility. The ultimate “you don’t see me.” Sometimes it isn’t what you make the senses perceive but rather what you make them miss.
6. Magic Aura. Want to fool detect magic? This is how you do it. That’s really cool because it’s not fooling one of the basic senses but the sixth one you unlock by using magic. An excellent illusion because it is exactly what it’s supposed to be for its school applied in an incredibly clever way.
7. Mental Prison. You bind a creature to an illusory cell only it can see. Kind of like I was saying earlier this would involve taking all five senses at once to varying degrees. Mind over matter sort of thing.
8. Minor Illusion. The only cantrip so it has to make the list. You create a sound or an image of an object in range that lasts for the duration. I like this because it specifies one of two senses and interacting with it makes the person you’re trying to fool aware of the fact it’s an illusion.
9. Mirage Arcane. Make a mile of terrain look like different terrain. That sudden pocket of tundra in the middle of the forest could be an actual pocket of tundra or a wizard could have been like, “I like this aesthetic” and made the terrain different for themselves. A must have for you lair.
10. Weird. The only 9th level spell on the illusion list so of course it has to be here. You create illusory creatures in the minds of a group of creatures in an area of effect. You may or may not be dealing psychic damage in the process.

5 character concepts for illusion magic

1. The Stage Mage. Not an actor but a stagehand whose job it is to provide illusions for productions. You might be traveling to find new manuscripts for your troupe or because you got dismissed and want to find new inspiration for when you secure the job again.
2. The Storyteller. A somewhat similar concept, in which you tell stories to people and use your illusions to illustrate them as you do.
3. The Burglar. Distorting the appearance of reality around you as you break into places and take things. You might even come in invited and make it look as if the object were still there while you make your cunning exit.
4. The Calmer. There are a lot of people in D&D settings with a lot of trauma and reasons to freak out. You, as a master of the senses, know how to introduce a more serene set of stimulus to help bring someone down in a moment like this. You might even specifically be working with one of your companions.
5. The Advisor. A noble can definitely use someone able to ensure their conversations are not overheard. You are as good at obfuscating sounds as creating them.

There you have illusion magic in 5E D&D. Do you play a character with a focus on this school? A DM with illusionist NPCs? Hit me up in the comments below, connecting with us on Facebook or tweeting us @Nerdarchy. Feel free to comment or tweet me @Pyrosynthesis too and of course, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — Randomness is the jam! This ravenfolk spellcaster brightens up a dreary dungeon with some scintillating spellcasting. The next time you play an illusion enthusiast in your next 5E D&D game you might consider some of these highest rated illusion spells for your spellcaster. Aarion’s arcane image, blind spot and dream walker are terrific. This image was created in just a few minutes with full color thanks to the amazing resources at Hero Forge. There’s so much you can do with Hero Forge! Check it out for yourself here.

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