The Illusionist Character Class



From freepik.com

 In 1E AD&D, the illusionist is one of those overlooked character classes.  I mean, they can't heal anybody, don't raise the dead, cannot summon horrid monsters, don't have fireball, and all they do is trick people/monsters into experiencing what isn't really there.  How much fun is that to play?  Turns out, this is one of those classes with really overpowered spells!

Illusionists need an intelligence of 15 and a dexterity of 16.  Like magic users they use a 4 sided die for hit points.  Like magic users they don't wear armor and are very restricted in terms of the weapons that they can use.  They are also very restricted in terms of magic items; scrolls that contain spells usable by illusionists, all rings, only a handful of rods/wands/staves, misc. magic items usable by every class, artifacts that are not proscribed, and magic daggers.

Now, the illusionist spells are interesting, let's talk about some low level ones in 1E:

Change self: takes one segment to cast and does not give others a saving throw.  The illusionist is able to alter their appearance, including clothing and equipment, to appear 1' shorter or taller, fatter or thinner, human, humanoid, or man-shaped bipedal creature, for 2d6 rounds plus 2 rounds per level.  So, for example, if the party were in an orc fortress this means the illusionist could take on the appearance of one of the orcs and cause havoc or avoid an encounter all together!

Color spray: the illusionist causes a fan shaped spray of colors to spring forth from their hand.  Sounds dumb right?  Hold on, 1-6 creatures in the area are effected (1/2"x2"x2").   If the affected creature's HD is less than or equal to the spellcaster then they are struck unconscious for 1-8 rounds.  If the HD is 1-2 greater than the spellcaster then they are stunned for 2-8 segments.  All creatures above the level of the caster and all creatures 6HD or greater get a saving throw.  Those at the level of the caster or below do not!

The above are both first level spells!  Now, illusionists are not as bad assed as clerics and magic users whose higher level spells can alter the fabric of existence, right?  Let's look at a few:

Alter Reality: equivalent to the seventh level magic-user spell, limited wish.  You could restore hit points, limit an opponent's "to hit" or damage, etc.

Astral Spell: Just like the seventh level cleric spell.

Prismatic Spray: Basically the rays of the prismatic sphere (ninth level magic user spell) come from the illusionist's hands, with the same effects.

Prismatic Wall: Takes seven segments to cast and lasts one turn per level of the spellcaster.  Creates a wall of a mixture of colors (i.e. all the colors of the prismatic sphere) which protects the illusionist from nonmagical missiles, magical missiles, poisons, gases, breath weapons, petrification, prevents location/detection magic, protects versus spells, and protects versus force fields and includes all the negative effects of trying these tings against the prismatic sphere (so attempting to use a magical missile causes 20hp of damage against the person firing it, for example).

Point is, don't dismiss this class just because it doesn't have ninth level spells like magic users.  This can be a pretty impactful class and would also make a great bad guy!


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