Displacement, Mirror Image, Glamour, and Mistform

[LintMan]

Does anyone know the combat effects of Displacement (from Chain Mail of Displacement), Glamour (unit ability), and the Mirror Image spells? How useful are they in combat? Do they stack with each other?

I'm also curious about the Mistform spell. What does it do exactly? It sounds like a budget Ethereal effect - does it stack with etherealness? Is Mistform worth putting on your SC, or are there better buff spell choices?

[Taqwus]

Displacement:
I don't think there actually IS a displacement effect other than the high def bonus granted by that chain mail instead of the usual defense penalties inflicted by armor of nontrivial weight.


Glamour:
It combines an automatically-cast mirror image with a super-stealth ability when inside the owner's dominion.

Mirror Image:
Number of images when explicitly cast can exceed the number of images granted by Glamour if the mage is strong in Air, I believe. Attacks that attempt to hit a person will have a chance of hitting an image (presumably more likely the more images there are -- could be that all targets fake and real are equiprobable), but all images are dispelled when an actual hit is scored. I haven't checked it, but it would not surprise me if an area attack was guaranteed to hit all images and the real one too.
This can be pretty powerful combined with high def and an air shield -- try the Vans or the Jonins from the Ashikaga mod, both of which have glamour and thus autocast mirror image.

I don't know if Mirror Image stacks with Glamour -- whether it adds images basically.


Mistform -- slightly different than Ethereal in that it minimizes damage taken (to one point per hit while in effect!) instead of enemy hit probability with mundane weapons. This can be rather potent; fighting a Mistformed SC without magic is not going to work very well, whereas even mundanes can hit ethereals 25% of the time at full damage. OTOH, you can't dispel etherealness with even the strongest of hits or with a hit from a magic weapon.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by LintMan:
Does anyone know the combat effects of Displacement (from Chain Mail of Displacement), Glamour (unit ability), and the Mirror Image spells? How useful are they in combat? Do they stack with each other?

The chainmail of displacement does not provide the mirror image effect. It provides a defense boost of 4. You get 1 mirror image for each level of air magic you have if you cast the spell or have the glamour ability. When an attack would normally hit, there is a chance that it will instead hit the mirror image. If it hits the mirror image, then the attack is wasted. if it hits you, all the mirror images dissappear and you take the damage.

I'm also curious about the Mistform spell. What does it do exactly? It sounds like a budget Ethereal effect - does it stack with etherealness? Is Mistform worth putting on your SC, or are there better buff spell choices?

Mistform is a very useful buffing spell. It reduces damage to 1 against any non-magical weapon. If the mage is hit by a magical weapon, for more than 25 points of damage, or for more than 25% of their hitpoints, the mistform will end.

[LintMan]

Ahh, so the CMoD isn't as useful as I thought. Good to know! And thanks guys for the other info, too!

-Bryon

[DeathDaemon]

Actually the CMoD is pretty sweet. If the cmdr is not surrounded, he'll hardly ever get hit or hurt by the few enemies he's facing.