TorilMUD Illusionist Guide

By: Ssissu

Illusionist Guide

Illusionists are mages that use illusions and phantasms to deceive and confuse their foes, while using the same skills to protect their allies and themselves from harm. They are a strong class that have some decent offensive and defensive capabilities. Illusionists are built on the strengths of avoiding battles rather than confronting them head-on. A class that is easy to learn, yet hard to master.


Contents

  1. Starting Out
  2. Spells
  3. Exping
  4. Zoning
  5. Tips & Tricks

1 - Starting Out

The Newbie Guide should first be read by all new players as it is an excellent resource.

The races that Illusionists are allowed to be in Toril are Human, Gnome, and Yuan-ti.

Human

This is the base race by which all other races are measured. They have average stats all around and start out in Waterdeep. They have no night vision, which can be a pain, but decent constitution and strength help make up for that.

Gnome

Gnomes are a very good mage class. They have the second highest intelligence in the game, human constitution and decent agility. They are a little weaker than humans, but not horribly so. They also get innate infravision which allows them to see red shapes in the dark. They start out at the gnome town of Ashrumite which is just a short and relatively safe walk south of Waterdeep. In all honesty, they make the best caster race in the game.

Yuan-ti

Yuan-ti are a race of snake/human hybrids that exist in the far southern jungles of Faerun. They are the only Evilrace that can be an illusionist. They have gnome intelligence and human constitution and strength. They also have very good agility and infravision. In addition, they have several innates, which are documented below. However, Yuan-ti have no ears, and a tail instead of feet and legs, so they cannot wear earrings or leggings or footwear. They can however wear a tailpiece of some sort to help compensate.

Yuan-ti Innates

Regardless of which race you roll, you will want to have at least heroic intelligence, good constitution, fair agility and fair strength.

2 - Spells
1st Circle
2nd Circle
3rd Circle
4th Circle
5th Circle
6th Circle
7th Circle
8th Circle
9th Circle
10th Circle
3 - Exping

At low levels, the best way to exp is to find a tank and just cast low level damage spells like shadow bolt and blackthorns. If you play a goodraced caster, the best places for exp below level 20 will be that little area east of WD just east of Turning Point. Also good are Sedawi village, Goblin caves, and Split shield. Once you hit level 15 or so, it's a good idea to find a tank and go to BGR. As an evil, exp in Dobluth Kyor and Mir Forest is the best till level 20-25. Around that level, going to Minotaur outpost just east of Tethyr forest with a small group is a good idea.

The hardest part of exping an illusionist is that from about level 16 to 28ish, you're really not useful in a group experience setting, as you don't do much damage and don't have much in the way of defensive abilities. But if you perservere, around level 28, you will have 3 displaces and they will last long enough to be of use in any exp group. Around level 30 you should start trying to get into Spirit Raven Exp groups. Also good is Druid's Sanctuary, Tower of High sorcery in a small group, and Duergar Settlement if you're an evil. Once you reach level 41 or so, it's a good time to start trying to get into Smoke Exp groups. An ideal smoke exp group is a cleric or shaman, an illusionist and an invoker. You will rip through smoke plane and gain a lot of experience along the way. Just remember that fluxing the mephits on smoke should be one of your first duties. You can also solo a lot of exp by using your shade to tank.

4 - Zoning

In a zone group, an illusionist is responible for several things. First, displace will last for 15-20 minutes at high levels. So it's a good idea to keep everyone in the group displaced at all times. I can't tell you the number of times displace on a cleric has saved them from getting destroyed when a squad of mobs walked in. Displace on the tanks should of course always be a priority, and when it falls in battle, it's a good idea to try to keep it up on a regular basis.

When fighting caster mobs, the illusionist will very often have to look after stunning the mob to keep it from completing its spells. High level illusionists can do this with both nightmare and spook, just don't forget that nightmare can have a very high lag on it. Low level illusionists with just spook can also be extremely useful in keeping players from eating spells. Illusionists are odd in that way. They can be near useless in exp groups at any level, but even from level 21, and certainly by level 31, they are very good to have in a zone group.

Many illusionists are also used to help scout in zones as well. By using the mislead/change self/sequester combo, they can scout many zones at will to help group leaders decide what would be the best course of action.

Illusionists also make great taxis before, during, and after a zone, with their gate/dimensional fold combo. Dimensional fold is also useful in teleportable zones by helping get group members all together in the zone, or folding past threats and obstacles.

5 - Tips & Tricks

Always keep at least 3 spooks memmed. You never know when stunning that 1 caster will save your life.

Shades are an indispensible pet. A displaced shade can usually last several rounds against even the most hard hitting solo mob. They are also good for luring mobs, and running by mobs while scouting. Having a shade in the room with you will often cause any aggro walk-in mobs to target the shade first, instead of you, giving you a chance to get out safely.

Always, always, ALWAYS watch for when your mislead is going to fall. If you have accidentally aggro'd several mobs and your mislead falls while you're at an unprepared group, that group is NOT going to be happy with you. A good idea is to keep yourself change self'd as much as possible when you're aggro to mobs. That way when your mislead falls, you will still have time to put up a fresh mislead. Be warned that mobs will still dim to you or try to summon you even if you are change self'd, so sequester is often neccessary.

Keep yourself displaced and mirror imaged at all times. It will save your life at some point.

Illusionists are a very powerful CR (Corpse Retrieval) classs. Corpse glamor is a very useful tool toward that end, so be sure to use it.

As with all caster classes, make sure to have at least 3 full backup sets of spellbooks on storage.

Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!