Editing Illusionist (section)

==4e Illusionist==
Illusionists proper vanished in this edition, but the concept survived. Many [[wizard]] powers had a theme of being illusions, but illusions lost their "special status" - which was actually a positive thing. Sure, you were doing plain old Psychic damage and not some nebulous "other" damage, but it meant no creature was specifically impervious to your illusion spells, either. No more dealing with some of the most common enemies in the game being immune to your spells. Whilst the PHB had some illusion themed spells, the [[splatbook]] Arcane Power really brought the school back to its glory days, with one of the dedicated builds even being called the Illusionist.

That said, illusion spells and enchantment spells did have a bit of overlap in this edition. For example, the most powerful illusion spell in Arcane Power was "Visions of Wrath", which could whammy a whole bunch of enemies and make them start attacking each other.

The Illusionist returned as a subclass for the [[Mage]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]. Being an Illusionist was handled as a set of three features gained by choosing that specific magical school, and which were acquired at levels 1, 5 and 10. A Mage could also dabble in Illusion by taking the 1st and 5th level Illusion school benefits at levels 4 and 8.

* Illusion Apprentice: When you hit a target with an arcane illusion power, the target takes a -2 penalty to the next attack roll it makes against you before the end of your next turn.
* Illusion Expert: You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff checks and Stealth checks.
* Illusion Master: When you hit or miss a target using an arcane illusion power, the target grants combat advantage for the next attack made against it before the end of your next turn.

One huge change to illusion magic in this edition was that, in exchange for the guaranteed effectiveness, it lost its general abstractness. Illusion spells in 4e had defined effects on what they did to their targets, instead of being vaguely phrased "make 'em up" castings like the various Create Image spells of AD&D and 3e. You could still specify just what it was an illusion spell made your victims see, hear or otherwise perceive, but that was mostly flavor text, and trying to create specific spectral imagery was handled through a combination of utility spells like "Illusory Wall" and asking your DM if you could combined with a skill check - for example, an Arcana check to make an illusory bridge to try and dupe enemies into crossing over it.