mirror images being taken down even on misses

[Zorinar]

I am noticing that mirror images are being removed every attack attempt, even if the attacker misses.


Here is an example:


A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You step back out of the range of a juvenile wyvern's jaws.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
A juvenile wyvern makes a nice kick, but your crouch places his foot a mile above
your head.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You narrowly avoid a juvenile wyvern's claw.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You duck under a juvenile wyvern's wing, which whistles past overhead.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You duck under a juvenile wyvern's wing, which whistles past overhead.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern ducks under your slashing attack.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You narrowly avoid a juvenile wyvern's claw.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
You narrowly avoid a juvenile wyvern's claw.

<100%hp 97m 96%mv>
A juvenile wyvern destroys one of your images.
Your mirror images vanish.
You duck under a juvenile wyvern's wing, which whistles past overhead.

As I understand it, mirror image is not supposed to vanish upon a miss.

Zorinar

[Aveline]

I've noticed this happening before too on pretty much every character I have that uses Mirror image. It really concerned me at first, but then I figured it was happening because the reason you are being missed is because the enemy is hitting the images instead. And if you are being missed I figured code would have to have a miss echo no matter the real reason you were missed. Not sure if it is a bug or not, but it should be pretty easy to look into anyway!

[Keltorn]

As I understand it, mirror image is not supposed to vanish upon a miss.

That's right. In order to destroy one of your images, the enemy has to physically interact with it. If he misses, he has no way of knowing that that particular image is false.

Do note, however, that images are a lot easier to hit than you are. You can have a large number of defensive spells up or items equipped (For example, Mage Armor or full plate, shields or the Shield spell, Dragonskin or Barkskin, Shield of Faith or a Ring of Protection), but none of those bonuses (armor, shield, natural armor, and deflection, respectively) count towards protecting your images. The reason I bring this up is because it's possible that the attacks are hitting your images, but the game gives a miss echo because the same attack against the real you would have missed.

Another possibility is that the game simply gives miss echoes whenever one of your images gets whacked (after all, the attack missed the real you and, therefore, dealt no damage to you). I've never used FK's Mirror Image, so I'm afraid I can't speak from personal experience. Do you usually get hit echoes when you lose an image, or are they always reported as misses?

[Zorinar]

Well, I have noticed miss echos when loosing an image, I cant remark on when I actually do get hit because I just dont remember what echos I was getting at that time but I will test that out. Even the missed kick or punch will knock them down. It could very well be that they are getting hit due to the AC differential but as its happening at every attack, I am starting to get a tad suspicious. I havnt tried it on very weak mobs in a while, but orcs, giants, hobgoblins in undermountain, water elements in same area are the recent things I have fought and I have closely kept an eye on it. Seems to be 100% destruction rate at the moment. I will continue to track it with a variety of mobs and report later what I find.

Zorinar

[Raona]

I did check this when the fix to mirror image was applied, and confirmed that the images only disappeared when they were hit. As Keltorn nicely explained, they are often much easier to hit than you are. For a high level creature with a high attack bonus, it may be nearly impossible for them to miss one of your mirror images (only doing so on a 1 on a d20). But if they do miss, your mirror image will not go away. You'll get the miss echo either way, though.