"This spell creates different visual effects, all based around the use of doors."
"If successful, the magician may create a variety of illusions involving the target (door)."
"Any interaction with the door will reveal its true nature." (emphasis added)
The only visual effect pointed to is in the rules that a new door must be no bigger than 3 square yards and cannot be farther than 4 yards from the original door (archway, trapdoor).
What kind of connection is there between the original door, archway, trapdoor (window?) and the illusions created?
I.e., does the illusion have to be of the same door or can it be modified? Can the illusion be a larger or smaller version of the door (shrink it down Alice in Wonderland style?), change the color or writing on the door, or what kind of portal it is (door to archway, archway to portcullis, etc)?
Can you hide the target door or change what it looks like? Could you make it look barred and locked? Or add a gate in front of it?
Does the illusion have to be on the same wall the target door is on? Could it be on a different wall that is within 4 yards? Or the floor/ceiling? Floating in mid-air?
If you are casting on an archway, say one that looks onto a courtyard, and you make a copy of the archway, will it have the same view of the courtyard or could it show something else?
What counts as "any interaction"? Was that meant to imply that anyone touching the original door or one of the illusions knows they are figments automatically? Or that anyone looking at the display knows it is fake, because looking can be considered an interaction. I'm guessing it is the former and reflective of this being a figment, a sense image that doesn't impose belief like a full illusion. So even if you know it's fake you still see it, but if you reach for the fake door or run your hands along the wall where a real door is hidden, you feel it immediately (or if you use any other non-visual sense other than astral sight).
How many effects can you make? Do you have to create them all with the casting of the spell or can you create new ones during the ten minutes plus of duration if you stick around? Could you make a door appear to dodge away as someone walked towards it? Make a door seem to open then close as someone walked closer? Can you make multiple doors from the original target (inside the 4 yard limit)?
Does only a crafted portal of some kind count? What about a cave entrance? Or a breach in a castle wall? What about a large picture/tapestry that depicts a door or archway - could you make it look real?
Fun with Doors - what exactly are "various effects"?
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ChrisDDickey
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Re: Fun with Doors - what exactly are "various effects"?
"Fun with Doors" is one of the very few amazingly flexible illusion spells. As has been pointed out, most illusion spells have very strict limitations. The only limitation on this spell is that the illusion has to involve doors. The general rule here is that if the illusionist can imagine it, he can do it. So long as it is fun, has to do with doors and fits within the area of effect and other limitations.
So yes, I would say they can change a door in any way that stays within the 3 square yards / 4 yards from original area (per casting). Bigger, smaller, colors and writing, move it to a ceiling or another wall and make it an archway, add bars, locks, etc. Yes, you can hide the original door or change what it looks like, but if you make a fake door and the fake door is found to be a figment, the original door (if hidden by the same casting) is automatically reveled. I would say that yes, if you moved an archway or an open door, you could make an illusion of what can be seen through the archway. It is possible a GM might also allow the spell to appear to create magical doorways such as making it look like the "Walk Through" spell was cast.
That having been said, there are still some of your examples that I would rule out. For example the moving, dodging, opening and closing, or changing doors. I would say the spell has to create a static figment that can't change. You can't make an illusion of a tapestry that has a picture of a door on it, but as for making an existing picture look real... I am not certain what effect you are trying to achieve here. Making a cave entrance would be GMs call. a breach in a castle wall would also be gms call. I would say maybe except that I can't conceive of a realistic breach that was only 3 cubic yards (let alone 3 square yards).
I would say that (unlike some figments), merely looking at the results of this spell does not revel it as a figment, unless there are mistakes or other obvious flaws in the figment (see below about open doors). You are correct that a figment does not "force belief". But any attempt to walk through or touch the door would automatically revel it as a figment (or basically anything that was impossible or strange). If this spell were a "True Illusion" (page 266 of the players guild) then one would need to succeed at a test to revel the illusion. You could attempt to pick the lock, or bash the door down and just be told you failed, without realizing that the door was illusionary. Not so a figment. Any touch or even close examination with a suspicious mind will revel the figment. Note that I think that the 13th circle special ability of an Illusionist to add the "Illusion" keyword to any of their spells would probably also (in the process of, and as a side effect of adding the illusion keyword) remove the "figment" keyword.
There are some effects that the illusionist can in theory create, but that can not fool a knowledgeable subject. For example if an illusionist wanted to create an illusion that a door was open. He could create an illusion of an open door and a room beyond. And the door and room beyond will look OK, unless examined closely or somebody attempts to enter. But if the illusionist does not know what the room beyond looks like, he would be forced to imagine some generic room. Anybody who saw that open door and actually knew what the room beyond was supposed to look like would immediately know something was wrong. Just looking closely at / through the open door will revel the illusion.
You can do more effects with separate castings. IE: one casting hides a door. Another two castings create two more doors more than 4 yards away.
So the short answer is that any figment that gets examined closely gets seen thorough automatically. One clever use of figments is to use them in situations where they will not be examined closely. Example. The party bashes down a door. The illusionist puts up an illusion of an unbashed door in it's place. Guards walk past the illusionary door without giving it a 2nd glance. Or the people looking for you don't know a door is supposed to be there. Just make the door disappear and the mob flows right past.
So yes, I would say they can change a door in any way that stays within the 3 square yards / 4 yards from original area (per casting). Bigger, smaller, colors and writing, move it to a ceiling or another wall and make it an archway, add bars, locks, etc. Yes, you can hide the original door or change what it looks like, but if you make a fake door and the fake door is found to be a figment, the original door (if hidden by the same casting) is automatically reveled. I would say that yes, if you moved an archway or an open door, you could make an illusion of what can be seen through the archway. It is possible a GM might also allow the spell to appear to create magical doorways such as making it look like the "Walk Through" spell was cast.
That having been said, there are still some of your examples that I would rule out. For example the moving, dodging, opening and closing, or changing doors. I would say the spell has to create a static figment that can't change. You can't make an illusion of a tapestry that has a picture of a door on it, but as for making an existing picture look real... I am not certain what effect you are trying to achieve here. Making a cave entrance would be GMs call. a breach in a castle wall would also be gms call. I would say maybe except that I can't conceive of a realistic breach that was only 3 cubic yards (let alone 3 square yards).
I would say that (unlike some figments), merely looking at the results of this spell does not revel it as a figment, unless there are mistakes or other obvious flaws in the figment (see below about open doors). You are correct that a figment does not "force belief". But any attempt to walk through or touch the door would automatically revel it as a figment (or basically anything that was impossible or strange). If this spell were a "True Illusion" (page 266 of the players guild) then one would need to succeed at a test to revel the illusion. You could attempt to pick the lock, or bash the door down and just be told you failed, without realizing that the door was illusionary. Not so a figment. Any touch or even close examination with a suspicious mind will revel the figment. Note that I think that the 13th circle special ability of an Illusionist to add the "Illusion" keyword to any of their spells would probably also (in the process of, and as a side effect of adding the illusion keyword) remove the "figment" keyword.
There are some effects that the illusionist can in theory create, but that can not fool a knowledgeable subject. For example if an illusionist wanted to create an illusion that a door was open. He could create an illusion of an open door and a room beyond. And the door and room beyond will look OK, unless examined closely or somebody attempts to enter. But if the illusionist does not know what the room beyond looks like, he would be forced to imagine some generic room. Anybody who saw that open door and actually knew what the room beyond was supposed to look like would immediately know something was wrong. Just looking closely at / through the open door will revel the illusion.
You can do more effects with separate castings. IE: one casting hides a door. Another two castings create two more doors more than 4 yards away.
So the short answer is that any figment that gets examined closely gets seen thorough automatically. One clever use of figments is to use them in situations where they will not be examined closely. Example. The party bashes down a door. The illusionist puts up an illusion of an unbashed door in it's place. Guards walk past the illusionary door without giving it a 2nd glance. Or the people looking for you don't know a door is supposed to be there. Just make the door disappear and the mob flows right past.