Illusions and undead

[Razan_GM]

Do illusions work on undead?

Im almost sure that i read somewhere that illusions dont work on beings that dont have Unconscious rating, like Cadavermen. But maybe my mind play tricks. Too many editions

[Slimcreeper]

I would say yes for cadaver men. After all, they sometimes retain remnants of their former personalities.

[Kasbak]

This exact topic actually came up in another area that I'm not sure I'm allowed to go in to detail on. I can, however tell you the conclusion we came up with. Basically, if the undead are being controlled, such as by a Horror or a Nethermancer, anything that fools the controller fools the undead.

If they are being left to run autonomous, it gets kind of sticky. Illusions don't require any special sight to perceive them, so undead should be able to see an illusion just like anyone else. Personally, I think it depends on what their commands are. For example, if they are told "Guard this room, let nothing get by you", then an illusion would still fall in to the definition of a thing, and they would still attack it. If the illusion is something that just doesn't affect their orders, they won't need to mess with it.

[Mataxes]

I would say they are. Illusions are intended to fool the senses, and undead still have senses.

They may not be affected by particular illusions (ones that cause fear, for instance), but that's a function of a different immunity, not one that is inherent to illusions.

[Rogan Rubyeye]

Hmm, interesting question and definately one that's open to GM interpretation. Undead are usually the province of the nethermancer, but if you make them immune to illusions, then you're shafting any illusionists out of most of their abilities. Not even bringing up the whole do illusions work when viewed astrally thing - Earthdawn often differs from my GM's Sixth World-ingrained magical theory.

Overall, I'd say that if the thing's physical then illusions should affect its senses (i.e: indirect illusions - ones that create an effect that the target witnesses via their usual methods of preception). If its got some cognitive capacity/sentience, then directed illusions should also affect it to some degree (i.e: illusions that actually target the creature's mind/consciousness), but these wouldn't affect the brain-dead types - skeletons, for example. Astrally active undead/spirits are a different kettle of fish entirely, especially if they use a different form of sensing than the usual five senses of Name-givers. Sort of like ghosts/wraiths seeing life energy or possibly patterns and magical threads, for example.