After playing some guild wars 2, I was wondering if the phantasms could be adopted to Shadowrun to give illusion-oriented characters some more tools. The phantasms are illusions that act on their own, but are often created as part of another action. I think in all cases, they are copies of the Caster . One of the uses that I really like is combining a dodge with casting an illusion.

The effect seems to blur the line between spell casting and conjuring. I will post some additional thoughts when I get home.

What I liked most about this was the use of illusions in a reactive way to misdirect attackers. Since, in GW2, the illusions act independently, I was considering a spirit approach. However, a spirit that is summoned solely to get shot instead of you is not likely to win you any fans on the metaplanes. I had also considered the option of creating a metamagic ability to cast an illusion as part of a dodge. However, that has two drawbacks. One, you are tacking damage (drain) to avoid damage. And two, it increases the versatility and importance of one or two magical skills (spell casting and/or conjuring).

So, I think what I am left with is there a way to do this with trid phantasm or a similar illusion? Am I stuck with creating a copy with an illusion spell in advance and hope the mooks shoot the wrong me?

Or even shoot each other through you a la Total Recall! But there's no reason to say you can't do both. Spirits would have more independence, but spells are quicker. You could also do something like multicasting Phantasm and Levitate to represent dodging.

D&D (3rd) has a spell like this called Mislead.

It is simply an illusion (why would you need a spirit for that effect?) created in your place, while you become invisible.

Bye
Thanee

So... multicast (trid) phantasm + (improved) invisibility?

But you can't cast and dodge, can you? Maybe cast as an interupt action? But that rules out full dodges.

You could cast Combat Sense.

Bye
Thanee

Keep in mind you could do a trid phantasm where you're 3 ft away from where you actually are. Anyone failing their defense rolls shoots at the fake you and misses (because the fake you has taken cover effectivey). Also to go full dodge, the action sequence goes something like, cast illusion, get attacked, and as an interrupt go full dodge (and sacrifice your next IP).

So, I was thinking about this more. Can you modify phantasms after casting them?

If so, you could have a mystic adept power or positive quality (like martial arts for spells): If within the area effect of an appropriate illusion (GM's discretion) cast by the character, you use an interrupt action to add your spell casting skill to your test to avoid an attack. So, a full dodge versus melee would be reaction+dodge+spell casting. If the attempt results in at least one hit (not net hit), a copy of the character is added to the sustained illusion and other characters must resist the illusion again (or guess) in order to determine which copy is real.