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In old-school DnD, what spell would a wizard (or illusionist) use to change the appearance of his minions? For example, if a wizard had a bunch of bugbear henchmen, what spell would she cast to make them look like dirty humans?

There HAS to be a spell that does this, but heck if I can find it!

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Is this a Q from a DM perspective (in which case: you don't need a pre-written spell) or from a player perspective (in which case, figuring out how to pull this off is interesting/challenging)? – SevenSidedDie Jun 25 '11 at 20:08
I'm working on a monster writeup and I don't want to simply use "GM fiat". It seems like there should be a spell... – Wilmanric Jun 25 '11 at 21:53
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Old school is all about responsible GM fiat. (Where else do crystal castles floating through the air with ensorcelled inhabitants frozen in time for 100 years come from? Not a PHB spell! Old school fantasy is almost impossible without the GM being the creator of fantastic stuff beyond the characters' ken.) If you want to make it more player-comprehensible though, create a new spell and stick it in the illusionist's spellbook as a potential treasure. – SevenSidedDie Jun 25 '11 at 22:30
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Maybe you could narrow down what versions you mean when you say old school. To some that's "pre-4e", to grognard snoots it means "only pre-1e"... – mxyzplk♦ Jun 26 '11 at 15:31
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Much to 7 sided's point, i regularly end up with 20-30 campaign specific spells. – LordVreeg Jun 26 '11 at 19:33
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2 Answers

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In Second Edition, I believe you would want to use Polymorph Other or Glamour

Polymorph allows you to change the shape of the creature into some other similar shape, however it's not an illusion.

The Glamour spell will allow you cast illusions, but it may not have a convenient casting time for quickly changing all the minions.

Edit: There's also really no reason why you couldn't have the mage cast a general illusion over the group.

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FYI, "OSR" and "D&D 3.5" are definitely not in the same segment of the Venn diagram. :) – SevenSidedDie Jun 25 '11 at 21:19
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I think the spell that most fits what I was asking is Veil. Thanks to everyone for their help.

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NB that Veil will work only for creatures that stay within the area of effect. – SevenSidedDie Jun 27 '11 at 5:23

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