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I came across a bizarre instance where a Pact Blade Warlock with the Witch Sight invocation ended up fighting several lower-level mages, a few of which cast Mirror Image. The Warlock claimed that Witch Sight saw through these false images so that he could see the true mages only.

The Mirror Image spell says:

A creature is unaffected by this spell if it can’t see, if it relies on senses other than sight, such as blindsight, or if it can perceive illusions as false, as with truesight.

The Witch Sight eldritch invocation says:

You can see the true form of any shapechanger or creature concealed by illusion or transmutation magic while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within line of sight.

As the mages are not technically concealing themselves with Mirror Image, I am unsure whether Witch Sight can see through the illusory images, as it only shows you the "true form" of the creature or shapechanger "concealed" by illusion.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think I have to disagree with your assertion that Mirror Image is not "concealing" the caster. From the text: "The duplicates [... shift] position so it's impossible to track which image is real." The whole point of the spell is to conceal the true location of the caster, so that they are harder to hit. \$\endgroup\$
    – user23801
    Mar 8, 2019 at 20:06
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    \$\begingroup\$ Notice that I said "technically". In this way, I meant that they are not actively covering the caster from plain view, but rather misleading this Warlock by shifting around. Hence, they are not concealing the mages in a traditional fashion. Also, I simply shared that I was unsure about the concealment. If I were certain, I would never had asked my question \$\endgroup\$
    – TheCentaur
    Mar 8, 2019 at 21:26

2 Answers 2

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Yes, Witch Sight sees through Mirror Image

Mirror Image is illusion magic, which Witch Sight sees through. While not concealing them in the same way Invisibility might, it is concealing them in the same way that hiding in a crowd would (the common definition of conceal being: "keep from sight; hide"). Thus, they should be able to see the real creature for what they are, by seeing the false ones for what they are not.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How would this appear, though? Would the duplicates simply not be visible to the Warlock, or would the Warlock notice one of them is more solid (the "true form") and the rest glowing slightly? \$\endgroup\$
    – TheCentaur
    Mar 10, 2019 at 17:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ @TheCentaur This answer to another question seems to address that. Essentially, the mirror images wouldn't be invisible, but rather the Witch Sight would allow them to know which is the real them by seeing the true form behind the shifting. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mwr247
    Mar 11, 2019 at 2:13
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No, Witch Sight can't see through mirror image

In the last part of Mirror Image's description, it says (emphasis mine):

A creature is unaffected by this spell if it can’t see, if it relies on senses other than sight, such as blindsight, or if it can perceive illusions as false, as with truesight.

Witch Sight is not a sense to be relied on - rather, it augments the sense of sight:

You can see the true form of any Shapechanger or creature concealed by Illusion or Transmutation magic while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within line of sight.

So the remaining condition is whether or not it allows perception of "illusions as false, as with truesight".

Truesight is described as follows:

A creature with Truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical Darkness, see Invisible creatures and Objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on Saving Throws against them, and perceives the original form of a Shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.

This description explicitly gives Truesight the feature "automatically detect visual illusions" in addition to the ability to perceive "the original form of a Shapechanger or creature", the latter of which is almost a word-for-word copy of Witch Sight.

In summary: Truesight sees through Mirror Image because it can "perceive illusions as false", due to its ability to "automatically detect visual illusions". Witch Sight can only "see the true form", and thus cannot see through Mirror Image. If a Shapechanger used Mirror Image, Witch Sight would see duplicates of the Shapechanger's true form, but would still see the duplicates.

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    – Peregrine Lennert
    Mar 9, 2019 at 3:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ What is the "true form" of Mirror Image duplicate? Why doesn't it appear different from the "true form" of the caster? I can see there being an argument for them being indistinguishable, maybe, but it should be written out in the answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – WakiNadiVellir
    Nov 18, 2020 at 7:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @WakiNadiVellir the mirror image duplicate has no true form. It is a free-standing illusion - exactly the kind of illusion that Trusight can see through but Witch Sight cannot... though, technically, that would make the mirror images appear differently than the original spellcasting shapeshifter, and thus allow you to ignore them. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben Barden
    Dec 1, 2020 at 20:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BenBarden I guess the question is, if the ceature under the effect of Mirror image is a "creature concealed by illusion [...] magic" or not. \$\endgroup\$
    – WakiNadiVellir
    Dec 2, 2020 at 5:52

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