Complete General Guidelines and Glossary
Exclusive Unabridged Version!
Compiled by Kim Mohan

Glossary-- I

Illusion: A school of magic focused on spells that alter perception or create false images. Illusion spells work by deceiving the senses or minds of others. They can cause creatures to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened. The subschools of the Illusion school of magic are figment, glamer, pattern, phantasm, and shadow.

illusionist: A wizard specializing in the Illusion school of magic. Beginning illusionists must select their prohibited school or schools from the following choices: (1) either Abjuration, Conjuration, Enchantment, Evocation, or Transmutation, or (2) Divination and Necromancy.

improved evasion: An extraordinary ability similar to evasion. When exposed to any effect that normally inflicts half damage upon a successful Reflex save (such as a fireball), a creature using improved evasion suffers no damage at all upon a successful save, and only half damage upon a failed save. Improved evasion is a class feature for monks and rogues, as well as a special ability of familiars and paladin’s mounts.

incorporeal: Having no physical body. Incorporeal creatures are immune to all nonmagical attack forms. They can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magical weapons, spells, spell-like effects, or supernatural effects. Even when struck by spells, magical effects, or magic weapons, however, they have a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source. In addition, rogues cannot employ sneak attacks against incorporeal beings, as such opponents have no vital areas to target. An incorporeal creature has no natural armor rating, but does have a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma modifier or +1, whichever is greater. Such creatures can pass through solid objects at will, but not through force effects. Therefore, their attacks negate the bonuses provided by natural armor, armor, and shields, but deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against them. Incorporeal creatures move silently, so they cannot be heard with Listen checks unless they wish it. See also corporeal.

inflict spell: A spell with the word "inflict" in its name, such as inflict light wounds, inflict moderate wounds, or inflict critical wounds.

inherent bonus: An ability score modifier resulting from powerful magic, such as a wish. As they originate from an instantaneous effect, these modifiers are not dispellable. A character is limited to a total inherent bonus of +5 to any ability score. Inherent bonuses to a particular ability score do not stack, so only the best one applies.

initiative: A system of determining the order of actions in battle. Before the first round of combat, each combatant makes a single initiative check. (Typically, the DM makes one initiative check for all the monsters. Separate initiative checks for different groups of monsters or even for individual creatures are permissible, however, at the DM’s option.) When combat begins, the participants act in order from highest initiative result to the lowest. If two combatants have the same initiative result, the one with the higher Dexterity acts first. If this does not break the tie, the players must flip a coin to decide who acts first. Once established, this initiative order remains the same throughout all succeeding rounds of combat, unless the individual participants take actions (such as delaying or readying actions) that change their own initiative results.

initiative check: A Dexterity check used to determine a creature’s place in the initiative order for a combat. Initiative check = 1d20 + initiative modifier. This total is called the initiative result. Players make all initiative checks for their own characters, and the DM makes them for the opposition.

initiative count: The point in the initiative cycle when a combatant acts. At the beginning of each round, the DM starts counting downward from the highest initiative result among the participants. The combatants act when the initiative count matches their individual initiative results. (That is, a character with an initiative result of 15 acts on initiative count 15.) Spells and other effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the initiative count on which they began. The initiative count ends when the last participant has acted, not on any particular number. At this point, a new initiative cycle begins.

initiative cycle: A circuit of initiative results in a combat round, beginning with the highest and ending with the lowest. Each creature participating in the battle acts when its initiative result matches the initiative count. Once each participant has had a chance to act, a new initiative cycle begins.

initiative modifier: A bonus or penalty to initiative. Initiative modifier = Dexterity modifier in most cases, though the Improved Initiative feat adds +4 to this total.

initiative order: The sequence in which creatures act in a particular combat. Initiative order begins with the combatant who has highest initiative result and continues downward in sequence to the one with the lowest. Each round uses the same initiative order unless individual creatures take actions that alter their own initiative results.

initiative result: The numerical total generated for an initiative check; namely, the sum of a 1d20 roll plus any relevant modifiers.

Inner Plane: One of several portions of the planar landscape that contain the primal forces—those energies and elements that make up the building blocks of reality. The Elemental Planes and the Energy Planes are Inner Planes.

insight bonus: A modifier that can apply to attack rolls, AC, saving throws, and various kinds of checks. An insight bonus improves performance at a given activity by granting the character an almost precognitive knowledge of what might occur. Insight bonuses typically result from spells, magic items, or magical effects.

Int: Standard abbreviation for Intelligence.

Intelligence: One of the six character abilities. Intelligence measures how well a character learns and reasons. It determines how many languages a beginning character can speak, how fast skill points accumulate, how many spells a wizard can cast, and how difficult those spells are to resist. Animals typically have Intelligence scores of 1 or 2, whereas creatures of humanlike intelligence have scores of at least 3. The standard abbreviation for Intelligence is Int.

intuit: Know instinctively or detect without using the normal physical senses (that is, through intuition, hunch, skill, or magical ability). For example, dwarves can intuit depth underground, barbarians can intuit danger, and rogues can intuit the function of traps.

invisible: Visually undetectable. Invisible creatures gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls and negate positive Dexterity bonuses to their opponents’ AC. Invisibility typically results from spells, magic items, magical effects, incorporeality, or innate abilities.

item creation feat: A feat that allows spellcasters to create a magic item of a certain type, such as a scroll, potion, or wand. This feat always carries a high cost, regardless of the nature of the item created. To use this feat, the spellcaster must expend XP equal to 1/25 the cost of the item in gp, plus material costs equal to one-half the cost of the item in gp. In addition, a laboratory or magical workshop, special tools, and sufficient time (at least 1 day) to craft the item must be available. Item creation feats include Brew Potion, Craft Wand, and Scribe Scroll.