Wizard's Sidestep

I would say "yes" that's a fine way to handle it.

I know i am picky about words.....but Yes, a fine way to handle it...there are two options. :)

Could you be a bit more specific?

Here's another Wizard's Sidestep type issue. If you learn the spell at higher level, say Base 3 effect, thus making the spell level 15, would that grant the caster a higher bonus? If so, what bonus, say +12? I think can get real wacky if you cast it at level 25, which would be a base level 5 effect (object appears 100 paces away).

OK, I'll clarify my opinion:

First miss, all the rest +9.

But I think that this spells generally sucks as it's waaaaaay to easy to cast and waaaaay to powerful for a level 10 spell and is thus rife for abuse, both under this version of the rules as well as the previous version. I think that we've done enough melee outdoors to understand that the description of the spell ("your image appears up to 1 pace from where you actually are") is not actually enough to protect you from discovery against a group of more than say two people. Given the small area that you _must_ be in, a circle somewhere between four and six feet in diameter the more and more people attacking you the more and more inevitable becomes you suddenly sharing space with one of your attackers. Especially if you're standing still and chanting in Latin making yourself even easier to find, but that's another issue I suppose.

I have thought some more about this. I am not yet sure where I stand, but the following occurred to me. A companion, in the typical course of events gets both an attack and a defense, with the defense value typically more than 9 plus a die. A magus, in the course of casting, gets only a passive die. A passive die +9 with WS up, puts them in the range of a companion with both an attack (their spell) and a defense (die +9).