Necro-ing isn't exactly my hobby, but this was too interesting to not comment.
About your last tower idea... you created a paradox. Because two people walk up to the top of the tower. One pushes the other off. Then the tower is "removed" and the first appears safely at the bottom as the second slams into the very real rocks below. Only one of those outcomes can happen, and the fact that you are physically up in the air and can throw out a rock to attack a flying Harpy means you must fall if the tower suddenly vanishes.
An interesting note: the power of Illusory Reality really doesn't matter for Mirage Arcane. It has no built-in safeguards against damage, but it would require some setup to achieve causing damage. A pit, for example, or spikes. They must deal physical-based damage. Also, I think Illusory reality, at 14th level, is idiotic to have that restriction and will likely homebrew it out in games I run (unless I come across significant and agreeable evidence why I shouldn't). Being unable to drop a literal 1 tonne adamantine brick on a squishy goblin head because then the game just explodes in a failure of logic (gravity vs can't fall through surface that it must fall through)? IDIOCY. The object already can't be "magical" in nature, that's a significant enough limitation when a Swords Warlock can come along and spawn literally any weapon out of thin air at only 3rd level.
Something that many people seem to overlook (because they don't go as in-depth into rules?): Mirage Arcane does not produce heat. Temperature is one of the traits an illusion can produce (called out specifically in Major Image); the others are visual, audio, tactile (touch requires pressure, which means it can be pressed against, stood on, grabbed, etc.), and olfactory (smell) (taste is left out, though would be implied to exist in the spell Creation at least). As such, you totally could make a lava lake, and the tactile senses would be that of "molten rock" on which you would likely float, but it does not produce any heat that does not exist in that natural environment. It would cause no damage (but be startling and highly disruptive nonetheless).
There is actually a good logic for that: Fire burns and spreads. So, rather than a lava lake, you make a Hellscape. The real trees within the hellscape catch fire. REAL fire. That fire then spreads outside of the illusion, out of control and burns down the local village, elf forest, etc.
Of course, an acid lake is an interesting question. Drown in it? Sure! Should the chemical reactions come into play? I'm on the fence with this, but I lean towards "yes, but".
In the idea of "turn a region of water in air"... this is another spot where the devs failed. They only gave a "surface area" of 1 mile with no depth. Obviously it does affect depth (because you can create a building and a hill), but without a limit... could it go "infinitely" up and down? (how about THOSE shenanigans!) Again, poor design. So, I might rule it as 1 cubic mile (rather than the useless square mile) as it is also a direct upgrade to Hallucinatory Terrain, which DOES affect a cubic area.
The last point about Mirage Arcane: It completely fails to explain what happens to pre-existing creatures in the area affected by the illusion as well as what happens to all creatures (and things) after the spell ends. Do underground things remain where they are, now entombed in dirt/rock? (Nightmare fuel!) Might some be pseudo-trapped for the duration in illusory (yet real-enough) dirt/rock? And now I know the next thing I need to rule on. Yay! (dang it)
About your last tower idea... you created a paradox. Because two people walk up to the top of the tower. One pushes the other off. Then the tower is "removed" and the first appears safely at the bottom as the second slams into the very real rocks below. Only one of those outcomes can happen
. . .
Something that many people seem to overlook (because they don't go as in-depth into rules?): Mirage Arcane does not produce heat. Temperature is one of the traits an illusion can produce (called out specifically in Major Image); the others are visual, audio, tactile (touch requires pressure, which means it can be pressed against, stood on, grabbed, etc.), and olfactory (smell) (taste is left out, though would be implied to exist in the spell Creation at least)
. . .
The last point about Mirage Arcane: It completely fails to explain what happens to pre-existing creatures in the area affected by the illusion as well as what happens to all creatures (and things) after the spell ends. Do underground things remain where they are, now entombed in dirt/rock? (Nightmare fuel!) Might some be pseudo-trapped for the duration in illusory (yet real-enough) dirt/rock? And now I know the next thing I need to rule on. Yay! (dang it)
As for the tower example, I don’t really see that as a bug, but a feature. Directly harming someone with no save is too powerful for my tastes, so having to push them off for them to fall makes sense to me. Creates kind of a cool scene imo.
Wizard’s ally and enemy are on tower
Ally manages to push enemy off tower
Wizard removes tower with malleable illusion
Ally appears at bottom of tower, enemy falls to the ground next to ally
Ally attacks vulnerable enemy
It’s an illusion, it’s all kind of flexible in my opinion. If you put a 100ft deep pit of spikes under someone, they will appear harmlessly next to it. Then you can have an ally push them in.
This carries over to your point about burying creatures in an area by filling it with land. In my ruling, they would appear harmlessly above the land, otherwise they would just suffocate and die which is directly harmful.
As for your temperature point, tactile elements absolutely would include temperature. The reason touch and temp are separate in Major Image is because Major Image includes one and not the other. Mirage Arcane simply states “tactile” because it includes both.
Ultimately a lot of these rulings are unspecified, so its up to interpretation for the DM. But these are my preferred rules
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Necro-ing isn't exactly my hobby, but this was too interesting to not comment.
About your last tower idea... you created a paradox. Because two people walk up to the top of the tower. One pushes the other off. Then the tower is "removed" and the first appears safely at the bottom as the second slams into the very real rocks below. Only one of those outcomes can happen, and the fact that you are physically up in the air and can throw out a rock to attack a flying Harpy means you must fall if the tower suddenly vanishes.
An interesting note: the power of Illusory Reality really doesn't matter for Mirage Arcane. It has no built-in safeguards against damage, but it would require some setup to achieve causing damage. A pit, for example, or spikes. They must deal physical-based damage.
Also, I think Illusory reality, at 14th level, is idiotic to have that restriction and will likely homebrew it out in games I run (unless I come across significant and agreeable evidence why I shouldn't). Being unable to drop a literal 1 tonne adamantine brick on a squishy goblin head because then the game just explodes in a failure of logic (gravity vs can't fall through surface that it must fall through)? IDIOCY. The object already can't be "magical" in nature, that's a significant enough limitation when a Swords Warlock can come along and spawn literally any weapon out of thin air at only 3rd level.
Something that many people seem to overlook (because they don't go as in-depth into rules?): Mirage Arcane does not produce heat. Temperature is one of the traits an illusion can produce (called out specifically in Major Image); the others are visual, audio, tactile (touch requires pressure, which means it can be pressed against, stood on, grabbed, etc.), and olfactory (smell) (taste is left out, though would be implied to exist in the spell Creation at least).
As such, you totally could make a lava lake, and the tactile senses would be that of "molten rock" on which you would likely float, but it does not produce any heat that does not exist in that natural environment. It would cause no damage (but be startling and highly disruptive nonetheless).
There is actually a good logic for that: Fire burns and spreads. So, rather than a lava lake, you make a Hellscape. The real trees within the hellscape catch fire. REAL fire. That fire then spreads outside of the illusion, out of control and burns down the local village, elf forest, etc.
Of course, an acid lake is an interesting question. Drown in it? Sure! Should the chemical reactions come into play? I'm on the fence with this, but I lean towards "yes, but".
In the idea of "turn a region of water in air"... this is another spot where the devs failed. They only gave a "surface area" of 1 mile with no depth. Obviously it does affect depth (because you can create a building and a hill), but without a limit... could it go "infinitely" up and down? (how about THOSE shenanigans!) Again, poor design. So, I might rule it as 1 cubic mile (rather than the useless square mile) as it is also a direct upgrade to Hallucinatory Terrain, which DOES affect a cubic area.
The last point about Mirage Arcane: It completely fails to explain what happens to pre-existing creatures in the area affected by the illusion as well as what happens to all creatures (and things) after the spell ends. Do underground things remain where they are, now entombed in dirt/rock? (Nightmare fuel!) Might some be pseudo-trapped for the duration in illusory (yet real-enough) dirt/rock? And now I know the next thing I need to rule on. Yay! (dang it)
As for the tower example, I don’t really see that as a bug, but a feature. Directly harming someone with no save is too powerful for my tastes, so having to push them off for them to fall makes sense to me. Creates kind of a cool scene imo.
Wizard’s ally and enemy are on tower
Ally manages to push enemy off tower
Wizard removes tower with malleable illusion
Ally appears at bottom of tower, enemy falls to the ground next to ally
Ally attacks vulnerable enemy
It’s an illusion, it’s all kind of flexible in my opinion. If you put a 100ft deep pit of spikes under someone, they will appear harmlessly next to it. Then you can have an ally push them in.
This carries over to your point about burying creatures in an area by filling it with land. In my ruling, they would appear harmlessly above the land, otherwise they would just suffocate and die which is directly harmful.
As for your temperature point, tactile elements absolutely would include temperature. The reason touch and temp are separate in Major Image is because Major Image includes one and not the other. Mirage Arcane simply states “tactile” because it includes both.
Ultimately a lot of these rulings are unspecified, so its up to interpretation for the DM. But these are my preferred rules