Illusion

This schtick deals with the basic things we perceive, light and sounds. The illusions created with this schtick are actual light and sound projections, similar to holograms. They are real, but not solid.

Illusions are unreal creations. While in many ways similar to the effects of Conjuration and Transformation, illusory creations lack all substance. A hard impact will dispel them. They can affect living creatures significantly if enhanced by the power of belief, but their power over inanimate objects is very limited.

The difficulty of most illusions is equal to the power or Body or Charisma attribute of whatever you are trying to imitate. So, creating an illusion of a large man (Body 9) has a difficulty of 9, creating an illusion of an average car has a difficulty of 12 or so and so on. For more abstract images, a table is provided.

You often want to create a set of illusions, such as a square full of people. This can be done as a multi-target action, but because repeating an illusion is so much simpler, there is a special modifier that facilitates things.

If you suffer backlash, the illusion manifests, but is hugely unrealistic, so that anyone nearby realizes it is fake, and in addition get a +10 bonus to resist any of your illusions for the rest of the fight.

Illusion Effects

Fata Morgana

The most powerful form of illusion, the Fata Morgana is a complete takeover of the target's senses. Everything he perceives is controlled by you, effectively he is in a dream world of your making. This is more of a plot device than a practical spell. You need a helpless target, or one knocked out using the blasts Specter or Mind Blast. If you want complete control of the target's world, you have to concentrate, but you can then cause him to act upon the false images, making him strike the wrong people and so on.

Invisibility

You can make someone invisible by bending light and muting sound. He can sneak using your Sorcery Action Value, and need not move in cover to do so. You can maintain continuous actions while doing this, but if you perform new actions, the effect ends. Multiple targets can be affected by invisibility with the normal penalties.

You can also separate a persons image from his physical self, making him appear to be in another place. Swapping the images of two people can cause endless confusion.

Mirage

This is the basic effect of illusion, an image and a set of sounds designed to fool the senses, or simply to create an artistic effect.

The effects last for a number of Sequences equal to the Outcome of the Sorcery check. This can be increased to minutes if the mirage remains absolutely still for the whole duration or at a cost of one Magic point. Both factors increases the duration to hours.

Mirage Effects

All mirages work in a way similar to the Deceit skill, trying to trick target's into believing in them. Mirages thus use the normal interaction rules. Calculate this Outcome versus the target's Deceit, Sorcery or Perception.

The GM is advised to modify the effectiveness of mirages prodigiously based on the situation, especially if the sorcerer tries to get away with using an easy, "cheap" mirage.

Unlike mundane Deceit attempts, it is no more difficult to fool a mass of people than it is to fool a single person, as those who are fooled help convince the skeptics. Thus, a group of unnamed characters counts as a single target for an illusory trick.

Controlling a mirage as it goes through complex antics requires new actions spent directing the mirage.

Mask

Instead of creating an illusion out of thin air, you can change the appearance of something that is already there. The effet is similar to a Mirage, but it can be even more confusing; making a firend appear as a foe. Most of these effects are about as confusing as a Mirage, while others can be used to negate invsibility, darkness, blinding light, blurred form and other special defences. A simple hit against the target's Dodge will do the trick.

Mirror Image

By displacing your location, creating illusory images of yourself or other simple trickery, you can defend using your Sorcery as Dodge, either actively or passively. You can invoke this effect over someone else, using yuor Sorcery as their Dodge, with a continous action. You can then perform active dodges for them as a 1-shot action.

Power of Beleif

At the cost of a single Magic point, you can transfer control of an illusion to the collective subconcious of those present. This means you no longer have to concentrate or perform continous actions to control the illusion, and it will behave as everybody present and beliving in it expects it to act. Thus, an illusion of a guard will continue his duties, but could be releived or tricked by other guards. The illusion continues to use your skill, but it's effective skill rating can never be higher than the number of people who are currently sensing and beleiving in it. Thus, it is best if you have a couple of bystanders or a score of mooks to give power to your creations.

Silence

You can use a Mirage to mask existing sounds. This is as hard as creating those sounds would have been. You can set a higher difficulty in advance, in order to prepare for expected loud sounds.