Illusion Powers (FiD)

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Illusion is the art of perception and deception through sensory projection. It is concerned with perception, not substance. Illusion powers are most often used to deceive, but they can also be used to educate, direct, or reveal patterns that are otherwise hard to notice.

Illusion can create sights, sounds, scents, sensations of touch, and other sensory phenomena, but these are always suggestive and indirect. The primary focus of Illusion is vision. Illusionists whose primary sense is not sight would instead focus on projections tuned to their dominant sense, but this is not covered by these rules.

Illusions create images of creatures and objects that are objectively real in that they register on physical senses, including those of living beings and sensory devices. Such images are unreal in that they are projections rather than physical matter. An illusion cannot affect objects, structures, or creatures through force unless the power explicitly says it can. An illusion of weight may cause scales to react, but it cannot cause a bridge to collapse. A lift with a weight sensor may shut down due to an illusory overload, but if the sensor is bypassed, the lift functions normally.

Illusory attacks cause real pain and apparent wounds that fade into insignificance at the end of the score. Illusions cannot kill directly; they can only kill by provoking actions with lethal consequences. Each illusory attack should be described fictionally, and any vulnerability or resistance that would apply to the described attack also applies to the illusory harm.

Illusory attacks cannot affect insensate things that lack the capacity to interpret sensory input. This includes objects and creatures below a threshold of perception, such as bacteria and ordinary plants. Observers may perceive such targets as taking damage, but the apparent damage fades over time.

Illusion creatures are called specters. Specters are structured to behave as if they truly are what they portray, allowing their illusions to respond dynamically without constant intervention from the user. Some specters are highly specialized, believing themselves to be specific people, animals, objects, or even terrain features and are very good at playing their role. Finding or creating such specters may require a flashback or a long-term project. Specters that are aware of their illusory nature are more flexible but less convincing.

The plane of Illusion is a plane of dreams: ephemeral, unstable, and subjective. It shifts rapidly and is shaped by the dreaming minds of the world. Creatures with powerful imaginations may create persistent dream-realms of their own. Such realms can be studied or manipulated to influence their creator, but doing so is difficult and dangerous.

Illusion Power Effects Table

Action	Basic	Advanced	Master	Apex
Dice	—	Minimum 2d	Minimum 4d	Minimum 6d
Stress	Avoid fumble (2+).	Succeed (4+).	Full success (6).	Critical (2 sixes).
Attune	Dream Detection Detect illusory creatures and powers.	Sever Spectre Dismiss a specter or end an illusion power.	Summon Spectre Call a specter from another plane.	Dream Domain Gate to the realm of dreams or into a dream.
Command	Menacing Mirage Scary or awe-inducing images or sounds.	Message Mirage Send an illusion of yourself to communicate.	Majestic Mirage Full-sense scary or awe-inducing illusions.	Mirage Arcana Vast scary illusions.
Consort	Makeover Mirage Illusory full-body mask.	Monster Mirage Assume the appearance of any other creature.	Metamorphosis Mirage Give a willing or helpless creature any appearance.	Mob Mirage Change the appearance of large number creatures.
Finesse	Vehicle Veil Change the appearance of a mount or personal vehicle.	Mirage Melee Create an illusion of a fine and potent melee weapon.	Phantom Path Alter the appearance of a road, misleading travelers.	Phantom Passage Create phantasmal steeds.
Hunt	Shadow Seeker Track any creature you have a good mental image of.	Shadow Shot An illusory fine and potent ranged attack.	Shadow Shift Change the appearance of your surroundings.	Shadow Surge Illusory attack similar to a fine and potent grenade.
Prowl	Invisibility Become almost invisible.	Image Exchange Teleport and leave an image behind.	Shared Self Use Invisibility and Image Exchange on others.	Illusive Excursion: Teleport crew to a similar-looking place.
Skirmish	Illusory Armor Block psychic damage.	Illusory Elite Fine and potent illusory melee attack.	Illusory Obstacle Negate scale.	Illusionary Onslaught Fine and potent illusory attack against all.
Study	Illusion Insight Identify illusions.	Illusion Memory A view from memory.	Illusory Echoes A view from the past.	Panopticon You see everything in a wide area.
Survey	Detect Image Sense illusions and invisible things.	Perceptive Image Create an illusion, reality updates it.	Real Image Let reality make an illusion.	Omnipresence Create an illusion of a huge area, reality updates it.
Sway	Persuasive Phantom Convincing visual image up to the size of a human.	Phantasmal Procession Full-sense illusion of a stage and actors.	Phantom Thought Draw illusion from another's mind.	Private Phantasm An illusion around a creature replaces all sensations.
Tinker	Illusory Enhancement Change the appearance of an object up to man size.	Phantasmal Fabrication Make items invisible or create illusory items out of nothing.	Shadow Structure Create semi-real things that only work for your crew.	Mass Mirage Phantasmal Fabrication on a grand scale.
Wreck	Faux Fracture Illusion of damage to an object.	Phantom Fracture Illusion of damage to a place.	Shadowy Shatter Phantom Fracture, but semi-real.	Apocalyptic Artistry City-sized Phantom Fracture.

Expanded Illusion Powers

A recurring problem with Illusion is concealing the fact that projections appear out of nowhere. Illusions are most effective when you have time to prepare or when their appearance can be plausibly masked — emerging from behind a corner, through smoke, darkness, or visual clutter.

Illusions can also be made more convincing by framing them as the result of other forces or Forms, whether or not you actually possess those powers. The illusion does not need to explain itself; it only needs to delay doubt long enough to matter.

Attune

Harness the power of Attune to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with Illusion beings and phenomena.

Consequences depend on what happens around you while you Attune. Having helpers or protection reduces risk, and dismissing a willing specter may even be Controlled. Common Consequences include a specter losing control of its projection, nearby illusions destabilizing, or other Illusion creatures intervening.

Dream Detection

Detect specters and Illusion powers.

You can see Illusion spirits and detect Illusion creatures and powers. This is commonly used to identify projections, hidden specters, or summoned illusions so they can be dispelled or dismissed.

Using Dream Detection may spoil illusions, but you must actively apply it. Even when you know an illusion is false, you still perceive it normally.

A Limited Outcome suffices against a creature or effect you can clearly see. A Standard Outcome is required if it is hidden. A Great Outcome is required if it is concealed behind solid barriers.

Sever Spectre

Dismiss a specter or end an Illusion power.

Dismissing a specter is difficult and usually requires a Great Outcome. A weakened specter requires only a Standard Outcome. A specter that wishes to be dismissed requires only a Limited Outcome.

You can also force a specter to materialize or reveal its true form. This is easy but limited in range:

• Limited Effect works only within reach.
• Standard Effect reaches across an area based on Tier (p. 220).
• Great Effect reaches across a distance determined by Tier.

You can dispel any Illusion power, as well as powers that alter appearance or sustain specters. This is often used as a Set Up to improve Position when opposing powers are in play.

When used directly, the Effect is usually Limited unless the target relies on Illusion for protection or concealment. Revealing a specter obsessed with maintaining an identity can be terrifying for it.

When dramatically appropriate, a key Illusion may resist dispelling. In such cases, Sever Spectre provides insight into what must be done to resolve the situation instead of negating the effect outright.

Summon Spectre

Call a specter from another plane.

Illusory summons are called specters. They are Expert Cohort Spirits (p. 96) with Illusion powers and immaterial bodies.

Summoning a specific specter requires knowledge of its unique identity, often called a true name. For technomancers this may take the form of an ID signature, blueprint, or holographic pattern. Learning such an identity may require a flashback, a downtime research activity, or a reward from a score.

Specters come in two broad types:

• Emulator specters believe themselves to truly be what they portray — a person, animal, object, or even a terrain feature. They use Illusion to sustain this identity and will act decisively to preserve it.

• Trickster specters pursue personal, often eccentric agendas. One might love parades, another races, a third mundane rituals. They delight in confusion and use Illusion creatively to advance their obsessions.

Dream Domain

Gate to the Land of Dreams or into a dream.

Illusion is linked to the Land of Dreams, where Illusion dominates reality. This realm is fluid, unstable, and subjective, as described in the Introduction.

Entering the Land of Dreams is exceptional: your body remains asleep while your consciousness travels. Time there is subjective — a single night’s sleep may contain minutes or months of dream-time.

There are things that are possible to do here that are not allowed in the regular world. Appropriate effects are reduced one step in difficulty, from advanced to basic, master to advanced, and apex to master. This opens the possibility of new super-apex powers that have to be negotiated with the game master. Such effects rarely reach outside the plane of origin, but if they affect creatures there the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.

This can also be used to contact creatures too powerful to summon. This allows you to ignore tier when creating the gate, but gives you no power over the target. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, send minions, or communicate with you at a distance.

Illusion gates may also open into a creature’s personal dreamscape. This requires a supernatural link or the target’s presence.

Such journeys confront the dreamer’s fears, memories, and desires. They may recover lost memories, influence behavior, or reshape personality, but doing so is dangerous and unpredictable.

Command

Illusion does not command creatures directly. Instead, it creates images and sounds that influence behavior by provoking reactions.

Illusion Command is indirect: you must craft a situation that encourages obedience, fear, awe, or hesitation. The guiding principle is “show, not tell.” Illusions can move and make sound, but they are poor at extended speech, limited to short emphatic phrases.

Menacing Mirage

Create frightening or awe-inspiring images or sounds.

You can give yourself an intimidating aura or create a threatening illusion and sound, roughly human-sized and up to about a cubic meter in volume, or a sound comparable to a lion’s roar.

The image can move and react to creatures but lacks even the illusion of physical solidity. This provides sufficient leverage to use Command for intimidation without direct violence or revealing your involvement.

Message Mirage

Send an illusory projection of yourself to communicate.

You create an illusion of yourself that appears near a creature you can clearly imagine. You can see, hear, and speak as if you were present.

The projection follows the target, and your perception is focused on them and whatever nearby features they indicate or interact with.

Majestic Mirage

Create large, full-sense awe-inspiring illusions.

You create a full-sense illusion the size of a house, such as a formation of several dozen figures or enough imagery to fill a small square.

The illusion can speak and act out a scene under your broad direction. You do not need to micromanage it; it automatically orients itself to interact convincingly with nearby observers.

Depending on how it is used, this improves either Effect, Position, or possibly both.

Mirage Arcana

Create vast illusory scenes.

This functions as Majestic Mirage on a grand scale. You can create the appearance of armies, cities, palace-complexes, forests, or mountains.

Simple scenes that do not require detailed interaction are easy to maintain. Complex scenes involving many interacting figures require sustained concentration and may call for additional rolls to maintain, though these do not risk Stress like the initial use.

Consort

Change the appearance of creatures through Illusion — first yourself, then others, and finally entire crowds.

Consort Illusion alters how creatures are perceived, not what they physically are. These changes can enable deception, social access, or confusion, but they do not grant new abilities or effect from illusory physical traits.

Makeover Mirage

Create an illusory full-body mask.

You add illusory clothing, accessories, and cosmetic details to your appearance. You do not change your physical shape; instead, you alter surface features such as hair, skin tone, facial details, and voice.

This can conceal your identity or create striking, fabulous outfits. You cannot change your size or body plan, but illusory clothing and accessories function as an instant disguise.

Monster Mirage

Assume the appearance of another creature or object.

You take on the outward appearance of any creature or object. This can aid social interaction or intimidation.

You gain none of the abilities of your assumed form. You cannot fly as an illusory bird, breathe water as an illusory fish, or otherwise bypass physical limitations.

Extreme size changes are impractical. Appearing tiny does not let you pass through small spaces, and appearing enormous does not grant physical reach — people may collide with parts of you that are not actually present. To meaningfully interact at a different scale, you must rely on other powers.

Metamorphosis Mirage

Alter the appearance of a willing or helpless creature.

This is Monster Mirage applied to another creature. Duration depends on the Outcome: a Limited Outcome lasts for a scene, a Standard Outcome lasts for the duration of a score, and a Great Outcome lasts a long time and may become permanent, depending on the story.

Mob Mirage

Change the appearance of many creatures at once.

This is Monster Mirage applied to all creatures you can see. You may give each an individual appearance or render them as a faceless, uniform crowd.

By altering many appearances simultaneously, you can obscure identities and sow confusion. This can cause chaos in streets, courts, or battlefields. Creatures do not automatically realize their own appearance has changed, compounding the confusion.

Finesse

Use Illusion for deceptive weapons, movement, and misdirection.

Vehicle Veil

Change the appearance of a mount or personal vehicle.

You alter the visual appearance and, to a limited extent, the sound of a mount or vehicle in any way you choose. The illusion covers the vehicle and its tracks as long as you maintain the effect.

Concealing a very large conveyance, such as a yacht, bus, or dragon, requires a Great Outcome.

At Advanced tier, you can apply this effect individually to each of your Crew’s rides.

Mirage Melee

Create a Fine and Potent illusory melee weapon.

You project the appearance and sensation of a close-range weapon. The attack causes real pain and convincing injury that fades at the end of the score; it cannot kill directly except by provoking dangerous actions.

Illusory attacks cannot affect insensate targets that lack the capacity to interpret sensory input, such as objects or simple organisms. Describe the form of the attack; any relevant vulnerability or resistance applies to the apparent harm.

Aside from damage type, this substitutes for a Fine and Potent weapon. Activating the illusion in combat takes no more time than drawing a weapon.

Phantom Path

Alter the appearance of roads and paths.

You make roads, trails, or passages appear to vanish, divert into poor terrain, or exist where none are present.

If observers can see you travel safely along a concealed or false path, the illusion becomes suspect. Locals familiar with the terrain are especially difficult to mislead.

Phantom Passage

Create phantasmal mounts or vehicles.

You create semi-illusory mounts or vehicles for yourself and your Crew. They function as ordinary conveyances of their type, but appear as misty or shadowy forms, make no noise, and leave no trail.

Hunt

Track, strike, and reshape the battlefield through Illusion. Illusion Hunt excels at misdirection, pursuit, and apparent force rather than true lethality.

Shadow Seeker

Track anything you have a clear mental image of.

You follow the impression a target leaves on the world-image as it moves. These traces fade quickly and become unreliable when many similar targets are nearby.

Consequences usually arise from the environment or population rather than the trail itself — obstacles, getting lost, hostile attention, traps, or ambushes.

Shadow Shot

Illusory Fine and Potent ranged attack.

Illusory attacks cause pain and apparent wounds that fade at the end of the score. Illusions cannot kill directly; they can only cause lethal outcomes by provoking dangerous actions.

Illusory attacks cannot affect insensate things lacking cognitive capacity, including objects and creatures below a threshold of perception and imagination (such as bacteria).

Describe the form of the attack; any relevant vulnerability or resistance applies to the illusory harm.

This serves as a replacement for ranged equipment in terms of Effect; a mundane Fine and Potent weapon is equally effective but causes real damage. Using this attack in combat takes no additional time — activating the illusion is equivalent to drawing a weapon.

Shadow Shift

Alter the apparent environment.

You can reshape the appearance of:

• a building you are inside, or
• roughly a city block or one hectare outdoors.

The illusion can be dramatic, but it only alters the appearance of existing things. You cannot create new structures or render objects truly invisible.

Examples include making a slum appear like a palace complex or a field appear as a jungle.

The illusion affects all senses, but offers no physical resistance when force is applied. You may add environmental effects such as mist, rain, smoke, temperature shifts, and scents.

Shadow Shift is commonly used as a Set Up, but it can also alter behavior — smoke, rain, snow, or darkness often cause people to flee, hide, or seek shelter.

Consequences may distract allies, strain concentration, or allow some opponents to pierce the illusion.

Shadow Surge

Illusory attack similar to a Fine and Potent grenade.

An escalation of Shadow Shot. This affects all enemies in a single location, trading precision for scale. This allows full Effect against an entire gang of cohorts.

The illusion may include apparent environmental damage, convincing at a glance but fading quickly once examined.

Prowl

Hide, slip away, and reposition through Illusion. Illusion excels at concealment and deception, even enabling movement through misdirection.

Invisibility

Become almost invisible.

You erase most visual cues of your presence, allowing you to Prowl into places that would otherwise be impossible to enter unnoticed.

The illusion is not perfect. Air shimmers slightly, you emit a faint glow in darkness, and you still produce sound. Strong light, total darkness, sudden movement, and noise make detection easier.

Image Exchange

Teleport and leave an image behind.

You create an illusion of yourself at a location you can clearly see. You can then exchange positions with it.

The illusory double attempts to flee or act believably on its own, drawing attention and creating confusion.

Shared Self

Allow others to use Invisibility and Image Exchange.

You extend Invisibility and Image Exchange to your allies. Each participant rolls their own Prowl Action and suffers their own Consequences. This is often a Group Action.

Illusive Excursion

Teleport your Crew between similar-looking places.

You teleport yourself and your Crew between two locations that are visually similar enough that casual observation cannot distinguish them.

You must be familiar with the destination. Illusive Excursion excels at escapes, but is risky when used to infiltrate hostile territory.

You may use other illusions to make the locations match more closely.

This is regional travel — remaining within the same city or area — but is usually sufficient to escape almost any situation.

Skirmish

Prosper in the chaos of battle through deception and misdirection.

Illusory Armor

Resist illusory harm.

You absorb harm caused by Illusions, allowing you to ignore most Harm from dangerous dreamscapes, illusory environments, or deceptive sensory effects such as phantom flames, fumes, or collapsing terrain. You increase the effect of Skirmish rolls for endurance in such environments. Roll Skirmish to resist such Harm. 1-3: No reduction. 4-6: Reduce Harm by 1 level. Critical: Reduce Harm by 2 levels. As a Master power, you can protect an ally for a score; as an Apex Power, you can protect your crew. Allies roll their own Skirmish dice.

Illusory Elite

Fine and Potent illusory melee attack.

You make a close-range attack through projected force, pain, or apparent injury. Illusory attacks cause real pain and convincing damage that fades at the end of the score; they cannot kill directly except by provoking dangerous actions.

Illusory attacks cannot affect insensate targets that lack the capacity to interpret sensory input, such as objects or simple organisms. Describe the form of the attack; any relevant vulnerability or resistance applies to the apparent harm.

Aside from damage type, this substitutes for equipment; mundane weapons are just as effective. Some targets may be more or less vulnerable to specific attacks, but this is the exception.

Illusory Obstacle

Create illusory obstructions that negate Scale.

You conjure convincing hindrances — spectral allies, false barriers, shifting mazes, or concealing mist — that break up enemy formations. This negates the advantage of numbers without creating lasting terrain.

Illusionary Onslaught

Fine and Potent illusory attack against all enemies in the skirmish.

This is Illusory Elite applied across the entire engagement. You negate the advantage of numbers and spread your Effect across multiple opponents, inflicting normal Skirmish Harm against a Cohort Gang.

Study

Study and analyze illusions and images to gain insight and knowledge. The outcome required depends on range.

• Limited outcome for touch.
• Standard outcome for line-of-sight.
• Great outcome to reach a target you know of or have some link to, but which is out of line-of-sight.

These powers can spot illusions, but you have to actively use them to do so.

Position depends on the situation. Safely in your base the position is controlled. In the middle of a fight or when pinned down the position is desperate. Sometimes thing you are researching it dangerous in itself, worsening position.

Illusion Insight

Learn the powers and abilities of an illusion.

Learn of any powers or special abilities the illusion has. This includes actual rules and game effects as well as what the illusion hides or disguises.

Illusory Memory

A view from your memory.

You create a scene from memory. This is detailed and may contain things you do not consciously remember. Others can help you inspect this image and draw their own conclusions, but it is very hard for them to tell if this is truly a memory or an illusion you created using Sway.

Illusory Echoes

A view from the past.

Illusory Memory, but it is from the past of your current location, you need not have been present. You can zoom in on events of interest.

Panopticon

You see everything in a wide area.

You see everything in a wide area. Darkness, walls and barriers do not limit vision, but enclosed spaces do. Provides a detailed view of events involving Illusions as far as you can see, pinpointing locations of interest. You can then play back what you see in the area (not just the illusions), like Illusory Echoes over this vast area.

Survey

Perceive and locate illusions.

The Outcome required depends on concealment:

• Limited Outcome detects targets behind light cover or at extreme distance.
• Standard Outcome can see behind walls and into hard cover.
• Great Outcome reveals distant locations or places you did not know existed.

Detect Illusion

Detect illusions and invisible things.

You selectively sense illusions of a specified kind. This is a basic spotting power.

Perceptive Image

Create a live illusory image of a place.

You create a small illusion of a known location. The image updates in real time as the location changes, as long as you maintain concentration.

The image only reflects what could be perceived from that location or perspective.

Real Image

Create a live illusory image of a creature.

As Perceptive Image, but focused on a known creature. The illusion follows the creature as it moves and shows what is nearby.

The image updates only with information that could reasonably be perceived nearby.

Omnipresence

Create a live illusory map of a vast area.

As Perceptive Image, but on a grand scale. You can represent several city blocks or a large terrain feature such as a forest, field, or hill, and shift the viewpoint to different angles or positions.

Sway

Convince others by showing them illusions.

Persuasive Phantom

Convincing visual image up to the size of a human.

Create a full-sense image of something of human size or smaller. This can be a creature that tries to convince observers with convincing words, or something like a signpost. The image appears real to all senses, but if pushed hard it is revealed to be immaterial.

Phantasmal Procession

Full-sense illusion of a stage and actors.

Similar but larger than Persuasive Phantom. An illusion of a few dozen people or things like a large carriage or street scene. You can move the illusion as long as you move all the components together, something left behind will soon disappear. This allows you to make an illusion of a group of monsters or people that move about, but their tracks and any items left behind will soon disappear as they move out of an area. This is also precise enough to make forged documents.

Phantom Thought

Draw illusion from another's mind.

Similar to Phantasmal Procession, but you give control over the illusion to a target's subconscious. You can give a general theme of the illusion, and the target will fill in the details. This frees you from having to concentrate on controlling the illusion, and it will always look and act appropriately to the target's expectations. A target with high self-confidence may be able to push the illusion to fit their agenda, but this actually makes it harder for an observer penetrate the illusion.

Private Phantasm

An illusion around a creature replaces all sensations.

The target must be in your power for you to do this. You encase the target in an illusion that controls every sensation the target perceives. This places the target in an illusory world entirely of your creation. You can create a theme for the illusion that repeats with simple variations, or you can give control to the target's subconscious having it play out the targets desires or fears. The target appears to be asleep, and any interaction with the target's actual body will be incorporated into the illusion, allowing the target to be fed, clothed, and led. You can take detailed control at any time when you touch the target, and you may be able to trick the target into acts provoked by events in the Private Phantasm.

Tinker

Create illusory objects and structures.

You can create illusions of objects of any kind, with any appearance you desire, but they are insubstantial unless otherwise stated. More advanced techniques allow illusions to gain limited, conditional reality.

Outcome determines duration:

• Limited Outcome — lasts for immediate use.
• Standard Outcome — lasts for the duration of a score.
• Great Outcome — semi-permanent.

Objects larger than a human, highly complex constructions, or items whose apparent Quality exceeds your Tier require increased Outcome.

Position depends on how quiet your workspace is and how much time you have.

Consequences often alter details of the illusion: warped proportions, overly ornate features, strange markings, mismatched symbols, or subtle inconsistencies that hint the object is unreal.

Illusory Enhancement

Alter the appearance of an existing object.

You change the appearance of an object up to human size. You do not change its actual size or mass, but you may radically alter its apparent form.

A stick may appear as a sword, a log as a mount, clothing as armor, or the reverse. This is a full-sense illusion, affecting sight, sound, smell, and touch.

The illusion may suggest abilities the object does not have or conceal features it does. The object functions as its original form; the illusion does not alter effectiveness, but may mislead users into employing it incorrectly.

Phantasmal Fabrication

Create illusory objects or render objects invisible.

You can create illusory objects from nothing or make existing objects invisible. Illusory objects can be manipulated as if real but cannot support weight.

You may create larger objects, up to the size of a large carriage. Illusory effects may now extend outward — for example, missiles from an illusory weapon can produce illusory harm at range.

An invisible weapon may grant an advantage initially, but use and impact tend to reveal it.

When used offensively: Illusory attacks cause pain and apparent wounds that fade at the end of the score. Illusions cannot kill directly and cannot affect insensate entities lacking cognitive capacity. Describe the form of the attack; relevant vulnerabilities and resistances apply to the illusory harm.

Shadow Structure

Create semi-real illusory objects usable by your Crew.

As Phantasmal Fabrication, but objects you create can be semi-real at your discretion. They function as crude, unreliable versions of what they depict, and only for you and your allies.

For example, you might create an illusory stone bridge that supports your Crew like a rickety wooden bridge, but offers no support to others.

Objects created this way can affect mindless things and physical objects. Tools and weapons function as basic, functional examples — usable, but crude and imperfect.

Mass Mirage

Create illusory objects and structures on a massive scale.

This expands Shadow Structure to mass production or monumental construction. You may create large numbers of objects or enormous structures such as ships, buildings, towns, or small landscapes.

Complex scenes or varied objects may require additional concentration or rolls to maintain, but do not increase stress beyond the initial use.

Wreck

Create illusions of destruction and collapse.

Illusion does not wreck directly, as its effects are unreal until Shadowy Shatter. Illusion excels at causing apparent mayhem without lasting collateral damage. This makes Wreck Illusion ideal for getaways and misdirection — a bridge that seems to collapse behind you, a gate that appears smashed, or a building that looks unsafe to enter.

Position depends on the situation. If you are unseen, undisturbed, and understand what you are pretending to destroy, the Position is Controlled. If enemies are present, the structure is unfamiliar, or the illusion risks provoking real accidents, the Position may be Desperate.

The Outcome required depends on the apparent scale of the destruction. A Standard Outcome creates the illusion of a car-sized breach or collapse. A smaller breach still requires the same Outcome. Larger-scale destruction requires a Great Outcome.

Repeated or excessive use strains credibility — an illusion of a rifle breaking ten times invites someone to test it and discover it still functions.

Faux Fracture

Create the illusion of damage to an object or creature.

You create the appearance of destruction to objects or creatures you could plausibly destroy with a sledgehammer.

Illusory attacks cause real pain and apparent damage that fades at the end of the score. They cannot kill directly; lethal outcomes only occur if the illusion provokes dangerous actions.

Describe the form of the damage; any relevant vulnerability or resistance applies to the apparent harm.

Unlike most illusory attacks, Wreck Illusion can affect objects and insensate things that lack cognitive capacity, though the damage itself remains unreal.

Phantom Fracture

Create the illusion of damage to a solid structure.

This is Faux Fracture applied to stronger targets, such as walls, gates, or fortifications. It functions as a Fine and Potent illusory sledgehammer when used against creatures.

Shadowy Shatter

Create semi-real illusory destruction.

This functions as Phantom Fracture, but the damage becomes temporarily exploitable at your discretion. You might create an illusory hole in a wall that you and your Crew can pass through, but which quickly fades.

As the illusion fades, so does your ability to exploit it.

Apocalyptic Artistry

Create city-scale illusions of devastation.

This expands Phantom Fracture to a massive scale, creating the appearance of widespread destruction across districts or entire cities.