Illusion Powers (FiD)

Illusion is the art of perception and deception. It is concerned with image, not substance. Illusion powers are most often used to deceive, but they can be used to educate and to discern new things. It can create some sounds, scents, tactile phenomena, and other sensory phenomena, but is focused on vision. Illusionists whose primary sense is not sight would instead focus on illusions to their primary sense, this is not covered by the rules.

Illusions create images of creatures and objects that are objectively real in the sense that there it registers on physical senses, including those of living creatures and sensory devices. Such images are still unreal in that they are mere projections, not the actual physical thing projected. An illusion cannot affect objects (other than sensors) unless the power explicitly says it can. An illusion of weight would cause scales to react, but could not cause a bridge to collapse. A lift with a weight limit sensor could shut off, but if the sensor is overridden, the lift would work normally despite the illusory overload.

Illusion attacks cause pain and apparent wounds, but cannot actually kill. Obviously they cannot affect insensate things that lack perception and imagination. This includes objects but also creatures under a certain threshold of perception and imagination, like bacteria and plants. You should describe the illusory attack, and any defense or resistance the target has that would work against the attack you describe will work against the illusory damage.

Illusion creatures are called specters. They are very good actors and believe themselves to really be what they portray, allowing their illusions to respond to events without the user's intervention. There are specters that believe themselves to be all sorts of things, people, animal, items, even terrain features, but finding the right one may require a flashback or even a log-term project for unusual ones. Spectres that are aware they are illusion spirits are less specialized, not as good at what they do, but they can do many things.

The plane of dreams is very ephemeral and subjective. It can change in moments and is shaped by dreams. Creatures with powerful imaginations create their own dream-realms which persist even when they are not asleep. Such realms can be studied for information and manipulated to change the mind of their creator, but this is difficult and dangerous.

Illusion Power Effects Table

Action	Basic No minimum 3 Stress	Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress	Master Minimum 4 Dice 7 Stress	Apex Minimum 6 Dice 13 Stress
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 someone's dream.
Command	Menacing Mirage Scary or awe-inducing images or sounds.	Majestic Mirage Full-sense scary or awe-inducing illusions.	Message Mirage Send an illusion of yourself to communicate.	Mirage Arcana Vast scary illusions.
Consort	Makeover Mirage Make illusory clothes and accessories.	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.	Ethereal Edges Create a storm of illusory blades.
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	Identify Illusion Identify illusions.	Illusion Insight Learn the powers and abilities of an illusion.	Illusory Echoes See the past of an Illusion.	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 recuring problem with illusion is that you need to conceal that they appear out of nowhere. This makes illusions more effective when you have some time to prepare, but having your illusion appear behind a corner can be effective enough.

Attune

Harness the power to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena from other planes of existence.

The consequences usually depend on what happens around you when you do it. Having helpers and bodyguards reduces the consequences, and sometimes a creature wants to be dismissed and the consequence might be that it loses control of itself, or that other creatures appear to intervene.

Dream Detection Detect illusory creatures and powers.

You can detect illusory creatures and powers. This is usually done to spot an illusion or a summoned creature so that it can be dispelled or dismissed. This can spoil illusions, but you must actively use this to see through them.

Limited effect suffices against a creature you can clearly see. You need greater effect against against a creature that is hidden (standard effect) or behind a wall (great effect).

Sever Spectre Dismiss a specter or end an illusion power.

Dismissing a creature is hard and usually requires great effect. A creature that has been wounded or otherwise weakened only needs standard effect. A creature that wants to be dismissed requires only limited effect.

Dispelling is usually easier. You can dispel any Illusion power or a power that affects a specter. Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers. This improves the position of the supported action.

It can also be used to break the continuing effects of powers. When used directly, the effect is usually limited unless the opponent is relying on powers for their safety. Against an opponent in a firefight that hides behind an illusory wall you may have a better effect.

When dramatically appropriate that a power is hard to dispel, often because it is the crux of the situation, this will not negate the power but instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.

Summon Spectre Call a specter from another plane.

Summoning can bring you allies to fight or labor for you, giving you scale. They can also give advice and information related to their power. Summons can use simple effects of their power and maintain power effects you have created.

Illusory summons are called specters. Specters are immaterial, ephemeral, manifesting as emotional and mental representations of their power. Advanced specters are tricksters and motivated to cause confusion and push their agenda, which can be quite strange. One specter might love processions, another loves races, a third loves when people use toilets, and all are enthusiastic abut using illusions to realize their very personal agenda. Simple specters are convinced they are in fact something else. This could be anything, from a tree to a policeman to a hole in the ground. They use illusion to manifest as what they believe themselves to be, and will go to any length to maintain this role.

You can summon generic creatures without having to do a flashback. Such a creature is similar to a gang member in ability and are often summoned in groups to add scale. To summon a particular creature, similar to a cohort, you need its unique identity, often called true name in the mystical power traditions. For a technomancer this would be a type id number or block of data. Learning about the right creature to summon is a task in its own right, often requiring a flashback or downtime activity to use Command, Consort, Study, or Sway to gain information. Because of how specters work, it is very worthwhile to have a stable of specters with different interests.

Depending on your degree of effect the creature is willing to do different things. Limited effect allows you to ask questions of an intelligent creature or demand a short period of work a simple creature. The creature will not fight for you. If forced into a fight due to circumstances, it will resent it.

Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to the type of creature. A devil will do evil, a fire elemental will burn stuff, and so on. This includes dangerous tasks such as combat if the creature has such abilities, which most of them do. Spectres will modify their interests a little to accommodate your task.

Great effect allows actions outside the creature's comfort zone, but not things it directly opposes. You can actually change the interests of a specter when you have great effect, but this change is temporary and will still color what the specter's illusions even when you have convinced it. Lengthy service also requires great effect, like summoning the creature to guard a treasure for as long as it can.

Typical consequences include:

Playing along with the specter's role.
You need to concentrate to keep the creature under control.
Overly literal interpretations of your commands.
Demanding not to be summoned again until some time or event has passed.
General sulkiness.

Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature can help. This is essentially a devil's bargain, accepting a price in advance. Specters like gems and prisms.

Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos. If you are a priest of truth and summon a specter, or if the summon is three or more tiers above you the position will be desperate. Desperate consequences include the spirit demanding you sell your soul, become its agent in the world, that you come to its home plane to serve it there for a time (usually three scores), that you defeat the creature in a duel or similar dramatic story events.

Dream Domain Gate to the realm of dreams or someone's dream.

Illusions are linked to the Land of Dreams, where Illusion is dominant. There are things that are possible to do on these planes that are not allowed in the regular world, most 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 where you perform them, but if they affect creatures on that plane, the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.

Illusion gates offer another option; to physically enter a creature's dreams. This will lead to encounters with that creature's fears and fantasies, and can potentially retrieve lost memories, cure mental ailments, or change the target's personality in radical ways.

A gate lasts for a while, enough for a quick score. If things take a lot of time it might require a separate use of the power to return home again. Gating can allow access to creatures too powerful to summon, so you instead ask for an audience. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.

The first-time you gate to a certain place the position is at least risky and becomes desperate if there is any kind of disturbance.

Command

Illusions don't control creatures tied to the power; instead, they create illusions that can influence anyone. They are not as direct as issuing commands, you have to craft illusions to provoke the desired reaction.

Menacing Mirage Scary or awe-inducing images or sounds.

You create an image of a threatening creature or situation. The image can be about man size or two cubic meters. You can move the image around and have it interact with creatures, but it lacks solidity and sound. The byword here is "show, not tell". This can be a freestanding visual or audio illusion or modifying the appearance of something that already exists

Majestic Mirage Full-sense scary or awe-inducing illusions.

This is a full-sense illusion the size of a small house. It can be a group of about a dozen people or things enough to fill a large room. This illusion can speak, but it is hard to make this convincing unless you can see the image and what it is to interact with.

Message Mirage Send an illusion of yourself to communicate.

This creates an illusion of you that appears near a creature you have a clear mental image of. Your image is bound to them and will always stay within a few meters and your perception is focused on your target and other the target draws into the conversation.

Mirage Arcana Vast scary illusions.

This is the same as Majestic Mirage, on a much larger scale, up to the entire area you can see. This can create a small army or an illusory forest to conceal people as trees. A complex scene requires more concentration to maintain and thus has worse position.

Consort

You change the appearance of creatures, first yourself, then others, and finally a crowd.

Makeover Mirage Make illusory clothes and accessories.

Add any illusory clothes and accessories to your outfit. You do not change your own appearance, you accessorize and change your outfit. This can mask your identity or create fabulous outfits. You can apply this to others as an Advanced effect.

Monster Mirage Assume the appearance of any other creature.

You can change into the appearance of any creature. This can help your interactions with people, tough extreme size changes are impractical, making yourself tiny will not let you pass through small spaces and people may run into parts of you they cannot see. Making yourself huge more or less requires that you use other powers to physically interact with anything. Maintaining a huge illusion is also taxing. You don't get any of the abilities of your assumed appearance, you can't breathe water or swim as an illusory fish or fly as an illusory bird.

Metamorphosis Mirage Give a willing or helpless creature any appearance.

This is Monster Mirage applied to others. The duration depends of the effect, limited effect is very temporary. Standard effect lasts for the duration of a score. Great effect lasts a long time and potentially become permanent, depending on the the story. If you also want to make the target unrecognizable, that requires additional effect, see Shapechange.

This is sometimes used as a kind of poetic justice, transforming the target as a punishment, a curse that is very hard to break.

Mob Mirage Change the appearance of large number creatures, giving each an individual appearance if desired.

This is Monster Mirage applied to all the creatures you can see. By changing the appearance of many creatures at once, you can confuse people about who is who. This can cause chaos on the street, in a court, or on a battlefield. People may not realize their own appearance has changed, causing further confusion.

Finesse

Illusory weapons and rides.

Vehicle Veil Change the appearance of a mount or personal vehicle.

You can change the appearance and to a lesser extent sound of your ride in any fashion you wish. The illusion covers the vehicle and any tracks as long as you maintain the effect. If you make it invisible you and other riders can still be seen. Covering a large ride like a yacht, bus, or dragon is an Advanced effect. Altering a huge ride like a tank or ship is a Master effect.

Mirage Melee Create an illusion of a fine and potent melee weapon.

See above for the rules of illusory attacks. In a fight, using this does not take any more time, activating your attack power is equivalent to drawing a weapon, no more, no less.

Phantom Path Alter the appearance of a road, misleading travelers.

You can make roads and paths seem to disappear or lead into poor terrain and create the appearance of roads when there are in fact none. If others can see you riding on a road you concealed this will lead pursuers to doubt the illusion, and locals who know the terrain are hard to fool.

Ethereal Edges Create a storm of illusory blades.

Mirage Melee, with the added ability to distract opponents and preventing them from gaining any advantage from numbers.

Hunt

Shadow Seeker Track anything you have a good mental image of.

You follow the memory something creates as it moves. Yes it is mystical. These tracks also don't last long, and get confusing when many similar things are in the area. Consequences here are mainly from the environment and population and various dangers you might get into; obstacles, getting lost, traps, or even an ambush.

Shadow Shot An illusory fine and potent ranged attack.

See the introduction to the Illusion power for rules of illusory attacks. Essentially, this ability serves as a versatile replacement for traditional equipment; a fine and potent finesse weapon would be equally effective in combat. Moreover, using this action in a fight doesn't consume any additional time; activating your attack power is akin to drawing a weapon—neither faster nor slower.

Shadow Shift Change the appearance of your surroundings.

Change the appearance of your surroundings. You can cover a single house indoors or a city block outdoors.

The change can be dramatic, but only changes the appearance of things that exists. It cannot create new things or make things invisible. The illusion affects all senses, but if pushed against it offers no physical resistance. You can create environmental effects like mist, rain, smoke, and the heat and scent of fire.

Example are to make rocks and trees look like statues or make a fence appear as a strong wall.

This is usually used as a setup, but may also change how people act in reaction to the environment—rain, smoke, or snow and the like are likely to make people want to stay indoors or run out as the case may be. Consequences distracts you and your allies or a few opponents become able 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. The effect is more powerful but less precise. The illusion even includes some illusory damage to the environment, which can fool onlookers but soon fades

Prowl

Erase your own image and that of allies. Illusion is good at hiding, but offers little aid to mobility.

Invisibility Become almost invisible.

Become almost invisible, you can use Prowl to sneak just about anywhere. This is a very good stealth power, but not perfect, the air wavers just a bit and you glow very faintly in the dark. Sounds, strong light, and perfect darkness are your enemies.

Image Exchange Teleport and leave an image behind.

Create an illusion of yourself at a spot you can see within the range of a long-range weapon. This has to be your actual appearance, and cannot be invisible or masked. You then exchange position with this image.

Shared Self Use Invisibility and Image Exchange on others.

Allies still use their own Prowl action.

Illusive Excursion Teleport crew to a similar-looking place.

Teleport between two places that look so similar causal observation cannot tell them apart. You can use other illusions to make the two places match. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to escape just about any situation or location. Both effect and position is worse unless you know where you are going, which means it is great for escapes but less so for intrusion into an enemy's territory that you are likely to be much less familiar with.

Skirmish

Illusory Armor Block psychic damage.

Absorb psychic damage, like that of illusions and Mind powers. This allows you to ignore most harm from a mentally dangerous environment such as a fiery dreamscape. Roll Skirmish when subject to psychic harm. This is your inherent resistance, it does not require any activity on your part. Reduce the level of harm inflicted based on the level of success. 1-3: Nothing. 4-5: Reduce level of harm by one. 6: Reduce level of harm by two. Crit: Negate all harm and recover 1 stress

Illusory Elite Fine and potent illusory melee attack.

See the introduction to the Illusion power for rules of illusory attacks. Besides variety in the type of damage, this only substitutes for equipment, mundane weapons are just as effective. Certain targets may be more or less vulnerable to certain attacks, but this is the exception.

Illusory Obstacle Negate scale.

This creates an illusory hindrance, perhaps spectral allies, perhaps a maze or concealing mist. The effect is to deny the advantage of numbers.

Illusionary Onslaught Fine and potent illusory attack against all.

See the introduction to the Illusion power for rules of illusory attacks. Turns you into a one-man army. Not only do you negate the advantage your enemy may get from numbers, you also spread your effect to hurt all your enemies in the skirmish.

Study

Study and analyze illusions to gain insight and knowledge. The effect required depends on range, limited effect for touch, standard effect for line-of-sight, and great effect to reach a target you know of or have some link to, but which is out of line-of-sight.

These powers can spoil illusions, but you have to actively use them to have any effect.

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, consequences may give you knowledge that lacks crucial details.

Identify Illusion Identify illusions.

This gives the name of the ability used and very basic information in narrative terms, but not details or actual rules.

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.

Illusory Echoes See the past of an illusion.

See the past of an place, image, illusionist, or specter. This is like playing a film backwards. This power works anywhere, not just on illusions.

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.

Survey

Perceive and locate illusions. The effect you need depends on the target's concealment. Limited effect finds targets in concealment. Standard effect finds those hiding behind cover and in far places you can only barely see. Great effect can look behind walls and into hard cover. Yes, you can detect illusions even if nobody are currently experiencing them.

Detect Illusion You can detect illusions and invisible things.

This is a basic spotting power, selectively sensing illusions of a sort you specify.

Perceptive Image Create an illusion, reality updates it.

Make a small illusion of a nearby location. Anything you put int the image will update to match what happens in the location as long as you concentrate. Things you did not put in the illusion will not be shown, but you do get clues when things in the image seem to interact with things that are not there.

Real Image Let reality make an illusion.

As perceive Image, but reality fills out the illusion with things you did not include as they interact with things you did include.

Omnipresence Create an illusion of a huge area, reality updates it.

This is Real Image but on a grand scale; you can represent several city blocks or a large terrain feature such as a wood, field, or hill.

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, or something like a signpost. The image appears real to all senses, but if seriously pushed against it is seen for what it is.

Phantasmal Procession Full-sense illusion of a stage and actors.

Similar but larger than Persuasive Phantom. An illusion of a dozen people or things like a large carriage or street scene. You can move the illusion as long as you move all the components, something left behind will soon disappear. This allows you to make an illusion of a group of monsters or travelers that move about, but their tracks will soon disappear behind them.

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 act appropriately to the target's expectations. A target with high self-confidence will be able to convince any illusory creatures to do as they wish, but this does not let them penetrate the illusion.

Private Phantasm An illusion around a creature replaces all sensations.

You encase the target in an illusion that controls every sensation the target perceives. The target must be in your power for you to do this. 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. You can take detailed control at any time when you touch the target. It is tricky but possible to manipulate the target into actions that makes sense in their perception, but serves you in the real world.

Tinker

Use illusion to alter items of all kinds or create them out of nothing, giving the impression you can create amazing tools and weapons.

Position depends on how quiet your workplace is and how much time you have to work with. The effect determines how long it will last. Most illusory tinkering will only be good for a single scene, but if your effect surpasses that required for the effect you want, you can stretch the effect until the end of the score. Long-term projects can create permanent illusory objects.

Consequences can change details of the illusion, such as altered colors or the object becoming too pretty, bent, twisted or markings, letters, and numbers giving cluse or just not making sense.

Illusory Enhancement Change the appearance of an object up to man size.

Change the appearance of an object up to man size. This can seem to give abilities your item do not actually have or hide abilities it does have. You don't change the basic form and size of the object, but you can change details, turning a stick into a weapon, a log into a mount, or clothes into armor—or the opposite. This is a full-sense illusion, including sight, sound, smell, and touch. This can create illusory kit to impress, or hide actual kit as just clothing or even rags. Items can create appropriate effects in their vicinity, such as recoil and muzzle flash from weapons, but no such effect at any distance. If used, the items function normally, the illusion has no effect on damage or effectiveness.

Phantasmal Fabrication Make items invisible or create illusory items out of nothing.

You can make more extensive appearance changes on objects, making them invisible or creating illusory items out of nothing. You are now free to work without any restriction of real objects. People using illusory items can manipulate them as if they were real, but the illusion cannot support any weight. You can make larger objects, up to the size of a large carriage. Objects that produce effects can now reach further, such as missiles from a missile battery reaching out and creating illusory smoke trails. A weapon made invisible might grant an advantage at the start of a fight but battering will soon make it visible.

Shadow Structure Create semi-real things that only work for your crew.

As Phantasmal Fabrication, except that things you create can be semi-real, able to do what a poor example of such a thing usually does, but only when you will it to do so. For example you can create an illusory stone bridge that supports you and allies as a rickety wooden bring, but doesn't support others at all. Tools and weapons made this way perform as a basic example of what they imitate, functional but not fancy or exact.

Mass Mirage Phantasmal Fabrication on a grand scale.

This is similar to Phantasmal Fabrication, but you mass produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something huge, such as a vehicle or building or small landscape.

Wreck

Cover things with illusions of destruction. Illusion is one of the weaker wrecking powers since its unreal until Shadowy Shatter, so you can deny things to the enemy but its hard to get much use of the destruction yourself.

Position depends on the situation; if you are unseen and undisturbed and know what you are pretending to bring down you have a controlled position. If lots of enemies are about, you don't know what you will uncover, or you might trigger an accident the position might be desperate.

The effect required depends on the size and structural strength of your target. Standard effect is a car-sized hole in a brick or mortar wall. Construction significantly weaker than this only demands limited effect. A smaller hole stil need the same effect. Something larger and/or stronger requires great effect. The item is still there, but appears obviously broken. Its hard to make multiple such effect credible, if you make an illusion a broken rifle ten times someone is bound try to use their "broken" rifle and find it works.

Faux Fracture Illusion of damage to an object.

This is illusory destruction of fragile things that you could destroy with a sledgehammer, this applies in combat too. See the introduction to the Illusion power for rules of illusory attacks.

Phantom Fracture Illusion of damage to a place.

Faux Fracture on something strong, like a strong wall.

Shadowy Shatter Phantom Fracture, but semi-real.

Phantom Fracture, except that the damage you do is semi-real, unable to do its normal function, but only when you will it to do so. For example you can create an illusory hole in a wall you and your crew can use, but doesn't let others pass.

Apocalyptic Artistry City-sized Phantom Fracture.

Rather straightforward, this just scales things up.