Illusion

Illusion

25 points

You can create lifelike illusions. By default, these are constructs of light and sound that appear in a two-yard radius around you. You can always specify a smaller area; e.g., to create an illusionary gun in your hand. Illusions lack mass and substance, and can't affect material objects in any way besides hiding or illuminating them.

To activate your ability, take a Concentrate maneuver. This requires no special die roll. You can create animated, three-dimensional images of anything you can visualize – in any spectrum you can see – synchronized with sounds in the frequency range audible to you. These persist for as long as you concentrate.

Illusions serve mainly to deceive and distract. Roll a Quick Contest of IQ against the Perception of anyone in a position to notice your illusion. To save time, the GM can roll just once for hordes of foes with the same Per. If you win, the illusion seems real to that individual. The GM decides how he reacts. He might attack an illusionary monster, try to sit on an illusionary chair, and so on. Otherwise, he spots a flaw and realizes that the illusion isn't real (although he might not know it's an illusion).

Illusion sometimes requires a skill roll instead of an IQ roll. In particular, to make an illusion disturbing enough to cause a Fright Check, you must win a Quick Contest of Artist (Illusion) skill against the higher of IQ or Perception for each victim. To trick someone into believing in an illusion of someone he knows, roll the lower of your Acting or Artist (Illusion) skill against the higher of your target's IQ or Perception.

Roll a new Quick Contest when someone you've already fooled suddenly changes how he's interacting with the illusion; e.g., he attacks a monster or falls through a chair that isn't there. If he wins or ties, you don't simulate a believable response to his action (such as the monster dodging or the chair slipping) and he catches on.

Modifiers: Your victim gets +4 if someone who knows about the illusion warns him, or if you critically fail in a Quick Contest against someone else. He gets +10 if you create the illusion unsubtly and in plain sight, or if he examines the illusion with a sense you can't deceive – most often touch. At the GM's option, inappropriate illusions (e.g., a pack of rabid wolves in a submarine) give a further +1 to +10, while believable ones (e.g., you pull out an illusionary gun) give from -1 to -5. If the final modifier is a net bonus, halve it if the victim is aware of superhuman powers but not the details of your powers...for all he knows, you can summon rabid wolves!

You can easily create babbling crowds and menacing hordes, but it's harder to animate a convincing semblance of an illusionary person for direct, personal interaction (dueling, conversation, etc.). Multiple fake people are progressively more robotic and unresponsive; anyone rolling a Quick Contest to spot the illusion is at +4 per construct after the first.

Believable or not, illusions obstruct vision as effectively as the real thing. They don’t block weapons, though. Foes aware of your location can simply shoot through your "cover"...and nothing prevents unbelieving opponents from walking through your illusions to reach you.

Special Enhancements

Add Area Effect (+50%/level) to increase radius and Ranged (+40%) to project illusions at a distance. Many illusionists also have Telekinesis, and add a Link to give the impression that their illusions can interact with the material world – a convincing combination good for +4 in the Quick Contest. Additional options include:

Extended: You can fool other senses. Extending the visual or auditory range beyond your own costs +1% per point the affected hearing and vision advantages are worth; e.g., +10% to deceive Infravision. Totally new senses (Radar, taste/smell, touch, Vibration Sense, etc.) cost +20% apiece. Extended, Touch creates the sensation of substance, but the illusion still can't affect the material world; for that, link Illusion to Telekinesis.

Independence: You don't need to concentrate to maintain your illusions. Once you've created them, you can hand off control to your subconscious. Independent illusions can respond in simple ways, but can't change unless you concentrate. For instance, an illusionary pistol would make a menacing "click" as you cocked it, and illusionary wolves would shy from a torch or snarl if someone came close, but to turn the gun into a sword or the wolves into tigers would require concentration. In particular, illusionary people can't converse unless you actually concentrate. +40%.

Initiative: This improved form of Independence provides all the benefits of that enhancement (don’t take both) and gives illusionary people the semblance of free will. They can converse and move freely within your area of effect as if they had your DX, IQ, and skills. This requires no concentration. Treat these phantasms as insubstantial NPCs who are completely loyal to you, except that they don't have thoughts and can't carry out tasks for you – they simply react to their environment. +100%.

Mental: Instead of creating images that everyone can see, you project illusions into the mind of a specific target. You can affect anyone you can touch or see; the Ranged enhancement is unnecessary. Take a Concentrate maneuver and roll a Quick Contest: your IQ vs. the victim's Will. You're at -1 per person already affected. If you win, you seize control of his perceptions and can feed him artificial sensory impressions, including subtle edits (e.g., making a $5 bill look like a $100 bill), total fabrications (e.g., he's standing on Mars without a spacesuit), and complete sensory deprivation (unless you have Auditory Only or Visual Only). These illusions never cause physical harm. Area of effect is irrelevant – it's all in his head. You don't control your victim's thoughts, however. If he decides that what he's experiencing makes no sense, he can order his body to act on the last set of impressions he felt were reliable. If he can't see the real world, he acts at -10 – but he can still act. +100%.

Stigmata: Only available in conjunction with Mental. Your illusions are so realistic that they cause the subject to experience harmful stress or shock. To use Stigmata, you must first successfully inflict mental illusions upon your victim. Then roll a Quick Contest of IQ vs. his Will once per second. If you win, you inflict actual injury equal to your margin of victory. Specify whatever damaging effect you like – shot, eaten by tigers, fried at ground zero of a nuclear blast, etc. Suitable wounds appear on your victim's body. Those nearby can see the wounds but not their cause; as far as they can tell, the victim is experiencing a stroke, heart attack, or similar distress. Should your victim fall unconscious for any reason (including the injury caused by this ability), you can no longer harm him. +100%.

Special Limitations

Auditory Only: You can create sounds but not images. This is incompatible with Extended and Stigmata. -70%.

Static: Your illusions are unanimated “stills.” You can't create any effect that changes or responds to the environment. Those who perceive the illusion get +4 to realize it's fake if it depicts something that's usually stationary, as the reflections and shadows aren't right. If the illusion is of something that normally moves, the bonus is +10. Static illusions are mostly useful for concealment. Static is incompatible with Auditory Only, Independent, Initiative, and Stigmata. -30%.

Visual Only: You can create images but not sounds. This is incompatible with Auditory Only and Stigmata. -30%.

Alternatives

To conjure material creations, take Create for bulk matter, Snatcher for complex artifacts, and Allies with the Summonable enhancement for creatures. If the goal is simply to generate concealment, Obscure is cheaper.

Powering Up

Illusion enhanced with Mental is a common Telepathy ability in fiction. Elemental Light power, psionic Electrokinesis, and other energy-related powers tend to generate purely physical illusions. The magical powers of fantasy illusionists can often create either kind of illusion. Even divine and spirit powers might include Illusion, for "sacred visions" or impressing worshippers. Talent adds to all rolls for any form of Illusion.