Chimerstry

By spending 1 Blood and using your standard action, you create an insubstantial sensory illusion. Illusions created with Ignis Fatuus can only affect one of the following senses: sight, hearing, smell, or taste. With this power, you might cause a loud bang as a distraction, give a letter the sweet scent of perfume, or read by the light of a chimerical candle. These illusions are incapable of movement or change once they have been created. Illusions created with Ignis Fatuus last for up to one turn per level of the Subterfuge skill you possess. A character using Ignis Fatuus in combat can distract and confuse her opponents with false sensory input. To do this, you must pay the costs of this power and then make an opposed challenge using the Chimerstry test pool. If successful, your target is momentarily distracted and loses her simple action the next time her initiative comes up. This use of Ignis Fatuus relies on surprise and, therefore, cannot be used on a specific individual more than once per combat.

Expend your standard action to alter the appearance of an inanimate object. Mirage cannot be used on creatures or individuals. Remember that Chimerstry can be used to add to an item, or to cover what is there, but it cannot be used to subtract something from the item or environment. You cannot use this power to decrease an object's size, but you may increase its size by up to 10 percent. You can alter the way the object looks, smells, sounds, tastes, or feels — or all of the above. You can make a ragged chair look and feel like an opulent throne, cause a glass of water to smell and taste like fine wine, or change a rolling gurney into a mahogany table covered with candles. This illusion will last for up to an hour. Users of Mirage must completely cover the object they are altering; any part of the foundation that is not covered will be visible through the illusion. For example, you may make a gurney look like a mahogany table, but you cannot make a file cabinet look like a table — the solid body of the file cabinet would show between the table's legs. You could, however, make the file cabinet look like a table with a tablecloth hanging to the ground, thus covering the entirety of the file cabinet. Mirage cannot be used to modify the appearance of living or undead individuals, as that is the purview of Obfuscate. It can be used to make simple alterations to clothing, such as coloration, material, or general quality.

Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to create an independent illusion that appears real to every sense. This illusion can move either in a predetermined loop, or, with continued concentration by the creator, can change as you wish. A fireworks display can shift and change color, an illusory policeman can appear to walk his beat around a block, and so forth. Illusory objects seem to fulfill their standard functions; an illusory gun can cock its hammer or shoot an illusory bullet (which causes no harm), and an illusory engine can be taken apart and put back together. Further, your Apparitions will automatically react when they interact with external forces or obstacles. A chimerical flag will blow in the wind, and a chimerical person will walk around a solid object placed in its path. When you create an Apparition, you determine a simple pattern of actions for that illusion to enact, as per the beat cop's casual walk around the block. Thereafter, you may expend a simple action to alter your illusion's activity for one round, perhaps causing the beat cop to stop and have a brief conversation with someone (expending a simple action for every round you make the cop remain still and speak or listen). If you expend a standard action instead of a simple action, you may add, remove, or otherwise make a permanent change in the Apparition's pre-established patterns, such as causing the beat cop to stop and whistle a brief tune every time he reaches a certain corner in his circular route. Such alterations to the Apparition's pattern are accomplished silently, through an act of concentration by the illusion's creator. Note that your character does not receive any special ability to see or hear through her own Apparition. If the beat cop's creator cannot hear the questions being asked by the individual speaking with her illusory policeman, she cannot direct the policeman to answer correctly. Apparition cannot be used to make an illusion with a total mass larger than 10 cubic feet, although the mass can be shaped in any manner you choose. Illusions of creatures or individuals can move, as appropriate for their creature type. For example, an illusionary cop can pace back and forth down a street.

Spend 1 Blood and use your simple action to make an already-created Mirage or Apparition permanent. The illusion will last until you choose to dispel it, until it is irrevocably unable to continue, or until it is subjected to sunlight. A permanent illusion is irrevocably unable to continue if it is believably destroyed, such as by throwing a chimerical gun into a pool of molten metal, or if the beat cop's route is completely blocked by a massive tractor-trailer. Apparition cannot be used to make an illusion with any dimension larger than 10 feet in any direction, e.g. no larger than 10 feet wide by 10 feet tall by 10 feet deep.

Spend 1 Blood and expend a simple action to augment one of your already existing Apparitions with Horrid Reality. For the next five minutes, that illusion cannot be disbelieved and is imbued with the power to physically interact with people. An illusion given credence with Horrid Reality cannot interact with inanimate objects, but can cause lasting harm to mortals, supernatural creatures, and animals. Apparitions that have been augmented by Horrid Reality may be used to attack, either by secondary means (such as firing a chimerical pistol) or as a primary attacker — the illusionary beat cop lunges and strikes with his nightstick. In either case, the character who created the augmented Apparition is the actual attacker, and the attack occurs on that character's initiative in a round. To attack with an Apparition augmented by Horrid Reality, expend your standard action and make an opposed challenge against a single target, using your Social attribute + Subterfuge versus the target's Physical attribute + Dodge. If successful, your target takes damage from the item or creature created with this power. Horrid Reality cannot be used to inflict victory conditions other than damage. Damage inflicted by the use of Horrid Reality reflects the illusion's apparent mode of attack, and deals either 3 points of normal damage or 2 points of aggravated damage. An illusionary police officer shooting a pistol or using a nightstick inflicts a maximum of 3 points of normal damage, while an illusionary flamethrower inflicts a maximum of 2 points of aggravated damage. Fortitude (and similar powers) can reduce damage inflicted by Horrid Reality. Even if the illusion appears to affect several people or objects, such as the illusion of a flamethrower, Horrid Reality can only deal damage to one target at a time. This limitation does not prohibit normal issues caused by such an Apparition. If you engulf three individuals in a Horrid Reality flamethrower's spout, choose one individual to potentially harm. The other two may still frenzy from being engulfed by the Apparition of fire. They cannot, however, take damage from this attack. Individuals, creatures, or objects created with this power have a maximum number of health levels equal to your dots in Subterfuge, minimum 1. You may create an object with fewer health levels (an illusionary piece of paper wouldn't be believable if it had 5 health levels). Chimerical illusions cannot directly prevent you from being harmed. A Chimerical wall cannot stop a bullet. Once Horrid Reality has been used to augment an Apparition, the augmented illusion can attack a target repeatedly; this is an exception to the rule prohibiting a character from using a Social power on the same target immediately after failing. If you fail a Horrid Reality attack against an opponent, you can try again against that same opponent, or someone else, on the next turn. When you use an item created by Horrid Reality or create an illusory individual, the attacks are precisely timed with the creator's will; this is why Apparitions augmented with Horrid Reality cannot be used by anyone other than their creator. If you give an augmented illusory weapon to another individual, it loses its potential to cause harm. An augmented Apparition cannot attack during Celerity rounds, even if it is a weapon wielded during Celerity rounds. Harmful effects of Horrid Reality are fleeting, as they are based in the substance of dream. Damage caused by Horrid Reality can knock an individual unconscious or into torpor, but it cannot kill. After five minutes, the effects of Horrid Reality fade; injuries erase and unconscious or torpored individuals awaken.

Once purchased, this power is always active and enhances all uses of Horrid Reality. Attacks made by your Horrid Reality-augmented Apparitions can attack up to five characters simultaneously. Your illusion might throw a grenade, wounding several targets, or launch a gout of flame, burning a group of victims. When targeting multiple enemies with this power, you must make a separate opposed challenge against each of the defenders. Should you spend a point of Willpower to retest any of these opposed challenges, you also gain that retest for the remainder of the opposed challenges, without spending further Willpower. If you spend the Willpower to retest after some challenges are already resolved, you cannot go back to previous challenges you've lost and apply that Willpower retest retroactively. If you expend both your simple and standard actions to apply a combat maneuver, as per the Charisma attribute focus for Horrid Reality, that combat maneuver only applies to one individual.

Spend 1 point of Blood and use your standard action to create up to three Apparitions for each dot you possess of the Subterfuge skill, minimum three. When created, you can give each Apparition its own pattern. When you use a simple action to alter your Apparitions' patterns, you may choose to affect one, some, or all Apparitions created with this power. You can only have one application of Army of Apparitions active at any time.

Spend 2 points of Blood and your standard action to create a magical melee weapon that only you can wield. For the next hour, the illusion cannot be disbelieved. At the end of the hour, the item immediately disappears unless you spend 2 additional points of Blood to maintain the illusion. This weapon must always remain in your hands or it will cease to exist. If you are disarmed the item immediately disappears unless you spend 1 additional point of Blood to immediately return it to your hand. This power cannot be used in conjunction with Horrid Reality. Unlike Horrid Reality, the damage inflicted by this illusionary weapon does not fade when the illusion ceases to exist though any damage inflicted by the weapon may be healed as normal. Weapons created in this manner are considered level 5 magical weapons. In addition to applying two standard qualities to the weapon, weapons created by this power may have up to 5 points of Cantrips, as detailed below. As these weapons are not technically real, they may not be further augmented by powers such as Quietus. Each Cantrip costs a number of points equal to its level and, unless otherwise noted, may only be purchased once. In addition, you may give the weapon any number of non-mechanical aesthetic characteristics pertaining to things like style, appearance, or apparent composition. Level 1 Cantrips – 1 Point Aggravated: All damage dealt by this weapon is aggravated damage. Draining: Once per turn, after successfully damaging a target, the weapon heals you for 1 point of normal damage. Encumbering: This Cantrip can be purchased multiple times. For each time this Cantrip is purchased, when you successfully strike a target, she receives a cumulative -2 penalty to her next turn's initiative. Multiple applications of this effect are not cumulative from different sources. Forceful: The application of this Cantrip generates a powerful wave of force allowing the melee weapon to harm enemies from a distance, conveying its full effects and qualities. You can purchase this Cantrip multiple times. For each time you purchase this Cantrip, your weapon's range increases by 2 additional steps. This weapon quality is cumulative with the Reach quality. Harrying: A target struck by this weapon takes one fewer step the next time she spends an action to move. She can move normally again after she spends one penalized action for movement. Multiple applications of this effect are not cumulative. Skillful: Choose a single combat maneuver during creation. Once per hour, you can perform that combat maneuver without spending Willpower. Unbreakable: Mundane and supernatural effects are unable to break this item or compromise its physical integrity. Level 2 Cantrips – 2 Points Disruptive: During creation choose a single attribute (i.e., Physical, Mental, or Social). Targets struck by this weapon suffer a -1 penalty to test pools that involve the chosen attribute until the end of their next turn. This Cantrip can be purchased multiple times; however, the same attribute cannot be selected more than once. Exceptional: The weapon gains one of the following additional qualities at creation: Accurate, Armor Piercing, Brutal, or Deadly. The quality chosen cannot be one that the weapon already possesses. Painful: This weapon always inflicts 2 points of normal damage when it successfully hits its target. This damage cannot be increased by bonuses such as an exceptional success or reduced by powers such as Fortitude. This quality has no effect if the weapon is being utilized as part of a combat maneuver. The Rugged quality functions normally against this quality, incurring 2 points of damage against the bonus Rugged health levels when struck. Level 3 Cantrips – 3 Points Devouring: Targets struck by this weapon lose 1 point of Blood, Gnosis, Glamour, Mana, or another point of fuel appropriate to creature type. Should a target possess multiple types of fuel, she loses 1 point of each. Knockback: This weapon inflicts a serious impact on its target. On a successful attack with this weapon, the attacker may choose to move her target up to 2 steps away from the point of impact. In addition, targets that are not Stamina-focused are knocked prone. Sundering: If you achieve an exceptional success while using this weapon, you may choose to render inoperable either the weapon your opponent is carrying or the armor she is wearing. Anyone seeking to repair the object must spend a downtime action and succeed in a static challenge using her Physical attribute + Crafts skill versus the attacker's Physical attribute to make the repair. If the weapon or piece of armor selected has the Unbreakable quality, this Cantrip has no effect.

If you are aware or suspect the use of Chimerstry, Obfuscate, or other similar powers that trick the mind such as a werewolf's Blur of the Milky Eye or Coyote's Mantle, you may attempt to dispel the power much like you would end your own illusions. Spend a standard action and 1 point of Blood to target an individual or area no larger than 15 square feet and attempt to dispel active powers as described above. If you target an individual, you must succeed in an opposed challenge using your Chimerstry test pool versus the test pool used to create the deception. If the targeted individual has multiple effects active, she uses whichever is the highest test pool for those effects. If the active power on the targeted individual originated from another character, such as the effects of Cloak the Gathering, use the test pool of the character that created the effect. If successful, all active illusionary powers that are affecting your target end. NOTE: This power does not grant you the ability to target individuals you cannot see; you must first be able to perceive your target with Auspex or similar abilities. If you target an area with Truth's Essence, make an opposed challenge against the illusionary effect's creator. However, if the effect's creator is not present, the challenge becomes a static challenge with a difficulty equal to the creator's appropriate discipline pool and the effect's creator may not retest the challenge using Willpower or other effects that grant retests. Use of Truth's Essence to target an area can only be used against a single area-wide effect; if there are multiple effects active on the area you must target each effect individually. If successful, you end the effect of any active illusions in the area; however, their creators may activate them once again. The Storyteller is the final arbiter on when a character has reason to suspect the use of illusionary powers, such as the appearance of a chainsaw from someone's pocket or a dragon swooping in from the sky. The use of Truth's Essence is not considered an attempt to disbelieve illusionary effects, and therefore works against Horrid Reality. Truth's Essence has no effect on illusionary effects created by elder powers or luminary powers.

Spend 3 points of Blood and 3 full turns to craft an illusion that engulfs the world around you. This illusion must be centered on your immediate location and affects an area no larger than a small warehouse, mansion, or an outdoor area up 2000 square feet. At the end of your third turn you have created a solid illusion, filled with inanimate objects that can be touched or moved by anyone within the effect. When crafting your Passion Play you may change any details of the physical location that you would like. For example, rooms grow smaller, buildings shrink, gardens fill with the scent of fresh cut flowers, and stairs appear from thin air. Passion Play can only be used to craft inanimate objects such as a building or furniture. Manifestations of sentient entities must be created separately. The details of the area created through this ability are at the discretion of the user. For example, the space may become an opulent art gallery or a terrifying den of horror. Once your Passion Play is active, it cannot be changed. You may only have one use of Passion Play active at any given time. You may move through the illusion or even leave the area, and the effect will continue. Your Passion Play will persist until dawn unless you elect to end the power earlier by spending a simple action or you die. A character caught within your Passion Play cannot disbelieve any non-harmful Chimerical creations within. Here, a chimerical table looks and feels as real as the rest of the world. Damage caused by Chimerstry powers such as Horrid Reality do not fade (even if the area is left or this power ends) and have the potential to kill if they cause sufficient damage. In addition, any attempt by you to use the first four levels of Chimerstry in the Passion Play area of effect does not require an opposed challenge and automatically succeeds without an additional cost. This benefit only applies within the Passion Play; illusions that leave the area lose this benefit.