Minimum Shadow Potency 3
Some Strix learn to manipulate shadows and smoke apart from their own bodies, forming distractions and illusions to harass a victim and pretend that the Strix are present in greater numbers. With this Dread Power, the Strix shapes naturally- occurring smoke or shadows into illusory images.
Action: Instant
Dice Pool: Power + Finesse Cost: 2 Vitae
The easiest illusion for a Strix to form is itself — most Strix with this power use it to form duplicates of their own Shadow Form, and receive a +3 die bonus to the activation pool. Duplicating a host body receives only a +1 die bonus, while more abstract shapes (tendrils, faces, grasping claws) are at a –1 to –5 die penalty depending on how different they are from the Strix’s own form. A number of illusions appears equal to successes on the activation roll, and may participate in combat using the Strix’s Initiative and Attributes, but only serve as distractions — they neither suffer nor inflict damage. Discerning the true Strix among its creations requires a Wits + Composure roll penalized by the Strix’s Shadow Potency.
At Shadow Potency 7, a Strix may spend a second Dread Power slot on this power, granting its illusions some degree of physicality if it spends an extra point of Vitae on the power. The illusions gain Corpus equal to the Strix’s Resistance (and are destroyed when they lose all Corpus to any form of damage), and inflict +1L damage when they attack.