Rather than removing himself from the perceptions of other people, the vampire can instead adjust how they see him. He can either appear as a subjective face, a “frail old woman,” or a “young lothario,” or as a specific person, like “Tom’s friend Jason.” People perceive the vampire as though he were who they’d expect to see based on his chosen disguise — everyone has a different idea of what a frail old woman looks like, after all.
Cost: 2 Vitae Dice Pool: none Action: None
When using Face in the Crowd or affecting a person with Touch of Shadow, the vampire can spend the Vitae required to activate this power. She can specify a particular image that she wants to project, either a subjective category or a specific person. If she takes on the form of a specific person, everyone sees and hears what they would expect were that person present. He needs to know that the person exists, and he can’t use his description to influence people’s reactions — “the woman Tom will fall in love with,” or “a man Jennifer finds trustworthy” both fail, as they rely on influencing the victim’s thoughts and emotions about the person being imitated.
A vampire can also use The Familiar Stranger on objects through Touch of Shadow. He can redefine how people see the object. The illusory object must be roughly the same size as the original object, and will pass most forms of mundane inspection — though an illusory gun won’t fire, and an illusory knife won’t cut. Simply discovering that the illusion won’t function isn’t enough to break it, however — that only happens at the end of the scene.