Craft Illusion

Tier 1, Skill Feat, Occult, Ritual, Illusion
Prerequisites: Occult Affinity
Casting Time: 1 Major Action
Ritual, Occult, Illusion, Exceptional

You create an illusion, which can fill a cube of up to 5 feet per Tier on a side. It can either be anchored in place or attached to a mobile inanimate substrate, such as a rock, twig, piece of armor, wagon, or ship. The illusionary effect does not need to fill the entire cubical area, but it cannot leave that area.

The illusion has visual, auditory, and olfactory effects, meaning that creatures nearby can see, hear, and smell it, but is intangible and cannot be touched or physically affect anything touching it. Tremorsense, Echolocation, and Scent do not offer any benefits to noticing that it is unreal, as the illusion is capable of giving off signals that fool those senses. Life Sense, however, automatically notices that an illusion of a creature is neither alive nor undead.

You must use the Sustain action on each subsequent round to maintain the illusion and control its actions, behavior, and/or appearance; the illusion freezes in place when not sustained, but only disappears if dispelled or its duration expires. You can Sustain it at any point while you are within 30 feet of it or are directly observing it (regardless of distance), though manipulating the illusion while you can’t see it may impose Penalties on your check for its effectiveness.

The illusion lasts for 5 minutes after it was created or last sustained.

The detail and convincingness of the illusion is determined by an Arcana or Performance (Illusion) check against observers’ Perception or Will DCs, whichever is higher. If you are using the illusion to entertain, it is a normal Performance check rather than being compared against any of a creature’s DCs. If the illusion is anchored to an object that a creature other than you is currently carrying or wearing, you take Disadvantage on this check and any checks you make regarding maintaining the illusion unless that creature stays completely still.

A creature can use a Search action to examine the illusion if they suspect it isn’t real, causing you to reroll your Arcana or Performance check against the higher of their Perception or Will DCs:

Critical Success: The creature notices something that convinces it that the illusion is absolutely real, and won’t examine it again unless something new makes it question the illusion’s authenticity.
Success: The creature doesn’t notice anything that would clearly identify the illusion as being an illusion.
Failure: The creature realizes that the illusion isn’t real, but can still sense it as normal.
Critical Failure: The creature realizes that the illusion isn’t real, and can ignore the illusion’s projected sensorium, seeing through it as if it weren’t there and blocking out any noises or smells it is emitting.

If a creature attacks or interacts with the illusion, you make an Arcana check against the attack’s DC or the creature’s Will DC to determine whether the illusion remains intact. If the illusion is being attacked by something that would deal Radiant damage on a Hit, you take Disadvantage on this check.

Critical Success: The illusion behaves exactly as if the attack had had its normal effect, and offers no reason for any observer to believe that it was an illusion.
Success: The illusion flickers slightly or otherwise betrays something that might cause observers to believe that it isn’t real; compare your check result against the Perception DC of all observers to see if they notice that it is an illusion.
Failure: The illusion completely fails to account for the attack, and all observers automatically realize that it isn’t real.
Critical Failure: The illusion is dispelled and disappears entirely.

Enhancement:

You can consume 1x Tier 1 Occult Component when you create the illusion to power it for 24 hours after you stop Sustaining it.
You can consume 1x Tier 2 Occult Component when you create the illusion to power it for 1 year after you stop Sustaining it.
You can consume 1x Tier 3 Occult Component when you create the illusion to power it for 1 year and to program it to behave as if it has a mind of its own, acting according to your desires when you set it up. Sustaining it is no longer necessary, but you can change its programming by Sustaining it while you are within range to do so.
You can consume 1x Tier 4 Occult Component when you create the illusion to power it indefinitely and to program it as per the Tier 3 Component enhancement. If the illusion is ever dispelled, it reappears 1 hour later unless the effect that dispelled it had the Radiant tag or dealt Radiant damage.
Upgrades