You can make her an magician that already was well versed in illusions. She discovered an ancient mystics book and used it out of curiosity, the power and knowledge in the book overwhelmed her mind and drove her insane. The power of the book made her seemingly harmless illusions warp into reality.

It depends on what your going for. If you want a tragic villain or something more sinister.

Got powers, wants wealth, likes messing with people.

Doesn't have to be a complicated backstory.

Power can corrupt after all.

Also this:

[img]https://i.redditmedia.com/XfA_bEntJfG0FRh9a-ynldOV1NSj4DW4zUpC6lqslVE.jpg?w=320&s=0a426c1ff0cb5b3cb4e2f1f3d30203e1[/img]

They're a villain because they enjoy it.

Atama wrote:

Gladatoria wrote:

I felt like going more sinister, maybe use the carnie angle like Fireheart talked about.

Someone who’s knows what they’re doing is wrong but doesn’t care.

How about this...

She’s a heavily-tattooed attractive woman who was a sideshow attraction at a carnival. She was billed as the Painted Lady (like the butterfly).

Later in life she learns that her grandmother had died and left her a few things in her will... just a trunk with old clothes, costume jewelry, and personal diaries. Nothing very valuable. But reading the diaries, she learns her grandmother was secretly a practitioner of the mystic arts and some of her techniques are written in detail.

She reads and practices some of these techniques, most of which are simple cantrips to heal minor wounds, purify food, divine the weather, etc. But she finds one spell that can empower a piece of artwork and make it appear real. She learns how to use this spell on her tattoos turn them into fully effective illusions. She now uses that ability to escape a life where people gawk at her as an “exotic freak” and she can live easy on the money she can steal, using a combination of her natural charm and illusions to manipulate and trick people.

So essentially just rule 63 of DCs Tattooed Man?

Atama wrote:

Project_Hero wrote:

So essentially just rule 63 of DCs Tattooed Man?

To be honest I wasn’t aware of that character, my idea was inspired by the old Ray Bradbury character “The Illustrated Man” who had tattoos that could come to life and tell stories. But I guess that works too.

I don't know is if the Tattooed Man's backstory is anything like the one you posted but the powers are the same.

If you want her to not be too magically inclined but still have illusion magic... have you considered maybe the powers she's using aren't hers?

She almost completed a con for a valuable relic, a small effigy. There was a fight, the relic broke a bit, and the djinn inside screamed. After doing some digging, using some google translate, she learned to communicate with it. Turns out, if she destroys the relic, she kills the djinn, permanently. And, messing with the effigy causes it extreme pain. There's no way to free it, and she hid the fragment of the relic that broke off somewhere only she knows because it could lead her back to the effigy if she ever lost it (by putting it in a compass or so).

So, she forces it to make illusions for her under constant threat of being tortured. The only drawback is, she has to have it on her, in a purse or satchel or something.

This way, she needs no mystical knowledge at all, just a really vile demeanor enough to intimidate a being like that.

I'm glad you like the idea. But I don't think the name should relate to the effigy or Djinn.

She needs to keep the source of her power secret, so making her name a dead giveaway would be ill advised.

Better to go with something deliberately vague or if she's really clever, something ultra-specific but that points people in the completely wrong direction.

Not having much luck.

Fata Morgana means a trick of the eyes. Unfortunately, people could easily exploit the first name to say Fatty Morgana.
Esoterica would have been great, but is apparently a ben 10 character.
Names like Tuatha Gaes are great if you know what they mean, but most players won't.
Maybe she wears a certain color? The Blue Beguiler. Wow, that's bad. Nevermind that one.

Sorry, I'm bad at names.

The Blue Raja!

No, that’s taken.

How about Emerelda? Which by the way, is a real name, a variant of Esmerelda. She can wear green and maybe have a green stone pendant she uses to put people in a hypnotic trance (it looks like an emerald but it’s cheap costume jewelry, a con like everything else about her).