Apparitions are spiritual entities who generally lack the power, cohesiveness, or attachments to enter or affect the physical world. Unlike a ghost or phantom, an apparition does not need to have ever been a living creature and could be the spiritual memory of a particularly meaningful location or event. Apparitions are reliant on animists to interact with other people and things, and generally can't be targeted or affected by spells and abilities other than those of the animist they are attuned to. Animist feats and abilities that affect spirits affect apparitions only if they specifically say so.

Animist abilities with the apparition trait involve one or more of your apparitions acting alongside you. You must be attuned to at least one apparition to use an apparition ability, and some abilities might state in their requirements more specifically which apparition you must be attuned to. Typically, you're assumed to always attune to your apparitions during your daily preparations, but in some rare circumstances or as a result of certain animist abilities, your apparitions might be dispersed or separated from you for a time; you aren't attuned to dispersed apparitions.

An aura is an emanation that continually ebbs out from you, affecting creatures within a certain radius. Aura can also refer to the magical signature of an item.