Masking, much more difficult to penetrate Options

[6thDragon]

Has anyone else noticed that the metamagic Maksing just got a whole lot more difficult to penetrate in SR4 than it has been in past editions. If my memory serves me right, a big if on some days, the character trying to penetrate the mask had some kind of bonus based on their initiate grade. Now only the Masking character gets a bonus from their initiate grade. It also gives the masking character the option of assuming the appearance of a mundane or a magic higher or lower than it actually is, or an astral creature. I assume this means spirit, but is that only when you're astrally projecting? Does this mean you could pass yourself off as a dragon when in Astral Space :evil: ? I guess the game designers decided to make this ore powerful under this edition. However it doesn't cover foci or spell like it use to unless you also purchase the appropriate metamagic.

[fistandantilus4....]

One thing I did to level the playing field a bit was introducing a metamagic called Unveiling. Basically it's extra dice to use on astral perception tests to break Masking and False Signature. It works just fine for regular assensing as well, It's just that those are the things you'll really need the extra dice for.

[Xenith]

Funny thing about the extended masking is that it allows for some scary stealth magicians. Not only can you truly look mundane, you basically gain the ability to sneak around with invisibility without becoming an astral beacon.

A magician that can escape the notice of another astrally perceiving person is indeed very frightening.

Edit: As a side note, the Masking power also allows you you lie far more effectively, or at least conceal the lie to a surprising degree. Reminds me of a certain Talon novel.

[Wasabi]

Is it legal to change auras so a troll mage appears as an astral mouse to reduce his aura's perceived size?

[6thDragon]

Adding another metamagic seams too much just to counter masking. I mean if all you get is a few other dice to counter other metamagics, it doesn't seam like enough. Maybe I'm just venting. It seams like they made it much more powerful by making it veryhard to penetrate, but also weeker at the same time by making the extended masking. Yeah, you could make incredible use of extended masking with spells like physical mask. Anyway, the posibilities are endless.

[fistandantilus4....]

I agree that masking is too tough to break, especially once you get a few grades on there. But honestly I'd rather add in another metamagic to the game, reflecting advances in thaumaturgy, then rework an existing one.

[DigitEyez]

I like the idea of Unveiling. I'm going to allow it in my campaign.
Thanks, fistandantilus3.0

[Ravor]

Seconded DigitEyez.

[fistandantilus4....]

[bibliophile20]

Thirded.

[6thDragon]

Does your new metamagic Unveiling give anything to help penetrate illusion spells or other forms of magical concealment, such as the critter power that is commonly used by spirits? If so, I definately say it's worth it.

[Jaid]

he said it "works fine for regular assensing too" which leads me to assume it's basically bonus dice to assensing, as opposed to simply bonus dice to penetrate masking.

[fistandantilus4....]

Correct. It adds the initiates grade in dice to any assensing tests, using a complex action.

[wilcoxon]

Which seems too powerful to me. An initiate with a few grades and Unveiling starts becoming the astral equivalent of the perception adept. If the GM wants even a chance of something magic remaining hidden, it requires an initiate with other metamagics to have cast it.

[bibliophile20]

[fistandantilus4....]

[knasser]

I like masking to have the edge. It's more productive to the game that way, I feel. My reasons are twofold. Firstly, in the absence of the ability to penetrate a masked aura, players are required to fall back on good old fashioned detective work, subterfuge, spying... that sort of stuff. With the ability to penetrate masking, my only hope of pulling off some mystery is to have the villains unrealistically initiated up the wazoo.
Secondly, I want the players to be able to pull off their own masking. Compared to metamagics such as centering and anchoring, it's a fairly indirect and weak power, chosen by players who want to think, and I don't think it should be undermined.

It shouldn't be an arms race between masker and watcher. That's the D&D approach where whoever has the biggest rock wins. In Shadowrun, you also come up against paper and scissor and that's the way I like it. It makes things interesting. Balance of power = dull. Uncertainty = GM heaven.

My thoughts,

-K.

[fistandantilus4....]

Easy answer : Masking Foci

[Wasabi]

[knasser]

[6thDragon]

The more I think about it the more I like Unveiling as a metamagic. I think if you round it out by making it help penetrate illusions and see others who have spirits concealing them, all the better. Plus, if a character really wants to trust his own eyesight/assensing abilities then they should take it. However, at low levels, it still won't give hugh advantages. Personally I think it would be good for those more experienced characters or NPCs. I think any dragon worth his skin would take this, so they are not fooled by mere mortals. Otherwise you'd have anyone taking masking and walking around looking like whatever they want because no one can see through the mask. If they really enjoy their privacy, let them take the masking foci.

[wilcoxon]

6thDragon got me thinking. I don't like Unveiling as just giving straight dice to assensing. However, here's a variant of Unveiling I like (at least on first thought).

Unveiling helps an initiate pierce the veil of deception. It offsets penalties due to illusion and masking. I'm undecided on if this should be bonus dice or straight reduction (for Masking). So, Unveiling grade 3 vs Masking grade 4 would either be +3 dice on assensing against a threshold 4 higher or normal dice against a threshold 1 higher (bonus would only apply when trying to penetrate masking). It would also reduce the penalty to perception from concealment, camouflage (spell), and the like. Straight grade reduction might be too much (since concealment is limited by force of spirit and spells are limited by force and net hits) - maybe grade/2 dice bonus on penetrating such effects?

[Jaid]

[fistandantilus4....]

[nathanross]

My worthless opinion is this:

If you want to be the best at assensing, and be able to pierce every veil, you have to make sacrifices. I recently had to make the choice between a full magician and a mystic adept and picked the slightly worse mystic adept because my concept was to be able to assense better than anyone. To give full mages something that substitutes for the Enhanced Perception power is bullshit.

Sure, Masking is hard to pierce, but if it wasnt, what is the point? Characters spend time and karma to get it so that they can hide themselves, why make it even harder?

If you really want to fix masking, just rewrite it like it was in SR3. Decrease perciever's Initiate grade from masker's initiate rating (Im pretty sure that was how it worked) and require masking to pierce the mask. Also, just throw out the masking foci.