Manascape, So who needs Masking? Options

[KitsuneKaze]

No. Just the mere existence of a spell is evident. Exactly what spell is active is not apparent without an Assensing test.

With an appropriate penalty? After all this spells very purpose is to affect your ability to do just that.

[Dr Funfrock]

so.
if i cast improved invbisibility and then manascape while using masking or extended masking, i am completely impossible to be noticed?
probably not.

Sound and Smell my friend. Never forget that the biggest flaw in the Chameleon suit, Concealment, Improved Invisibility, and all of the other snacky tricks is that they can still hear you.

Have you ever tried to sneak up behind someone without making any sound at all? Someone who wasn't wearing headphones or otherwise seriously distracted?

To be honest, any good security detail is using their ears more than their eyes anyway. Inside a building most sounds will carry through walls, whereas line of sight is severely limited.

That's not counting what happens if they have watchdogs, enhanced olfactory, or, god help you, Barghests.

[Stahlseele]

Have you ever tried to sneak up behind someone without making any sound at all? Someone who wasn't wearing headphones or otherwise seriously distracted?

doing so on a daily basis. only to annoy my coworkers really ^^
wasn't there something like olfactory camouflage?
sealed chamaeleon-suit or chem-suit with ruthenium and then the spell?
ok, put in silence too . . with the Heightened Concentration thingie, an magical adept would be impossible to find if he wanted to . .
now i have a picture in my mind of waldo doing shadowruns and vanishing in plain sight once someone is turning their eyes away . .
stealth hi/bye like batman does . . Carmen San Diego would be too copy cat, as she's allready doing stuff like that anyway ^^

[Dr Funfrock]

It's doable, but no stealth setup will ever be perfect. Silence is a radius effect, which means that anyone you move too close to will immediately notice something wrong when everything goes unearthly quiet for a moment. That and the questions about whether the manascape hanging spell can still be spotted on you. Also, you'd still have to avoid stepping through a ward, which is pretty difficult when trying to get into any reasonably secure facility.

[Ancient History]

False Impression and Manascape can alter the sensory impression of a spell, but not remove the fact that it's there.

[Cabral]

I believe it's a been a magic inability to alter auras. I don't have the digital grimoire yet, so I don't know if they've said anything to change that, but IIRC, it's be that way since SR1.

[Stahlseele]

ahem, masking/advanced masking? O.o
you can willingly shift your aura to hide foci and spells on your persona . .
you can even copy the aura of another mage to the extent that his wards accept you as their master and commander. .
just a quick in between question:
after having thus crossed over into the warded area, will every spell i cast have the astral signature of me or the signature of the mage who made the ward?
i am using his aura to get through, so do my spells use his aura sa a basis for their signature too?

[Jaid]

they will have your signature.