Can someone spoof his aura to "fake" a different emotion than the ones he is currently having?

Can someone else do it for you?

(With SR3 rules btw if there are official rules)

Aside from possible emotional-control methods, there's always Masking.

~J

Masking says you can spoof auras, but does that mean you can fake emotional content? And if so, how would you treat that for dice roll purposes? Stealth (aura)?

You can always cast Control Emotions on yourself and mask the spell. But, this wouldn't be spoofing. Its a great tactic for dealing with the Fear power.

hmm other question:

would it be possible through meditation(no magic involved) to appear perfectly calm?

If I had a player who wanted to spend knowledge skill points on something like that, I'd allow it.

Wouldn't it be easier for the PC to simply force himself to feel a different emotion? Rather than feeling embarassed, he distracts himself so he feels bored (or annoyed or whatever), just like what you'd use to avoid blushing or setting off a lie detector?

Would it change your aura or simply your manners?

In fact, the real question is: How much can "acting" affect your true feelings?

I think it would change your aura, as long as you're legitimately leading your mind away from things rather than just hiding it. My rule of thumb would be, if you are no longer showing involuntary signs of the emotion, then you are successfully changing that emotion.

The reason I was asking this question is because my players yesterday encountered a Johnson that seemed to suffer a severe panic attack.

(he claimed that he was attacked by the 405 Hellhounds Go-Gang and they stole his briefcase that contained a datachip that the runners were supposed to have for the run)

When one of the mage did an aura reading upon him, I told the player that he sensed a deep stress in his aura.

I would think that lying to a group of hired killers would be deeply stressful.

In 2xs, Jocasta says that she's suspicious of one character, because he's in the middle of a management battle, and yet his aura reads calm. The only way that would happen is if he could mask it, and to do that, he'd have to secretly be a magician. I don't think Mr. Johnson could mask his aura without being a better magician than the dudes in the party.

If this was SR4 I think I'd allow someone to try and control their own emotions with a Con roll, or maybe a Willpower+Charisma roll, with suitable penalties according to circumstances.
Reckon nezumi's right: it doesn't necessarily need magic.