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Riley37
When a character astrally projects, and looks around, they see a world as described in the BBB section on astral perception, mostly kinda shades of gray, glass windows opaque (since how light moves through material is irrelevant to that material's astral shadow), objects with souls (eg metahuman bodies) looking very different from those that don't (eg metahuman corpses).

When examining a specific aura or trace closely, clearly Assensing is the skill for determining whether its Force is low or high, etc.

But what about simply looking around to see "who's near me"? Does Perception apply for that?

If one is skilled in Infiltration on the material plane, can one also use it on the astral plane, eg maneuvering so that there's an astrally opaque barrier between your spirit and a potential observer?

Side note: Detect Magic has overlapping function with Astral Perception, but doesn't require the caster to become dual natured, works over an area and through barriers, and is limited (foci, wards, lodges, spirits, and spells, but neither astral signatures nor Awakened persons/critters). Could an Assensing check allow the caster to evaluate the Force of foci, wards, lodges, spirits, and spells that are detected?
Fortune
QUOTE (Riley37 @ Jan 24 2008, 08:39 PM)
Detect Magic has overlapping function with Astral Perception, but doesn't require the caster to become dual natured, works over an area and through barriers, and is limited (foci, wards, lodges, spirits, and spells, but neither astral signatures nor Awakened persons/critters). Could an Assensing check allow the caster to evaluate the Force of foci, wards, lodges, spirits, and spells that are detected?

I haven't checked the books, but I would think this would be a function of how successful the spellcasting was (ie. how many hits were attained on that test).
Ryu
Perception has no use on the astral, unless your GM houserules it in.

Detection spells use the (net) hits from the spellcasting test to determine the amount of information gained. Three of those give you all basic information. See "Detection Spells".
Mr. Unpronounceable
The assensing skill is used for perception tests on the astral.

QUOTE (sr4 p182)

While astral perception allows an Awakened character to sense the astral plane, actually interpreting what is sensed takes practice. Interpreting auras to gain information about the person or thing to whom they belong is called assensing. A magician who wishes to learn more about an aura must make an Intuition + Assensing test, with the number of hits determining how much the magician learns, as outlined on the Assensing Table (p. 183). Without attempting to read an aura, a magician can still get an impression of what type of aura it is (spell, spirit, living creature, etc.).
Like physical perception, a character using astral perception should not need to make a test to see things that are immediately obvious (and since astral forms are bright and vibrant, this means that most astral forms are easily noticed). An actual test should only be called for when an astral being is specifically trying to hide, or when a character is trying to astrally observe in detail; in both these situations, an Assensing Test is made.


bolding mine.
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