Ok folks where are the rules for duel beings, cos i can't find them. what i have found is that astrally perceving makes you a duel being, having a Z by your essence stat makes you a duel being. You don't want to go near mana warps, and that you use physical stats for astral combat.

But where are the basic rules for being a duel being. Or in what books are they scattered to?

Tanks. (yes i have a cold)

As far as I can tell, with Dual Nature, you get the amazing lack of a TN mod for doing anything and a hope that nobody tries to Possess you.

*shakes a fist at that damn Wendigo*

Edit: Oh, and get over your cold. They suck.

Ba-dum-bum. *cymbal*

A "dual being" is simply one that exists on both the physical and astral planes at the same time. So the primary rules are under Astral Perception in the main book (SR3 p. 171). A creature that is naturally dual (such as a shapeshifter or barghest) doesn't have any penalties in the physical world for existing in such a state, but a regular magician that is Astrally Perceiving has a +2 penalty for purely mundane actions performed in the physical world. Other than that, the rules for Dual Beings are the same as for an Astrally Perceiving magician.

The best description is Critters p. 5.
Shapeshifters are Shadowrun Companion p. 36.
MitS p. 88 describes using dual-natured critters as astral guards.

A materialized spirit is considered dual. SR3 p. 264.

Remeber- astral barriers block duals just like walls.

Cheers Ourteam, In this instance it's a changling.

The official reference for changelings for the GM is Year of the Comet p. 140 which simply says a changeling can become Dual Natured but doesn't describe how to run Dual Natured. The other references, above, are better. If you became a dual-natured changeling in my campaign you would have a period of some weeks during which you had extensive penalties in the physical world due to distraction from things you'd see on the astral plane. Eventually these penalties would go away, as you got used to seeing both planes at once all the time.

Dual Natured beings, like shapeshifters and changelings, get the advantage of battling spirits that are reachable in astral space, seeing through disguises to a person's real aura underneath, and seeing who has a spell maintained on them (like Invisibility). However, you are always open to attack from astral space. An astral magician hovering 20m above the ground can blast you with mana spell after mana spell until you drop.

As pointed out above, a ward or other astral barrier might keep you out of some place while a magician can stop Astral Perception and turn off his Foci to pass through unaffected.