This has actually never before come up in one of my games, either ones I have played or ones I have GMed, so it kind of caught my group and I by surprise.

Is there any way of moving stealthily through the Astral Plane? I ask this mostly because just recently, my GM asked me about it saying that another entity projecting into the Astral Plane could potentially see me if I was projecting. But we ddn't have any idea how to handle it if I wanted to try and astrally sneak around it instead of initiating Astral Combat.

The closest thing I could think of was either the Metamagics that allow a Magician to alter their Aura and Astral Signature, or a standard Infiltration test with Astral Attributes (i.e. Use Charisma instead of Strength...). I have checked both SR4 core rulesbook as well as Street Magic and couldn't find anything like this.

It's entirely possible I may have missed it in one of the books, but if anyone can either point me out to something or make a suggestion it would be greatly appreciated.

Short answer: No.

Edit: Fine...

Long Answer: You glow. Your put off "astral light". Non living things do not, and are dull and gray. Anyone percieving you in, say, a hallway can see you easily. Technically, it's possible to hide behind a tree, but that's about it. The only way it to avoid being seen; either by 'hiding behind a tree' or moving so your not in line of sight of anyone else.

Yes, it's called the Stealth skill. The downside is you get a lot fewer multipliers to help you out there. Shamans also can benefit from the spirit Conceal power.

I agree, Stealth skill is still effective on the astral. You already mentioned metamagic that allows you to mask or mimic your astral presence. And spirit concealment. My current mage also has a positive quality called Astral Chameleon...so there are ways to do it, but like nezumi mentioned, not a ton of modifiers to help you out.

Yea...I figured as much...but I guess the practical upshot of Astral Form is that (provided the GM doesn't inflate the number) there are not too many Mages in the world...and you can move really fast in the Astral Plane.
Thanks for the help ya'll!

Think of it this way... trying to chase down an astral aura if busted.

Imagine a dogfight, fought popping constantly through and in clouds obscuring visibility w/ no radar and melee/guns only. They don't block your insane movement rates... but good luck following something at astral run rates, when it keeps ducking and dodging into and through buildings, and making rapid course changes. Or even occasionally pressing through the earth.


Also, it's perfectly viable to use stealth in the astral. Just be aware that you'll have to use different mindset on what you use for 'cover'.

Aye, although it doesn't really matter to the discussion at hand, it might be worth asking whether or not your DM would allow a Mundane to make use of stealth when trying to hide from an Astral Entity. Personally I would not, but others might.

Eh...they should be able to - they'd just need to know what causes astral visibility modifiers (some, at least, are easily explainable & detectable for mundanes - shadow clutter, lots of other auras, FAB)...and have a really good guess where the astral entity they're hiding from actually is. (Ducking behind the astral shadow of a sofa isn't gonna help much if the spirit's floating around the ceiling overhead.)

Unless you are talking about SR3 or lower,which I don't know much about, not only shamans get spirits with the Concealment Power. Air, Beast, Earth, Man and Water spirits can have this Power.

Not to rain on your parade, but Concealment is a Physical Power and thus cannot be used on the Astral Plane, in SR4 at least.

Infiltration is the only way to be stealthy on the Astral Plane

And to put up an umbrella in that rain, read the sr4a concealment very carefully, particularly the part about dual natured uses of it.

Concealment just got even more powerful.

I know, at my table, I still run it as generally visible in the astral, with some plot based exceptions.