So, Page 124 of Street Magic, under the header Fooling Wards.

*snip*

Requirement: Masking Metamagic, Aura Masking power.

Step 1: track astral link of ward to obtain signature.

(time taken pretty easy to calculate from SR4A and stuff)

Step 2: actually synching with the ward via Opposed roll of (magician's thingy) vs (ward owner's thing)

*end snip*

So here's my question. How long does Step 2 actually take? Free Action? Simple Action? Complex Action? per roll

You go through the ward and make your check, whats there more to say?

Ok, hypothetical situation.

Magician Bob, encounters a ward. Having either quickened spells, is dual-natured, or any other condition that prevents him from simply waltzing through the ward without any repercussions, takes the time to assense the ward, tracks down the astral link to obtain the astral signature that will let him synch through the ward. No problems so far.

Full of confidence Bob walks out from the alley he's been lurking in and crosses the street and walks right up to the ward only to be ambushed by X goons, Y spirits, and a partridge in a pear tree. Gleefully the GM yells out "Roll initiative!"

It's Bob's turn in the initiative pass. He's standing one meter away from the ward, and calmly he announces.. "I synchronize with the ward and enter!" Much riffling through rulebooks ensues.

Is it:

1. A Free Action? If so.. he can walk, but not run. and still take 1 Complex Action, or 2 Simple Actions after he synchs through the ward.

2. A Simple Action? If so, he can walk, run, and take 1 Simple Action but not a Complex Action after he synchs through the ward.

3. A Complex Action? If so, he can walk, run but do nothing else after he synchs through the ward.

4. Some really obscure ruling which I can't find which states synchronizing through a ward takes 30 secs to 5 minutes, in which case Bob stands there outside the ward, with his penile implant in his hand, wondering what the heck he should do .

I'm cool with house-ruling it if there is no existing example, I'd just like to see if there's something I missed.

Ah sry i didnt got you.

Well from my point of view using masking should be a compley action like any other use of metamagics too. except for rituals and otherwise ruled stuff.

I just read the text to masking in the core book again, it stats that you are able to imitate any aura which you can see, have tracked astrally or a symbolic or sympathetic link available.
Shouldnt it be possible to imitate auras which you have assensed once too? I mean when you read the text, you get the idea that auras are saved in some kind of unfailable astral memory or so.

taken from the assensing table :
• If you have seen the subject’s aura before, you may recognize it,
regardless of physical disguises or alterations

I like your train of thought, if what you're saying is, "Since Fooling Wards is a function of the Masking metamagic, synchronising through a ward should take as much time as a regular action of changing your aura via Masking."

That would be a sound line of reasoning for a house rule since it's not explicitly covered in the RAW.

However, I just went through the books again, and now I have another question

How long does Masking your aura take? Ditto for Cleansing, SR4A + Street magic does not list an action/time cost for Masking, or Cleansing.

I would say a complex action. Most Magic related activities take a complex action to perform and even something as 'simple' as commanding a spirit is a simple action, whereas for anyone else it would be free. IE: "Fire Spirit, attack those guards over there." Simple action. vs. "Hey, Joe Joe the Wonder-sam, shoot those guards over there." free action to tell someone to do something. At least that is how we do it in our campaign.

I imagine these sorts of activities take at least a little concentration and thus take up some action, be it simple or complex, the GM can decide.

Signed

What i get from the texts is that "commanding" a spirit is a magical act whereby you enforce your will upon the spirit (one way or another, shamans might have a totally different approach to this "command") he is compelled to obey and a service will be executed while telling a spirit something "hey flammie, why dont lit those trash cans over there up for some fun?" usually works via the mundane act of speaking.

Yeah, still takes a simple action though. (pg 179 SR4A)

I think you use up services identically however you tell ('ask') a spirit to do something.

Yeah you do, but that is beside the point. It requires an action no matter what, just like most magical activity. Which is what the OP was asking, what sort of action is needed for Masking and Cleansing.

NotPotato, you could go with a Simple action for Masking and a Complex action for Cleansing, since Masking seems like it would need less concentration, but really, it shouldn't make that much difference. I've never run into a situation where a character absolutely had to know how long it would take to do either one. Those activities usually aren't taken in a fight, though I can see times where they might. Since neither one is a ritual type of action (like Binding Spirits or Foci), Simple or Complex action should be GMs choice.

Yeah I've been houseruling both as complex actions for a while now. Just wanted to check in and see if there was an actual printed rule. Apparently not. My rules-fu has not failed me.