Sorry this is an SR4 topic, I know everyone is excited about SR5...

Anyways, when someone uses a spell then a mundane can tell by a perception (6 - force) test, but how do you tell if someone is assensing?

I've done some digging and a glowand or mage sight eye drops would be able to tell someone transitioned into the astral (become dual natured) and I think a Lucifer Lamp would also at least assist in allowing a mundane notice if someone is assensing or not.

How do mundanes notice or not notice if an adept or mage is assensing?

I don't think it is really obvious.

There are clues (like an absent gaze, since the perception is shifted to the Astral), but no sure sign.

Bye
Thanee

I suppose a temu around your neck is a solution.

Maybe not even an absent gaze, but yeah, there's no real sure sign if an awakened character is assensing. At least none that I know of.

And no worries about the SR4 subject. With what writing I'm doing still set in the SR4 timeframe I'm certainly not going to be abandoning it anytime soon.

Or just yell 'Hey that guy/gal is assensing me!' and target whoever looks guilty.

OK, maybe not....

You spray the person with FAB Strain III. If they scream and die, they were assensing you.

I don't think there is mechanic for it, since they are both looking at the astral and phsyical at the same time I don't think there is much of a visible clue but the -2 to penatly probably makes them look a bit unfocussed or distracted but not all people who look distracted are assensing. I guess maybe the switch to astral sight might have some tell tale clues as it does take a Simple Action.

You could try a Judge Intentions test. "The mage seems to be gazing distantly just to the left and beyond you. Glancing behind you, there is no one else there." Odds are good that he's assensing you, or watching the invisible assassin make her approach with a special gift for your spleen.

Oh crap I'm a mage who assenses people and didn't know it. I gaze in a distant and distracted manor past people all the time, most people do. Unless you are going out of your way to maintain eye contact, you will look off past someone. All assensing may look distracted, but not all distracted looking people or even mages are assensing.

I feel like there should be a better way of using a glowand than pointing it 10cm's from someone's face to determine if they are dual natured or not.

Shinobi--That's where the Judge Intentions test comes in. Is he distracted and thinking, or intently focused on the space just beyond you?

I guess, but how many hits would you need to notice the difference in staring off distracted and staring off distracted because you are assencing.

I'd say 4+, it should be a difficult task for a mundane to do. Less if the mage spends multiple actions (assensing multiple auras for example)

I agree, one should be able to notice the assensser's distraction. After all he does suffer a -2 modifier to all his physical actions, which should result in a slight clumsyness, mental absence, unawareness, etc
I'm not sure about the Judge Intentions test (which is an opposed test btw). I can image a highly trainer Perciever would notice such things, adding to this experience and knowledge about the awakened world. It is something MIchael Westen would notice very quickly...

"When you're in the field, it's imperative to know who's Awakened, and who isn't. Some magicians may dress the part, but if you're expecting every spellslinger in the sprawl to be wearing a glowing neon robe with arcane symbols in bio-luminescent tattoos in his skin, you're going to get a lethal surprise in short order.

Some people will say they can always 'tell' a mage by looking at him, but the truth is that no two mages look alike. A mage could be the guy who looks like Gandalf, or that might be a wannabe, or just some old guy who finds robes to be comfortable. On the other hand, the guy pushing a broom in a Stuffer Shack because their cleaning drones keep getting hacked might be Awakened, and you'd never know it.

One way to tip the odds in your favor, however, is to know what it looks like when someone who's Awakened assenses someone. Not every magical person in the Sixth World does assensing - most Adepts won't, for instance - but nearly every mage knows how to, and many of them quickly assense everyone they see out of habit's sake. How do you tell a paranoid magician from a paranoid mundane? It's not easy, but a simple way to tell is to do something that won't show up on the astral, like shine a light in his eyes. If he doesn't react, or doesn't react as strongly as he should, then it's a good bet that he's either blind, or he's not looking at the same world you're looking at. Of course, most people don't take kindly to you shining a light in their eyes. Another way is to have an awakened ally summon a Watcher and tell it to remain in astral space unless it detects someone assensing you, in which case it should manifest and inform you of that fact, but Watchers are surprisingly bad at observing things, so don't rely on this too much.

In the end, the only way to know for sure if someone is assensing you is to be Awakened and assense him assensing you, or having an Awakened chummer watching on your behalf, but if you spend enough time watching magicians assensing people, you can get pretty good at telling how they look. But unless someone looks like they're about to start trouble immediately after having an astral look around, it's always preferable to tag them with an ARO and ask an Awakened friend to double-check, or to tell your mundane friends to be on the alert, rather than to assume he's about to start throwing manabolts, because sometimes even the most experienced can't tell the difference between an assensing magician, and someone who's just got a vacuous thousand-meter stare."

Or distracted because you're interacting with something in AR?



With Burn Notice ending, there's room for someone to bankroll a Shadowrun series. And Jeffrey Donovan would be free to narrate, at the very least.

I'd watch that.

Especially if they worked Bruce Campbell into it with a glitchy cyberhand that keeps trying to kill him.


Did have a thought, just as some flowers have petals that reveal designs in the ultraviolet range (which some insects can see into), I would have some porno.. ahh.. graphic artistic paintings done in astral paints that only someone with astral sight could even see and watch for who keeps looking over at it. Metahuman nature being what it is, while they won't be staring at it they will probably keep glancing just because.

For a mobile option you could also use phrases written out on a jacket or on the back of the troll (or as marketing likes to call them, organic billboards). Something quirky enough could certainly draw the eye so to speak.

Ending.

And Fiona doing bounty hunting with some douchebag Jersey Shore guy... And snogging him.

And giving the "It's over" kiss to Micheal...

(Just needed to borrow that phrase, summing things up neatly.)
I have to applaud! This was quite entertaining! I'd watch that, too.

That aside, I think it really sums things up. This is how you can catch those pesky mages. Regarding the blinding light: An eye light system for your cybereyes will do that for you. Just shoot that mage a quick glance

How does one read another person's SIN and licenses? Simply being a mage has to be licensed in a lot of jurisdictions, and not complying to that order spawns serious trouble - trouble not every person is willing to take. So if residing in such a country some will have obvious licenses if you get to check those with your fake digital police/FBI/whatever badge if it gets you to check people's SINs. Sure, you won't catch the average Runner with that, but wagemages? Sure!

If nothing else works, yeah, start yelling. People fear mages - and how is that mage to prove not reading someone else's thoughts? Witchhunt, anyone? Criminals, terrorists, the lot of them! (Does somebody remember the scene in "Crank" where Chev Chelios points at the poor cabbie, yells "Al Qaida! Al Qaida!" and everybody and their mother starts beating up the guy?)

As for everyone going on about SR5, I think it'll be a few more months after the release before I transfer to the new edition. Maybe next year, it may also depend on how quickly this edition's "Arsenal" gets published. I stick to habits, and found "Arsenal" to be most enjoyable... maybe 'cause I'm just a tech-nerd.