Can Mundanes be tracked astrally and how would they be able to guard against this? Can a mage or shaman change someone else's astral signature?

Sure they can, since they have an aura. However, I think some book somewhere has TNs and modifiers and such, and I think I recall that mundies are harder to track.

I'm assuming by track you mean follow the person through crowds, etc. If you mean ritually, anyone can be tracked with the right link (i.e. genetic material or the other methods of linking).

AFAIK, mundane and Awakened metahumans are equally easy to track. The trick comes to finding out if the person is mundane or not thanks to Masking.

And, no, only you can change your own aura (and you have to Initiate to do that, which is reserved for Awakened only).

Yeah, I mean being tracked through a crowd or to a particular location and such.

Yes they can, and no they don;t have any real defense against it, nor do they have any way to know someone is following them.

I'm sure that 'yes they can" from BitBasher was not in response to 'can mundanes be masked', but rather to 'can mundanes be tracked'.

Any suggestions on how to get past this besides Awakening and Initiating then? Or keeping a mage/shaman buddy around and constantly astral to look for those searching for you

Well, the following Edges come to mind...

Astral Chameleon
Magical Resistance 4
Poor Link

And if you want to be able to check without being Awakened... Develop the SURGE flaw "Dual-Natured." Let's you see both Astral and Physical at the same time.

IIRC, Astral Chameleon and Poor link are only available to awakened, where Magical resistance is only available to mundane.

Meh, I didn't really bother reading them in full, so that's entirely possible.

I recall something about the magical edges and flaws only being available to the awakened except where clearly noted inthe description

Hrmm. Maybe my copy of MitS is old, or my memory is it's normal fubar'd self.

Edges and Flaws are in SRComp, not MitS.

see, I told you it was faulty

Also, SOTA: 2063 (I think), has some rules on gene altering, which could keep someone from being tracked with an old sample.

As for just being followed...walk into someplace with a ward, or surround yourself with Hell hounds or other dual-natured guard dogs, or crash out in a UB "safehouse".

I'd also rule that a sufficiently traumatic experience could alter your signature

Possible ways to try to get rid of an astral trail.

1) Pass through a public building that has a decent ward in the public areas and several possible exits.

2) Keep moving for more than 6 hours.

3) Rely on friends with magical powers.

Astral Chameleon is useless to mundanes. All it does is increase the TN to spot an astral signature (ie, the residue left behind after you use Magical Skills). It has nothing to do with your aura, well, other than spotting astral signatures located therein.

Adding to OurTeam's list you can enter areas with large crowds and high background counts (churches during mass, political rallies).

I might also suggest an expendable anchoring focus with Astral Static at a high force, which one oculd drop behind them before slipping into the crowd.

Ridding oneself of a watcher is almost the same though wards present an even more effective manner with them.