I've been thinking about the masking ability, and what it can do lately. Basically, hides the fact that you're magically active. Now, I don't know about you, but in my games, if the characters suspect someone of being magically active, but see a mundane aura, they automatically suspect the person of being an initiate, not a mundane. Now to a certain extent this is meta-gaming, but a mage that knows the masking ability, and can spot other tell tale signs of a mage (say a fetish or something to that effect), would most likely think the same thing. And if they can't prove it, they'd probably just think the other person is a higher grade initiate.

Now, I know as the rules stand, that's pretty much how it is. What I'm considering is giving Masking a little more flexibility. Of course it would all be a house rule. I'm just looking for a little more feedback. If masking can disguise your aura as mundane, why couldn't you do a partial mask. Say, make it look like you have a magic rating of 6. A non-initiated mage is a lot less likely to be a worry than someone the team is pretty sure is a mage, but can't pierce their masking to prove it.

On the same note, if Masking is basically disguising the aura, why not let it do other things, like disguise it to be another race, or hide some cyber or bioware, that sort of thing. Now this is a bit beyond the normal ability of masking, so perhaps make it a new metamagic , like filtering is to cleansing.

What I'm looking for here is feedback. Is this a viable idea? Is there any reason that his would potentially be overly powerful? how would you work it rules-wise?

If you're only doing a partial mask (say, making it appear to be magic rating 6 un-initiated,), would it be easier, harder, or just the same to see through the mask. THat sort of thing.

Under p 76 of MitS:

I don't have my book with me, but I think it makes mention of doing that too, although there's a rather easy perception test for any astral observer to realize that that mundane aura isn't attached to anything in the 'real' world.

With masking I would allow an initiate to pretend to be anything vaguely the same. Altering meta type would be difficult as your physical and astral bodies have the form of your meta type. But a hermetic could pretend to be a mundane, non initiate, shaman, adept, or spirit of man. Could even pretend to have suffered essence loss even to the point of essence < 1 now do you think I am a spellcaster).

Also I believe the setting includes many individuals that wish they where a spell caster, masking can easily disguise the aura of a fetish so send a few wanabes with “fetishes” and “weapon foci” after your party. Let the PCs roll to penetrate masking and get 5,8,11,14,21, 22 and tell them they got no successes penetrating the masking and watch them run from bundles of feathers and brass blades.

Edward

What I was thinking for the race hiding was combining it with a phys mask spell. Mess with those nasty Slay 'X' spells that sometimes pop up, that sort of thing. Good for infiltrating too (assuming the masking holds up).

SO the general consensus (so far ) is that you CAN appear to have a different magic rating (lower of course), you don't have to hide it completely. And cyber ware? Is hiding THAT possible? Would you have to make the expanded meta mag for that?

Hanhsoo: Usually once a week you answer a question for me out of MiTS, and I always swear I'm keeping it with me, and always forget. Thanks man, 'preciate it.

Cyberware I'd say you'd have to houserule, since what Masking seems to do is tone down the magic related intensity of your aura. Filling in the 'gaps' cyberware creates would rather be along the opposite effect, I think.

*Edit* Hey! You stole my sig!

That's why I was thinking making another version, like filtering is to cleansing.



And yeah, I noticed that the day after. hehe. I'll get around to changing it.

Edit:mine's yellow!

Note that the "true form" of insect spirits are their insect natures, but somehow they are able to use the masking power to appear as metahumans. Same with Shapeshifters (masked shapeshifters can appear metahuman). Thus, I don't think it's beyond reason to think that masking could "hide" your aura in a manner that isn't the same proportions as your meatbody. I'd probably rule that for initiates, it is the equivalent of deliberate masking, with varying target numbers based on how much different the disguised form should be.

Also, it helps to give fetish-looking little bits of jewelry or lucky charms to more than the mages, when you're GMing. Keep 'em guessing. Plenty of soldiers (as a for instance) have a lucky ________ (whatever) that they keep on them all the time, in much the same way plenty of mages don't deck themselves out with archaic knick-knacks to focus their mojo.

Keep 'em on their toes and punish their metagaming just by misdirecting them once or twice. Let 'em see some gangly, skinny guy with a bunch of little dried up leather bits dangling from various cords and belts and whatnot -- and then let them be surprised when they aren't fetish items, but shrivelled up ears or something else that the psychotic cyber-augmented blade-studded killer keeps from all his victims.

Ryan Mercury uses masking in the Dragon Heart Trillogy to make his aura look like that of tree. And I'm sure everyone will agree the Dragon Heart Saga is cannon.

For my games I assume masking to be able to disguise your magical and emotional nature in pretty much whatever way the initiate wants. The limit to this is that the aura must have been observed before and the magician can only make himself seem more powerfull than he/she actually is by an amount equal to double their initiate grade. This last one really lets a mage scare the crap out of another mage or para critter if they want.

I feel like all the really cool extra uses of masking should require an additional skill. Something akin to stealth. Mundanes can use stealth to create disguises. If a mage had some sorta magical stealth skill he would be able to hide the fact that he was casting, make his aura look that of a cat, or some other being, and hide his aura on the astral all together.

Without requiring some sort of a skill to obtain all of these powers shadowrun definately becomes too D&D, not to mention the severe unbalancing compared to mundanes.

I've never made rules up for expanding masking in this way but I would be very interested in seeing what other people came up with. A more fleshed out masking would be nice to see in SR4 or it's version of Magic in the Shadows.

well, actually, hanhsoo suggested it...

I meant where you mentioned it in the part of your post I quoted.

Speaking on Hahnsoo, where is he with a page reference for MiTS deliberate masking? He's always Johhny On-The-Spot with those.

REALLY have to start bringing that book. Or buy the PDF.

The only real problem is that deliberate masking gets harder and harder, the more powerful you get. If you tie in all of your cool expanded masking actions to the deliberate masking mechanic, they will be similarly more and more difficult to employ as initiate grade rises.

Which in a way makes sense (the more ungodly potent you are, the harder it is to keep that under wraps)... but it would make more sense if there was (as has been suggested) some sort of "Aura Concealing" skill or something you could buy, in order to refine your ability to focus and conceal that godlike might. As it is -- in terms of Masking alone -- it feels/looks like the more potent you get, the less control you have.

That's why I was asking for the rules on deliberate masking. Keeping it all 'under wraps', as in hiding your magically ability, when you're a grade 8 initiate, is kinda like a troll trying to pass himself off as someone's Gran'mama. Doesn't work too well.

But some of the proposed ideas here (changing race, only hiding SOME of your magical ability, hiding cyber) isn't like surpressing the magical ability in it's entirety. So it doesn't make sense that it should be so ungodly hard to do as I recall it being at higher grades.

Maybe something like how cleansing or invoking get a minus equal to the iniate grade. Or maybe half it. I think a lot will depend on the rules as they stand for deliberate masking. I'd like to do as much as possilbe w/o house ruling some mechanic, but oh well.