A Time For Secrets OOC

Full Dodge: Character on full defense may add their Dodge skill to their dice pool when defending against incoming attacks. So a character on full defense against a ranged attack rolls Dodge + Reaction, whereas a character on full defense against a melee attack could roll Dodge + Dodge + Reaction, or melee combat skill + Dodge + Reaction. Full dodge may be used against both ranged and melee attacks.

FULL DEFENSE AS AN INTERRUPT ACTION
A character may invoke full defense against an attack at any point in a Combat Turn, so long as the character is not surprised (see p. 165). This means a character does not necessarily need to declare a full defense and take a Complex Action in advance—he can instead declare a full defense when attacked, even if it is not yet his Action Phase in the turn. Going on full defense as an interrupt, however, uses up the character’s next available action.

Magic
Every shapeshifter begins the game with a Magic attribute of 1, which may be increased with BP or Karma as any other attribute to a maximum of 6 (+ initiate grade), as normal, and is used for any tests involving its innate powers. If a shapeshifter’s Magic attribute goes to 0, it reverts to its animal form and loses the use of all its powers except Sapience, Natural Weapons, and Enhanced Senses, if any. Shapeshifters are Awakened but they are not magicians. Shapeshifters are dual-natured beings in both forms, and, as such, they may learn Assensing and Astral Combat, but otherwise they cannot learn or use Magic Skills, astrally project, initiate, or bond foci unless they take an appropriate quality such as Adept, Astral
Sight, Magician, or Mystic Adept.
Most shapeshifters follow magical traditions similar to metahumans in their native area or according to their upbringing. It is very rare for shapeshi ers to possess a mentor spirit different than their animal type. Spirits of Man summoned by shapeshifters tend to resemble members of their own species. A shapeshifter’s aura always reveals its true form—that of an animal, not a metahuman. Shapeshifter magicians may use Masking to conceal their true auras. Adept powers function no matter what form the character is in.

ASTRAL PERCEPTION
Many Awakened characters can perceive the astral plane from the physical world. This ability is called astral perception. It is the primary sense used in the astral plane; it shows auras, allowing magicians to examine living creatures in the physical world as well as creatures who live on the astral plane. Astral Perception is availableto characters who take the Magician quality during character generation (p.91), or to adepts and mystic adepts who buy the Astral Perception power (p.195). It takes a Simple Action to shift one’s perception from the astral to the physical, and another to
shift it back again (it is not possible to see both at the same time, though almost everything in physical space is reflected on the astral, albeit without detail). A character using astral perception is considered dual-natured, active on both the physical and astral planes simultaneously.
While astral perception allows an Awakened character to sense the astral plane, actually interpreting what is sensed takes practice. Interpreting auras to gain information about the person or thing to whom they belong is called Assensing. A magician who wishes to learn more about an aura must make an Assensing + Intuition test, with the number of hits determining how much the magician learns, as outlined on the Assensing Table (at right). Without attempting to read an aura, a magician can still get an impression of what type of aura it is (spell, spirit, living creature, etc.).
Like physical perception, a character using astral perception should not need to make a test to see things that are immediately obvious (and since astral forms are bright and vibrant, this means that most astral forms are easily noticed). An actual test should only be called for when an astral being is speci cally trying to hide, or when a character is trying to astrally observe in detail; in both these situations, an Assensing Test is made.
By assensing something’s aura, a magician can gain information.
The auras of living beings show their general health, emotions, and magical nature (if any). Enchanted objects show their magical nature. Non-magical and non-living objects have only gray, lackluster shadows rather than auras, but pick up impressions from being in contact with living auras. Assensing can read any impressions left behind on an object. Spells cast upon an individual show up as a separate aura surrounding that person for the duration of the spell. Once a spell has been rendered permanent, the aura is no longer present. It is occasionally possible to see the traces that magic spells leave behind in a target’s aura; see Astral Signatures for more information. Whenever you have to perform a physical, non-magical task (shooting a gun, driving a car, and so forth) while astrally perceiving, you su er a –2 dice pool penalty. While astrally perceiving, a magician can cast mana spells at astral opponents. Other astral forms can engage an astrally perceiving magician in astral combat (p.193) or cast mana spells at him as well.
Astral perception is a psychic sense that is not linked to the character’s physical sight. A blind magician can still magically perceive the astral plane and the creatures and auras within. Likewise, deaf magicians can “hear” in astral space.

CREATING A SHAPESHIFTER CHARACTER
As a variety of sapient species capable of taking metahuman form, shapeshifters warrant a section of their own providing gamemasters and players the rules necessary to build and play such characters in their games. Take the time to read the rules carefully; shapeshifter characters may prove potentially disruptive and unbalancing in some games. Incorporating a shapeshifter into a campaign can be an excellent roleplaying challenge given their dualistic nature.
Shapeshifters are built just like other characters, using the process detailed in SR4A. Instead of a metatype, however, shifters choose a shifter type from the options given below and consult the Shapehifter Type Attribute Table (below) for their racial attribute minimums and maximums. These attribute values apply for both the shapeshifter’s human and metahuman forms. In addition, shifter characters must abide by the special conditions outlined below.

Shifter Powers
All shapeshifters start out with the Shift (Human), Regeneration, and Sapience powers, as well as the weaknesses Allergy (Silver, Severe) and Vulnerability (Silver). Their Natural Weapons (Claws/Bite: DV Str/2 + 2, AP 0) are usually only available in their critter form. Shapeshifter characters also have Enhanced Senses that they retain in both their animal and human forms, as noted in the Shapeshifter Attribute Table (p. 86).

Naga
These critters possess no hands, which makes wielding and manipulating most gear di cult—most naga magicians learn the Magic Fingers spell to compensate. Naga who interact with metahuman society develop su cient skill with computers to electronically open automated doors and devices using their commlinks. Nagas may be “milked” for one dose of their venom (see Naga Venom, p. 84, Arsenal) every hour.
Powers: Armor (2/3), Dual Natured, Guard, Natural Weapon (Bite: DV (Str/2)P, AP 0), Sapience, Venom
Weaknesses: Uneducated

Sasquatch
Linguasofts are very valuable for sasquatches, as sign-to-speech, sign-to-text, text-to-sign, and speech-to-sign patches can be easily downloaded for free from the Matrix. This means a sasquatch can use AR gloves with an appropriate linguasoft to translate their sign language into relevant text or computer-generated speech for the language on the linguasoft. If the sasquatch has an image link and the appropriate linguasoft, any text they see or speech they hear in the language can be translated into animated sign language in their image link. This enables erudite, tech-savvy sasquatches to “speak” to other metahumans without much trouble.
Powers: Dual Natured, Mimicry, Sapience
Weaknesses: Uneducated

Magic
Every sapient critter begins the game with a Magic attribute of 1, which may be increased with BP or Karma as any other attribute to a maximum of 6 (+ initiate grade), as normal, and is used for any tests involving its innate powers. If a sapient critter’s Magic attribute goes to 0, it loses the use of all its powers except Sapience, Natural Weapons, and Armor, if any. Sapient critters are Awakened, but they are not magicians. Those sapient critters with the Dual Natured or Enhanced Senses
(Astral Perception) powers may learn Assensing and Astral Combat, but otherwise they cannot learn or use Magic Skills, astrally perceive or project, initiate, or bond foci unless they take an appropriate quality such as Adept, Astral Sight, Magician, or Mystic Adept.
Most sapient critters follow magical traditions similar to metahumans in their native area or according to their upbringing. Some especially well-developed cultures, like the Naga Kingdom or the Korrigan, might follow their own unique traditions. Spirits of Man summoned by sapient critters tend to resemble members of their own species.