[TheKT]

Could a mage use improved invisibility only on a shotgun that he was carrying? Just strap it to his back and do the spell so he doesn't get questioned for carrying said gun?

Expanding on that, it says that you could still be spotted on the astral with the spell active, but how would something show up on the astral that doesn't show up on the astral? Would it just be a blob where the spell is and a vague dark spot in the middle of it?

Thanks.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Successfully casting the improved invisibility spell on a weapon and overcoming object resistance would essentially give the weapon an aura. Congratulations, you just made an inert object "alive" on the astral

[Xenon]

Heh.. yes

The actual shotgun will not appear invisible or gone on the astral plane. It will still appear as a gray, dull, hard-to-miss, mundane object (maybe with a faint "glow" of "anger" since it is a firearm that is used to kill people with and all....)

The key difference that the shotgun now will be surrounded with a very bright and vibrant sustained spell aura which would be almost impossible to miss from the astral. Not very subtle at all.

[Herr Brackhaus]

You could potentially get around this by using the manascape/false impression spell from Shadow Spells, depending on your reading of the spell text.

[Seamstress Kitsune Gato]

So in my Shadowrun group we made characters for the missions. One of our friends made a Magician that doesn't look or act anything like a Magician. He uses some kind of illusionary magic not to make his very big very illegal assault rifle invisible but rather look and sound like a guitar. rather than make something invisible, why not make it look and sound like something else? I forget which spell he uses but it makes for a very interesting party especially since most of us don't make alot of noise as we either have silencers or use a bow and arrows or use our fists or in the magician's case a 'Guitar' that leaves bullet holes everywhere.

[Dal Thrax]

You could potentially get around this by using the manascape/false impression spell from Shadow Spells, depending on your reading of the spell text.

Would that be covered by aura masking or would you need the improved version.  I'm pretty sure there is some way to hide a spell signature cast on something in the mundane.  Casting a working illusion in the astral is a much more difficult proposition.   

[Herr Brackhaus]

Creating a working illusion in the Astral is precisely what False Impression/Manascape does.

[Reaver]

The masking metamagic "hides" an awakened aura on the astral plane. (It doesn't make the aura invisible, it still shows up, but as a mundane aura)

Improved Masking hides your aura AND any sustained spells attached to your aura. In the case of your invisible gun, it would hide it the spell aura as long as it was close to your body (as per aura extension through armor) but the moment it left your control, it would be visible on the astral again.

[TheKT]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the quick responses.