I hate you, Potterbunny

[Bob Schroeck]

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Bob, what's this assensing, specifically? Presumably a Shadowrun Adept ability.

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Well, generally a Shadowrun magician ability. It's the ability to view things on the astral plane -- in Srun terms, basically he can see magical constructs, flows of energy and the like. Physical structures from the physical world are reproduced on the astral, so a magician can't see to the horizon in all directions, but it still comes in handy -- magical creatures have strong astral presences, enchantments and active spells (like wards of all sorts) have visible representations that he might be able to study to see how they work (or can be defeated), stuff like that. He can't actually project himself astrally -- he just "pops up" enough to take a look around. More properly called "Astral Perception". (Full magicians -- hermetic mages and shamans -- can project. Adepts are kind of stuck in their bodies.)
If you want a little more information on physical adepts, I found this page through Google. It's a little game-heavy, but it might give you some ideas.
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
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