[Strill]

Are reagents obvious to astral perception? If so, do you need Extended Masking to hide them, or can they be hid in any other way?

Also, I assume you need extended masking to hide fetishes right?

[Sendaz]

I would be inclined to say that Astral Perception would be able to spot reagents on your person, but not easily.

From Core Pg 317:

Next, you must be using Astral Perception to watch the flow of mana while still interacting with the physical world.

So you would be looking for the ripples in the mana to spot these and if they were on your person, your own aura would make it more difficult to spot these as your own aura fluctuates a bit through the day so it might be lost in the astral chatter, which is why it normally takes an hour of Astral searching just to find even small amounts of reagents.

While not explicitly covered by the rules, I would say go with 3 hits on the Assensing table (Any astral signatures present on the subject.) to spot ripples in the target's aura that something like a reagent as might cause, though they would need 4 hits on the Assensing table (The general cause of any astral signature (combat spell, alchemical combat spell, air spirit, and so on) to determine that it was a reagent or other bit of mojoware.

In either case Extended Masking would certainly hide anything like this pretty easily.

[Strill]

In either case Extended Masking would certainly hide anything like this pretty easily.

Really? Extended Masking only masks one object per initiate rank. Typically you're carrying 20 or so reagents.  It seems impractical to me.

[Moonshine Fox]

While reagents are noticeable to astral sight (since you use it to help you harvest them), they aren't 'leap out at your face' noticeable like foci are. Think noticable if you're looking for it, but not obvious.

Fetishes are, as far as I know, not magical and so wouldn't really show up to astral sight any more then any other natural object. Could be wrong on that though since I don't deal in them much.

[Strill]

Fetishes are, as far as I know, not magical and so wouldn't really show up to astral sight any more then any other natural object. Could be wrong on that though since I don't deal in them much.

Fetishes are made with a radical reagent and require attunement, so yeah they're magical.

[Sendaz]

In either case Extended Masking would certainly hide anything like this pretty easily.

Really? Extended Masking only masks one object per initiate rank. Typically you're carrying 20 or so reagents.  It seems impractical to me.

Again there are no hard rules on this so it will be a GM call.

As reagents are low power, they don't even have a force rating, they just have a slightly higher inherent concentration of
mana than normal substances, but they are otherwise identical to their mundane counterparts.

Compare this to a foci which has an actual astral construct embedded in it or a quickened spell which has its own presence.

One might even make the argument that even normal Masking could hide the presence of reagents on your person as you are just smoothing out the wrinkles in your own aura, some of which might be caused by the low key presence of the reagents.    You don't risk Foci addiction from carrying around reagents normally so they must be fairly low key on that regard which is reflected as reagents really don't have a force rating of their own but rather measured in drams equivalent representing their potential power more than actual power (force) so it will be up to the individual Gm to decide how to handle this. 

Fetishes are a bit trickier, but again the GM will have to consider is it really that table breaking to handwave the fetishes along with reagents.

Now if you are going to allow Astral Perception to insta-spot things like reagents, this could be useful for mage detectives to 'tag' a mark on someone and follow them in a crowd (as a slightly glowing spot moving through a crowd of mundane astral shadows).
Especially if you are going to treat them as separate items, if you know the target is a Masking mage with roughly 5 initiations and a few bonded foci already having a rogue type slip a few extra reagents into his coat pocket means these would be more than his grade in masking so would still show up and again allow you to track him until his notices the extra riders.

[Kiirnodel]

Reagents might be discernable from completely mundane items under scrutiny using Astral Perception, but they wouldn't be immediately noticeable and definitely aren't astrally active. If you continue reading the text under Harvesting Reagents (page 317) it continues on to say that it takes an hour of searching to be able to find reagents. Plus, this is using the local mana ebbs and flows to point you toward the stuff that might be more useful.

You might be able to Assense some weird Juju items that random mage has on him and figure out that they would function as magical reagents, but they definitely wouldn't have a bright and shining aura enough to just immediately spot.

Same thing goes for a Fetish, it is made from refined reagents (a process that "compresses" the magical significance in an object, but doesn't make it have any stronger of an aura), and attuned items hold extra significance for the person they are attuned to (and allow for using them as a material link), but that likewise does not suddenly make the item "glow" astrally speaking.

[Reaver]

My guess is that reagents on your person probably wouldn't be discernable.

My logic for this is as follows:

Astral perception is strickly LOS, so much so that a single pane of glass blocks sight. Thus, if you have your reagents stored in a pocket, they are hidden.

Next, personal auras subsume and stand out/extend several centimeters from your body. (Hence why armors do not block your aura). So your own personal aura over powers/hides the relatively weak aura of a reagent, especially if they are stored in a case or pocket.

Next, anything of emotional value (a diary, favorite child's toy, a loved book) carries a faint aura as well. This even extends to buildings! Hence why things on the astral plane are not exact copies of the physical world. An empty lot that once contained a beloved theatre may actually STILL have the theatre there in the astral!

In short, the astral is not some simple black-white-glowy place, its litterally alive with colors or auras vs a back drop of grey....

Spotting a cery faint aura against the aura of a living thing would be extremely hard. Spotting a faint aura against the viberant aura of an awakened? Harder still.

Would it be impossible? No, just very, very hard.... on the level of identifing cyber through an aura hard. So unless your a very skilled assenser - or very lucky, you're not going to pick out the individual auras of reagents.

[Strill]

Thank you everyone for the responses. So I can see reagents not standing out, but I just re-read Extended Masking, and it explicitly lists attuned items as one of the things it masks. I guess maybe it's only referring to attuned items that have a force rating? So since Fetishes have no force rating, you don't need Extended Masking to hide them?

[Reaver]

Not really read up on fetishes since 3e.... mostly because neither I nor anyone I GM use them...

But they were basically just a focal point for the mage to concentrate on to cast whatever spell..... (at least back in 3e). They also carried the aura of the user (like a focus does).

But unlike a focus, they were basically non-magical, and could be just about anything.... from buttons on a jacket to a bird skull to a pair of dice....

Have to re-read them for 5e before I open my mouth too far on them...

[Zweiblumen]

Are reagents obvious to astral perception? If so, do you need Extended Masking to hide them, or can they be hid in any other way?

Also, I assume you need extended masking to hide fetishes right?

Biofiber pocket.

BIOFIBER POCKET
This pocket is lined with bio ber, a bioengineered form of dual-natured plant life, which blocks Astral Perception of objects contained within the pocket. It is the best way to hide small foci or alchemical preparations from detection by security mages. Active foci cannot be used if they are stored within the pocket. The biofiber is alive and requires a special nutrient solution costing 20¥ a month.

[Whiskeyjack]

Biofiber pocket is overkill for just reagents but great for other stuff.

[Strill]

Not really read up on fetishes since 3e.... mostly because neither I nor anyone I GM use them...

But they were basically just a focal point for the mage to concentrate on to cast whatever spell..... (at least back in 3e). They also carried the aura of the user (like a focus does).

But unlike a focus, they were basically non-magical, and could be just about anything.... from buttons on a jacket to a bird skull to a pair of dice....

Have to re-read them for 5e before I open my mouth too far on them...

You can choose to learn a spell with a fetish in order to reduce drain, but if you ever lose the fetish you can't cast the spell until you get a new one.

[Strill]

Are reagents obvious to astral perception? If so, do you need Extended Masking to hide them, or can they be hid in any other way?

Also, I assume you need extended masking to hide fetishes right?

Biofiber pocket.

BIOFIBER POCKET
This pocket is lined with bio ber, a bioengineered form of dual-natured plant life, which blocks Astral Perception of objects contained within the pocket. It is the best way to hide small foci or alchemical preparations from detection by security mages. Active foci cannot be used if they are stored within the pocket. The biofiber is alive and requires a special nutrient solution costing 20¥ a month.

This would require a simple action to retrieve stuff from the pocket right?

[Reaver]

If that, depending on where it is.