[spp]

I assumed assensing was necessary to see spells that are sustained by an opposing mage, and then use counterspelling to dispell it, but looking at the assensing table I didn't see an entry for threshold to see a sustained spell.  Is this covered in Street Magic, or am I looking at it the wrong way.  I also saw that while you are assensing you are dual natured and can affect things on the astral plane.  Would you dispel the spell while assensing or could you do it while fully in 'normal' plane?

Thanx, sincerely from spp.

[Chaemera]

For starters, auras are plainly visible to anyone capable of perceiving the Astral, so realizing there are spells sustained on a person is trivial, you'll see their aura + an additional aura for each spell sustained on them. Knowing what they are, however, takes an assensing roll.

From the table on page 191, 2 hits will tell you what category of spell you're looking at (health, manipulation, illusion, etc). I'd give the explicit nature/name of the spell to anyone making at least 4 hits, since this is also when you learn the Force of the aura, it seems like a good point to learn it's name, too.

Dispelling is laid out in detail on page 185, you must be on the same plane as the spell, and be able to perceive it. So, to dispel Physical Barrier, you have to see it on the physical plane, not the astral to be able to dispel it.

A strict reading of the rules could lead one to conclude that a mental manipulation spell which was cast on a physical target in the physical realm would be near impossible to dispel. After all, you have to be on the same plane as the spell (cast on the physical, it is present on the physical and only has an aura on the astral) and perceive the spell simultaneously. However, I'm sure most GMs address that by allowing a mage to use astral perception and taking a -2 to dispel it in the physical.

[spp]

knowing a spell  is being sustained on the mage, would just knowing a spell is there be just enough to be able to 'blindly' dispel it?

Thanx, sincerely from spp

[joe15552]

Well, you can't blindly dispel the spell since one of the rules is that you have to be able to perceive the spell. I'm going to go ahead and tread on a gray area here and take levitate and invisibility as an example. Keep in mind that these are rulings I would use in my game, and not rulings I would impose on a GM I was playing under.

If you perceive that someone is sustaining a levitation spell, in other words, they are flying through the air and have no wings or jet pack, and your character is smart enough to figure out that it is a sustained levitation spell that is causing the flight, then you can go ahead and dispel that spell.

Now if someone is sustaining a physical invisibility spell, and you can't see them, then you can't dispel that spell. If you switch to Astral Perception and can see their aura and the spell's aura and your character is smart enough to figure out that the reason they are not physically visible is because they are sustaining an invisibility spell, then yeah, you can dispel that spell.

[Loki]

When using astral perception one is dual natured, thus both on the astral and physical  and able to counter or dispell any spell.