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Physical Mask or Biometric Readers?

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skystarlit

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« on: <10-26-10/0427:42> »
Ok, big fight in our group over this one.  ???

Does Physical Mask work against Biometrics (fingerprint, voice, retina etc...)?
One of our group swears up and down they should, and another says no way.
The big question is on the way the rules are spelled out.

Are biometrics classified as a sensor or a lock? I have found nothing that says it is in the sensor category. In fact, it is listed separately in several places of the books.
Does it even matter since the 'sensor' part of the rules under Physical Mask is not capitalized, so it could be a generalization rather than referring to that specific category?
Would it not create a big imbalance (considering the amount of effort needed to fool Biometrics with gear or cyber/bioware) if it did work on Biometrics as well as sensors?

Nomad Zophiel

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« Reply #1 on: <10-26-10/0438:20> »
Physical Mask creates an illusion
that affects technological sensors as well.


Just off the cuff, if it could work, the caster would need to know the biometrics he's trying to imitate, the same way you can't passably imitate the face of someone you've never seen. Not so hard for voice. A lot harder for retina, fingerprints, DNA etc.  Assuming you had the information you needed, the spellcasting success would be the threshold the sensor needs to beat to see through it.

Then again, since the wording of the spell is that it makes someone look different, rather than that it specifically allows imitation of someone in particular, I might also have the caster make a disguise check. Seeing through the spell reveals the person for who they really are. Seeing through the disguise reveals them as not being the person they're imitating. Electronic sensors would use the lower roll as the threshold, since either will cause the Masked person to fail the biometric check.

FastJack

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« Reply #2 on: <10-26-10/0844:54> »
As powerful as magic is, I don't think they've created an illusion yet that would mimic the finer details like retina, fingerprints or DNA. Otherwise, you could have your runners cast the spell and leave fingerprints/DNA that match Damien Knight at the scene of a crime.

And remember, DNA is a ritual component. Which means it's so unique that mages use it as a "tracking device". If Physical Mask could change your DNA, then ritual spells would fail a lot more against non-initiates.

Dahrken

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« Reply #3 on: <10-28-10/0128:27> »
IMHO no. You alter your general look, the color of your eyes and hairs, but not accurately enough to match the biometric datas of someone else. Physical Mask is designed to fool global visual detection, not something as close and detailled.

I vaguely remember having read about a touch spell or Adept power that was precisely designed for that, allowing you to copy them from the target but I can't place where I remember that from.