[忍者]

Can a critter use the Search power to locate an Astral Signature?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

As in, "Hey spirit: find the mage who cast this spell that's still leaving a lingering signature?"

Absolutely.

[忍者]

As in, "Hey spirit: find the mage who cast this spell that's still leaving a lingering signature?"

Absolutely.

Not quite. More, "This is an astral signature I've identified (312 pg). Go find someone with the same signature."

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

That sounds functionally indistinguishable from "Hey Spirit, I'm thinking about the aura of this person I know really well.  Go find them."

So... I'd still say yes.

[CanRay]

"Find me the person who dared to use my toilet!" 

[Xenon]

I disagree.


Search is a Physical power that is used to search for physical things.

To use this power the critter must first have actually seen the physical thing he is searching for.

Unlike other physical powers this power can also be used from the astral plane, but the critter must still have first actually seen the physical thing he is searching for.


From an astral signature, search for the astral signature's owner -even before the critter have yet actually seen the magician- does not seem to be a valid scenario if you ask me.

The supported way to track down the responsible magician from only having an lingering astral signature would be to resolve it according to astral tracking rules. If you don't even have a lingering astral signature to originate from (and just remember the astral signature from memory from identifying it a few days earlier, for example) then you can't really track down the owner at all.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

From the Search power, pg 400 SR5:

"Critters who can enter astral
space may use this power there and do not have to
materialize while searching, even if the target is in the
physical world."

"if the target is in the physical world" is a key clause here.  Saying that it's a possibility that the search power target is in the physical world is simultaneously implying that the target doesn't HAVE to be in the physical world.  I.E., it could be an astral target.

[Xenon]

Even with that reading I think you still need to agree that the critter must have seen the thing it’s searching for at some time before the search begins....

If the critter have not actually seen the magician that left the astral signature then the critter can not use this power to search for the magician.

If the critter have actually seen the magician at some time before the search begins then the critter may use this power to search for the magician, no matter if the critter is is currently in the astral plane while the magician is in the physical world.



Edit: My point is that as written the search power does not seem to be able to replace astral tracking in order to find an unknown magician responsible for a lingering astral signature.