Focus

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Revision as of 06:17, 26 January 2011

The Focus Enchantment is immensely attractive to a caster of Spells, because it significantly lowers the RD of spellcasting attempts.

The Focus Enchantment is almost only available via the item creation method of Endowing (Satanic Rites can also create some Focus Enchantments, and possibly Divine Bless Item - this later has not yet been finally decided), and affects either a given set of Spells, from all Spells and down to a single Spell. The only effect of the Focus Enchantment is to lower the RD of Spellcasting attempts, that are covered by it, by the grade of the Focus Enchantment, but since this is typically an RD bonus of -2, -3 or -4, it helps a lot.

An item that contains one or more Focus Enchantments is called a Focus item, and the primary Focus item of a spellcaster is almst always his most prized possession. Depriving him of it, by stealing it (for one's own use) or destroying it, is an act of extreme hostility. If the Focus item is stolen, the original owner is greatly weakened, and is quite likely to become obsessed with getting it back, often to the point of being willing to take huge risks.

Destroying a spellcaster's primary Focus item is the equivalent of castrating a man. His Focus is gone, and he's unlikely to ever get another one, snce in most cases he will have Enchanted it himself, spending most of his Essence on it. The most likely, and most natural, course for such a victim to take is therefore to seek revenge. At. All. Costs.

That said, stealing or destroying the Focus item of an enemy can be an act of great cheekiness, a display of massive superiority. Just be warned that the mere act of talking about stealing someone's Focus item is likely to create an extreme response.

A character who has had his primary Focus item destroyed will want to get another, either before or after he has gotten truly medieval on the ass of the destroyer. With most likely all his Essence already expended on the original item, and there being no real market for Focus items in a realistic setting (or indeed any market for any kind of permanent magical item), the two options are to get small Essence donations from close friends and relatives, each donating a few tenths of a point by putting one weak Focus Enchantment into the new item (which amounts to very little), or else stealing and robbing one.

The later can happen if a spellcaster's primary Focus item is merely suspected stolen. He'll want to get it back, but before he embarks on such a quest he might well steal a Focus item from a third person, so he has some power during the quest. From his point of view he's merely borrowing this other Focus item and will happily return it as soon as he gets his own item back (and has exacted an appropriate - i.e. excessive - revenge), but from the point of view of the second theft victim, it's no fun at all, and there's always the possibility that he won't get his item back, perhaps because it turns out the first thief destroyed the first item after all.

For this reason, a spellcasting character who loses his primary Focus item is likely to be seen as a danger by the surrounding world. Seen as someone with a high probability of becoming a Focus-thief or Focus-robber. Particularly those other spellcasters whose preferred Realms match those of the victim, will be wary of him. On the other hand, the victim's close friends and close relatives are likely to drop everything to help him get the Focus item back (if it is destroyed, or suspected destroyed, they'll be less likely to help him on a quest of vengange).

Therefore, if you want to steal a Focus, steal from a spellcaster who has few or no friends. And who has few Skills apart from spellcasting. This later makes double sense: The more of a spellcaster the item's owner is, the more Essence he's likely to have been born with, and the greater a proportion of his Essence will be put towards Focus Enchantments, as opposed to other Enchantments. Sagatafl does not have character classes, but in terms of character concepts, the best Focus theft victims are single-classed spellcasters, and the worst are ones who are primarily something else but who also cast Spells as a secondary thing, like the Ärth setting character Sláine of Ulster. Granted, his magic bow greatly enhances his archery, in addition to being a weak Focus for Green Magic, but Sláine is the kind of scarily ressourceful character who would still be extremely dangerous without his bow. Also, he's an expert at getting medieval on people's asses. If you want to steal a Focus item, steal from a victim, a spellcaster built on 55-90 Goodie Points. Not from someone like Sláine.

Note: Much of the above should be moved down into the article, mainly in the World Impact section.

Subject

Examples I

Getting more in depth

Examples II

Advice

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Please note

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Mini-FAQ

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sub-section

Q:
A:

The world

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World impact

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Table to use

A	B	C
1	2	3
4	5	6

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 For this reason, a spellcasting character who loses his primary Focus item is likely to be seen as a danger by the surrounding world. Seen as someone with a high probability of becoming a Focus-thief or Focus-robber. Particularly those other spellcasters whose preferred Realms match those of the victim, will be wary of him. On the other hand, the victim's close friends and close relatives are likely to drop everything to help him get the Focus item back (if it is destroyed, or suspected destroyed, they'll be less likely to help him on a quest of vengange).
-Therefore, if you want to steal a Focus, steal from a spellcaster who has few or no friends. And who has few Skills apart from spellcasting. This later makes double sense: The more of a spellcaster the item's owner is, the more Essence he's likely to have been born with, and the greater a proportion of his Essence will be put towards Focus Enchantments, as opposed to other Enchantments. Sagatafl does not have character classes, but in terms of character concepts, the best Focus theft victims are single-classed spellcasters, and the worst are ones who are primarily something else but who also cast Spells as a secondary thing, like the Ärth setting character Sláine of Ulster. Granted, his [[magic bow|Morrigans Finger]] greatly enhances his archery, in addition to being a weak Focus for [[Green Spells|Green Category Magic]], but Sláine is the kind of scarily ressourceful character who would still be extremely dangerous without his bow. Also, he's an expert at getting medieval on people's asses. If you want to steal a Focus item, steal from a victim, a spellcaster built on 55-90 [[Goodie Point]]s. Not from someone like Sláine.
+Therefore, if you want to steal a Focus, steal from a spellcaster who has few or no friends. And who has few Skills apart from spellcasting. This later makes double sense: The more of a spellcaster the item's owner is, the more Essence he's likely to have been born with, and the greater a proportion of his Essence will be put towards Focus Enchantments, as opposed to other Enchantments. Sagatafl does not have character classes, but in terms of character concepts, the best Focus theft victims are single-classed spellcasters, and the worst are ones who are primarily something else but who also cast Spells as a secondary thing, like the Ärth setting character Sláine of Ulster. Granted, his [[Morrigans Finger|magic bow]] greatly enhances his archery, in addition to being a weak Focus for [[Green Category Magic|Green Magic]], but Sláine is the kind of scarily ressourceful character who would still be extremely dangerous without his bow. Also, he's an expert at [[Torture Skill|getting medieval on people's asses]]. If you want to steal a Focus item, steal from a ''victim'', a spellcaster built on 55-90 [[Goodie Point]]s. Not from someone like Sláine.
+'''Note''': Much of the above should be moved down into the article, mainly in the World Impact section.
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