Foci limits?

[Biff Dyskolos]

The only limitation mentioned for Foci bonuses is the Lore limit on YS:278. I had also been using the column limit for Specializations (YS:182) for my Foci. Ooops.

Is this intentional? Foci do not have to obey column limit?

[Deadmanwalking]

It's intentional, though I'm not positive of why.

[Moriden]

if i had to guess its because this way you can have a decently powerful focus item that only boosts one element. likes harrys blasting rod. or fire staff.

[Deadmanwalking]

if i had to guess its because this way you can have a decently powerful focus item that only boosts one element. likes harrys blasting rod. or fire staff.

Probably, yeah.

[JustinS]

It's intentional, though I'm not positive of why.

My guess is to make it better then using stright refinement.

Direct refinement bonuses are +2 per point of refresh, but must be supported by lower bonuses.

Focus slots are +2 per point of refresh, but are stuck in objects and can be changed in downtime, and you can concentrate them where you really want them.

+10 takes 5 refresh slot as Foci, +10 as a innate refinement takes 28 refresh slots (starting from nothing) and comes with a +9, +8 and so on assigned to other things. In theory, given 5 elements, offensive vs. deffensive and power vs. control, you can only hit +20 at most. If you can somehow (ha) get a lore of over 20, you could get a Focus that gave more then +20 too...

[Vash the white]

wait so the amount of foci you can have is determined by your lore right?

[Mal_Luck]

wait so the amount of foci you can have is determined by your lore right?

From my understanding, the only limit was the total amount of bonuses that a single foci could give. If you have Good Lore, you could have a total of +3 bonuses on a single focus.

[Vash the white]

cool cool, because i was orginally thinking on taking a bunch of focus items but then  i thought, well that would be cool because i could have a +1 bonus to a bunch of things but jack of all trades, master of none. plus cant a crystal ball also be considerd a enchanted item?(i got the idea from nevermore, that sorrceror dude, but he has one under focus items)

[Moriden]

You may want to check to be sure, i recall it implieing that if you have a lore of + you can only have 3 total levels of focus items...

i went and found the passage.

The one restriction on the bonuses provided
is that they may not total to a number greater
than your Lore. So if your Lore is Good (+3),
you can have an evocation focus item that
provides +3 to offensive control, offensive power,
defensive power, or defensive control, or a focus
item that provides +1 to three of those, or +2 to
one and +1 to another, but you can’t construct
one that provides bonuses totaling 4 or more.

and im honestly not sure if thats what its saying or not.

[Vash the white]

thanks, if that is what its saying, my guy can have some awsome focus items because he has suberb lore

[Mal_Luck]

I think that's just what I said about the limits of Foci strength

[Vash the white]

Yep, pretty much 

[Mal_Luck]

I won't pretend to be an expert, I've only half-worked on one practitioner with focus items. And since the update to enchanted items I'm most definitely not an expert on those.

[iago]

Yeah, the idea is intrinsic stuff (specializations) is stuff you have to build on a solid foundation of skill and so forth, which is why the column structure applies in specializations.

But a focus item doesn't have a "skill base". It's a specialized tool (and one that can be taken away from you), so that's opened up to be more flexible in terms of how you can lay out the bonuses (though some of the bonuses are narrower, as seen with the Offensive Fire Control style stuff).

And beyond that making a focus item work exactly like a specialization doesn't make it feel *different* to me.