Foci Item double check?

[citadel97501]

Hello all,
I am kind of exhausted right now and I want to make sure I have this down correctly?  Can I have a foci that provides a benefit to earth magic like this, or is it violating the way benefits have to be broken up, and it needs to have a +1 in 3 different effects like +1 to earth offense control, earth defense control, earth defense power?

Earth Bracers:                      3
   -Earth Defense:
      -Control:                  +2
      -Power:                  +1

[Cadd]

Looks fine to me.
It would (as you noted) take up 3 focus item slots, and need to be at least "fist or rod" sized. Since you call them "bracers" I assume they are covering a fair bit of the lower arms, and thus qualifies.

Remember: Focus Items does not require "pyramid" style bonuses. You can have a 3-slot focus granting +3 Defensive Power and nothing else.

[Sanctaphrax]

Looks good.

The book says something about bonuses needing to apply equally to everything an item boosts, but it also gives an item much like yours as an example in the same section. So don't worry about it.

[dragoonbuster]

Looks good.

The book says something about bonuses needing to apply equally to everything an item boosts, but it also gives an item much like yours as an example in the same section. So don't worry about it.

It's poorly written...but as I interpret it (after rereading the section more times than I care to admit), your bonuses for each "category" (off/def control/power) must be the same across each element. You can't have +1 offensive control with Earth and +2 offensive control with Air, for instance.

However, different bonuses for different bonus categories are possible. For instance, the proposed item that began the thread.

[Haru]

The way dragoonbuster describes it is the way I read it as well.

[Cadd]

Precisely.

Look at the focus items in two steps:
1) What are its bonuses? (Off./Def. Power/Control for evocation, Control/Complexity/Strength/Frequency for thaumaturgy)
2) What do those bonuses apply to? (evocation Element, thaumaturgy Application or Theme)

If it's a +2 Offensive Control focus, its Offensive Control bonus is always +2. It can apply to one single element, costing 2 slots, or any number up to 5 (if you're going with the standard elements) thus costing 10 slots and being essentially stationary according to the size rules.