Focus Formulas, Dazed and Confused Options

[ghostapathy]

I am a new Enchanter and I'm lost on some of the basics.

1. What is Force and Resistance and when I'm asked for the force of something where do I find that?


2. There a several different types reagent, is there something specific about every reagent that gives it different properties then other reagent (can Dove feathers do something different then Crow feathers, can Silk do something different then Hemp)? Also when making a formula, do the reagents ( other that weither they are refined or radical) really have any significants. For example, Orichalcum + Radical Titanium + Radical Aluminum + Radical Silk; what will I get from this (what properties will this have)?

3. Makeing foci; completely lost. Ok, these are foci:

Centering foci
add their Force to the magician’s initiate
grade when she uses Centering metamagic on a Drain
Resistance Test.

Masking foci
add their Force to the magician’s initiate
grade when making an Opposed Test to pierce her masking.

What do they mean "add their Force to the magician’s initiate
grade"?