Focused Concentration, Return of an excellent Quality Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Chrome Head]

I was working on full magician builds and toyed around with the Focused Concentration Quality. What role you want your mage or shaman to have on the team matter here, but assuming you to have some supporting role with your magic in the thick of the action, then that likely involves relying on spellcasting more than alchemy or rituals. Then you will likely have several very useful spells that have sustain (or permanent) durations. Be it health spells to provide boosts of reflexes or attributes or combat sense, or be it illusions of all kinds, detection spells, and a lot of powerful manipulation spells as well, spells with sustain duration play a major role for any decent support spellcaster.

Of course, you will eventually have access to sustaining foci. But these can be hard to get at high rating (costly in both nuyen and karma, and high avail) and they have to be different per spell category. Bonded foci can also complicate things when you want to go unnoticed in the astral, pass through wards, and for avoiding focus addiction and staying under focus limits. Fewer sustaining foci means more of other powerful foci too. Bounded spirits can also sustain spells for you, but for a very short duration at a time, and they too are costly and have to be of the right type for the spell category.

So the bottom line is that Focused Concentration ends being one of the most powerful positive qualities to get as a spellcaster, second maybe only to the very cheap mentor quality. Focused concentration can be taken at a whopping rating 6 (max, for 24 karma, vs 12 karma + nuyen cost for a rating 6 sustaining focus in one spell category only) at chargen, or at rating 5 along with a mentor. It can even be taken at lower levels and it will be worth the karma investment to buy it at higher levels later (costs 8 karma per additional rating of the quality during gameplay). This quality gives amazing flexibility to your mage, who can use any sustain or permanent spell of any school and let the quality hold it at no cost (that's right! back like in the old days, not just reducing from -2 to -1 dice pool modifier).

Well worth the cost and a no-brainer for standard builds, don't you think?