Adept Foci, Yeah yeah, but mine are cooler. :) Options

[Wakshaani]

figured I'd share, because, well, it's in my brain, so.

Ahem.

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There's no better way to roll in the Year of the Metal Tiger than with Wuxing's own Tiger Charm.

Dateline: Hong Kong, Feb 1, 2070
(By He Kwon, AP writer)

After several years of painstaking research, Wuxing has unveiled several new products for the new year, a line of magical goods that they have termed, simply, "Adept Foci" following the traditional naming method in maters thaumatergical. Thse new Foci are designed to interact with the magical abilities of Adepts, letting them tap into mana along pre-arranged channels, allowing them to use abilities that they normally do not possess.

The first of these foci, the Ancestor's Medallion, was created two years ago by Wuxing researchers, a phenominal breaktrhough followed up by seevral others once the basic concepts were worked out. Construction of these foci is expected to be slow, tailored to a small market, but growing with market demand, which seems hungry for the new magical technology.

In addition to the Ancestor's Medallion, Wuxing has plans to produce a full line of the twelve Zodiac icons, as well as a handful of other, more nebulous foci, ranging from gauntlets to swords to paper lanterns.

"We have not yet found a way to bring magic to the general populace," said CEO Wu Kuan-Lei, "But this is an important step in that direction."

Wuxing, traditionally more focused on banking, finance, and shipping interests, has been delving more and more into magical research since the death of President Dunklezhan and the reading of his will. With a focus on magicians of other pathways, they have been able to make strides in fields overlooked by the major corporations who focus on more traditional research.

>>> Alright, I've cleared the lock at this stage, to allow for comments from the peanut gallery.
-- Liberty Belle <<<

>>> I've uploaded a list of the official products down below. The prices aren't bad, but, trying to get your mitts on them is going to be rough. The Medallion, in particular, has a waiting list three months long and growing. You've been warned.

Ancestor's Medallion ( 5000 Y ) ( Availability 6 )

Rat's Necklace ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )
Tiger Charm ( 15,000Y ) ( Availability 18 )
Monkey's Mask ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )
Ox Ring ( 15,000Y ) ( Availability 18 )
Rabbit Headband ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )
Horse Belt ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12)

Iron Gauntlet ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )
Silk Robes ( 15,000Y ) ( Availability 18 )
Ivory Chopsticks ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )
Bamboo Sandals ( 5000Y ) ( Availability 6 )
Coin of Balance ( 5000Y ) (Availability 6 )
Paper Fan ( 10,000Y ) ( Availability 12 )

-- Pheonix Crescendo <<<

>>> Rightly so. Now that they're on the way, my non-disclosure agreement's up. The Medallion ... wow. You know how Wuxing Tower has a sort of mana warp around it, where the spirit world touches on the real world and you can see spirits and such? The Medallion does that on a local level, kind of. You hold it, close your eyes, concentrate, then when you open your eyes ... chummer, it's amazing. There's a whole spirit world out there! I'd heard of it before, sure, and seen the holoversions on the trid, but there's nothing like seeing it for real. Absolutely Wiz.
-- Great Tiger <<<

>>> So, what, it lets you perceive the astral?
-- Lord Prometheus <<<

>>> Yup.
-- Great Tiger <<<

>>> That's it? Pfft! That's nothing!
-- Lord Prometheus <<<

>>> For you, maybe, but for those of us not so blessed, it's awe-inspiring.
-- Great Tiger <<<

>>> For the other products, there's some interesting notes. According to internal documents that, shall we say, fell into my lap, the original goal was to have twelve other Foci at launch, one for each animal of the Chinese Zodiac, in addition to the Ancestor's Medallion. Only half of these were managed, with six other products pushed up from a beta testing level earlier than they should be, to fill the gap. That strikes me as rather ... odd.
-- Phoenix Crescendo <<<

>>> If they'd been actually building them, you'd be right. Reliable sources I have (No, don't ask) are telling me that these things were less designed than rediscovered. The Comet split open a hill somewhere that was filled with more terracotta statues and, more importantly, a vast treasure trove of, well, "Magic tems", for lack of a better term. They've been reverse-engineering these things from there, which is why the research is all screwy. If they could have just made twelve Zodiac-themed ones, they would have, but, there's still a lot of code to crack on these things.
-- Johnny No <<<

>>> Of the list, in addition to the Medallion, I got to try out the Bamboo Slippers (so wiz) and the Tiger Charm (meh). The Slippers are fantastic, letting you jump around like gravity was just a suggestion. Never felt so free in all my life ... went and ran with a couple of Parkours I know and... man. They'll be picking some up, I'd wager. The Tiger Charm, tho, didn't really do anything for me. Instead of channeling something new, it was trying to give me what I already had, overlaying ... this is hard to describe. Basicly, it tried to overlay properties over my own, to make me use its, not mine. My punches were actually weaker while using this, despite claims otherwise. I'm sure that it'd be great for somebody else, but, from someone on the Warior's Path, it was a hampering, not a help.
-- Great Tiger >>>

>>> Overlay? Huh. Sounds like magical Skillwires, in a way.
-- Phoenix Crescendo <<<

>>> Hey, that's a good description!
-- Great Tiger <<<

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Game Rules

Adept Foci are prefab Adept abilities in focus form, allowing an Adept or Mystical Adept to tap into their power. While the focus is active, the user gains the Adept powers contained in the focus, similar to how Skillwire users can use activesofts to use Active Skills. Each is designed with specific abilities inherant which cannot be changed. They require bonding like a traditional focus. Currently, only one Adept Foci may be active at a time, due to the way that they 'over write' a user's own abilities. Future research will likely remove this limitation.

Each Adept Focus has a force rating, with each point of rating having a point of Adept Powers, costing 5000Y per Rating and having an Availability of 6* Rating. (This will drop to 4 * Rating by 2071, where it will remain.) Adept Foci count towards teh usual limits of Foci that a user may bond/keep active, in addition to their current limitation of only one active at a time. If used by an Adept who already has the power in question, the Adept Focus power is used, rather than the Adept's, no matter which is higher.

Current Adept Foci include:

Ancestor's Medallion (Rating 1 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides the Astral Percption power.

Rat's Necklace (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Improved Ability (Con) (2), Improved Ability (Negotiation) (2), and Kinesics (2)

Tiger Charm (Rating 3 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Critical Strike (2), Improved Reflexes (1), and Killing Hands

Monkey's Mask (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Improved Dodge (2), Improved Climbing (2), and Improved Gymnastics (2)

Ox Ring (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adpet Focus provides Improved Physical Attribute (Stamina) (1) and Mystic Armor (2)

Rabbit Headband (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Combat Sense (2), Enhanced Perception (2), Ultrasonic Hearing, and Improved Scent

Horse Belt (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Attribute Boost (Strength) (4) and Attribute oost (Body) (4)

Iron Gauntlet (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Critical Strike 2, Improved Phsyical Attribute (Strength) (1), and Killing Hands

Silk Robes (Rating 3 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Mystic Armor (6).

Ivory Chopsticks (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Natural Immunity (8).

Bamboo Sandals (Rating 1 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Great Leap (4).

Coin of Balance (Rating 1 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Improved Gymnastics (3) and Improved Sense: Balance Augmentation

Paper Fan (Rating 2 Adept Focus)

This Adept Focus provides Missile Parry (6) and Killing Hands.



More Adept Foci will be created, but, the GM should do so, rather than allowing a player free reign to custom build them, to prevent rampant abuse. While only Wuxing has teh ability to produce them at this time, in a few years, the techniques should muddle their way into other corporations and, eventually, to small-time operations as well.

[Moto42 Again]

Interesting idea. I esecialy like the Ivory Chopsticks, I can't count the number of adebts I've lost to a sudden case of 8).

Gah, the shaodow-ops and rumors that would fly around something like this. They've basicly just thrown their doors open and screamed "Try and steal it, I dare you!"

[Ancient History]

Heh. I like it.

[Jaid]

the ox-ring improves stamina (which, incidentally doesn't exist).

also, you've mentioned they require bonding... but i haven't noticed any karma costs?

and, as was mentioned, what's the chopstick's thing supposed to do again?

[Nasrudith]

[cetiah]

[Dentris]

These focus are just way better than any other options adepts have at character creation...

For example, Rat necklace is worth 4 BP (10 000 nuyens and 2 Bp to bound) for something normally worth 20 Bps (2 points of Magic)...It's a little overpowered in my opinion.

You should take a look at my rules (which are easily found if you used the search function) here: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...&hl=adept+focus

Oh, and in SR3, they were called Infusion Focus.

[Wakshaani]

[Wakshaani]

[X-Kalibur]

Not to mention foci can still get you addicted :D

[Ophis]

The SR 3 equivalent worked on a less instinctive .5 power point per rating. Effectively this would double all cost involved which could be more balanced all things considered.


Two thumbs way up, consider these stolen.

[Xenith]

Rather impressive. I like them.

Since they are prefab rather than allowing free reign this allows for fewer outright abuses and likely allows other to identify these foci easier even if they are mundane.

I'll go with it and allow these in my campaign, though I might up the price just a little.

[lorechaser]

[Wakshaani]

It;s teh AP wire post that started it. Gets 'em every time. :)