Assensing focus? Options

[Bearclaw]

Is there a reason for there not being an Assensing focus?
There is a focus for everything else, but not for maybe the most used magical skill. A health sustaining focus would help of course, to boost intuition, but I think it would be cool to rub the little magnifying glass I wear on a chain around my neck, and get +3 to my assensing roll.

[Temperance]

Arcana is a Magical skill and doesn't have a focus. Astral Combat doesn't have it's own focus, it's just that Weapon foci happen to work with the skill. Their primary purpose is to enhance combat prowess. Astral Combat is simply an extension of that. In direct answer to your question, I can see a couple of interrelated reasons.

First, while it is defined as a magical skill and resides in the Magical Skill category, it's not actually a skill that interacts with your Magic Rating. As long as you have a Magic Rating of 1 and the ability to astrally perceive your skill is completely independent of how "magical" you are.

Second, when you use other foci, your magic rating is directly or indirectly involved. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that foci are all direct or indirect increases in your effective magic rating. Assensing foci would be out of place if that's the case. Details in spoiler.

[ Spoiler ]

• Power focus is obvious. It is a direct increase in your magic rating for all purposes. That's what it does.
• Conjuring foci: They increase rolls with summoning, binding, and banishing. All of those are Magic + Skill. Effectively, those foci increase your magic rating when utilizing those skills. IE: It's an aspected power focus.
• Enchanting foci: They increase rolls with alchemy, enchanting, and disenchanting. All of those are Magic + Skill. Effectively, those foci increase your magic rating when utilizing those skills. IE: It's an aspected power focus.
• Spell foci: The pattern is the same with spell foci. The sole exception is sustaining foci and addressed below.
• Qi foci grant adept abilities. Adept abilities require power points which goes back to magic rating.
• Weapon foci follow the qi foci. In this case, it effectively grants the adept ability Improved Ability (weapon skill) for that weapon while wielded. Plus some damage. (Despite the fact that qi foci didn't exist before SR5, afaik.)
• Metamagic foci are odd. Instead of modifying your magic rating in an aspected form, they modify your initiate rating in an aspected form. Since initiate and magic rating are closely related, it still mostly holds to the theory.

The truly odd ones out are sustaining foci. The penalty they mitigate applies to everything a spellcasting mage does, so it doesn't follow the same theory as the others. My argument admittedly falls apart here.

Additionally, there are sorta two versions of an assensing focus. It's just not obvious and it's not universal. You can have a qi focus that grants the astral perception power and you can have a qi focus that grants the enhanced perception power. It does no good to aspected or full magicians, but adepts and mystic adepts are in the clear. Otherwise Improved Intuition subs in.


All that said, I don't see any reason why you couldn't handwave them into existence. Magic in the SR universe doesn't exactly follow it's own rules sometimes.

Edit: And I just noticed that this thread has an SR4 tag on it. /facepalm So the bit about Qi and Metamagic foci is irrelevant.

-Ariketh

[Machiavelli]

Power foci incease magic again? Really?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Edit: And I just noticed that this thread has an SR4 tag on it. /facepalm So the bit about Qi and Metamagic foci is irrelevant.

-Ariketh

Metamagic Foci existed in SR4A. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Temperance]

Metamagic Foci existed in SR4A. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

O.o I played for years and never noticed. I went looking for them and sure enough, Street Magic 84 & 85.

Either that or it's my memory. I hear it's the second thing to go, now if I could just remember the first one...

-Temperance

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

O.o I played for years and never noticed. I went looking for them and sure enough, Street Magic 84 & 85.

Either that or it's my memory. I hear it's the second thing to go, now if I could just remember the first one...

-Temperance

Libido... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Sendaz]

Libido... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

They have cyber for that, even in the novels. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

They have cyber for that, even in the novels. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Oh yeah... I forgot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Temperance]

They have cyber for that, even in the novels. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

This might be the wrong place, but wasn't there a pair of ... enhancements in CP2020 with the tagline "All night, every night; [they] will never know the difference!"

-Temperance

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

This might be the wrong place, but wasn't there a pair of ... enhancements in CP2020 with the tagline "All night, every night; [they] will never know the difference!"

-Temperance

Indeed their was. The Mr. Studd™ and the Midnight Lady™. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)