So I went and did it. Running a game and I put in a weapon focus if you want to call it that, that was buried under a cave in down in the old sewer systems of Seattle. The team was on their way to break into an Aztechnology facility when they came to the cave in and saw the shiny glint of steel shining up from the debris reflecting off their flashlights.

Anyway they only saw a small piece of the weapon (a sword). and when they went to touch it they ended up having to battle the ghost (human spirit) of the person who wielded it. The battle was long fought but our mage finally managed to banish it after about 3 combat turns of the spirit really fucking the rest the group up.

Well they dug the sword out, and our group adept was like eww ahh ohh, the mage realized it was magical from the start and the group agreed to let the adept take hold of it

Here is what i created
2 handed great sword (for a human anyway) damage is str/2+3
acts as a rating 3 weapon focus of sharpness -3 AP (same as rating)
The sword is also possessed by a blood spirit that if the wielder is wounded will attempt to possess the wielder and send him into a bloodraged killing spree untill all living beings in his view are dead.

the possession is actually mental control. cast from a force rating 3 spirit giving it 6 dice total for the check.

Anywho as of yet... our adept has not been wounded.. and the group does not realize that the sword has this ability, right now they are living it up.. he loves the sword it is a wicked looking sword covered with runes. When he wields it, it glows with a strange bluish aura (aura of the spirit within).

Anyway i wanted to get away wth the cookie cutter focus's for a change. Has anyone else done anything like this?

You could say that.

so, you made Stormbringer? (of the Elric - Michael Moorecock series)

I embedded four anchoring foci into the striking surface of a warhammer (club); the wielder casts touch-range spells into them and can trigger one or all mentally when striking a target.

How many years till all those foci are bonded?

actually SR3 had this basic concept somewhere already.

they're called imps.

but... but... alien 3!!!

Each of those warhammer enchantments could belong to a different mage. Make them ritual spellcasters and all you need is to call them up after you discharge all the spells. A day or two later you have your badass unique spell hammer back. The idea is worth the cost.

Why would the ritual group lend out their foci? Maybe you work for them? You're their champion! Sounds cool to me, and easily manipualted if it seems too powerful. Me like

Would a possessed sword add force to the base damage? I think that's something to consider. I don't know if foci can be vessels, however. Am I wrong?

Well, you can make up anything and call it a "unique enchantment". This has been canon from the begining. Bottled Demon set the precident with a Power Focus that didn't even need to be bound but which had some side effects.

Personally, I like cursed weapon foci that are enchanted with healing spells. Your -6 AP +6DV katana may flow through targets like water but you'd be annoyed when they apparently don't take any wounds because the weapon heals the target for exactly the same amount of damage as it causes.

Boy, blood mages must love that. "It's like the Managizer bunny!" Poor mister flop-flop.

There's still a category of unique enchantments that are a bit beyond the pale, but SR4 also details more clearly defined types of unique enchantments.