The foci addiction thread gotme thinking about another reason anchoring is about useless. You have a treat spell in an anchoring focus, presumeably with a detection spell trigger. It is always "on".

Why not just put the treat spell in a sustaining focus? I know the first objection will be it's a permanent spell, not a sustained spell. Well, it needs sustained before it becomes permanent. Objection #2: it won't heal a wound you haven't incurred yet. Valid arguement, but why wouldn't it heal whatever wound comes along? Let the caster take drain every time the wound becomes healed (sustained for the elapsed amount of turns.)

That could work. You cast the spell, clip the trinket on your budy, and then karma the cost. That could take off some of the strain of sustaining. My recollect is a bit fuzzy on the costs though. Don't you have to spend it when you cast?

Don

The mage is the owner of the sustaining focus and pays the karma to bond it whenever he wants to. After that, he can place the focus in contact with someone and cast a spell into it/through it onto the person touching the focus. The spell then gets sustained until the owner (ie, the casting mage) wills it to stop or the focus leaves contact with the spell target

You are asking for a cheaper and more powerful way to do something that is already provided in limited form by standard rules with an anchoring focus, a detection spell, and anchoring metamatic.

My response to you is the same as if you asked me for armor-piercing flechette ammo with no recoil penalties that affects an area (like shot ammo) but without the power loss that shot ammo has.

My answer is do it in your game if you want to, but in my game a sustaining focus can be used for a Treat or Heal spell but only for the wounds the subject has at the time the spell is cast.

The anchor wouldn't require a detection spell. The activating condition could simply be "Target Wounded" or "Capsule Broken" or "Ingested" or whatever.

Now, on the other hand, you could create a sustained spell that absorbes damage. It would require casting prior to injury and could absorb a number of boxes of damage up to the force. Once released the damage would be inflicted on the target. Target number of 10-Essence. Health, Sustained, Physical, +1(D)