1.6.0 Foci

Foci are special talents that a PC can possess. They aren’t as powerful as Edges, but a PC will develop more of them over time. Any PC can select any Focus, barring a few with specific requirements; they do not need to fit the class they selected. So long as the player can explain how or why they acquired the talent they can have it.

Foci usually come in two levels, though some have only one. The first time a Focus is chosen, the benefits of the first level are gained. The second time it’s chosen, the benefits of the second level are added to those of the first.

A new character may choose one Focus of any kind. Warriors and Partial Warriors may select another combat-related Focus, and Experts and Partial Experts may select another non-combat-related Focus. If a Focus is ambiguous, the GM decides whether or not it falls into a particular category for the PC.

1.6.1 Focus List

The Foci below are common to most fantasy settings. Others might be added to support particular campaigns.

Alert

You are keenly aware of your surroundings and virtually impossible to take unaware.

Level 1: Gain Notice as a bonus skill. You cannot be surprised, nor can others use the Execution Attack option on you. If the GM rolls initiative by sides, you can add a +1 bonus to your side’s initiative roll, though multiple Alert PCs don’t stack this bonus. If you roll initiative individually, you can roll it twice and take the better result.

Level 2: You always act first in a combat round unless someone else involved is also this Alert.

Armored Magic

Usable only by Mage heroes who would otherwise be prevented from casting spells or using arts while armored, this focus reflects special training in channeling magic through the hindering materials of conventional armor.

Level 1: You can cast spells or use arts while wearing armor that has an Encumbrance value of no more than two. You can use a shield while casting, provided your other hand is empty for gesturing.

Level 2: You can cast spells while wearing armor of any Encumbrance. You’ve also learned to cast spells while both your hands are full, though not bound.

Armsmaster

You have an unusual competence with thrown weapons and melee attacks. This focus’ benefits do not apply to unarmed attacks or non thrown projectile weapons. This focus’ bonuses also don’t stack with deadeye or other foci that add a skill’s level to your damage or shock.

Level 1: Gain Stab as a bonus skill. You can Ready a Stowed melee or thrown weapon as an Instant action. You may add your Stab skill level to a melee or thrown weapon’s damage roll or Shock damage, assuming it has any to begin with.

Level 2: The Shock from your melee attacks always treats the target as if they have AC 10. Gain a +1 bonus to hit with all thrown or melee attacks.

Artisan

You have remarkable gifts as a crafter and can often improvise techniques even in fields unrelated to your usual background. You are able to create mods for equipment even if you are not an expert.

Level 1: Gain Craft as a bonus skill. Your Craft skill is treated as one level higher, up to a maximum of 5, for purposes of crafting and maintaining mods. Mods you build require one fewer unit of arcane salvage, down to a minimum of one. Your Craft skill is applicable to any normal crafting profession’s work, allowing you to fashion their wares without penalty.

Level 2: The first mod you add to an item requires no Maintenance and only half the silver piece cost usually required. This benefit is in addition to the benefits of installing a mod in masterwork gear you build. You automatically succeed at any attempt to build masterwork gear, and once per month you can reduce a created mod’s salvage cost by one further unit, down to a minimum of zero.

Assassin

You Are Practiced At Sudden Murder, And Have Certain Advantages In Carrying Out An Execution Attack.

Level 1: Gain Sneak as a bonus skill. You can conceal an object no larger than a knife from anything less invasive than a strip search. You can draw or produce this object as an On Turn action, and your point-blank thrown or melee attacks made during a surprise round with it cannot miss the target.

Level 2: You can take a Move action on the same round as you make an Execution Attack, closing rapidly with a target before you attack. You may split this Move action when making an Execution Attack, taking part of it before you murder your target and part of it afterwards. This movement happens too quickly to alert a victim or to be hindered by bodyguards.

Authority

You Have An Uncanny Kind Of Charisma About You, One That Makes Others Instinctively Follow Your Instructions And Further Your Causes. At level 1, this is a knack of charm and personal magnetism, while level 2 might suggest latent magical powers or an ancient bloodline of sorcerous rule. Where this Focus refers to followers, it means NPCs who have voluntarily chosen to be in your service. PCs never count as followers.

Level 1: Gain Lead as a bonus skill. Once per day, you can make a request from an NPC who is not openly hostile to you, rolling a Cha/Lead skill check at a difficulty of the NPC’s Morale score. If you succeed, they will comply with the request, provided it is not significantly harmful or extremely uncharacteristic.

Level 2: Those who follow you are fired with confidence. Any NPC being directly led by you gains a Morale and hit roll bonus equal to your Lead skill and a +1 bonus on all skill checks. Your followers and henchmen will not act against your interests unless under extreme pressure.

Close Combatant

You’ve had all too much practice at close-in fighting and desperate struggles with drawn blades. You’re extremely skilled at avoiding injury in melee combat, and at level 2 you can dodge through a melee scrum without fear of being knifed in passing.

Level 1: Gain any combat skill as a bonus skill. You can use knife sized thrown weapons in melee without suffering penalties for the proximity of melee attackers. You ignore Shock damage from melee assailants, even if you’re unarmored at the time, but invoking this benefit disrupts any spellcasting you might do that round due to the need for violently active evasion.

Level 2: The Shock damage from your melee attacks treats all targets as if they were AC 10. The Fighting Withdrawal combat action is treated as an On Turn action for you and can be performed freely.

Connected

You’re remarkably gifted at making friends and forging ties with the people around you. Wherever you go, you always seem to know somebody useful to your ends.

Level 1: Gain Connect as a bonus skill. If you’ve spent at least a week in a not-entirely-hostile location, you’ll have built a web of contacts willing to do favors for you that are no more than mildly illegal. You can call on one favor per game day and the GM decides how far they’ll go for you.

Level 2: Once per game session, if it’s not entirely implausible, you meet someone you know who is willing to do modest favors for you. You can decide when and where you want to meet this person, but the GM decides who they are and what they can do for you.

Cultured Through

Wide travel, careful observation, or extensive study, you’ve obtained a wide experience of the cultures of your region and an ability to navigate their customs, laws, and languages. You know what to do and say to impress others with the reasonableness of your wishes.

Level 1: Gain Connect as a bonus skill. You can fluently speak all the common languages of your native region and convey at least basic information in the uncommon or esoteric ones. You can learn a new language with only a week’s practice with a native speaker. Once per game day, your polished ways automatically gain a minor favor from an NPC that would not put them to significant expense or risk, assuming the NPC isn’t hostile to you.

Level 2: Once per game session, reroll a failed social skill check as you use your cultural knowledge to push your interlocutor toward the desired result.

Die Hard

You are surprisingly hard to kill. You can survive injuries or bear up under stresses that would incapacitate a less determined hero.

Level 1: You gain an extra 2 maximum hit points per level. This bonus applies retroactively if you take this Focus after first level. You automatically stabilize if Mortally Wounded, provided you have not been incinerated, dismembered, or otherwise torn apart.

Level 2: The first time each day that you are reduced to zero hit points by an injury, you instead survive with one hit point remaining. This ability can’t save you from large-scale, instantly-lethal trauma.

Deadeye

You have a gift with ranged weapons. While this talent most commonly applies to bows, it is also applicable to thrown weapons or other ranged weapons that can be used with the shoot skill. For thrown weapons, you can’t use the benefits of the armsmaster focus at the same time as deadeye.

Level 1: Gain Shoot as a bonus skill. You can Ready a Stowed ranged weapon as an Instant action. You may use a bow or two-handed ranged weapon even when an enemy is within melee range, albeit at a -4 hit penalty. You may add your Shoot skill level to a ranged weapon’s damage roll.

Level 2: You can reload crossbows or other slow-loading weapons as an On Turn action, provided they don’t take more than a round to reload. You can use ranged weapons of any size in melee without penalty. Once per scene, as an On Turn action when target shooting at an inanimate, non-creature target, you automatically hit unless you roll a 2 on your Shoot skill check or the shot is physically impossible.

Dealmaker

You have an uncanny ability to sniff out traders and find good deals, licit or otherwise. Even those who might not normally be disposed to bargain with you can sometimes be persuaded to pause and negotiate, if you have something they want.

Level 1: Gain Trade as a bonus skill. With a half hour of effort you can find a buyer or seller for any good or service that can be traded in the community, legal or otherwise. Finding a marginally possible service, like an assassin willing and able to target a king, or some specific precious ancient artifact, may require an adventure if the GM allows it at all.

Level 2: Once per session, target a sentient who is not just then trying to kill you or your allies and make a request of it that it can comprehend. If it’s at all plausible for it to make such terms, it will do so for a price or favor it thinks you can grant, though the price for significant favors might be dear.

Developed Attribute

Your hero has a remarkable degree of development to one or more of their attributes. This may be derived from an eldritch bloodline, native brilliance, or sheer, stubborn determination. This focus cannot be taken by heroes with the Mage or partial mage classes.

Level 1: Choose an attribute; its modifier is increased by +1, up to a maximum of +3. The actual score does not change, but the modifier increases, and may increase again if later advancement improves the attribute enough. You can choose this Focus more than once to improve different attributes.

Diplomatic Grace

Your skill at personal negotiations is enormous and uncanny. Some might even think it supernatural in nature.

Level 1: Gain Convince as a bonus skill. You speak all the languages common to your region of the world and can learn new ones to a workable level in a week, becoming fluent in a month. Reroll 1s on any skill check dice related to negotiation or diplomacy.

Level 2: Once per day, silently consecrate a bargain; the target must make a Mental save to break the deal unless their life or something they love as much is imperiled by it. Most NPCs won’t even try to break it. The deal must be for something specific and time-limited, and not an open-ended bargain.

Gifted Chirurgeon

You have an unusual gift for saving mortally wounded allies and quickening the natural recovery of the wounded in your care.

Level 1: Gain Heal as a bonus skill. You may attempt to stabilize one Mortally Wounded adjacent person per round as an On Turn action. When rolling Heal skill checks, roll 3d6 and drop the lowest die. You heal twice as many hit points as usual when applying first aid after a battle.

Level 2: Your curative gifts count as magical healing. You can heal 1d6+Heal skill in damage to an adjacent wounded ally as a Main Action, potentially reviving them without any lingering Frailty. Each such application of healing adds 1 System Strain to the target, and the gift cannot be used on targets already at their maximum System Strain.

Henchkeeper

You have a distinct knack for picking up lost souls who willingly do your bidding. You might induce them with promises of money, power, excitement, sex, or some other prize that you may or may not eventually grant. A henchman obtained with this focus will serve in loyal fashion until clearly betrayed or placed in unacceptable danger. Henchmen are not “important” people in their society, and are usually marginal sorts, outcasts, the desperate, or other persons with few options.

You can use more conventional pay or inducements to acquire additional henchmen, but these extra hirelings are no more loyal or competent than your pay and treatment can purchase.

Level 1: Gain Lead as a bonus skill. You can acquire henchmen within 24 hours of arriving in a community, assuming anyone is suitable hench material. These henchmen will not fight except to save their own lives, but will escort you on adventures and risk great danger to help you. Most henchmen will have the combat statistics of a normal adult from their culture. You can have one henchmen at a time for every three character levels you have, rounded up. You can release henchmen with no hard feelings at any plausible time and pick them back up later should you be without a current henchman.

Level 2: Your henchmen are remarkably loyal and determined, and will fight for you against anything but clearly overwhelming odds. Whether through natural competence or their devotion to you, they’re treated as 2 HD combatants from their culture. You can make faithful henchmen out of skilled and highly-capable NPCs, but this requires that you actually have done them some favor or help that would reasonably earn such fierce loyalty.

Impervious Defense

Whether through uncanny reflexes, remarkable luck, supernatural heritage, or magical talent, you have natural defenses equivalent to high-quality armor. The benefits of this focus don’t stack with armor, though dexterity or shield modifiers apply.

Level 1: You have an innate Armor Class of 15 plus half your char acter level, rounded up.

Level 2: Once per day, as an Instant action, you can shrug off any single weapon attack or physical trauma inflicted by a foe. Environmental damage, falling damage, or other harm that couldn’t be forfended by strong armor cannot be resisted this way.

Impostor

You are exceedingly skilled at presenting yourself as something you are not, including disguises, voice mimicry, and lightning-fast ward robe changes. Some impostors rely on the acting skills of perform, while others lean more to the nefarious tricks of sneak.

Level 1: Gain Perform or Sneak as a bonus skill. Once per scene, reroll any failed skill check or saving throw related to maintaining an imposture or disguise. Create one false identity of no great social importance; you can flawlessly pretend to be that person, such that only extremely persuasive proof can connect you with it. You can change this identity with a week’s worth of effort in building a new one.

Level 2: You can alter your clothing and armor such that a single Main Action lets you swap between any of three chosen appearances. In addition to your original false identity, you can establish a new false identity in each city or significant community you spend at least a day in.

Lucky

Some fund of remarkable luck has preserved your life at least once in the past, and continues to give you an edge in otherwise hopeless situations. This luck does not favor the already-blessed; this focus can only be taken by a PC with at least one attribute modifier of -1 or less.

Level 1: Once per week, a blow or effect that would otherwise have left you killed, mortally wounded, or rendered helpless somehow fails to connect or affect you. You make any rolls related to games of chance twice, taking the better roll.

Level 2: Once per session, in a situation of need or peril, you can trust to your luck and roll 1d6. On a 2 or more, something fortunate will happen to further your goal, provide an escape from immediate peril, or otherwise give you an advantage you need, if not immediate victory. On a 1, the situation will immediately grow much worse, as the GM sees fit.

Nullifier

Something about your hero interferes with easy use of magic on them. It may be a strangely powerful birth blessing, a particular supernatural bloodline, or simple occult incompatibility. This Focus cannot be taken by Mage or Partial Mages.

Level 1: You and all allies within twenty feet gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws against magical effects. As an On Turn action, you can feel the presence or use of magic within twenty feet of you, though you can’t discern details about it or the specific source. The first failed saving throw against a magical effect you suffer in a day is turned into a success.

Level 2: Once per day, as an Instant action, you are simply not affected by an unwanted magical effect or supernatural monstrous ability, even if it wouldn’t normally allow a saving throw. Immunity to a persistent effect lasts for the rest of the scene.

Poisoner

You are a skilled poisoner, capable of compounding toxins out of readily-available flora and minerals. It takes an hour to brew a poison, and you can keep as many doses fresh as you have levels. Blade venoms take a Main Action to apply and last for ten minutes or until a hit or shock is inflicted, whichever comes first. Detecting poisoned food is a Wis/Notice Skill Check against 10, or 12 if the diner’s not a noble or otherwise normally wary of poison. One dose can poison up to a half-dozen diners.

Level 1: Gain Heal as a bonus skill. Gain a reroll on any failed saving throw versus poison. Your toxins inflict 2d6 damage plus your level on a hit or Shock, with a Physical save for half. Your incapacitating or hallucinogenic toxins do the same, but those reduced to zero hit points are simply incapacitated for an hour.

Level 2: You are immune to poison and can apply a universal antidote to any poisoned ally as a Main Action. Any attempt to detect or save against your poisons takes a penalty equal to your Heal skill. Your ingested poisons count as an Execution Attack against unsuspecting targets, with Heal used for the Physical saving throw penalty and 1d6 damage per level done on a success. Such poisons can be non-lethal at your discretion.

Polymath

You have a passing acquaintance with a vast variety of practical skills and pastimes, and can make a modest attempt at almost any exercise of skill or artisanry. Note that the phantom skill levels granted by this focus don’t stack with normal skill levels or give a skill purchase discount. Only experts or partial experts can take this focus.

Level 1: Gain any one bonus skill. You treat all non-combat skills as if they were at least level-0 for purposes of skill checks, even if you lack them entirely.

Level 2: You treat all non-combat skills as if they were at least level-1 for purposes of skill checks.

Rider

Anyone with any level of ride skill can fight competently on horseback or keep their mount healthy. You have an almost supernatural bond with your steeds, however, and can push them beyond normal limits.

Level 1: Gain Ride as a bonus skill. Your steeds all count as Morale 12 in battle, use your AC if it’s higher than theirs, and can travel 50% further in a day than normal for their kind. You can intuitively communicate with riding beasts, gaining as much information from it as its intellect can convey.

Level 2: Once per scene, negate a successful attack against your steed as an Instant action. Once per scene, reroll any failed Ride skill check. You can telepathically send and receive simple warnings, thoughts, and commands to and from your steed so long as it’s within two hundred feet. You can so bond with one steed at a time, taking an hour to do so.

Shocking Assault

You’re extremely dangerous to enemies around you. The ferocity of your melee attacks stresses and distracts enemies even when your blows don’t draw blood.

Level 1: Gain Punch or Stab as a bonus skill. The Shock damage of your weapon treats all targets as if they were AC 10, assuming your weapon is capable of harming the target in the first place and the target is not immune to Shock.

Level 2: In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to the Shock damage rating of all melee weapons and unarmed attacks that do Shock. As usual, regular hits never do less damage than this Shock would do on a miss.

Sniper’s Eye

You are an expert at placing a thrown knife or arrow on an unsuspecting target. These special benefits only apply when making an execution attack with a bow, hurlant, or thrown weapon.

Level 1: Gain Shoot as a bonus skill. When making a skill check for a ranged Execution Attack or target shooting, roll 3d6 and drop the lowest die.

Level 2: You don’t miss ranged Execution Attacks. A target hit by one takes a -4 penalty on the Physical saving throw to avoid immediate mortal injury. Even if the save is successful, the target takes double the normal damage inflicted by the attack.

Special Origin

Heroes in this game are assumed to be human, or close enough as to make no real difference. PCs who want to belong to some more exotic species or demihuman kind can pick the origin focus appropriate to their chosen species, such as those given in the bestiary chapter for different types of creatures.

The availability of these special origins will depend on the campaign and the GM’s permission. Even if elves and dwarves do exist in the campaign world, the GM is not obliged to let players use them as PCs if that choice doesn’t fit the tone or location being used.

Note also that a PC who just wants to be different without asking for any special mechanical benefits does not need to buy any special Focus. If their particular demihuman or alien has no real advantages over a human, then they can just proclaim their nature as such, assuming the GM allows such beings in their campaign.

Specialist

You are remarkably talented at a particular skill. whether a marvelous cat burglar, a famed athlete, a brilliant scholar, or some other savant, your expertise is extremely reliable. You may take this focus more than once for different skills.

Level 1: Gain any skill as a bonus, except for Magic, Stab, Shoot, or Punch. Roll 3d6 and drop the lowest die for all skill checks in this skill.

Level 2: Roll 4d6 and drop the two lowest dice for all skill checks in this skill.

Spirit Familiar

You have a minor spirit, devil, construct, magical beast, or other creature as a devoted companion. While its abilities are limited, it is absolutely loyal to you.

Level 1: Choose a form for your familiar no smaller than a cat nor larger than a human. It has the traits and abilities of an entity created by Calculation of the Evoked Servitor but may be summoned or dismissed as a Main Action, appearing within melee range of its owner. It cannot carry objects with it during its vanishment aside from the clothing natural to its shape. It has no need for food, water, or sleep. If killed, it vanishes and cannot be re-summoned for 24 hours. Once per day, it can refresh one point of Committed Effort for you.

Level 2: Pick two benefits from the list below for your familiar. This level may be taken more than once, adding two additional options each time.

• It has hit points equal to three times your level
• It gains the ability to attack with a hit bonus equal to half your level, rounded up, doing 1d8 damage on a hit with no Shock
• It gains a +1 skill check bonus and can apply it to a range of situations equivalent to one normal human background
• It gains another shape of your choice which it can adopt or discard as an On Turn action
• It can hover or fly at its usual movement rate
• It can communicate freely with others in any language you know

Trapmaster

You have uncommon expertise in handling traps and snares, both mundane ones and the magical perils sometimes found in dungeons or the lairs of sorcerers. You know how to improvise traps with materials you easily carry.

Level 1: Gain Notice as a bonus skill. Once per scene, reroll any failed saving throw or skill check related to traps or snares. Given five minutes of work you can trap a portal, container, passageway, or other relatively narrow space with foot snares, caltrops, toxic needles, or other hazards. Non-lethal traps cause the first victim to trigger it to lose a round of actions while dangerous ones inflict 1d6 damage plus twice the character’s level, with an appropriate saving throw for half. Only one such improvised trap can be maintained at a time. More fearsome traps may be laid with congenial circumstances and the GM’s permission.

Level 2: You know secrets for unraveling even magical traps or arcane hazards that would normally require a wizard to dispel them. Once per scene, your efforts count as an Extirpate Arcana spell against the trap or hazard, cast as if a Mage of twice your level, with any relevant skill check being Int/Notice or Dex/Notice. This ability can be used against any stationary magical effect that’s susceptible to being dispelled by Extirpate Arcana.

Unarmed Combatant

Your empty hands are more dangerous than swords in the grip of the less gifted. Your unarmed attacks are counted as melee weapons when it comes to binding up opponents wielding bows and similar ranged long arms, though you need at least one hand free to do so.

Level 1: Gain Punch as a bonus skill. Your unarmed attacks become more dangerous as your Punch skill increases. At level-0, they do 1d6 damage. At level-1, they do 1d8 damage. At level-2 they do 1d10, level-3 does 1d12, and level-4 does 1d12+1. At Punch-1 or better, they have the Shock quality equal to your Punch skill against AC 15 or less.

Level 2: Even on a miss with a Punch attack, you do an unmodified 1d6 damage, plus any Shock that the blow might inflict on the target.

Unique Gift

Your hero has some unusual ability or magical knack that can’t be adequately described by an existing focus. This choice is a catch all meant to represent a special power that’s in some way worth a Focus pick.

The exact effect of the ability should be defined by the player and the GM together, working out some result that seems fair and reasonable. This will vary from table to table and from campaign to campaign; an innate ability to breathe water is little more than a novelty in a desert setting, while a campaign based on piracy in an endless archipelago might make it far more significant.

As with any power, the group should be willing to reconsider the gift if it turns out to be exceptionally weak in play or a stronger power than was anticipated.

Valiant Defender

You are a bodyguard, shieldbearer, or other gifted defender of others, accustomed to the roil of bloody battle and desperate struggle. You have an exceptional ability to shield your allies from the attacks of those who would slay them.

Level 1: Gain Stab or Punch as a bonus skill. Gain a +2 on all skill checks for the Screen Ally combat action. You can screen against one more attacker per round than your skill would normally allow. Once per round, you can Screen Ally against even intangible spells or magical attacks or bodily shield them from an area-effect explosion or magic. Such attempts require the usual successful opposing skill check, with the assailant using their Magic skill.

Level 2: The first Screen Ally skill check you make in a round is always successful. Gain +2 AC while screening someone. You can screen against foes as large as ogres or oxen.

Well Met

You have a striking ability to charm and pacify people and creatures you’ve just met. Once they get to know you, however, their opinions are more likely to be based on experience; this focus works only once on a target.

Level 1: Reaction rolls made by those the party meets are given a +1 bonus so long as you are present, whether or not you do the talking. Even hostile encountered beings will usually give the party a round to parley before attacking unless they’re in ambush or have a clear reason for immediate violence.

Level 2: Once per game session, when a reaction roll is made, cause the subject to be as friendly and helpful to you and your party as it’s plausibly possible for them to be. It’s up to the GM to decide why the creature becomes so; it might be mistaken about your nature, or find you hilarious, or perhaps want a favor from you and your allies.

Whirlwind Assault

You are a frenzy of bloody havoc in melee combat, and can hack down numerous lesser foes in close combat… assuming you survive being surrounded.

Level 1: Gain Stab as a bonus skill. Once per scene, as an On Turn action, apply your Shock damage to all foes within melee range, assuming they’re susceptible to your Shock.

Level 2: The first time you kill someone in a round with a normal at tack, either with its rolled damage on a hit or with the Shock damage it inflicts, instantly gain a second attack on any target within range using any Ready weapon you have.

Xenoblooded

You have been both blessed and cursed by some exotic supernatural or alien bloodline.

Level 1: Choose one set of benefits from the list below to reflect your alien heritage. Other gifts may exist.

• You are immune to heat damage and can breathe and see through smoke without hindrance.
• You are water-adapted and can breathe water and see through it up to 120’ regardless of light. You swim at double your normal Move rate.
• You were built to heavier or lighter gravity conditions; gain a +1 to either your Strength or Dexterity modifiers, to a maximum of +3, and a -1 penalty to the modifier of the other attribute.
• You are nourished by invisible radiations and need neither eat, sleep, nor breathe. You can see clearly even in the absence of any light.