Focus Casting
Magic Trump
Many mages prefer to channel their mana through an object rather than their own bodies. It allows the caster to focus their power and direct and amplify spells. The most common foci are staffs and wands, but any kind of object will do. You must pick a specific object to be your focus and align with it. It takes seven days of spellcasting with the focus to align. If the object is ever permanently destroyed or lost, you must align with another. If the mage is ever without the focus, or is aligning to it, he or she takes -5 to any Spell Attack. With an aligned focus, the mage can add +5 to any Spell Attack. When using a focus (whether aligned or not), the mage is exempt from both reciting spell aria and performing gestures.
Remember that drawing a focus from a stored place takes at least one Action Point. Choosing a weapon as a focus is acceptable, but attacking with the weapon and casting simultaneously is mentally impossible.
