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 that can be held or worn in hand will do (e.g. a glove, a ring). 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 you are ever without the focus, or are aligning to it, you take −4 to any Casting Roll. With an aligned focus, the mage can add +4 to any Casting Roll. When using a focus (whether aligned or not), the mage is exempt from both reciting spell incantations and performing gestures. If the focus is ever permanently destroyed or lost (or you find a shiny, new one), you must align with another and begin the seven days of alignment again.
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.
