[Marcus]

Forget PC's,  I'm pretty sure there have been NPC's with both CyberSpur & MonoWhip as Weapon Foci in published adventures.

I'm far more willing to consider a CyberSpur as a weapon Foci. I don't recall seeing ether, but there a lot books and a lot adventures so I'm sure it could be in there somewhere, if anyone has book/page reference I'd love to read it. I did contemplate a couple different build using using Spur Foci, back in 4th. I just never actually got around to using any of them. Spurs are still blades, and blades are reasonable foci, a Mono-whip I have a very hard to time accepting as a legit foci.

[adzling]

why not a mono-whip?

too techy?

[Xenon]

why not a mono-whip?

too techy?

yes (and cybersupurs have to be imbued before they are installed iirc...)
...but neither of that will really matter if you get it at chargen

bone lacing, however, is not a melee weapon.
...so by raw you cannot imbue that into a weapon focus. not even at chargen.
(not even at chargen)

[Reaver]

why not a mono-whip?

too techy?

yes (and cybersupurs have to be imbued before they are installed iirc...)
...but neither of that will really matter if you get it at chargen

bone lacing, however, is not a melee weapon.
...so by raw you cannot imbue that into a weapon focus. not even at chargen.
(not even at chargen)

So, i could not make a weapon focus out say... a chair leg? Even though i fully intent to use it as a club?

[Lucean]

So, i could not make a weapon focus out say... a chair leg? Even though i fully intent to use it as a club?

I wouldn't count on the possibility to aquire one
But if you yourself view a chair leg as a weapon, you should entirely be in your right to craft one yourself. Lots of things related to magic are based on thoughts that influence reality. Since those chair legs are quite fragile compared to real weapons, you should be careful, as breaking the item destroys the focus.

[Michael Chandra]

The problem is that bone lacing isn't a weapon. Your fists are. Your bones aren't in direct contact with your enemy (unless you're pre-metal Wolverine or suffer from a horrid disease). So all the bone lacing really does is put more solid mass behind the punch. Now you can't turn your fists into a weapon focus, so it seems weird that you could indirectly do so with bone lacing. Then again, I'd probably allow some gloves that don't change your base damage.

[Reaver]

So basically the argument is based around contact. What level of contact is needed for a weapon to count.

I can understand that view point. For me, its more of a non-issue. In SR, they never really say "how" a weapon focus is enhanced.

I mean, just how much sharper is a weapon focus monowhip over a regular one? Just how is the weight or surfaced area of a 5lbs sledge hammer weapon focus better then the one in the store? (Aside from that whole hurts spirits thing )

I just explain it away by saying "its the aura of the weapon focus that causes the more damage". Now, we know that auras extend a few inches outside of the body that manifests it... more then enough for the bone lacing foci to hit the aura of the target...

☆☆☆☆
I dunno, I'm not seeing the advantages of the bone lacing focus (except for being disarmed.... and if you, you got bigger problems).

And its not like a pair of gloves could be easily removed too...

Just not worth the expense IMO... but i wouldn't out right disallow it.

[prismite]

The problem is that bone lacing isn't a weapon. Your fists are. Your bones aren't in direct contact with your enemy (unless you're pre-metal Wolverine or suffer from a horrid disease). So all the bone lacing really does is put more solid mass behind the punch. Now you can't turn your fists into a weapon focus, so it seems weird that you could indirectly do so with bone lacing. Then again, I'd probably allow some gloves that don't change your base damage.

Hmm. So, if a troll gets bone lacing, does that also include the bone-spurs that protrude from their various parts? If so, that would seem to lend itself to possible weaponizing, right?

[Xenon]

Even though i fully intent to use it as a club?

No issue there....
A chair leg you use as a club is an improvised melee weapon.

So basically the argument is based around contact. What level of contact is needed for a weapon to count.

No, the argument is about melee weapons.

your bone structure is not a melee weapon.
your fists are not melee weapons.
a sword is a melee weapon
a club is a melee weapon
a monowhip is a melee weapon.
a chair leg you use as a club is an improvised melee weapon
your implanted cyberspurs are melee weapons as well.

you can probably even argue that a pistol can be used as a melee weapon and make that into a weapon focus (but a pistol weapon focus, if your GM allows it, will not help you at all when using the pistol as a ranged firearm rather as an improvised melee weapon).



SR5 p. 320 Weapon Foci
A weapon focus always has, unsurprisingly, the form of a melee weapon. It adds magical power to the melee attacks you make with it. When used in physical combat, it gives you its Force as a dice pool bonus on your melee Attack Test. You still rely on your Physical Attributes and skills in combat; the weapon focus merely makes you more effective.
A weapon focus is effective against astral forms too, whether you’re using astral perception or projection. It adds its Force to your Astral Combat Tests when you’re using it, and you can take it along while astrally projecting. The damage of the weapon in astral combat is the same as it is in the physical world, except that you can decide between Stun or Physical damage (Astral Combat,p. 315).

[Namikaze]

FWIW I would totally allow a character to make a pistol into a weapon focus.  The bonus applies only to melee combat with the pistol though.  Very appropriate for a gun slinger adept with Gun Kata or Firefight martial arts.

[Marcus]

FWIW I would totally allow a character to make a pistol into a weapon focus.  The bonus applies only to melee combat with the pistol though.  Very appropriate for a gun slinger adept with Gun Kata or Firefight martial arts.

Weapon Foci Bayonet is totally legit.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

As I recall, trolls don't have bone spurs, they have keratin nodules that, like rhino horn, may have the consistency and durability of bone.  And a weapon focus, going by both theme and game play, may enhance the combat capacity of an Awakened individual who has bonded to it - it makes them a bit faster, a bit more accurate, twitch the weapon at just the right time to hit harder.  (And if you don't think that last is true, you've never learned anything about weapons, or even chopping wood.)  Or it may channel mana directly into the target; that's in theme and game play as well, so it's up to you.  What it doesn't do is 'add an aura' that does damage - well, not unless you have an elemental effect, and that gets wiggy, but still.

Also going by game play, we know that a weapon focus has to a) remain in the wielder's possession in order to work, and b) must aggressively and directly contact the opponent in order to function as a weapon focus.  No arrows, no bullets, no shuriken - or rather, anything that is enchanted loses its active weapon focus capabilities just as soon as it loses contact with the person who has bonded to it, and does nothing unless it comes into physical (not auric) contact with a target.

As for me, if I hadn't already put together the dai-sho for Hawatari, which included enchanting the tanto, I would so enchant the pistol ...

[Tarislar]

if anyone has book/page reference I'd love to read it. I did contemplate a couple different build using using Spur Foci, back in 4th.

IIRC.

Spur Foci = Missions Season-1.  -   Mission 1.0  -  One of the NPC Fixers.
Whip Foci = Missions Season-4   -   Mission 4.2 "Extraction"  -  Lungs Assassin