Foci and Changing into Costume

[MrKinister]

Hello, 

 

I have a curious question: one of my new players brought up the idea that foci are always available to his character, and that when "transforming" into the super character, the foci are just present and ready. This would go so far as them "suddenly appearing" into his hands (for weapons), or worn on his body (for armor), as needed.

 

I've never played it that way. I always made sure the characters carried their foci with them, in one way or another. In this way, when changing to his super hero persona, he would need to make sure the foci were close-by so he could use them.

 

Now, I understand this can be easily adjudicated with a GM ruling, but I wanted to see if I missed something in the rules, or if this particular question had already been answered and established.

 

Thanks.

[Steve Long]

The rules state, "Unless a Power’s description says otherwise, activating or “turning on” a Power is a Zero Phase Action, even if activating it causes or requires physical changes in the character, his powers, or his equipment." Whether Foci would "suddenly appear" in a character's hands as a result of this is entirely up to your judgment as GM. In the case of a character who transforms into a mystic warrior, maybe that would happen; in the case of a character who's "activating" a change into costume, maybe it wouldn't.

 

I think that in most cases, most GMs would want a character to have to carry a Focus around with him to have access to it. Don Blake has his cane, which he taps to transform into Thor (and it into Mjolnir -- the hammer doesn't magically appear out of nowhere); Green Lantern keeps his ring handy at all times; and so on. But it's up to you to decide, in the final analysis.