Clarifying when a focus breaks

[Tom McCarthy]

I have GM'd relatively few characters with OIF foci (strange, yes). With OAFs, I usually let disarms and out of combat theft make up most of the limitation value, but for the OIF, damageing and breaking the focus becomes a significant part of making it worth the points. But, I'm a bit unclear on just how quickly this focus will be destroyed.

 

The focus is OIF power amour, so it has many powers. For simplification, I'll make an abbreviated list, ordered by active points with defense powers at the bottom.

 

50 Attack multipower

35 Movement power

25 Absorption

20 END reserve

16 Combat skill levels

15 Enhanced sense 1

14 Life support

5 Enhanced sense 2

36 12/12 armor

16 8/8 forcefield

10 Mental

9 Flash sight

7 Flash hearing

6 KB resistance

 

While the focus arguably has 12 DEF (armor), I've allowed it to have 20 (armor plus forcefield). Is this the intended interpretation of the rules as written ?

 

It then has 8 non-defense powers and 6 defence powers. Reading the focus rules, it reads like the focus is destroyed when it has lost all 8 non-defense powers to penetrating hits or when it is hit with a 40 BODY attack. Is this correct, or does it take a 9th penetrating hit ?

[Steve Long]

1. If a Breakable Focus has two or more Defense Powers, as a default you should calculate its DEF from the largest of the Defense Powers, not by adding them together. However, the GM may change this based on considerations of game balance, special effects, common sense, dramatic sense, and so on.

 

2. Per the rules on 5E 190, a Focus is destroyed when it loses all of its powers, but Defense Powers remain in effect until the Focus is destroyed. In the case of a Focus which has multiple Defense Powers, once the non-Defense Powers are destroyed by damage the GM may choose to treat the weaker ones as non-Defense Powers themselves — they’re destroyed one by one by further attacks that penetrate the Focus’s DEF. Or he may simply choose to let the Focus fall apart when the last non-Defense Power has been destroyed. In any event, the destruction of the last power destroys the Focus; it does not require an additional penetrating hit.