I'm a bit confused about Focus. Clay, you mentioned in an earlier post that Focus could be used to represent items that the character has. But non of the sample characters have the Focus Weakness for their Weapon Ability. Karis does have it for Barrier, but not for Weapon...OVA Rule Book wrote: Focus - One or more of your Abilities require a special item to use. The ability may need the item as a focusing point of sorts, or the item itself may actually generate the power. If the item is taken away from you or lost, you can no longer use the Ability. At Level 1, you lose a single ability without your focus. At Level 2, you may lose multiple abilities, or lose one or two of your core strengths. With Level 3, nearly all of your Abilities are lost, or you lose powers and skills that are vital to your existence.
So I'm wondering when it would be appropriate to use Focus and when it wouldn't. Were the sample characters done before the rules were solidified? Or is there an ambiguity about it that makes it unsure when to be used and when not to be?
In my interpretation of Focus, everything that isn't a part of the character--weapons, armor, stuff--or powers that require an item to work, but the item itself does NOT supply the the Ability, require Focus. So every Weapon and Armor that isn't "built-in" to the character requires its own Focus, and any power that needs that magical locket to work needs Focus, as well.
Looking at the sample characters, it seems that only those items that are extremly prone to being taken, or the magical locket, require Focus.
This is why I think that an Item Ability would work well, to avoid this confusion. Is it something that can be lost/forgotten/left behind/stolen? Then it's an Item. Is it part of the character, and requires extreme measure to rid them of it? Then it's an Ability.
I hope that my ramblings arn't hurting your brain!!
TBP