Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Items for focusing magic

It would be interesting to add a slot for focusing magic. This idea came to me after looking at trackers and thieves. In order to create magic, almost nothing prevents them. The duelist's style loses its meaning. Everyone takes an additional weapon in the second hand, and magical warriors always run with a two-handed weapon to deal more damage. The meaning of a universal weapon?
I really liked it when it was implemented in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

Depends ...

Do you want it as offhand item, or addional equipment slot?

If offhand i cant say i like it much. :-/
I kinda like the fact that my Wizard is able to use staff properly when he does. And i certainly dont want to decide between using staff as i should be able to ... and being even able to cast spells. :-/

But another equipment slot sounds interesting honestly.
I would welcome such thing ... for example, since Shadowheart (acording to what GM4HIM told me in different topic) should have some focusing item (probably amulet of Onyx) in her possesion in order to even be able to cast spells of Shar.
I know she have them both on her forehead circlet and her amor, but once you equip her with different pieces, she should no longer be able to work as a cleric.
This would certainly help it.

Honestly, spell focus can be a rather cumbersome thing in 5e, but it's not meant to be. In Solasta, it is one of the things I didn't like. Kinda a pain in the butt. You can't just cast a spell. You have to have at least one hand free.

Spell focus can be any number of things. A crystal ball, a necklace, Shadowheart's circlet, etc. I think it should be less cumbersome than Solasta. As long as you equip it somewhere, you can cast spells. So, SH equips her circlet and she can cast her spells. She doesn't require a free hand.

That said, Solasta ticked me off in that it didn't warn me. I accidentally sold my cleric's spell focus, thinking it was a different amulet, and suddenly she couldn't heal anyone. If they do decide to do spell focus, they should at least warn players, "If you remove this, SH can't cast spells. You'll need to equip another spell focus somewhere."

This would be fine in my opinion ...
But she should have option to re-equip the circlet on different slots ...

Like either on head, or around the neck, or tie in around her wrist, or hang in on her belt ...
That would be cool. And as little limiting as possible.

You know, I 100% agree. I think she should even start with it wrapped around her wrist so you don't even really notice it too much... Or even somehow attached to her shield grip. So you only catch a few glimpses of it at the most.

And that is why i believe that another slot would be best in this case ...
After all, she hold something in her hand even on offical artwork.

In PnP games, it's common for DMs and players alike to allow the casting focus, if it's a simple or small thing (i.e. you're not a wizard using their staff as their casting focus), too presume it can be fastened to the wrist easily and safely - so that players don't have to think about it overly much. Casters can do whatever they like with their hands, and when they cast they can just be presumed to flick the casting focus up into their hand - the same hand that they use for somatic components anyway, which is allowed in the rules.

Remember also, if you're discussing having a free hand for casting needs, all that actually means is that you need to be able to have the hand free when you cast, not that it be free at all times, just as two handed weapons only need you to hold them two-handed when you're actually attacking, not that both your hands be glued to them at all times... so if you're using a two-handed sword, for example, you actually *don't* need to put the sword away to cast, because you can take one hand off it while you're casting.

Working with casting foci is actually a lot less cumbersome that it first seems (and it does seem cumbersome at first glance), and that's a flaw with how it's described and set up, I think. Mapping that flexibility into a game, without *making* it cumbersome, however, is trickier, and I don't blame games that just quietly do away with the need for a focus. To do it smoothly, it should really just be as simple as noting that various things count as or can be used as casting foci for various types of casters, that you need to have one (component pouches in this case would just be another type of focus) that's appropriate to your casting class in order to cast spells with material components, and beyond that, it should just need to be on your person *somewhere*, but ideally NOT taking up an actual equip slot - I'd prefer as a separate equip slot that is specifically for a casting focus, so it doesn't interfere with the rest of your gear, though even that can run into complications in niche cases (one character with multiple casting classes with incompatible focus needs; though even in that case, the player in question can just use a component pouch, since that's a universal).

I do think a spell focus should be in game, something you equip, but as an accessory item, not necessarily an equipment slot.

So, you can wear helmet and equip SH circlet as an accessory item to the head slot also, as if she's wearing it under or even on the helmet, or as said above, accessory to hand slot or whatever. Then, let us have more accessories to customize our appearance and show accessory items on characters.

I'd love to have my Tyrite cleric show off his symbol of Tyr on his armor or shield.

I like the sound of this. +1