From:	Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: focus question
Date:	Fri, 8 Sep 1995 15:09:01 -0400

On Fri, 8 Sep 1995, David M Woods wrote:

> Three points here.
>
> 1) As I read it oricalcum (I hope that's right :) is made
> with an alchemic radical of gold. It doesn't contain gold as such, so at
> the very least the allergy's damage code should be lowered.

I would view this the oposite way. The alchemical radical of
golld is like the distilled essence of all that is "gold," and thus if
anything, it would produce a stronger reaction. To keep things simple, I
balance that out with the fact that it is such a small amount. Thus it
produces a normal reaction. Nice and simple, neh?

> 2) Weapon focus do not need to contain oricalcum even if it is used in the
> enchantment (see grim).

Not so. Weapon foci are the obly kind of foci that *require*
orichalcum. No orichalcum, no weapon focus.

> 3) IMHO the spurs themselves are not in direct contact with the body. They
> are contained within the mechanism of the retraction assemblely.

This i'd tend to agree with, but most allergies (especially those
of higher severities) can cause reactions just by being in proximity to
the material in question. And since it's *in* your body, I'd think
that's close enough.

> One problem, don't spurs come in a set of four (two each arm) ?. How many
> blades are you going to enchant and bond?

Spurs come in several different varieties. There's the "robocop"
style, which has a single, long, wicked spike that is withdrawn along the
bones of the forearm. There's also the "wolverine" style that is
comprised of several slightly shorter blades that rest in the backs of
the hands. Either way, the costs (in both nuyen and Essence) are for only
a single set, i.e. in *one* arm. Symmetry has its price, neh?
But that's just mundane cost. I'd allow a character to enchant
the entire "spur" (regardless of whether is was one blade or three) as a
single enchantment because it's a single weapon. Thus, to enchant two
sets would take twice as much time and material (and orichalcum) and karma.

Marc