As we explained in the chapter on combat, players gain XP by destroying Focuses in combat. This XP can then be spent on... more Focuses!

Creating Focuses

Creating Focuses is nice and simple. You can create a Focus by spending XP equal to its level (so 1 XP gets you a Level 1 Focus). This can be an entirely new object that you've just gotten hold of, or it can be an object you already have that you wish to make into a Focus, or it can be the exact same Focus you destroyed -- it all depends on how you narrated the combat and how you narrate your Focus-grabbing actions.

Fixing Focuses

Example: Prince Dashing has finally rescued his five-point focus, Princess Charming, from Lord Horrid. Tired of continually chasing after the useless bint and rescuing her, Prince Dashing's player fixes Princess Charming. This time she stays rescued. Equally, however, Prince Dashing can no longer stake the Princess in order to fight, and all the XP he invested in her are lost.

Adding Limit Breaks to Focuses

As stated before, Focuses can have Limit Breaks (sometimes just called Limits) added to them. Limit Breaks are little bonuses which can be used once per combat; we go into them in more detail in the Advanced Combat chapter. Limits are sorted, being either Minor, Significant or Major -- this designation affects how much they cost and how likely you are to be able to use them:

• Minor limits cost 1xp each and can only be used when two of your attack dice show the same number;
• Significant limits cost 3xp each and can only be used when three of your attack dice show the same number;
• Major limits cost 5xp each and can only be used when four of your attack dice show the same number.

• Blessed: Re-roll a die of your choice
• Wild: Re-roll all the dice in your hand
• Lucky: Nudge one of your dice up or down a number
• Drain: Recover one point to the defence pool of the skill you're using if the attack hits
• Mighty: Take an extra point from your opponent's defence pool if the attack hits, but lose an extra point from yours if it misses
• Resolve: Roll an extra die and add it to the dice you rolled.

• Guard: Lose no points from your defence pools if this attack misses
• Brutal: Force your opponent to reroll whichever dice you choose
• Decoy: Flip the order in which dice are counted for this round, so that the person with the most ones wins, or the person with the most twos if that's a draw, or the person with the most threes...
• Pinpoint: If the attack hits, the defender loses a point from the defence pool of your choice rather than the one he was defending on.
• Ninja: If the attack hits, another individual in the fight loses a point from his defence pool instead of the defender (the defence pool he loses points from is the same as the one the defender would have lost them from)
• Tenacity: Add a die to the dice you rolled, facing whichever way up you choose.

• Weaponmastery: Force your opponent to defend using a skill under the same stat you used to attack (if they have no skill in that stat, they automatically lose a point)
• Burst: If the attack hits, then as many other individuals as you like who are in the fight also lose a point from the same defence pool.
• Escape: If the attack hits, you may recover all the Focuses you staked and escape the fight.
• Monstrous: All attacks you make for the rest of the fight take an extra point from the defence pool when they hit.

When buying Cherries to go on a Focus, you can't spend more XP on Cherries than the level of the Focus. So a Level 1 Focus can only have 1xp worth of Cherries on it, while a mighty Level 8 Focus can have 8xp worth of Cherries.