[CitizenJoe]

Can you have a jacket power focus that can boost your shooting skill?  Improved Ability (combat). 
Let's assume he's elite rank 6 naturally in shooting a rifle.  Improved Ability can only add 50% to that (so 3 ranks) and each of those cost 0.5 power, so that's 1.5 force focus.  Maybe throw in Improved Physical Attribute (Agility) 2 ranks for another 1.5 power.  So force 3 power focus and you get like 5 extra dice to attack with a gun.

[Critias]

Can you have a jacket power focus that can boost your shooting skill?  Improved Ability (combat). 
Let's assume he's elite rank 6 naturally in shooting a rifle.  Improved Ability can only add 50% to that (so 3 ranks) and each of those cost 0.5 power, so that's 1.5 force focus.  Maybe throw in Improved Physical Attribute (Agility) 2 ranks for another 1.5 power.  So force 3 power focus and you get like 5 extra dice to attack with a gun.

I'm not sure what you're trying to describe here.  You can't use a focus to store an adept's Improved Ability powers.  And, even if you could, what you're describing would be some sort of sustaining focus, not a power focus.  And even if you could, it wouldn't apply to a mage.

huh?

How is having stat and skill at 9 not min-maxing?
Also, i think i already pointed out that they would not bypass immunities...
What weapon foci do in the first place is guid your hand. They also bypass immunities.

ALL THE RANGED WEAPON FOCUS DOES IS GUIDE YOUR HAND.

Literally. All. Oh, and it lets you down when a enemy mage decides to destroy it.

It's okay, buddy.  Calm down.  If you want to do it, do it.  Like I've said, it's up to your GM, not a bunch of folks on the internet. 

Just don't expect the rest of us to want it at our table, too.  And, because this is a discussion board, we're discussing with you why we wouldn't allow it in our games.  If that's not what you want, why do you post ideas and ask for input?

[CitizenJoe]

Does a power focus allow an adept to use the force to improve his magic rating and thus use the improved points for adept powers?  If yes, then he could scoop up some improved ability and attributes and get them in the form of a gun (or a belt buckle).  If not, then that strategy doesn't work.

[crisses]

I've explained to Inconnu that the foci are an extension of the mage, that the karma invested is a type of "soul-bonding" of the item to them, and when the item is not attached to/touching them (at minimum in their tightest aura layer), that it no longer is juiced up.  He understands the problem of "no magic bullet" or that a knife weapon focus loses juice if thrown (throwing it would be dumb too...that's one expensive piece of hardware to be handing over to your enemies...).

I understand his inability to understand why a gun won't grant improved aim, but let's put it another way:

It's not a living focus.  It isn't even an agent with a "pilot" rating.  It can't "see" or "aim".  Yes, it helps in melee combat.  One could say it gives a random chance of increasing the damage (rather than it's improving your aim per se) against the opponent -- like it has an Oomph!™ behind it that is lacking in a normal 'dane weapon.  Because the effect of adding dice is not only improved chance of hitting (tru that...) but in the long run improved chance of bashing the fragger's brains out (and isn't that why we care?).

But the focus is part of your own aura field, when it's juiced up.  Leave it home and it's a piece of slag any joe can pick up and walk away with.  It contains a portion of your own will that -- perhaps through the power of intention & belief that fuels every tradition & magic itself -- has somewhat improved aim and damage (face it, you get 1 extra success per 3 dice on average....so a power rating 6 focus will tend to give you 2 more successes... not exactly a vorpral sword going snick-snack or anything...not even a vorpral bunny.).

So, sure, enchant a gun.  Especially if you're a gunslinger.  It will be handy when someone underestimates your melee ability and you snick-snack your gun up their nose before pulling the trigger and braining them from the inside -- because it WILL increase the chance that you can shove the barrel up their nose.  Pull that one off, the GM may spontaneously rule that you get a few increased aim bonuses before you pull the trigger in the next IP.  Just remember to wipe their boogers off the gun when you're done.

But when you say to the gun "hey, help me aim" when you want to shoot the guy across the street, the gun goes "Huh?" because really that's about the limit of its intelligence rating.  "Me bash.  Me bash.  Me slice.  Me chop-chop."  It doesn't even make it to the Barbarian Counting System (One, two, many, many-many, lots, run-away.).

And that is why a gun weapon-focus doesn't help you shoot anything.

[Lethe]

The way i see it, weapon foci do 2 things-
1.They deliver a jolt of magical force/amplify your strength upon hittinh
2.They guide your hand.

Sorry, no guiding, only adding power.

Weapon foci add magical power to an Awakened character’s melee attacks. [...] The character still relies on her Physical attributes and skills in combat.

Therefore not working with ranged weapons.

[All4BigGuns]

Not to mention that if some mage ever did find out a focus formula that would work on a ranged weapon, a LOT of corps would be out to kill said mage and take the formula because they could make oh so much cred off that shyte.

[Crash_00]

How is having stat and skill at 9 not min-maxing?

Min Maxing you can easily get a stat to 12 and a skill at 10. Adding in Smartlink and a 4 weapon focus that's 30 dice. That's before aiming to add another five (half the skill of 10) and specializing to get up to 37. If you're an elf, you can get Agility to 15 min/maxing which would put the total up to 40. Throw in a rating 4 TacNet which you can pull off on your own with lots of drones and suddenly you're rolling 44 dice to blow things away. I'd say that in the realm of min/maxing 28 is a long way from 40-44. (Difference of 4-5 hits there)

[Stahlseele]

Wasn't there something about getting bonus dice in force from the focus to the skill being used to wield the focus?

[Crash_00]

Weapon Foci grant a number of dice to the skill being used equal to the force of the weapon foci. That is all they do other than allowing the damage of things affected normally by magic. Weapon Foci can only be melee weapons though.

[JustADude]

How is having stat and skill at 9 not min-maxing?

Here, for reference, is what I came up with after about 30 seconds of poking around with Chummer. Could probably use deltaware to scrape out a few more dice using a Pixie or a Shifter, but that'd be really cheesy.

Agility:
5 = Natural Softcap
6 = Elf
7  = SURGE: Metagenetic Improvement (Agility)
8  = Genetic Heritage: Genetic Optimization (Agility)
9 = Suprathyroid Gland
13 = Muscle Toner 4

Skill:
6 = Base
7 = Aptitude
10 = Improved Ability (Appropriate Gun) 3

Total Pool:
23 = Agil 13 + Skill 10
25 = Specialty
27 = Smartlink
32 = Take Aim x 5 (assuming Improved Ability counts towards the Aim limit, otherwise 30 = TA x 3)

[All4BigGuns]

How is having stat and skill at 9 not min-maxing?

Here, for reference, is what I came up with after about 30 seconds of poking around with Chummer. Could probably use deltaware to scrape out a few more dice using a Pixie or a Shifter, but that'd be really cheesy.

Agility:
5 = Natural Softcap
6 = Elf
7  = SURGE: Metagenetic Improvement (Agility)
8  = Genetic Heritage: Genetic Optimization (Agility)
9 = Suprathyroid Gland
13 = Muscle Toner 4

Skill:
6 = Base
7 = Aptitude
10 = Improved Ability (Appropriate Gun) 3

Total Pool:
23 = Agil 13 + Skill 10
25 = Specialty
27 = Smartlink
32 = Take Aim x 5 (assuming Improved Ability counts towards the Aim limit, otherwise 30 = TA x 3)

Damn, and I thought my character Sidhe with 22 dice firing a pistol was accurate. (She doesn't have the genetech Agi boost, Aptitude nor is she an Adept--thus no Improved Ability).

[JustADude]

Damn, and I thought my character Sidhe with 22 dice firing a pistol was accurate. (She doesn't have the genetech Agi boost, Aptitude nor is she an Adept--thus no Improved Ability).

22's Good 'Nuff by almost any standard. This, is in the realm of purely theoretical cheese right here.

And, speaking of cheese... if you want to really dig into the cheddar you can use a Seal Shapeshifter (Initiate until you can get Improved Agility 5 to replace the 'ware) with the same setup for an extra 3 dice.

EDIT: Fixed reference to using Deltaware. Forgot Shifters can't use their implants while humanoid.

[All4BigGuns]

Damn, and I thought my character Sidhe with 22 dice firing a pistol was accurate. (She doesn't have the genetech Agi boost, Aptitude nor is she an Adept--thus no Improved Ability).

22's Good 'Nuff by almost any standard. This, is in the realm of purely theoretical cheese right here.

And, speaking of cheese... if you want to really dig into the cheddar you can use a Seal Shapeshifter (Initiate until you can get Improved Agility 5 to replace the 'ware) with the same setup for an extra 3 dice.

EDIT: Fixed reference to using Deltaware. Forgot Shifters can't use their implants while humanoid.

She's in a PbP on here, so it may take a while, but I do plan on looking into buying Exceptional Attribute (Agility), Aptitude (Pistols) and the Genetic Optimization (Agility) at some point, though that would be rather gross, considering she's already a SURGEd Elf.

[Mäx]

How is having stat and skill at 9 not min-maxing?

Cos neither of those is even really maxed and there are lots of other thinks to do to boost shooting pool even more.
An example of actually min-maxed shooter is:
Best shooter in the world:
Surged elf adept with
Agility 15 (Metagenetic Improvement (Agility) + Exceptional Attribute (Agility)+ Genetic Optimization (Agility)+ Muscle Toner 4 + Suprathyroid Gland)
Gun skill (spec) 6
Improved Combat Ability (Gun skill) 3
Smartlink
Tacnet 4

15+8+3+2+4= 32

[Tsuzua]

Even if you're not planning on paying the price for the 32 dice, you can still get a respectable roll.

Agility 5 character + Weapon Skill 6 + Spec 2 + Muscle Toner 2 + Smartlink 2 is 17 dice which is enough to hit the vast majority of people even with called shots.  And requires nothing fancy or any surcharges.  During play, you can easily grab Muscle Toner 4, a Reflex Recorder, and join a TacNet for 24 dice.