[Sawrock]

I would treat that situation the same way with someone that has low strength stat-wise but roleplays otherwise, or someone that has low celerity but roleplays as dodging really well- it goes foul of having abilities your character doesn't actually have (as per Rule 3 on the old wiki, or admittedly more vaguely as per the new wiki and forums). There's already a connection for how mechanics tie to roleplay (redtails are lucky, glykins are immune to poison, etc). In my humble opinion, it is advantageous to have mechanics tied to roleplay, to better enhance them. Focus is a tangible thing in this world, and while it might not be literal discrete numbers in-lore, it is still a force measured by the game system nonetheless.

I get where you're coming from, but there's a difference between someone roleplaying a spell they don't have icly for metagame reasons and the number crunch not lining up perfectly with what your concept for a character is. One's an organic limitation, the other's an arbitrarily enforced one. Focus is a tangible thing in the the world and having it pigeonholed by something that forces people into a corner creatively makes for a stifling rp experience.

I do like the idea of focus sensing though. Maybe as a setting one could manipulate, or as it's already done by some, as something more consistently placed front and center in a charecter's profile. As it stands, there's nothing keeping you from emoting that you're sending feelers out to sense people's focus levels.

Stats are exactly similar to how abilities and spells someone has are treated- Dev has clarified what stats can be used for what feats in-game, for example with what 60 strength can do here.

Stats CAN be used for feats, yes. But do they HAVE to be? That's a slope I don't really like rolling down because then a frail kensei that's supposed to be portrayed as weak and dainty but skilled with a blade that takes high str for a katana build mechanically will be incongruous with the character concept due to mechanical junk.

In my preference, they would use something that scales off of GUI or SKI and make the build work as best they could. For example, when I played Uncle Kenn, I used a dancing shiv with ghost/void assassin, because he couldn't be a kensei due to no katanas at the time scaling off of non-strength stats, he's a frail old man, and also because he used a shortsword, which uses piercing strikes instead of slashing. I saw what was available to me and realized what options I could not take, and did what I could. In fact, not only do his stat match his abilities, he also has his abilities match what his IC is- Uncle Kenn uses absolutely no void in his void assassin skills.

The restrictions are good to avoid poor roleplay- having too many in-lore stats can get closer to godmodding, and while your example of having effectively less stats in-lore is not nearly as problematic, it can still be a concern for other examples.