[Sawrock]

This doesn't compare to quiet person. Quiet person hinders roleplay, while this one only adds to it. Knowing someone's focus levels doesn't actually do anything for you mechanically

Also yeah we should have a similar trait to see how many inks they spent in stat points, using vague messages like "this person has a mysterious power to them"

Unless you have more than them, which would say "wow, this person is incredibly mundane". And then That Which Speaks beats them up for their coins.

[Skullcatrons]

This doesn't compare to quiet person. Quiet person hinders roleplay, while this one only adds to it. Knowing someone's focus levels doesn't actually do anything for you mechanically

Also yeah we should have a similar trait to see how many inks they spent in stat points, using vague messages like "this person has a mysterious power to them"

Unless you have more than them, which would say "wow, this person is incredibly mundane". And then That Which Speaks beats them up for their coins.

I'll play a devil's advocate since I know what Rendar is going for here.

Focus-sensing can give you a massive advantage in at least determining their level. If you have a certain set amount of focus, and you examine someone else. And if they have less because of level constraints. You could bandit 'em down, and make their leveling experience stinky.

So if I have 250~ focus, and I see that someone sits at like 50% less than me (125), the coinflip will generally be that this is a new leveling character, or someone is playing a basic attacker. 

Regardless I like the focus trait. A lot. 
But I can see what Rendar is saying.

[MegaBlues]

I feel like this is something to leave for people to put in their profiles at their discretion.

[Rendar]

Or if I see someone with 2x my focus at 300 personal, I know they're a FAI/WIL or FAI/SAN/WIL build.

[MothEnthusiast]

To the above point, I think this might unintentionally promote the hot-swapping of items based on opponent. You already have access to, at bare minimum, the weapon and armor types of your opponent. If you then further have how much focus they have, you have a lot more information about what their build potentially is.

It's a cool idea, but I'd rather not have to deal with it personally.

[Sawrock]

This doesn't compare to quiet person. Quiet person hinders roleplay, while this one only adds to it. Knowing someone's focus levels doesn't actually do anything for you mechanically

Also yeah we should have a similar trait to see how many inks they spent in stat points, using vague messages like "this person has a mysterious power to them"

Unless you have more than them, which would say "wow, this person is incredibly mundane". And then That Which Speaks beats them up for their coins.

I'll play a devil's advocate since I know what Rendar is going for here.

Focus-sensing can give you a massive advantage in at least determining their level. If you have a certain set amount of focus, and you examine someone else. And if they have less because of level constraints. You could bandit 'em down, and make their leveling experience stinky.

So if I have 250~ focus, and I see that someone sits at like 50% less than me (125), the coinflip will generally be that this is a new leveling character, or someone is playing a basic attacker. 

Regardless I like the focus trait. A lot. 
But I can see what Rendar is saying.

Completely understandable in those worries- it would be troublesome if someone used it as a source of harassment. At the very least the version I would want would use current focus and not maximum focus, so it wouldn't be 100% a guarantee, but seeing as how most people walk around at full focus it would usually be easy to pinpoint builds/levels.

The sort of roleplay I would be hoping for WOULD be in a similar vein. Let's say you're a member of the law hunting down a mage, and you see the mage's focus is overwhelming compared to your own. That can make for some good pre-combat roleplay.

As I figure those expertised in focus would be able to determine how much others have compared to their own, my goal in suggesting this is for there to be more organic interactions. The alternative, where people write their own characters have overwhelming or underwhelming focus in their profiles has only a singular perspective in mind- it does not take into account who is viewing the focus in the first place.

[MothEnthusiast]

Could have a trait that's the exact opposite, if you really wanted. Instead of a sensory trait, make it a flex trait. A trait that makes YOUR focus reserves show in relation to others when they examine you, or mouse over you, or something. That way if you ARE a really powerful mage that wants to show that off, you can. Or if you're really meek / have no focus pool but want to show off that you don't need focus, you can take it. Though with this variant I'd say don't have any requirements on the trait.

[Rendar]

Could have a trait that's the exact opposite, if you really wanted. Instead of a sensory trait, make it a flex trait. A trait that makes YOUR focus reserves show in relation to others when they examine you, or mouse over you, or something. That way if you ARE a really powerful mage that wants to show that off, you can. Or if you're really meek / have no focus pool but want to show off that you don't need focus, you can take it. Though with this variant I'd say don't have any requirements on the trait.

I actually really like this. It's a complete flex trait, rather than a "I'm going to get metagamed" trait.

[Maromar158]

This ties mechanics to roleplay. I'm not really sure if I like it. I can see situations where a player wants to rp a character with a big focus pool but can't access it as a str/luck/gui maxer without any will/faith/san to write home about being told by people that's never met them that their focus levels are small.

[Poruku]

I can see situations where a player wants to rp a character with a big focus pool but can't access it as a str/luck/gui maxer without any will/faith/san

To me this is the crux of it. For this reason I would agree it's best to leave it to rp. I generally prefer when mechanics influence rp, but in this case it's something about the characters themselves that I think the players should be writing