As has been pointed out, a Druidic focus and a holy symbol are distinct from an arcane focus, but given they all perform essentially the same function, and the same issues probably apply to all of them, I’m going to leave this question broad to apply to all foci.
At the core, I believe my questions are:
- is a focus any item of a suitable class (staff, wand, etc) which the caster is somehow “attuned to” (in the general sense, not the 5e mechanics sense), or is it a specific property of certain specific items (ie a staff must be specifically manufactured as a focus to be one)?
- if only certain items can be a focus, is there any mechanism to make an item into a focus (e.g. similar to how a weapon can be silvered)
Details for my specific issues:
One of my players (Druid) started at L1 with a Druidic focus (staff). Later they picked up a better staff (staff of bird calls), with some magic capabilities.
Can they use the magic staff as their Druidic focus, or do they have to carry around their starting staff forever?
Similarly I have a sorcerer who’s picked up a staff of defence. Does he need to hold both staves to use the staff of defence’s capabilities and to cast magic using his arcane focus staff, or can he somehow designate / transfer the focus to the staff of defence?
I’m going to have a similar issue with a paladin player who has their Holy Symbol on their shield, as soon as they find a +1 shield. Will they have to choose between using the +1 shield for the AC bonus and their original shield to be able to cast? Or can they ‘swap’ the holy symbol onto the new shield? Would this require a blacksmith or a ceremony or something?
Best Answer
- is a focus any item of a suitable class (staff, wand, etc) which the caster is somehow “attuned to” (in the general sense, not the 5e mechanics sense), or is it a specific property of certain specific items (ie a staff must be specifically manufactured as a focus to be one)?
In the PHB (and Basic Rules), the description of arcane focus items says:
Jeremy Crawford was asked on twitter:
Trying to reason out his conclusion, we can assume that is because a wand that casts spells is "a wand-like length of wood... designed to channel the power of arcane spells".
It seems fair to apply the same to magic staffs. If you wanted to split hairs, you could say that only staffs that cast spells are capable of being used as an arcane focus. Or you could be lenient and say that all magic staffs can.
A druidic focus is harder to substitute.
Any wand that is not described otherwise could be assumed to be "made of yew or another special wood", but it is unlikely that your average staff was "drawn whole out of a living tree".
(A lenient DM may allow any nature-related staff to be used as a druidic focus, but this is not going strictly by the books.)
And it is also possible for a wand (and maybe a staff) to qualify as both Arcane and Druidic focus.
- if only certain items can be a focus, is there any mechanism to make an item into a focus (e.g. similar to how a weapon can be silvered)
So far, there are no rules detailing specifically how a focus item is created. But there are general rules for crafting mundane and magical items.
In the case of a shield holy symbol, "A holy symbol ... might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic." Presumably, a player could ask someone with the right skills to engrave or inlay their holy emblem on their shield. I assume the cost would be the listed cost for buying a holy symbol.