With all due respect, RAW they are not kosher, imo. They would have been in 3rd ed, as anything "X-themed" was good to go, but the concept has changed since then.
While the definition is vague, it is specific on one thing - "a fairly limited area". Waving your hands and rubber-stamping any effect with "wolfiness" is not what is described, RAW. Because there is nothing "fairly limited" about your focus if it covers anything and everything from ranged attack spells to crafting weapons to changing emotions to travel to creating any structure you please to... what could NOT be included?
I've heard wolves howl in the wild - I find nothing "scary" about them. Mournful, soulful, haunting, sure. A skunk is scary, a wolf howl... not necessarily, not more than a dog barking. It's an animal - responses will differ.
But please don't pretend that this is how the rules read, and confuse people that your interpretation is canon - it's how you are house-ruling them.
Wolves are scary. I think skunks are cool. But then again, I am a hippie and the scent reminds me of something pleasent :mrgreen:
But anyways, though I also think Xavi is a little loose (as well as totally insane), I do see where he is coming from. He is not assigning anything "wolf themed" to the focus. He said himself that wolf-shaped fireballs and storm-clouds would be purely cosmetic and not covered by the focus. But anything that definately includes wolf or wolf by products does count. This includes a fear spell that involves making yourself physically look like a wolf, but not a simple imaginem spell that creates a scary wolf howl. I would say you need something solid-wolf about the spell. Shapechanging counts, even if it is just an incidental addition to the main effect of the spell. Rain of wolf teeth counts. A sword or knife made of wolf bone counts (though these would be very inferior weapons), creating a cloak of wolf fur counts, anything that involves the physical matter of a wolf will count. And even at that, he is still restricting himself because a Minor Focus in all cannines is possible.
So, though I do agree he may be pushing the idea a bit far, he can make a sound argument that it does indeed fit the example of RAW. I don't necessarilly agree with the full extent of his reasoning. I am simply saying it is a legitimate PoV.
Just checked the character (I hardly ever play him since I am the alpha SG).
All the spells that got the wolf focus are Animal spells or have a strong animal requisite. The mentem spell mentioned above does not have the wolf focus included, even if it has the cosmetic effect of the howl.
It is indeed Point of View, and in role playing all are legitimate if only ebecause everyone enjoys something different and no one can say what is "fun" for another. But I do not find the argument "sound".
Something about Conjuring the Mystic Tower of Wolf Bones, or a Pilum of Wolf-Teeth just doesn't feel right. To me.
Maybe if the spells had adquate "complexity" and requisites - but it was the absolute statement "According to RAW all the above effects are 100% kosher, though, since "wolfness" is an integral part of the spell" that worried me. It's one interpretation, nothing more, just as mine is. And it's up to each to weigh those for themselves and their own sagas.
For my it's simple, a object made of body parts, crafted human bodies or things like that is a good minor focus for me, since that no cover either live bodies nor un crafted dead bodies...
