Magical Focus

I'm with Berengar. That's way beyond the scope of a magical focus.

You should choose your focus cleverly - vitality also can be a minor focus and give bonuses against aging. :wink:

I don't want it to be a major focus. Actually my magus isn't a healer but he wants to be a perfect human. Longevity is a part of this business. Some people live a very long time naturally and magic can improve this ability.
This concept is from Aristotle's theory of ideas. If I remember right. :laughing:

My character with this focus could improve plants, animals, the soil, clean springs, maybe give healing bonuses etc.
I think this is also part of the field of a minor focus, because perfection is smaller than an art (Creo).

Healing is not a useful focus anyway. There aren't high level spells to learn or the need of penetration. 'Restore damaged things and beings' would be also a minor focus IMO. If I can attach healing to my perfection focus than I could take the 'Restore damaged things and beings' part, too.
Both of them are only parts of Creo. Creation isn't involved in this focus.

After thinking you have right. I can add healing/restoration to the perfection focus. Supposing my SG allows it.

How about "self-improvement" ? That limits yourself to CrCo, with a bit of occasional MuCo, and so would be a minor focus.

Yep. I thought of that later.

Two ways round that...
First, since we defined the focus, we can HR what it does or does not effect (refine the definition). Since the second option (below) is currently in use, we haven't had to refine the definition yet (meaning I personally have kind of refined the definition but haven't sorted out how to describe it yet).
Second, The Magus simply doesn't do (create) small spells. Anything under level 35 (or the maximum he can manage in his main 3 or 4 Arts) he sort of considers as 'beneath him'. To add to that, the spells that are 'repeat attempts' are all non-combat types spells - the sort where you either don't need penetration very often or can do some research etc to get massive penetration boosts anyway.

The main use so far has been lab work for inventing level 40-60 CrCo and CrMe rituals - so a time saver more than anything else.

It is kind of moot, as the saga has almost died even through email now.

I guess I should of pointed out that it is slightly refined but I'd actually forgotten and just described the original definition. It just seemed to fit how he has acted in the past without changing the character too much.

Corbon

My aim is taking parts of CrCo and CrMe.

I read again the definitions in the book. Your suggestion is very good, althrough I don't want to limit my focus to my character. This way he must invent all the spells to this process. If he find a spell similar than Gift of Reason he cannot learn it with the help of his focus because they may have broader range than personal (Gift of Reason R: touch). And making longevity rituals to others would also be a part of my scope.

Reading again the rules the general perfection seems to be a major focus. Maybe the "improvement of people" would be the solution with CrCo and CrMe effects. Healing isn't part of improvement.

If you wanted it to be a Minor focus, I would impose that limit.

Someone with a focus in "self-transformation" has exactly the same problem. Personal-range variants certainly exist, developed as a stepping stone for the higher-level versions: it is easier to raise your own Int first and take advantage of the similar spell bonus than to directly invent the touch-range version.

A longevity ritual doesn't improve a person, it prevents them from getting any worse. I would rule out self-improvement and "perfection". Achieving immortality through the Greater Elixir would be covered. The other methods are more transformations than improvement/perfection although Ascendency to the Hall of Heroes come close but would probably get ruled out because it is a minor focus (interpret minor focuses strictly and major focuses loosely).

Definitely.

It is. "Improvement of people" is a superset of healing. Heck, even Intellego spells that grant new senses could be interpreted as improvements.

I don't think so. E.g. with healing minor focus you can heal others and yourself, too.

Yes, but one can choose "transformation of people" instead of "self-transformation". This focus also part of MuCo and surely can be a minor focus.
I don't understand the reason of Mentem in self-transformation anyway. Why is it so good if a magus changes his own memories or emotions?

I see longevity as an ability. Some people can live 100 years, others not.

What is the Greater Elixir?
What meaning has this Ascendency? Power or something like enlightment?

Maybe this "perfection of people" focus can cover my aims:
1st improving stats of people
2nd longevity
3rd anything else I can construe into this minor focus.

But I can use also the word 'development'. After all we don't play in English.

But that isn't how longevity rituals work: they explicitely counter the effects of aging, rather than acting to increase your longevity. They would otherwise have a momentary duration and not cause yearly warping.

People's "natural" longevity would be associated with their Stamina and relevant virtues/flaws.

Both are means to achieve immortality presented in The Mysteries Revised Edition. The Greater Elixir is the alchemical route while Ascendency is, loosely speaking, elevation to godhood. The third option (Living Ghost) involves dying, so that's hardly an improvement of your condition. HoH Mystery Cults also gives you the opportunity to become a faerie.

I wouldn't give you all this for a minor focus. Other people may rule otherwise.

I think if your opinion would be the true in the case the Ritual would need ReCo Lab total and not CrCo.
Creo is associated with creation, improvement and repair.

This ReCo combination also would have some sense, keeping the life force would have rather a rego effect IMO but the book suggests CrCo.

This is a valid argument. I'll counter by pointing out that "preventing decay" is a level 2 CrCo or CrAn guideline - I see "preventing aging" as similar. Aging someone past adulthood is a Perdo effect, since it represents a worsening. It makes sense that countering that aging be Creo.
Actual improvement, which would fall under your focus, would involve actually making one younger. As for Rego, unfortunately, it is limited to performing changes that would be natural, and "not aging" is unfortunately not one of them.
And finally, I'm sticking by the rule of thumb that a minor focus should be interpreted narrowly. If you had an identically formulated major focus (ignoring for a moment the fact that you could use a much broader formulation), I would likely let you include longevity in its scope. But for a minor focus, I think it is an excessive demand.