Boon Focus, Multi-Target Boon Specialist and Multi-Target Boon Expert Interaction

[Seraphim755]

Hey all! I’ve been running OL campaigns for the last 9 months or and it’s my favorite TTRPG system I’ve yet used. I’m getting the chance to play in a single player campaign soon, but I need a little help figuring out how things will work for my level 10 Summoner.

Here’s the important feat breakdown:

• Boon Focus tier 3, Summon Creature
• Multi-Target Boon Specialist 2
• Multi-Target Boon Expert
• Entropy 9
  So, let’s say my character wants to summon 4 creatures in a round. Here’s the advantage and disadvantage breakdown:
• Disadvantage 6 for the summon (2x each additional creature summoned, per the Summon Creature Boon description).
• Advantage 4 from Boon Focus 3.
• Advantage 2 from Multi-Target Boon Specialist 2.

This is a net adv/dis of 0. Here’s my question: do I roll dice or do I not roll dice? The phrasing of Multi-Target Boon Expert says,

… you do not need to make an action roll if the disadvantage normally incurred from multi-targeting is completely negated by your Multi-Target Boon Specialist feat. Your invocation automatically succeeds.

Does the order in which disadvantage is negated matter? For instance, if I apply the 4 advantage from BF3 and then count the 2 advantage from MTBS2, would I need to roll dice? Does MTBE mean that MTBS has to cancel out the disadvantage in its entirety without even considering the bonus conferred by BF3?

How would all of you read this situation? Thanks in advance for the input!

[Willion]

I would say that because you have to have Boon Focus on a boon in order to use the Multi-Target Boon Expert, that the advantage from Boon Focus would count towards the net adv/dis.

[Willion]

For each additional creature summoned beyond the first, you suffer an ADDITIONAL disadvantage 2 on your action roll to invoke.

So I think you are not calculating the disadvantage correctly. 1 per creature(normal disadvantage) plus 2 for each past the first(additional disadvantage).
4 disadvantage for summoning 2
7 disadvantage for summoning 3

Atless that is the way I read it.

P.S.
Sorry for the double post

[SamWilby]

I’ve answered @Seraphim755 on Discord, but just to correct this for anyone else reading:

For each additional creature summoned beyond the first, you suffer an additional disadvantage 2 on your action roll to invoke.

This means that your invocation roll suffers an extra 2 disadvantage per additional creature, not that it adds to the regular multi-targeting disadvantage.

…you do not need to make an action roll if the disadvantage normally incurred from multi-targeting is completely negated by your Multi-Target Boon Specialist feat.

This specifically calls out the negation by Multi-target Boon Specialist because that’s what the feat counts. Boon Focus is not mentioned in the effect because it does not count towards this negation. Boon Focus is a prerequisite because it allows you to invoke without rolling, not because it negates disadvantage.

---

So for the original example:

• 4 advantage from Boon Focus 3
• 2 negated disadvantage from Multi-target Boon Specialist 2

Summoning 2 creatures would be at disadvantage 2, which is negated so no roll is needed.
Summoning 3 creatures would be at disadvantage 4, which is not negated so a roll is needed. This roll is at advantage 2 due to the advantage from Boon Focus.
Summoning 4 creatures would be at disadvantage 6, which is not negated so a roll is needed. The roll occurs with no disadvantage.
…and so on.

I hope this clears things up.

[Duesterwald]

Another question would be: since one instance can be sustained for free, could the summoner haste 6 themselves for an additional major action and perform two aut-succeding summonings (since the invocation time is reduced from focus to major action), and henceforth sustain both summoning boons? If they had superior concentration and haste 8, could they perform this trick even three times in a single turn and keep all of them sustained?

[VanGo]

Sure, but it’s actually much easier to showcase this scenario with other boons instead of Summon Creature, because you can take out Haste out of the equation. Lets take Bolster example:

Combat starts --> Bolster yourself for free as a Minor Action (because Boon Focus 2 makes Major Action Invocations into Minor Action Invocation) and Bolster another ally as a Major Action. The first one can be sustained for free with Boon Focus 3 and the second one is sustained regularely via the Sustain Minor action.

If a character has haste on them, they invoke it an aditional time per round, but would need Tiers of Superiour Concentration to sustain invocations after the first 2.

[Duesterwald]

Ahh, well… I wasn’t aware that it is possible to choose to cast a boon-focus-quickened spell as a major action. I am not aware that it says so anywhere in the rules

However, this begs the next question: if you invoke a boon with normal invocation time major or move action as a focus action, giving it advantage 1, would the boon focus II reduce this to major action?

[VanGo]

Ahh, well… I wasn’t aware that it is possible to choose to cast a boon-focus-quickened spell as a major action. I am not aware that it says so anywhere in the rules

I’m not sure I understand what you mean here. You can always cast your boons regularely, so the rules apply as always, meaning Boon Focus is only a cherry on top of the cake, giving you the option to instead or additionally cast it for X action.

However, this begs the next question: if you invoke a boon with normal invocation time major or move action as a focus action, giving it advantage 1, would the boon focus II reduce this to major action?

No. Boon Focus in no way, shape or form interacts with Focus Actions (actually very few things do), as Superior Actions are defined as the following:

Using a focus action involves spending all of your energy and attention on one task. If you choose to forgo your major, move, and minor actions for a round, you may instead take a focus action.

This means you use all your actions for that action, no matter if the original action would be a minor, move or major action otherwise.

[SamWilby]

To clarify that last point, Boon Focus 2 would reduce a boon’s invocation time from a focus action to a major, but does not affect superior actions as that is not actually the invocation time; the invocation time is only the action type explicitly mentioned in the rules for each boon.