While looking at options for creating a Wild Shaping character I ran into this weirdness.
Situation one: Level 6 Druid selecting Wild Shape focused feats.
Focus pool: 1
Situation two: Level 6 Fighter selects Multiclass feats for Druid.
Level 2: Druid Dedication (wild order)
Level 4: Basic Wilding (Wild Shape)
Level 6: Order Spell
Focus pool: 2
Situation three: Level 6 Fighter selects Multiclass feats for Druid.
Level 2: Druid Dedication (wild order)
Level 4: Order Spell
Level 6: Basic Wilding (Wild Shape)
Focus pool: 1
This doesn't seem right. I'm pretty sure rules wise it's straight, but it shouldn't be. The order you select the feats shouldn't alter your character statistics. And gaining the same abilities through multiclassing shouldn't give you more focus points than gaining the abilities through your class.
Opening the conversation further to the general focus pool rules, I think this section of the book could strongly benefit from Errata, as it is currently it is very confusing. All of the abilities which say "If you don’t already have one, you gain a focus pool of 1 Focus Point, which you can Refocus" granting the player an additional point in their pool is not at all obvious from straight reading. This caveat in theory helps for when players are multiclassing, to remind them they gain a focus pool now but doesn't directly state anything about increasing your pool size, yet from the sidebar example we know that it does. But on the flip side a feat like Wild Shape, which doesn't include this reminder line about gaining a pool also doesn't grant a point in your pool if you already have one, but due to general focus spell rules does grant a point if they don't have one. All of this despite the "If you don't already have one" wording, which STRONGLY implies that you get nothing if you already have pool. It all seems very circuitous and wrong.
Suggestion: Currently the rules for Focus spells and Focus pools are written in a very, "I before E except after C" sorta general rule which is than caveat'd in most of the abilities and feats which grant focus points. That is, they are assumed to not give you another focus point unless there is a line that says they do, however, I think by far most of them do, wouldn't it have been easier on word count and less focusing to put in the general rules for focus spells and pools a few line for this and let specific feats/abilities negate the general rules instead.
For instance under the "Focus Spells" section on page 300:
1. All characters which gain a focus spell and don't already have a focus pool gain a focus pool and can use the refocus activity.
2. All characters which gain a focus spell and already have focus pool from another ability/feat increase the size of their focus pool by 1, unless that abilities says otherwise.
3. No character may have more than 3 focus points in their pool.
After this change you would simple have to add "This ability does not increase the size of your focus pool" to any abilities you are intending to have such a limitation on, while removing the "If you don't already have one" lines. I think this would alleviate quite a lot of confusion.
PS. A Storm Order druid starts with 2 points in its focus pool. The Wind Caller feat requires Storm Order and increases your pool size by one. The Invoke Disaster feat requires the Wind Caller feat and also increases your pool size by one. Every Storm Druid which takes these feats overcaps their Focus pool despite the feats being limited to them. Just seemed funny.
