Expending Your Psionic Focus, A Psionic's Debate

[Gotterdammerung]

I have noticed very different wording in the feats that correspond to psionic focus. The wording has very direct implications. I will explain the direct implications. I was curious what the playground felt about the Rules As Intended on this subject.

Psionic focus feats have a couple of reoccurring phrases with very different meanings.

A). "To use this feat, you must expend your psionic focus..."

B). "When you expend your focus..."

C). "If you expend your focus when manifesting that power...."


My first question, and the rules are kind of unclear on this, do you think you can expend your psionic focus to fuel multiple feats with wording A).
If not, then why, what stops you from being able to do so. To use the feat, you must expend your focus, all relevant feats will ask, "Did you expend your focus?" The answer is "Yes, I expended my focus."

Observing B). and C)., the wording is slightly different and implies the feat is not actually fueled by the psionic focus itself. It only asks if you expended your focus, but makes no mention of the expenditure actually fueling the feats ability.

Do you think feats with the wording of B). and C). automatically activate when a psionic focus is expended to fuel a separate ability? Could you expend your psionic focus to auto succeed on a concentration check to cast a spell defensively and then automatically activate Visceral Surge and Midnight Augmentation?

If no, then why?
Visceral Surge is accessible "when you expend your psionic focus", which you did.
Midnight Augmentation is accessible "if you expend your focus when manifesting" a specific power, which you did.






P.S. I think that by RAW it is pretty clear because none of the grammar is exclusive. But I am more interested in peoples opinions on R.A.I.
In other words, how do you think the designers intended for it to work? Looking forward to a lively debate on the topic. Try to be civil about it. It is more a curiousity/grammar debate.

[Fouredged Sword]

Be mindful of action requirements.

C allows for multiples that all can be applied to that particular spell.

A is beholden to the action of using the feat.

B could be added as a rider on other effects.

[Jeraa]

Many psionic feats can be used only when you are psionically focused; others require you to expend your psionic focus to gain their benefit. Expending your psionic focus does not require an action; it is part of another action (such as using a feat). When you expend your psionic focus, it applies only to the action for which you expended it.

It seems pretty clear that expending your psionic focus only activates one ability, not all abilities you have that require you to expend your focus.

Also, on page 34 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook (but not in the SRD*), there is the Epic Psionic Focus feat, whose only purpose is to allow you to expend your psionic focus to power 2 feats that require you to expend your focus at the same time.

*Edit: Nevermind. It is in the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#epicPsionicFocus), just the Epic section, and not the Psionic section.

[Yora]

I know for certain that at least in Pathfinder, it explicitly says that you can only activate a single ability every time you expend your focus, and never more than that.

And I feel quite certain that rule also exists in the XPH.

From the SRD:
When you expend your psionic focus, it applies only to the action for which you expended it.

And if you want to be super pedantic rules-lawyering, it says "action" not "actions".

[Jeraa]

I know for certain that at least in Pathfinder, it explicitly says that you can only activate a single ability every time you expend your focus, and never more than that.

And I feel quite certain that rule also exists in the XPH.


Its not Open Content (examples generally aren't), but the XPH (page 39) does say:

When you expend your psionic focus, it applies only to the action for which you expended it. For example, if you use the Deep Impact feat (which requires you to expend your psionic focus), you cannot use the Psionic Weapon feat for the same attack, because you expended your focus to use Deep Impact.

[Gotterdammerung]

These points clearly solve the issue of example A).

But they do not prevent the activation of examples B). and C). which are not fueled directly by the expenditure of a focus. These examples only check to see if an expenditure was made but do not require that the expenditure be made to fuel the feat. By their wording they don't even allow you to expend your focus simply for the purpose of charging the feat.

For example, by raw, you couldn't expend your focus simply to fuel midnight augmentation because midnight augmentation has no text allowing you to do so. You would have to expend your psionic focus to fuel a legitimate receptacle for a psionic focus. Once you spent said focus, you would then meet the trigger criteria to activate midnight augmentation.