Sorry for the wait on this one, I've had a weird several weeks. So without further ado, another pillar of Cauldron's game mechanics- FOCUS!
In nature, a lot of survival is done by not fighting at all and many of the most incredible adaptations in our world are meant for fright and subterfuge, finishing a fight before it can ever come to blows. Some systems treat these sorts of tactics as various forms of debuff and such, but for Cauldron, we treat it as a core gameplay mechanic alongside HP, where you can specialize in, for example, terrorizing opponents out of fight. This is because alongside hit points, you also get focus points.
Hitting zero focus doesn't immediately take you out of a fight (but it might be wise to do) but instead, at half or less focus, your monster has to make focus checks to correctly carry out actions, modified by its focus penalty (determined by what fraction of focus remains) and your empathy bonus.
Your trainer can also lose focus, but effects like this are proportionally rarer and/or weaker, given that it can have a significant impact on your ability to do anything.
Unlike physical attacks however focus attacks are not universal; because you are appealing to a monster's perception it may for example totally ignore your startling visage if it just can't see anything anyway. All focus attacks are tagged with the sense they target.
Some physical attacks may damage focus as well as they cause pain, which mostly can't be resisted in the same way as a visually-targeted focus attack. These effects are listed as targeting the "nervous" sense.
Like physical attacks, focus attacks come in a variety of flavors-
Allure- distraction via appearance of food or sex
Dazzle- pretty or overwhelming effects
Irk- annoying, itchy feelings or grating sounds; can also refer to pain
Confound- it's difficult to react to something that is totally unexpected or unrecognizable
Frighten- fear is well-known to impede proper function even in rational beings
Jump- a separate type because no amount of bravery prepares you for a good jump scare
Daze- focus damage from a physical problem such as a concussion, suffocation, or a psychotropic toxin
Exertion- focus damage you've done to yourself straining to outperform
All focus damage except Daze/Exertion is listed as a type and a sense, for example "allure/visual", and some effects CAN target multiple senses or have multiple types- one unusual attack targets "frighten+confound/visual+tremorsense"
Daze and Exertion damage don't come with a sense tag because they target your mind directly, and thusly this damage can't be resisted. However, daze effects are always tied to a physical attack you may be able to resist instead. Exertion can never be resisted unless an effect explicitly specifies to override this rule.
Focus damage is relatively easy to heal, but you do have to spend an action to do so.