Liberi Gothica: Foci

Foci are a very important part of Liberi Gothica. The foci are a Liberi's source of precious vitality and new abilities. They are immortal toys who tend to enjoy the chaos the Liberi is almost certain to cause. Foci vary widely in appearance and personality, but all of them are children's dolls... of some kind. They could be intricate ball-joint dolls, dusty rag dolls, vaguely humanoid cloth sacks, toy soldiers, anything. However, all Foci have the following traits in common with each other:

Foci Stats

All Foci start with the following traits:

• Vitality: 2d6/20
• T: 1
• A: 1
• C: 1
• K: 2
• S: 2
• Attack: 3
• Defense: 10
• Skills: 10 XP to spend into any skills they like
• Speed: 20 feet

• Indestructible: A Foci is not damaged by physical methods. They only 'die' if their Vitality falls below 0 when they have no host. Should their host die, the Foci takes as much of their remaining Vitality as they can. Foci have a maximum Vitality of 20, unlike living creatures. Foci can be used as a +1 Active Defense if necessary, although they are unhappy with this.

• Willful: A Foci can refuse any order it doesn't like. To persuade them to follow through with it anyway, you need to make a Persuasion, Intimidate, or Trick check. This is an unopposed roll. In addition, Foci will often 'forget' to mention important information to their Liberi until they need to know it.

• Telepathy: The Foci is capable of communicating telepathically to anyone within 20 feet of it. They are capable of speaking with their Liberi up to a range of 50 feet. Foci can speak with each other telepathically.

• Liberi Contract: In exchange for Vitality, the Foci will grant 3 ability trees' worth of potential power to their Liberi. A Liberi's contract with the Foci is only nullified upon the death of either the Liberi or the Foci, and neither a Foci nor a Liberi can have more than one contract at a time.

Should the Liberi die, her Foci takes as much of her Vitality as it can, up to the maximum of 20 Vitality, then flees the area. It begins searching for a new host after hiding away for about a week. If the dead Liberi's corpse is not burned, she will become a new Foci at the next full moon.
In the unlikely event the Foci dies, the Liberi loses all of her necromancy and becomes a normal child. She does not age up to whatever her current age should be. If the Liberi is an undead when the Foci dies, she dies as well.

• Vitality Exchange: At any time, a Liberi and a Foci may exchange Vitality between the two of them. They may only do this while in physical contact with each other.

• Unnatural: A Foci loses 1 Vitality per day. If it has less than 0 Vitality, it dies.

• Soul Absorption: Foci can drain the Vitality of any dead creature that has not yet passed away.

Foci Abilities

Foci have some supernatural talent up their sleaves, and each such talent improves some of their TACKS attributes. In addition to the above, all Foci have any two of the following abilities:

Aggressive

This Foci has some sort of attack, such as a bite or claws. This attack deal 1 damage. This foci is also capable of wielding sharp implements, such as razors or scissors, to deal 3 damage on a hit. In either case, they add their Might score to the total damage.

• This Foci gains +5 Attack.
• This Foci gains +2 Toughness.

Can't Catch Me

This Foci has a move speed of 60 feet, and is not slowed down by rough terrain or environmental hazards.

• This Foci gains +2 Athleticism.

Climber

This Foci is capable of climbing any surface at its speed. In addition, it cannot be grappled by larger opponents - it simply climbs them to safety.

• This Foci gains +2 Athleticism.

Defender

This Foci is willing to be used as a shield when needed. It grants a +2 bonus to Active Defense when used this way, and it does not take up a hand - it moves in the way of its own volition.

• This Foci gains +2 Toughness.

Disbelief

This Foci may alter memories. By spending 2 Vitality and making an opposed Willpower check, the Foci can force anyone within 20 feet to forget anything supernatural that happened within the past 5 minutes. If the supernatural events were harmful to them in any way, they get a +4 bonus to their Willpower check. If the supernatural effects helped them in any way, they get a -4 penalty to their Willpower check.

• This Foci gains +2 Spirit.

Divination

This Foci is capable of seeing briefly into the future. These visions are extremely vague. As an action that costs 1 Vitality, you can ask your Foci a question about how a situation or suggested course of action will turn out. 2 rounds later, it will answer, but it only has 4 possible responses: Good, Bad, Good and Bad, or Neutral.

Good: Something beneficial to either the Foci or its Liberi will happen.

Bad: Something bad for either the Foci or its Liberi will happen.

Good and Bad: Something good will happen, and something not so good will happen.

Neutral: Nothing that happens will be good or bad for the Foci or its Liberi.

• This Foci gains +2 Spirit.

Skilled

This Foci gains 10 more XP to spend on skills.

• This Foci gains +2 to either Knowledge or Charm.
• A Foci may take this ability twice.

Teleport

This Foci may teleport up to 30 feet from its current location by spending 2 Vitality and an action. It may not carry anything with it.

• This Foci gains +2 Knowledge.

Transparent

This Foci may become invisible for 1 minute by spending 1 Vitality and an action.

• This Foci gains +2 Charm.