Sorcery: Hellfire

Thought by many to be at least tainted by darkness, if not outright of evil origins, the Path of Hellfire taps into the deepest, most primal, and destructive of forces. legends ascribe the beginnings of this power to the infernal realms, pacts with malevolent elemental spirits, and bargains with beings better left alone. The master of the path of hellfire can demand, and receive respect; he will also receive suspicion and fear, whether he demands them or not.

A student of the Path of Hellfire learns to summon and control powerful elemental attacks; blasts of lightning, bolts of fire or mystic energy, clouds of poison gas or other deadly effects. Unsubtle and direct, these powers, utilized properly, can obliterate even the most deadly of foes, in the hands of a master. Students of this Path should remember that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing; they are not immune to the effects of their own powers, and using this power in combat normally requires planning beforehand.

Hitting a target with a blast of Hellfire requires a successful Dexterity + Melee roll (difficulty 7). Striking at an area lowers the difficulty to 5 but allows those in the area a chance to escape (see Dodging and Resistance in Mage Revised, p. 152).


System

Roll: Manipulation + Occult

Cost: One Willpower

Duration: Instant


Aspects


Damage

Two dice of lethal damage per success spent. Although the basic form of Hellfire is a gout of flame, Hellfire does not do aggravated damage by default; for aggravated damage, spend 2 additional successes (some special effects preclude aggravated damage). Total number of successes spent on damage (including to buy aggravated damage) cannot exceed the dots the caster has in Hellfire.


Range

* Touch only. The sorcerer must make a successful Brawl attack in order to hit his target and deliver damage (which is in addition to normal melee damage).

** Less than 10 feet

*** Less than 25 feet

**** About 50 feet

***** Any target within 150 feet

****** A target within 200 yards or so


Area

* A single target

** A small area; 3 square feet or so

*** No more than a couple of square yards or so

**** 10 square feet (which can be arranged as a wall, circle or whatever).

***** 20 square feet

****** Approximately 50 square feet


Special Effects

All special effects are optional and, in fact, must be purchased (using freebie or experience points; cost is equal to the cost in successes +1), as each is a separate study in destruction. Each could be considered a separate destructive Path, of which Hellfire is simply a generic sampling.

** Earthquake: The ground cracks open, engulfs the target and crushes him before subsiding. The target will then have to dig his way free (Strength roll against difficulty 6, need as many successes as health levels suffered, extended task). Lethal damage only.

** Lightning: A bolt of electricity fries the target. If the target is touching any conductive material (water, a suit of plate armer, wires, etc.) and anyone else is touching that material, they suffer the same damage the target did. Can be aggravated.

* Decay: Does no damage to living targets, but anything they are wearing or carrying begins to rust, decay, warp and generally fall apart at a high rate. Within 2-3 turns, anything they are wearing or holding will be junk. This effect destroys three pounds of material per point of damage that would be scored (some substances and anything that has been enchanted, will be resistant to this effect).

* Dust Storm: A blinding, stinging cloud of fine dust whirls through the area, scouring everyone in the area. Must be bought with at least three dots worth of area. All beings in the path of this cloud are blinded for the duration of the cloud (one turn per health level of damage inflicted).

* Sleet: A blast of freezing water and ice cuts across the target. Not only does this inflict damage, but it can also obscure vision (at least momentarily), and the ground surrounding the target is at least wet and may be rather slippery. Lethal damage only.

* Smoke: A thick cloud of poisonous smoke billows forth from the caster, enveloping the area. (This effect must be bought with an Area of at least 3 dots). Everyond within the cloud takes on health level of lethal damage per turn, unless they have some kind of protection (a gas mask buys 2 turns of exposure but is then rednered useless) or do not need to breath (like vampires). Vision is totally obscured (even advanced vision, like thermographic or night vision) while within the cloud. Can be aggravated.

** Tanglewood: nearby plants lash out, throwing storms of splinters, thorns, etc. at the target. A truly lucky magician might be able to stake a vampire this way, but don't count on it (difficulty 9, at least 5 successes needed). If the target is actually standing among any kind of dense undergrowth, the plants will envelop him (extended Strength roll against difficulty 7, need as many successes as health levels suffered to break free). Lethal damage only.

**** Drowning Tide: This effect requires a large body of water to work (an Olympic size swimming pool is sufficient). A sudden wave or undercurrent reaches up and drags the target under the surface, smashing her body and causing drowning damage. (See the rules on drowning in Mage Revised, p. 249). To escape, the target will have to get to "shore" and drag himself out of the water (Strength roll, difficulty 8, number of successes needed depends on how long he is in the water and how far he is from safety, but at least 2 successes necessary). This continues until the target escapes or dies. Drowning damage only.


Rituals


Fire's Weal **

This ritual allows the user (or whomever they cast the ritual upon) to resist natural flames, and provides at least some protection against even mystical flames. Roll (Manipulation + Occult) against difficulty of 7; if you score mroe than 2 successes, you can soak fire damage as if it were bashing damage, instead of aggravated; more successes reduces the soak number needed (so 5 successes on this check would result in the recipient being able to soak fire damage as bashing, with a -3 on the soak difficulty). This ritual costs one Willpower and lasts one scene.

Hellblade ***

This simple ritual attunes a weapon (normally some kind of bladed weapon, often a dagger or sword) to the powers of this Path. By spending one Willpower, you may engulf the blade in mystical fires; while burning, the weapon does aggravated damage and does 2 additional dice of damage. These fires last for up to one scene, unless the magician tries to hand the weapon to another user, at which point the flames die out. Requires a Manipulation + Occult roll, difficulty 7, with at least 2 successes rolled to take effect.


Price of Failure The price of failure ought to be obvious... the powers you are trying to wield rise up and engulf you! A simple failure just indicates that nothing happened, but a botch typically means that the attack backlashes onto the caster, inflicting whatever fate was intended for the target back on the attacker.