Paths & Numina

Hellfire

The Path of Hellfire remains one of the most popular Paths of hedge magic, despite there being something of a bad reputation associated with it. For most people, the allure of throwing elemental power around and destroy­ ing your enemies outweighs the belief it may somehow be tainted by evil, if not outright infernal. Despite these sentiments, many hedge magicians specialize in the pyrotechnics this Path makes available to them, being one of the more dramatic Paths of hedge magic.

33 Chapter One: Hedge Magic

Even beginning students of Hellfire are often ac­ corded respect, and not a small amount of fear, by their fellows. They learn early that they can summon lightning and fire, cause earthquakes, and drown their enemies should they so choose, even if they don’t personally know how. Apprentices are also given one essential warning: They are not immune to their own powers. This vulnerability is not limited to botched attempts at magic (see the Price of Failure below). Practitioners must be careful not to be within the areas they target, and fire, once unleashed, can be difficult to control.

System

Aspects: Damage, Range, Area, and the following Special Effects can be added:

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Decay: Instead of damaging living targets, the spell breaks down anything they are wearing or carrying. For each point of damage it would inflict, it can turn three pounds of material to junk.

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Dust Storm: The spell summons a storm of dust, scouring the area (which must have at least three dots) and, in addition to damage, causing blindness in the area for one turn per health level inflicted.

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Sleet: A stream of ice and freezing water causes brief blindness and leaves the ground slippery. This cannot be made aggravated.

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Smoke: The caster emits a cloud of poisonous smoke that envelops the area (which must be at least three dots in the Area Aspect). Everyone within the cloud takes one level of damage per turn unless protected. A normal gas mask pro­ vides two turns of protection before becoming useless. Beings that do not need to breathe are immune to this damage. Vision, even if enhanced, is completely obscured while in the cloud.

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Earthquake: the spell causes the ground to split open and engulf, then crush, the target. They can roll Strength at difficulty 6 to try to dig free. They need as many successes as health levels of damage they suffered. This cannot be made aggravated.

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Lightning: Instead of fire, the spell fires a bolt of electricity. Anyone in contact with the target through a conductive material takes the same damage as the target.

34 Sorcerer

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Tanglewood: Plants flail and attack the target, throwing thorns, splinters, and other bits of wood at it. With extreme luck (at least three successes beyond the spell’s requirement) this can stake a vampire, but a magician who counts on it will likely be badly disappointed. If the target is standing in dense undergrowth, they are captured by the plants. A creature restrained in this fashion cannot move until they accumulate as many successes on a Strength roll (difficulty 7) as damage dealt by the spell. This cannot be made aggravated.

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Drowning Tide: This requires an Olympic sized swimming pool or larger body of water. The target is pulled underwater by a sudden wave or undertow, causing them to start drowning (see M20 page 440-441). Escape from the water requires an extended Strength roll, difficulty 8, with at least two successes necessary, often more. This only does drowning damage.

The Special Effects above must be purchased with Freebie or Experience Points at a cost of the dot rating + 1.

Price of Failure: When you play with fire sometimes you get burned. Botching when using the Path of Hellfire typically results in the spell rebounding on the caster. They take whatever damage they were attempting to inflict on their target.

Sample Rituals

Fire’s Weal (••)

Fire is one of the most dangerous hazards in the World of Darkness; even natural flames can easily cause permanent damage to powerful supernatural beings. With this ritual, the magician can give protection against fire of all sorts. With two successes, the ritual allows the target to soak fire damage, even supernatural flame, as though it were bashing, regardless of what damage it causes. Successes in excess of two reduce the difficulty on soak rolls against fire (to a maximum modifier of –3), so four total successes result in soaking fire damage at –2 difficulty.

Hellblade (••)

A flashy ritual, Hellblade attunes a weapon, tradi­ tionally a sword, to the Path of Hellfire. Once attuned, the magician can spend one Willpower to engulf the weapon in flame. The flame causes the weapon to inflict two additional dice of damage and converts its damage to aggravated. This lasts for a scene, though the ritual