Fortune

Fate is fickle, even before accounting for the manip­ ulations of magicians. The Path of Fortune allows them to wield luck like a weapon, cutting down their enemies with curses or fortifying their allies with blessings. While methods and explanations may vary, from the Evil Eye, to the Hand of God, to probability manipulation, the Path of Fortune never makes the truly impossible happen, only the exceedingly unlikely. It’s also one of the least precise Paths: While the hedge magician sets Fortune in motion and controls the magnitude and general range of potential outcomes, the effects of this Path often surprise them or disappear into the noise of daily life.

Night-Folk are harder to curse with this Path than Sleepers are. They make a Willpower roll against 4 + the magician’s Path rating, and effects without an Aspect at 5 require only a single success to negate. Those ex­ tremely powerful curses can be ignored with only two successes, though the difficulty will be 9, making it quite challenging. To resist, the victim must be aware of the magician’s curse and actively attempt to resist it. Discovering an unannounced curse can be difficult, but is possible through supernatural perceptions, such

as aura reading. Mages with Prime or Entropy might notice it, and magicians with the Path of Fortune can usually recognize the work of one of their own.

The Arcane/Cloaking Background provides an additional layer of protection against curses. Targeting anyone with that Background without their explicit permission subtracts a success from the roll for each dot of Arcane they have.

System

Modifiers: –1 difficulty with a weak sympathetic connection (object owned by the target), –2 difficulty for a strong sympathetic connection (prized possession of target, piece of the target such as hair or nail clippings)

Aspects: Fortune uses the Duration Aspect, but treats all durations as one higher, with Duration 5 consisting of spells lasting for several years. Additionally, it uses the Number of Targets Aspect, but all targets must be related (members of a family, the population of a small town, etc.). The Fortune Path also uses an Aspect called Severity, as follows:

Severity

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A minor blessing or curse, generally something simple, such as a Freudian slip or managing to just barely catch a bus the target needs.

••

A lasting but non-permanent inconvenience, injury, or small benefit. Sprains, non-life-threat­ ening illness, and broken objects are standard bad luck, whereas good luck might be as simple as avoiding the flu for a season, a minor combat advantage, or the resolution of a minor obstacle.

•••

A major setback or bonus. Temporary but grave illnesses and serious social faux pas are the most common curses, while finding helpful bureau­ crats, success with gambling or relationships, or an additional die to combat pools are the most common blessings.

••••

Now the blessings and curses can have serious and permanent effects. Debilitating injuries, bankruptcy, a social tragedy that leaves the target a pariah, winning the lottery, surviving almost certain death, or just a chance encounter that changes the target’s social standing are all possible.

••••• Curses at this level almost always result in a pain­ ful and unusual death. Targets get decapitated, suffer incurable wasting illnesses, experience

horrific car accidents, and more. Blessings are similarly dramatic, such as being rescued from state execution by a call from the governor. Other last-minute saves from certain death are possible, but also victories far rarer than one in a million: An enemy in combat may trip and break their neck, the beneficiary might find a lost tome in a used bookstore bargain bin, or they could win political office with no name recognition.

Price of Failure: Some failed Fortune spells are undetectable. The target is either lucky or unlucky nat­ urally, resulting in the appearance of a success. Botches are a more serious matter. A twisted blessing or curse still results. Blessings first appear beneficial but every time it helps the target there are horrible consequences. Curses likewise appear to be harmful but turn out to benefit the target of the magician’s ire. This is especially dangerous for a magician who attempts to use the Path of Fortune on themself. Instead of twisted blessings, the full force of a more powerful curse, often the most powerful the magician can cause, targets them. Worst of all, the magician cannot unweave the spell they botched on themself, though they can on others.

One of the most extreme rituals a magician can perform, the Death Curse always results in their death, and usually the destruction of their enemies. The magi­ cian spends all of their permanent Willpower, gaining a pool of successes equal to their value for the final spell. This ritual allows them to increase the level of Aspects to 2 higher than their Path rating, allowing relatively powerful magicians to sacrifice themselves for legendary curses (or, more rarely, blessings). Curses that resound for generations with fates worse than death for entire towns aren’t unheard of for the most powerful of magi­ cians who find themselves willing to make the sacrifice. They make their Path roll at a difficulty determined by the Aspects as usual, but with that additional pool of automatic successes. Upon completing the ritual, the magician collapses, having spent their life in the casting; they’re often dead before they even hit the floor.

Step on a Crack (••)

A common rhyme among children says, “If you step on a crack, you break your mother’s back.” It’s just a childish version of an ancient belief that touching cracks brings misfortune. This belief is made manifest in this

31 Chapter One: Hedge Magic