The Lure of Flames
“Magic is an oath. With each spell, you swear yourself into service. With each ritual, you bind yourself more and more irrevocably to its law.” — Jayakar Dristi Boparai, Assamite, last holder of the Seat of Stars
Faith has often been linked to fire, as it symbolizes purity and divinity. Perhaps this is why the Inquisition found it such an effective weapon against vampires long ago. Leveraging the mystical techniques of the Lure of Flames, you have learned to summon and control fire. Flames conjured by the Lure of Flames are mystical in nature. You must release the fire from your control before it can affect the environment.
For example, if you activate Hand of Flame, it does not burn your hand or cause you to frenzy. However, if you touch another individual with that hand and they catch fire, those flames could burn you or cause you to frenzy.
Fire triggers frenzy in vampires. Using it as a weapon is one of the easiest methods to bring Final Death to a vampire.
• Hand of Flame
Initiates of the Lure of Flames learn to summon forth a shimmering, dancing flame over their hand (or hands). This fire projects a bright light and provides you with a terrifying weapon against other vampires.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to conjure forth a mystical fire that encases your hand (or hands). Hand of Flame casts light and allows you to strike with your hand to burn your opponents, causing aggravated damage. You can even use it in conjunction with other powers like Celerity and Potence, becoming a formidable combatant.
Once cast, the Hand of Flame remains until you expend a simple action to snuff it out. You suffer no damage or inconvenience from the Hand of Flame; indeed, you can even wear gloves or other clothing, which remain unaffected by the fire. However, should you cause something else to catch fire, those secondary flames can hurt you.
Focus [Wits]: You summon forth your Hand of Flame at any time without requiring the expenditure of an action. Additionally, you are highly trained to be more efficient when fighting with flame in hand-to-hand combat. When using Hand of Flame in combat, you receive a +1 bonus to your Brawl attack test pool.
•• Flame Bolt
You have the power to summon a bolt of flame in the palm of your hand and then launch it at an enemy. The flaming blast shimmers through the air to strike your target with a devastating explosive blast.
System: Spend 1 Blood, use your standard action, and make an opposed challenge to cast a Flame Bolt at an enemy within 20 steps of your location. A successful Flame Bolt inflicts 2 points of aggravated fire damage when it strikes, then snuffs out in a puff of mystic fire. Should your Flame Bolt strike a flammable target, such as a pile of hay or papers, but not clothing worn by someone, the target catches fire.
Exceptional Success: Your Flame Bolt does an additional point of aggravated damage, for a total of 3 aggravated damage on each successful strike.
Focus [Wits]: You do not need to spend Blood to use Flame Bolt, though you must still use your standard action.
••• Pillar of Fire
With a gesture, you can summon a mighty pillar of intense flames at a location or target of your choosing.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to conjure forth a pillar of flame that is approximately six feet in diameter, and of equal height. You must place this Pillar of Fire within 20 steps of your location. Anyone but you who stands within or passes through this diameter takes 2 points of aggravated damage. You are immune to the damage from your Pillar of Fire, but should you cause something else to catch fire, those secondary flames can hurt you.
If directed at a victim, the fire shoots up underneath the subject. You must best your target in an opposed challenge using your Mental attribute + Occult versus the target’s Physical attribute + Dodge. If you succeed, your target takes 2 points of aggravated damage, otherwise she dodges out of the way before the pillar is fully formed. The normal effect of the Dodge ability doesn’t reduce damage from this attack.
Pillar of Fire causes damage to characters in its area of effect on their everyman initiative. If a target remains within the Pillar of Fire for more than one turn, she continues to take its damage on her everyman initiative until she leaves its area of effect.
Damage from Pillar of Fire doesn’t stack with itself or with other area-effect powers. If you have more than one such power affecting the same area, only the highest damage effect applies.
The column of fire remains for five minutes, until you decide to extinguish it by expending a simple action, fall into torpor, or die.
Focus [Intelligence]: Anyone standing in or passing through your Pillar of Fire takes 3 points of aggravated damage each turn.
•••• Engulf
With a gesture, you can mystically scorch a target, forcing your victim to spontaneously burst into flames. This agonizing fire continues to burn until the victim manages to take specific actions to extinguish it.
System: Spend 1 Blood, use your standard action, and make an opposed challenge to Engulf a target within 20 steps of your location. If you succeed, the target bursts into flames, suffering 2 points of aggravated damage. Further, the victim is lit on fire, taking 2 additional points of aggravated damage at the end of each successive turn until the victim uses two actions (simple or standard) to smother the flame. Anything the victim touches while on fire has the potential to likewise catch fire, at the discretion of the Storyteller.
You can Engulf a target multiple times in successive turns, causing cumulative damage as the victim repeatedly combusts. However, no matter how many times a victim suffers the effects of individual uses of Engulf, she still only takes 2 points of aggravated damage from fire on successive turns.
Exceptional Success: Your use of Engulf does an extra level of aggravated damage, for a total of 3 points of aggravated damage per strike. An exceptional success does not increase the damage your target takes from burning on subsequent rounds.
Focus [Wits]: It requires three actions (standard or simple) to smother the flames caused by Engulf.
••••• Firestorm
Masters of the Lure of Flames have the ability to project their inner fury into a frightening storm of fire, scorching and consuming everything in its path.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to summon forth a Firestorm of destruction. Firestorm works like Pillar of Fire, but affects an area up to 20 steps across and can be cast on a location up to 40 steps away. Unlike Pillar of Fire, Firestorm lasts for the next five turns, or until you decide to extinguish it, move more than 50 steps away from it, fall into torpor, or die.
Damage from Firestorm doesn’t stack with itself or with other area-effect powers. If you have more than one such power affecting the same area, only the highest damage effect applies.
Focus [Intelligence]: Your Firestorm causes an additional point of aggravated damage each turn, for a total of 3 points of aggravated damage.
