The Black Fog | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

The Black Fog is a lingering occult curse that fills a bounded area, usually a chamber, courtyard, or stretch of road. Its vapor does not choke or burn. Instead, it weighs upon every capability of those within it, making hands clumsy, thoughts sluggish, and courage difficult to summon. The fog grows more oppressive with every round spent inside, but those who understand its grievance can answer it, and its hidden anchor can be found and broken.

Environmental
Complex
Occult
Magical
Curse

Stealth: +20 (trained) to notice the occult signature before entering the area; the fog itself is plainly visible once nearby.
Trigger: A creature enters or begins its turn in the fog's area. The hazard rolls initiative when first triggered; creatures already within the area are affected when it begins its routine.
Disable: Three successful Occultism checks to disrupt the curse's anchor disable the hazard. A creature can attempt this check while within 30 feet of the fog's source, typically by tracing or unmaking the occult marks. Alternatively, finding and removing or destroying the anchor disables the hazard. A sincere acknowledgment of the grievance can suppress the effect on an individual as described in Countermeasures, but does not disable the hazard.
Initiative: Perception +20
Routine: On its initiative, the fog pulses through its area. Each creature in the fog attempts the Will save described in Grief's Weight. The fog then reshapes itself around its anchor, remaining within its established area. It does not pursue creatures that leave.
Reset: The fog returns after 1 day if suppressed but not disabled. Once its anchor is destroyed or the curse is properly resolved, it does not reset.

Damage

Immunities

Critical hits, Object immunities, Precision damage

Resistances

Physical 10, except adamantine

Weaknesses

Positive or sanctified effects deal 10 additional damage to the hazard's anchor, if applicable.
A truthful public acknowledgment of the grievance gives creatures attempting the Diplomacy countermeasure a +2 circumstance bonus.

Effects

2

Grief's Weight
DC 29
At the end of each of its turns that a creature starts or ends in the fog, it attempts a Will save. On a failure, it takes a cumulative status penalty of -1 to all checks and DCs, to a maximum of -10. On a critical failure, the penalty increases by 2 instead. This penalty is a curse effect. A success prevents the penalty from increasing that turn; a critical success also reduces the penalty by 1. The penalty applies to attack rolls, skill checks, Perception, saving throws, and the creature's DCs, including AC. It cannot reduce a check or DC below 0. Leaving the area causes the penalty to decrease by 1 at the end of each of the creature's turns outside the fog. Remove curse or comparable magic ends the penalty immediately, but does not dispel the hazard.
Lightless Veil
The fog is a 60-foot-radius area centered on its occult anchor, or the boundaries of a smaller enclosed space. It blocks vision beyond 10 feet, and creatures within 10 feet are concealed from one another. The fog does not impede movement or breathing.

Special rules

One Curse, Every Effort.The penalty from Grief's Weight is cumulative for the duration of exposure and is not a separate penalty for each category of check. It is a status penalty, so it does not stack with other status penalties; use the worst applicable penalty. The fog affects creatures regardless of language, allegiance, or whether they know its history.

Bound to the Anchor.The hazard's area is fixed around its anchor. Strong mundane winds do not disperse it. Effects that specifically counter curses or occult magic can suppress or disable it at the GM's discretion, using the DCs above.

Spotting it

Discovery

The fog itself is visible, but its curse is not obvious.

Perception

to notice the hidden occult anchor or the faint script within the vapor; the visible fog itself requires no check to notice.

Stop it

Signs of dangerNearby flames burn steadily but cast no light into the fog. · Names scratched into nearby stone appear wet, then vanish when touched. · Footprints stop at the fog's edge, while old tracks within it circle the same spot repeatedly.

Countermeasures

A creature that leaves the area is no longer affected, and its accumulated penalty decreases by 1 at the end of each of its turns outside the fog.
DC 29A creature can use an action to speak a sincere acknowledgment of the dead person's grievance. A successful Diplomacy check suppresses the fog's effect on that creature for 1 round; a critical success suppresses it for 1 minute. The check can be attempted once per creature per hour.
DC 31A successful Occultism check to identify and interrupt the curse's anchor suppresses the hazard for 1 round. Three total successes, accumulated across attempts, disable it.
DC 29Destroying or removing the anchor, usually a name-inscribed funerary token concealed in the area, disables the hazard. Finding it requires a successful Perception or Occultism check while searching the fog's source.

In short

Learn the curse's grievance and answer it, or disrupt its occult anchor.

Its story

What it looks like

A waist-high bank of black vapor clings to the floor, swallowing light rather than obscuring it.

Why it is here

To keep a buried grievance from being ignored, and to make trespassers share the helplessness of those who suffered it.

Who made it

An unknown mourner, probably a court occultist, whose grief outlived the kingdom that caused it.

Lore

The fog is often mistaken for ordinary supernatural darkness.

Where it is found

Ruined sanctuaries, abandoned burial grounds, cursed roads, and places where a terrible injustice was concealed.

Variants

Ashen Fog: The curse manifests as cold gray ash and leaves victims unable to speak above a whisper; replace the concealment description with the same effect, but the curse penalty remains unchanged.

The Unforgotten: The fog repeats fragments of a specific victim's memories. Speaking the victim's true name and acknowledging the injustice suppresses the curse on the speaker for 1 minute with a successful DC 29 Diplomacy check.

Wandering Pall: The anchor is carried by an unseen spirit, and the fog's center shifts up to 20 feet at the end of each routine. The anchor can still be found with the listed checks.

Plot hooks

The fog has spread through a town's only pass, and the anchor bears the seal of a respected local family.

A historian asks the party to recover the name-token at the center of the fog, but destroying it would erase the last evidence of a massacre.

The curse has begun to thin after someone publicly confessed to the original injustice. The party must decide whether to help uncover the full truth or simply clear the road.

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