Withering Flame | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

The Withering Flame is a lingering corruption bound to a black-glass basin and an unseen tether. It does not burn flesh. Instead, each cycle it draws vitality and stored power from creatures in its reach, leaving them brittle, dulled, and subtly altered. It is a simple hazard: it acts once when triggered, then remains dormant until its trigger is met again.

Magical
Necromancy
Aura
Simple

Stealth: (trained magical sensing can reveal the aura; the flame itself is not hidden)
Trigger: A creature enters the 30-foot aura or begins its turn within it. The hazard can affect each creature only once per round.
Disable: Arcana or Occultism to sever the tether with 3 actions; Religion or Crafting to contain the ember with 2 actions and a sanctified vessel. A successful check disables the hazard; a critical success also leaves the basin intact and harmless. Failure exposes the acting creature to the routine.
Initiative: When a creature enters the aura or begins its turn within 30 feet of the basin
Routine: Once triggered, the ember draws from each creature within 30 feet. Each target attempts a Fortitude save. Critical Success: no effect. Success: lose half of Power (rounded down) and take no Fortitude damage. Failure: lose Power and take 5 Fortitude damage. Critical Failure: lose Power and take 10 Fortitude damage. The hazard then becomes dormant until a creature enters the aura or begins a turn there.
Reset: The hazard resets immediately after its routine. It can affect a creature no more than once per round, even if that creature leaves and re-enters the aura.

Damage

Immunities

Critical hits, Precision damage, Object-affecting conditions

Resistances

Fire 15, Physical 10

Weaknesses

Cold 15
Consecrated or sanctified energy 10

Effects

2

Withering Draw
The target loses points of Power and takes 5 points of Fortitude damage. These losses represent drained reserves and bodily deterioration, not hit point damage. A creature reduced to 0 Power becomes unable to activate abilities that require Power. Fortitude damage imposes the system's normal penalties; if no such rule exists, each 5 points imposes a cumulative -1 status penalty to Fortitude-based checks, to a maximum of -3.
Ashen Mutation
A creature that reaches 0 Fortitude from this hazard gains a visible mutation appropriate to its nature, such as ash-gray veins, a voice like dry leaves, or a shadow that continues aging. The mutation is a sign of corruption, not an additional mechanical penalty, and can be reversed by restorative magic or equivalent treatment.

Special rules

Withering Aura.The aura extends 30 feet from the basin and passes through ordinary walls and barriers. A creature completely enclosed in lead or a comparable warding material is unaffected.

Lingering Corruption.Power and Fortitude losses from this hazard are restored only by a full night's rest in a safe place or by magic or treatment capable of restoring drained reserves and bodily vitality. A creature's mutation remains until treated, even after its losses are restored.

Simple Hazard.As a simple hazard, the Withering Flame has no separate initiative or repeating multi-action routine. It resolves its routine when its trigger occurs, then resets as described.

Spotting it

Discovery

The flame is visible in dim light, but its draining field is not.

Perception

to notice its unnatural reflections, delayed shadows, or the fading light of nearby magic.

Stop it

Signs of dangerA ring of clean, uncorroded stone surrounds the basin, as though decay has been pulled inward. · A nearby candle burns shorter every time someone glances away. · Old inscriptions show their newest letters flaking into dust. · Creatures near the site feel sudden thirst and find their shadows bent toward the basin.

Countermeasures

DC 36A creature adjacent to the basin can spend 2 actions to cover the ember with a sanctified, airtight vessel, attempting a Religion or Crafting check. On a success, the hazard is suppressed for 1 hour; on a critical success, it is permanently contained. On a failure, the creature suffers the hazard's routine immediately.
DC 36A creature can spend 3 actions to identify and sever the ember's tether, attempting a Arcana or Occultism check. On a success, the hazard is disabled. On a failure, the creature suffers the hazard's routine.
Reduce the basin to 0 HP. Its Hardness 20 applies normally. When destroyed, the flame gutters out, but creatures in the room still suffer one final routine.

In short

Smother the ember with a prepared warding vessel, sever its sustaining tether, or destroy its glass basin.

Its story

What it looks like

A fist-sized ember hangs in the air above a shallow basin of black glass.

Why it is here

To drain vitality and magical reserves from intruders while preserving or empowering something hidden beyond the hazard.

Who made it

A dying saint-king, according to one account; a court of fire alchemists, according to another.

Lore

The ember is said to preserve a kingdom by spending its future.

Where it is found

Ruined sanctums, sealed royal vaults, abandoned laboratories, and places where a powerful source of life or magic was deliberately exhausted.

Variants

Blue Crown: The flame drains memories instead of Fortitude. On a failed save, the target temporarily forgets one prepared spell, technique, or significant personal fact.

Hearth-Eater: The aura is centered on a fireplace. It drains warmth and stamina, and the room becomes hazardous with bitter cold after each activation.

Borrowed Spring: The flame appears as a healthy green shoot. It restores a dying creature while transferring that creature's deterioration to everyone else within the aura.

Plot hooks

A sealed archive is slowly losing the magical power that keeps its records legible. The flame is hidden beneath the archive, and destroying it may also erase the ward protecting the collection.

A village's elders have stopped aging while its children rapidly weaken. The ember is being fed through a tether buried beneath the town well.

A patron asks the party to retrieve the basin intact, claiming it contains the last reserve of a lost monarch's power.

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