Sirocco Ember | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

The Sirocco Ember is a volatile elemental engine that turns a quiet chamber into a furnace-blast corridor. It does not simply burn creatures. It hurls them, strips breath from their lungs, and fills the air with stinging sparks. The danger is obvious once active, but the safest path is often to study the wind before stepping into the basin.

Environmental
Elemental
Fire
Wind
Magical
Area Hazard

Stealth: to notice before activation. The hazard is not hidden, but its magical nature and dangerous airflow are subtle until a creature approaches the basin.
Trigger: The hazard activates when a creature enters the 15-foot-radius basin or touches the black glass ring surrounding the ember-stone.
Disable: In D&D 5E terms, disabling the hazard requires either removing the ember-stone with a successful Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, suppressing it with cold damage, or destroying the core.
Initiative: The hazard activates immediately when triggered and acts on initiative count 20 thereafter.
Routine: On initiative count 20, the basin emits a blast. Every creature in the basin must attempt the Sirocco Blast saving throw. The hazard continues until disabled or destroyed.
Reset: The hazard resets at the start of the next round after its effect resolves, unless the ember-stone has been removed, destroyed, or suppressed for 3 consecutive rounds.

Damage

Immunities

Fire damage
Poison damage
Psychic damage
The charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, and unconscious conditions

Resistances

Nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage
Cold damage from nonmagical sources

Weaknesses

Cold damage
Water created by magic
Removing the ember-stone from its black glass ring

Effects

2

Sirocco Blast
DC 15
When a creature enters the basin or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 14 () fire damage and is pushed 15 feet in a direction chosen by the DM. On a successful save, it takes half damage and is not pushed.
Violent Updraft
A creature that fails the saving throw by 5 or more is also knocked prone. A creature that succeeds by 5 or more can choose to move up to 10 feet to an unoccupied space outside the basin instead of taking damage.

Special rules

The Furnace Basin.The basin is a 15-foot-radius area centered on the ember-stone. The area is difficult terrain for creatures without a flying speed or resistance to fire. A creature that enters the basin for the first time on a turn must immediately attempt the Sirocco Blast saving throw.

Roaring Air.The blast creates roaring wind. Ranged weapon attacks that pass through the basin are made with disadvantage, and open flames in the area are extinguished unless magical.

Heating Iron.A creature wearing heavy metal armor has disadvantage on its first saving throw against the hazard after entering the basin, as the armor rapidly heats. This penalty does not apply to creatures with resistance or immunity to fire damage.

Spotting it

Discovery

A character who examines the basin and succeeds on a Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check notices that the dust forms repeated spiral patterns and that the suspended stone casts no shadow.

Perception

Passive Perception 13.

Stop it

Signs of dangerDust and loose ash stream toward the basin even when no air is moving elsewhere. · The stone hums like a distant kettle and occasionally spits a spark that burns a pinhole through nearby cloth. · Metal objects near the basin become painfully hot within seconds. · Footprints approaching the basin are scorched at the edges, while footprints leaving it are blown sideways.

Countermeasures

DC 15A creature adjacent to the basin can use an action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check while wearing heat-resistant gloves or using suitable tools. On a success, the ember-stone is lifted free and the hazard ends. On a failure, the creature triggers the hazard immediately.
Dealing 15 or more cold damage to the ember-stone before the end of a round suppresses the hazard until the start of the next round. If it is suppressed for 3 consecutive rounds, the core shatters harmlessly.
DC 14A creature can use an action to anchor itself behind substantial cover and make a Strength (Athletics) check to secure a rope, chain, or similar object across the basin. Once secured, creatures have advantage on saving throws against the hazard while within 10 feet of the anchor.
The ember-stone is immune to fire damage. It is vulnerable to cold damage and takes double damage from water created by a spell or similar magical effect, at the DM's discretion.

In short

The hazard can be bypassed by using cover, resisting or redirecting the heated wind, or carefully removing the ember-stone from its ring of black glass.

Its story

What it looks like

A shallow basin of black glass surrounds a fist-sized stone suspended in midair.

Why it is here

Originally designed to provide controlled superheated airflow through an elemental forge, the hazard now functions as a defensive ward and an unstable source of elemental energy.

Who made it

An efreeti glasswright named Vashra-of-the-Third-Furnace

Lore

The ember-stone was made from a fragment of an elemental prince's heart and cooled in the blood of a salamander.

Where it is found

Elemental shrines, volcanic ruins, efreeti workshops, fire giant vaults, ash-choked caverns, and scorched desert temples

Variants

Ashen Sirocco: Replace fire damage with necrotic damage from choking ash. Creatures that fail the save cannot speak or breathe until the start of their next turn.

Frostbound Ember: The core releases superheated steam instead of wind. The area is heavily obscured, and failed saves deal 10 (3d6) fire damage plus 10 (3d6) cold damage.

Stormglass Ember: The blast deals lightning damage instead of fire damage and pushes creatures 20 feet. A creature that fails the save by 5 or more is also stunned until the end of its next turn.

Plot hooks

A ruined efreeti foundry still depends on the Sirocco Ember to keep its lower levels ventilated. Removing it may save the adventurers while suffocating imprisoned workers below.

A fire giant clan believes the ember-stone contains the voice of an ancestral champion and will pay richly for its recovery, even though activating it could destroy their ceremonial hall.

The hazard has begun moving from room to room each night, leaving spiraling scorch marks and threatening a nearby settlement.

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