Bastion's Emberline
The Bastion's Emberline is a defensive fire system built into the new fortification. It turns the walls themselves into a weapon, sweeping the approaches with incandescent ash whenever attackers gather or breach the outer defenses. At the table, it creates shifting safe zones, rewards movement between cover, and gives defenders a dangerous tool that can be captured or turned against them.
Bastion's Emberline
Defenses
Detection
“A squat iron-and-stone brazier sits behind the bastion's parapet, its coals glowing with a cold blue light. Three copper lines run from the brazier into the masonry and end in fist-sized nozzles aimed across the approach. When the mechanism activates, the coals flare white and the nozzles exhale a roaring sheet of sparks, ash, and burning oil.”
Standard Engagement
The hazard activates when an enemy creature enters the marked approach within 60 feet of the bastion, when three or more enemy creatures are within 30 feet of the gate or a breach, or when a creature tampers with the brazier or its control crank.
The Emberline uses its first action to fire one active nozzle, its second action to fire a different active nozzle, and its third action to release Choking Ash if its trigger condition has been met. It does not use a disabled nozzle. Each nozzle can fire only once per round. The GM chooses targets according to the hazard's purpose, generally aiming at the largest group of creatures exposed to the line.
The brazier resets at the start of each round. If all three fuel lines are disabled or the brazier is reduced to 0 HP, it cannot act again until repaired. Repairing a fuel line requires 10 minutes and a successful DC 22 Crafting check.
The brazier projects a 30-foot line from each of its three nozzles. A creature in a line when it activates attempts a DC 24 Reflex save. On a critical success, the creature is unaffected. On a success, it takes half damage. On a failure, it takes 4d6 fire damage and is dazzled until the end of its next turn. On a critical failure, it takes double damage, is dazzled for 1 minute, and catches fire, taking 1d6 persistent fire damage.
The first time each round that a creature ends its movement within 10 feet of the bastion's gate, a broken section of wall, or a control point marked by the GM, the brazier releases a burst of choking ash. Creatures in a 10-foot emanation attempt a DC 24 Fortitude save. On a failure, they are sickened 1. On a critical failure, they are sickened 2. The ash is harmless to creatures inside the bastion's sealed firing galleries.
The three nozzles are separate components. Each has AC 22, Hardness 10, and 18 HP. Destroying a nozzle prevents it from firing but does not damage the brazier. A creature can target a nozzle only if it has line of effect to that nozzle.
A creature standing behind the bastion's crenellations or another source of standard or greater cover is not affected by an Emberline Blast unless the blast originates from a nozzle adjacent to that cover. The GM should clearly mark cover and danger lanes on the battlefield.
If a creature succeeds at a DC 24 Arcana, Crafting, or Thievery check to manipulate the control crank as an action, it can cause one active nozzle to target a 30-foot line in a direction of its choice until the start of the hazard's next turn. On a critical failure, the creature becomes the blast's first target.
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