A mark of fire is a major curse that a fire mage can place on a target in order to affect them, usually at a later time, with a fireball. The curse is usually placed on an unwitting target who is unaware that they have been cursed. The mage casts the curse spell after which the target attempts a magic save. Whether they succeed or fail at their save, they are unaware that they have been targeted unless they achieved critical or grievous success with their save. In the case of critical success, they can attempt a 1x PER to understand that a spell was just cast on them but failed. This PER roll increases to 2x with grievous success. In either case, they will not be able to tell where the spell came from.
Once cursed, the mage can target them with a standard fireball at any time provided the target is within (rank x (rank / 2)) miles. The fireball will go off at a rank that is 7 less than the mage's rank with the Fireball spell. The fireball spell is cast normally but the act of transiting to the Mark of Fire removes 7 ranks worth of damage potential.
The fireball will suddenly appear directly in front of the target (about 2 feet in front of them) and explode in a 20 foot diameter area (c.f., fireball). Once the fireball is successfully cast, the curse is lifted. The curse can also be removed with a Ritual of Remove Curse. Note also that the fireball cannot be sent if the target is protected by a Circle of Protection from Detection or similar magic that prevents magical scrying.
If a target saves against a Mark of Fire, they cannot be targeted again for 24 hours.
A Mark of Fire can also be placed on an object to send a fireball remotely. In such cases, the object does not get a saving throw and the Mark of Fire disappears once used.
A Mark of Fire cannot be used until at least 24 hours after it has been put in place.
A fire mage can also communicate the command word for a particular Mark of Fire to another fire mage, allowing them to use it but it can only be used to send a standard fireball. |