7th Sea Rules for Fire

Injury from Fire

A hero who is exposed to flames or struck by something that is burning suffers fire damage.  There are three factors that affect how much damage a fire causes.  The first factor is the size of the fire.  Small fires cause less damage than large fires.  The second in how hot the fires is.  The third factor is how the character is exposed to the fire.

The size of a fire, like explosions, is rated on a scale from 1 to 10.  They roll a number of dice of damage equal to their Fire Dice.

The temperature of a fire determines how many dice are kept.  Regular fires keep half the number of dice rolled, round up.  Hot fires keep all the number of dice rolled.  Hot fires include chemical fires; burning gasses; explosives; and building fires after flashover has occurred.  Cold fires, such as those used by stage magicians keep a quarter of their dice rounded down.

How a hero is exposed to fire determines how a fire causes dramatic wounds.  A character who is struck by a burning object, who leaps through a sheet of flames or fleetingly exposed to fire takes dramatic wounds in the same way that they would if struck by a regular weapon.  So they take an extra dramatic wound for every twenty points they fail the wound check by.  A character whose clothes are on fire, who is splashed with a burning chemical (such as flaming oil), caught by a jet of burning gas or struck by magical fire takes an extra dramatic wound for every 10 points the wound check is failed by.

Damage from fire should be applied to a character when they:

• Are either struck by a burning weapon or object
• Are caught in an explosion or jet of burning gas
• Attempt to move through a fire

Characters who are in an area that is on fire take damage from it at the end of a round if they haven’t taken damage from it at some other time during the round.  Characters whose clothes are on fire, covered in burning liquid or otherwise on fire also take damage at the end of a round they are on fire in.

A character may attempt to avoid damage from fire under some circumstances. If they are moving through an area that is on fire may use Panache + Leaping, Rolling, Swinging, Sprinting or Climbing (depending on how they are moving) against a TN of 5 times the fires dice.  If the character succeeds they take no damage.

Knocked Out

A character who has been knocked out and who is exposed to fire will be killed by the fire when the fire causes them to take another dramatic wound.

Suffocation

If a character is trapped in a room that is on fire or filled with smoke from an area that is and there isn’t an adequate source of air use the drowning rules (GMs guide page 174).

Hero on Fire [Optional]

A hero who takes damage from fire risks their clothing or hair catching fire.  Roll Finesse against a TN of 5 times the fire’s Fire Dice.  If the roll fails the characters clothing or hair is on fire.  It starts as a fire with Fire Dice equal to the starting fires Fire Dice divided by two.

Smoke [Optional]

Some fires also produce smoke.  There are two types of smoke thick smoke and thin smoke.  Smoke reduces vision in the area it affects.  Fires burning wet or damp fuel such as green leaves and some chemicals give off thick smoke.  Burnt gunpowder gives off thick smoke.  All other fires give off thin smoke.

Smoke covers an area equal to four times the area of the fire.  If the fire is in an enclosed space the smoke can’t dissipate.  It increase by the area of the fire at the end of each round.

Once a fire is put out the smoke it produced dissipates after a number of rounds depending on the wind speed.

Thin smoke stops anyone in it forms clearly for more than twenty feet and can make out blurred shapes up to forty feet away. A character is affected as if in darkness. They lose 1 kept dice from all actions that involve the senses of sight or smell. A hero can use their Night Trained advantage to reduce this penalty.

Anyone in this thick smoke cannot see clearly for more than two feet and can make out blurred shapes up to six feet away. A character is affected as if in darkness. They lose 2 kept dice from all actions that involve senses or movement of some sort. A hero who isn’t confused can use their Night Trained advantage to reduce this penalty.

Anyone in thick smoke for more than two rounds must make a Wits check with a TN equal to five times the number of rounds they have been in the smoke. A character that fails the check is confused. A confused character loses their bearings and is at a penalty of one unkept dice to all actions until they exit the smoke. The Game Master decides where they are when they emerge from the smoke.

Dramatic Rules for Fire Spreading

Being caught in a burning building or ship is very dramatic. The spread of fire should be part of the narrative of an action scene.  It spreads and grows like a living breathing creature.  It leaps across the gaps between buildings, brings beams crashing down, climbs up wall hangings and races across spilt oil.

If you are handling fire in this way simply describe its effects and assign Fire Dice to different parts of the fire as you see fit.

Crunchy Rules for Fire Spreading [Optional]

Some Game Masters may prefer a more crunchy rules based approach to handling the spread, growth and duration of a fire.  This approach will be particularly useful if you are using the El Fuego Adentro Sorcery rules or miniatures.

A fire is treated as a group of smaller fires each of which covers an area up to 10 feet by 10 feet square or with an area of 100 square feet if 10foot squares aren’t convenient or cause flashbacks to 1970s dungeon bashing adventures.

Each fire is considered to be a character.  A fire may either be a Henchman or a Villain.  It has Traits, a Skill and Knacks.

Brawn is how strong and large a fire is representing the amount of damage it can do to inanimate structures such as walls, doors and beams.  Finesse is how mobile it is and determines how it can spread.  Resolve is how much fuel it has and therefore how long it can burn for.  A fire’s Wits are how intelligent (or stupid really) a fire is.  A fire’s Panache determines how many actions it gets each round.

A fire’s Brawn is equal to it Fire Dice.   A fires Finesse and Panache are equal to half its Fire Dice.  Wits is 4 minus half its Fire Dice.  Its Resolve is determined by how much fuel there is that it can consume.

At the end of each round a fire takes wounds.  Roll the damage it would cause to a character it affects.  Then check its total Wounds against its Resolve as you would for a character who had taken damage.  If it fails it takes a Dramatic Wound just as a character would.  When it is knocked unconscious it is extinguished.

A fire has the Fire Skill and its 6 Knacks:

• Destruction
• Stealth
• Spreading

All a fire’s Knacks are equal to half its Fire Dice except Stealth which is equal to 4 minus half its Fire Dice.

A fire rolls its Panache at the start of a round to determine how many actions it has as a character does.

The destruction Knack can be used to attempt to destroy walls, doors, floors and structural members.  If it succeeds any character next to the destroyed structure on either side must succeed at a test with the TN to avoid damage from the fire or take damage equal to that caused by a fire of the Fire Dice of the attacking fire from falling masonry, beams or other structural members.   A character standing on a section of floor that collapses risks taking falling damage.

Spreading allows a fire to increase its size and to start new fires.  As an action a fire can increase its Fire Dice by rolling spreading against a TN of 5 times its current Fire Dice.

Without rolling a fire can start a new fire anywhere that there is a route it can use to get to unlit fuel.  This includes obvious routes such as carpets, curtains, wall hangings and spilt oil.  If it creates a fire in an adjacent area the new fire has half the Fire Dice of the source fire.  If it travels further each of the areas is passes through to the target area has two Dice Fire start in them. A one or two dice fire can only start fires in adjacent areas.

It can also attempt to leap short distances as an action.  Roll Spreading against a TN equal to 5 times the distance in yards for horizontal leaps and 2 times the distance in yards vertically.  The new fire has one Fire Die.

It can also attempt to use Spreading to set fire to flammable material on the other side of a wall or other obstruction. The new fire has Fire Dice equal to half the Dice of the fire starting it.

Stealth is used to see if someone spots a fire that is concealed.  An obvious fire cannot use its stealth but a hidden fire can.  Hidden fires are any fire that a character cannot see such as one under the floor, in another room or behind a closed door.