HEROES    CALLINGS    MESSENGER

Way of Storm

Way of Flame    Way of Names

Requires Lore: Ancient Cylinder, Dream, Insurgency, Lord Adod, or Wisdom of Adod    

Some Messengers can channel the power of the clouds. You must learn Call Storm before learning the other abilities in this section. 

Call Storm

Will  As a rest activity, roll Wind to call forth a roiling mass of stormclouds in the sky above you.5+ Howling wind and rain blankets the area, quenching any open flames and limiting visibility to within a single span. Unless they’re indoors, all characters except you suffer -1 to their maximum Awareness (or Guard, if their Awareness is zero). Abilities like the Mazrians’ Keen Senses don’t work in the storm.3–4 Dark clouds gather and a light rain falls, quenching any open flames and limiting visibility to two spans away. 1–2 A few wispy clouds gather, offering shade and a breeze—nothing more.If you know Offering (from the Lord Adod lore) and successfully use that ability during a rest, you can Call Storm as a second, free activity during the same rest.The storm lingers in the sky above you, following your movements, and lasts until the next time you Call Wind—at which point it begins to dissipate gradually over the course of an hour or so.You also know the following spell:

Thunderstrike   |   WIND  2

As you cast this spell, make a melee attack with a club, mace, staff, or your fist. You imbue the attack with a thunderous force. The attack can’t be countered. Hit, block, or miss, make a free Brace roll with wind advantage.This brace affects the foe you attack and any characters adjacent to them (including your allies, but not including you).5+ The foe(s) suffer -2 guard and -1 awareness.3–4 The foe(s) can take -1 stamina to withstand the thunder. 1–2 No effect (but see below).Break. Regardless of the above outcome, the thunderstrike breaks the foe(s) defending armament if the result exceeds the armament’s durability rating. (If you use a mace to Thunderstrike and the foe blocks it, make two break rolls.)If the foe’s Awareness is 0, they suffer an additional -1 Guard. If the foe is Shinarian or made out of clay or stone, a success also inflicts -1 Life. 

Storm Lore

You may have found this Way through one of these lore types:
  • Ancient Cylinder: Something about this artifact is deeply connected to water, and stormclouds are made of water.
  • Dream: The omnipresent raw turbulence of the Chaos realm has taught you much about the formation of storms. 
  • Insurgency: Cloud and rain provide many opportunities to hide from and destabilize invaders.  
  • Lord Adod: The Lord has revealed this Way to you directly—in his own inscrutable way. 
  • Wisdom of Adod: The text describes the physical nature of stormclouds—floating masses of water droplets which generate lightning and thunder through a magical force. 

Abilities to Learn 

.5xp new ability  |  10xp with attribute increase

You must know Call Storm before learning the abilities in this section.

Call Lightning

✦✦ Will  This ability grants two spells: Bolt of Righteousness and Armor of Retribution. You can only cast Bolt of Righteousness if you’ve first succeeded or struggled to Call Storm during a rest—that is, a stormcloud must be present in the sky above you.  

Bolt of Righteousness   |   WIND  2

Requires stormcloud and one free hand. As an action, raise your hand to the heavens to call forth a bolt of lightning into your fingers and fling it at a foe you can see. Roll 2d4 as an attack. This is a special ranged attack: you can’t gain advantage on the roll, but it doesn’t have a ranged penalty. The lightning is drawn to metal:
  • Add +1 to the roll if the foe holds a sword, dagger, heavy shield, or other armament mostly made of metal (not spears). 
  • Add the foe’s Armor rating to the attack if any component of the armor is metal. 
On a block or a hit, the lightning bolt shocks the target: roll a d4 and add it to your attack result—potentially turning a block into a hit. The bolt inflicts -3 guard and, on a hit, lethal damage and -1 awareness.The lightning attack simultaneously targets you—since you call it into your body before sending it at a foe. You can withstand its blast, however: roll Brace with wind advantage as a free action, and subtract the result from the lightning’s ranged attack roll against you. 

Armor of Retribution   |   WIND  1

When you block or are hit by a melee attack, you cause lightning to arc from the clash and into your foe as a counterattack. Roll d8 with wind advantage for the lightning attack, which inflicts lethal damage and -2 Guard. This attack can't be countered.Add +1 to the attack roll if the foe’s attacking weapon is mostly metal, and add the foe’s Armor rating if any component of the armor is metal.

Soul of the Storm

✦✦✦ Will  Requires Call Lightning and Call Greater Wind. This ability grants two spells: Ride Storm and Pillar of Cloud. You can only cast these spells if you’ve first succeeded or struggled to use Call Storm during a rest. That is, a stormcloud must be present in the sky above you.

Pillar of Cloud   |   WIND  24

Requires stormcloud. You call forth a devastating whirlwind that descends from the stormcloud and engulfs a span you can see. Calling the whirlwind takes multiple turns. As it descends, and on each of your turns that you maintain it thereafter, the pillar of cloud makes the following actions and effects:
  • The pillar makes a 2d8 Shove roll against everyone in the span.
  • The pillar makes a 2d6 – 2 ranged attack roll against all characters in the span, flinging chunks of debris into characters and vice versa. This attack inflicts -2 guard and lethal damage up to your Will. 
  • The pillar’s blinding and deafening gales inflict -2 awareness on everyone within, unless the character doesn’t need to see or hear. 
  • Characters who start their turns in the pillar can only move outside it with a successful Run challenge—that is, the pillar prevents 1 span of movement from within. 
If you call forth the pillar of cloud on your own span, an eye of calm forms around you and any adjacent characters, sparing you its harmful effects.On subsequent turns, you can take -1 stamina to maintain the pillar, and an additional -1 stamina (-2 altogether) to move the pillar to an adjacent span. Maintaining the pillar counts as your action for the turn. Objects within the pillar of cloud may be damaged, destroyed, and/or flung outward at high speed, at the Guide’s discretion.If you don’t maintain the pillar, it dissipates instantly, along with the stormcloud from whence it came.

Ride Storm  |   WIND  24

Requires stormcloud. As an action, you call forth to the stormcloud above you. A howling but gentle wind surrounds you and up to six of your allies—and carries you atop the cloud! The storm can travel across the Skysea much like a skyreme. You and your allies are hidden while riding the storm this way. The storm is cold and wet, but the wind cushions you, offering you and your allies just enough comfort to rest.After casting this spell, the storm can travel roughly one circuit around the cyclone of Tel-Kanan before dissipating, or an equivalent distance along one of the great rivers that bind the cyclone. It can’t carry you below the Sea of Cloud.

Way of Flame     Way of Names