The Golarion Gazette

Karamba Onyale was a bright-eyed, curious child, always looking to explore the world around him and dreaming of being accepted into the Magaambya Academy when she grew up. But one day, his parents came home from a long day in the fields to find Karamba dead on the ground, with burn patterns that appeared as though she had been hit by lightning. Karamba’s parents soon discovered that she and her friends had somehow came into possession of a jolt coil, one of a new line of so-called “spellhearts” that enable users to cast certain spells even with no magical training, and that Karamba had somehow become electrocuted while they were playing with it. Karamba is not the only victim – the ubiquity and ease of use of the jolt coil, combined with its visually impressive display, has led to the “Electric Arc Challenge” being popular with children across Golarion, with often fatal results.

While the jolt coil is not the first spellheart to come on the market, it is certainly the most popular. Its spell, Electric Arc, is by far the most popular damage cantrip among primal and arcane casters due to its reliability and multi-target capacity, to the extent that casters that normally only cast divine and occult spells often go to contortions just to get access to it. Adventurers lined up outside stores for hours to get the first batch of spark coils on the day they were released, and manufacturers are still struggling to keep up with demand. While the retail price of the coil, about 60 gold pieces, puts it outside the reach of most unsupervised children, there are a lot of lost or stolen spark coils lying around, and they’re not that hard to find if you know where to look.

The rise in accidents has led to calls to respond to the situation. Pediatricians commonly advise parents to ensure that all spellhearts, weapons, and other potentially destructive items are stored securely where their children cannot get them, but those measures are not always enough, given that young aspiring adventurers can often pick locks relatively easily. Some politicians have called for an outright ban on dangerous spellhearts. “We need to stop our kids from killing themselves with these spellhearts,” said Morio Midasi, the governor of Okeno, a city in Katapesh known for its slave markets. “Every child who dies is one we won’t be able to later sell.”

Child development experts urge caution, however, noting that an excessive focus on safety can backfire. “It’s important to note that while accidents do happen, thousands of people of all ages safely use spellhearts every day, and don’t harm anyone except the monsters,” said Rallena Reitman, a cleric of Shelyn. “And children need to have the opportunity to engage in unstructured play and explore the world for themselves. If you see your child trying to pick the lock on your spellheart safe, you should congratulate them on their initiative and curiosity.” Reitman said that rather than ban spellhearts, society should instead focus on teaching kids medicine, so that they can stabilize friends who fall unconscious due to spellheart accidents before they bleed out and die.