Solid Fog v Fireball

[Empirate]

While I dig your comparison, [MENTION=6705156]Marshall Gatten[/MENTION], I think an either-or solution would be preferable here. Solid Fog and Fireball are hugely tactical spells - you don't just cast them and hope for the best, you cast them in specific situations expecting specific results. Especially when both are cast in conjunction! So while a percentile roll to determine what happens seems like a decent solution from a pure rules perspective, from a gaming perspective this rule would only result in nobody ever combining the two spells. Spellcasters (PC and NPC alike) want predictable results.

 

[Marshall Gatten]

Spellcasters (PC and NPC alike) want predictable results.

We'll probably never agree on this one, then. The way I see it, if players wanted predictable results then they wouldn't come to the table with bags filled with hundreds of funky dice.

I actually had another thought about this. I was watching a Mythbusters rerun last night where they were using ballistics gel to catch bullets. Having just posted in this thread, that gave me an amazing idea: What if you used Solid Fog to catch the Fireball bead? So, extending my example above, there's a 10% chance of the Fireball exploding on impact with the SF and and 89% chance of it reaching its target. That leaves 1% that it gets partway to its target and then stops.

I'm picturing an alchemist paying spell casters to repeatedly cast SF and Fireball until he finally manages to catch an unexploded bead. And then he sends in his hapless apprentice to carefully remove the delicate bead which can now be studied as raw magic in situ. He could store it in a very thoroughly padded box. It could also be used as an awesome trap.

 

[Belzbet]

Without reading any other reply I would say this: Fireball DOES detonate early BUT its radius is unaffected and the targets in the area dont get any bonus to REF from the damage (COVER doers NOT apply since its NOT actually a solid object despite the name, after all creatures CAN move through solid fog; ALSO CONCEALMENT does not affect area attacks)... So i think that solid fog is "solid" enough to detonate a fireball early BUT it is NOT solid enough to provide ANY cover (it provides CONCEALMENT as per the spell description but not cover; this problem can be sumed up: "does solid fog provide cover" and the answer is no)... But a Dm COULD say that solid fog is "solid" enough to detonate a fireball ealry (this is upto the DM really)... Another EXAMPLE: Web, is web spell "solid" enough to detonate a fireball early (assuming you hit the web as per fireball you can make a check to get through small openings and a web surely has small openings)? If a PC had a problem with the ruling that a fieball detonates early then I would say rule thgat it doesnt to make things easier BUT my first inclination is that it (bu "it" I mean solid fog) DOES detonate early and that it DOES NOT provide cover or any bonus to saves... Actually once I think about it fog wouldnt be able to detonate a fireball (after all its fog) so I would abujcate it normally)

 

[Empirate]

We'll probably never agree on this one, then. The way I see it, if players wanted predictable results then they wouldn't come to the table with bags filled with hundreds of funky dice.

If you're playing a spellcaster, you only show up with one d20 for rolling initiative. Other than that, the dice you need to roll damage, if you're at all into damage spells that is.

 

[Marshall Gatten]

If you're playing a spellcaster, you only show up with one d20 for rolling initiative. Other than that, the dice you need to roll damage, if you're at all into damage spells that is.

So magic is the most predictable aspect of the world? That doesn't sound odd to you? Okay, to each their own. Like I said, we'll probably never agree. But that's totally cool: If all DMs were the same, the hobby would be dead.

 

[Empirate]

When I'm playing D&D, yes, magic is probably the most predictable part of the game. Or rather, cherrypicking spells can have this effect (Solid Fog among them).
When I'm playing something else, magic becomes much less easy to predict. That can be fun, too, but I find that sometimes, you just want to know what you're gonna get.

 

[Wiseblood]

Solid Fog stops arrows, I would say it is a physical barrier and would stop the bead. The explosion afik would radiate normally into the fog 20 feet and 20 feet outside.

 

[Argyle King]

I don't believe solid fog would stop fireball at all.

 

[Empirate]

Solid Fog stops arrows, I would say it is a physical barrier and would stop the bead. The explosion afik would radiate normally into the fog 20 feet and 20 feet outside.

Solid Fog doesn't stop magical attacks like rays and such, though.

 

[Wiseblood]

I agree solid fog does not stop magical attacks like rays. Fireball is not a ray. Fireball is an explosion. The explosion would not be affected by solid fog. The rules for fireball state that the delivery of said explosion can be impeded by a material body or solid barrier. If the fog is solid enough to slow a fall or stop an arrow why must two rules for both fireball and solid fog be ignored to accommodate one rule that does not specifically run counter to them?