20 gallon drums of lamp oil

[HeapThaumaturgist]

So there are rules for 1pt flasks of lamp oil being used as weapons.

But what about dropping half a dozen 20gal barrels of the stuff out of bags of holding from 200ft up into a 20'x30' room with a few corridors off of it and following with an alchemist's fire?

They'd all be coming through a 10'x10' hole in the ceiling and impacting on the floor after a 200' drop, then an alchemist's fire would follow.

WotC ever offer any rules for this? Just 1d3 damage "in a whole bunch of squares"? What if the entire room is filled with multiple swarms of diminituitive creatures?

--fje

 

[Patlin]

That's a bit specific to expect to find in the RAW, though it would be nice to at least have a second data point... perhaps how much damage a catapult-sized container of alchemists fire would do. Perhaps there is such in a sourcebook I don't have.

 

[Sejs]

When in doubt, play it simple.

You're burning out a bunch of swarms of bugs or the like?

Burns for quite some time, after which they're all dead.

Tada!

 

[Machiavelli]

Just guess, based on what feels right.

Lamp oil is probably going to burn slow and cool, because that produces the longest-burning flame, which is very good for a lamp. Now, these drums of lamp oil will be filled, right? That means there will be little to no air inside for the oil to evaporate into and produce a more vigorously burning vapor. The oil would just spread out and burn like a camp fire, only much, much wider. On the plus side, in such a small space the smoke and lack of oxygen would asphixiate everyone who needs to breathe, but the actual fire damage would be, what? 1d6/round? Whatever a campfire usually is.

Your best bet is probably to heat those drums up to boiling before dropping them, if you want to weaponize them. Then the unlit oil, vaporized by its own heat and released from the damaged drums, would quickly fill up the space and mix with the air. Drop a match and step back, because you will have set off essentially an Explosive Fireball in that room. I'd give it 8d6 fire damage, knock everyone prone on a failed Reflex save, and add 1d6 bludgeoning damage for each 10 feet thrown outside the area of effect, and 1d6 again if they slam into a wall or another creature before leaving the AoE. As for the AoE, I'd take the volume of the drums, multiply by about 20 (which seems very conservative) and keep filling the room and spilling into the halls until you run out of volume.

It would be NASTY. Of course it's ingenious, and clever thinking should be rewarded with nasty effectiveness... like McGyver with swords and dragons.

But that's just how I'd do it as a DM.

 

[Christian]

Death by Insanely Overpowered Fireballs (whispering): "Go ahead, light it. What could go wrong?"

 

[Thurbane]

Doesn't Heroes of Battle have some data on incendiary catapult ammo, or is it Arms & Equipment? I know I've read it somewhere - maybe it was a 3rd party book...

 

[Hairfoot]

Of course it's ingenious, and clever thinking should be rewarded with nasty effectiveness... like McGyver with swords and dragons.

D&D wizards are scientist analogues. Surely a wizzer with 4 ranks in alchemy would know what an "accelerant" is, and how to prime a barrel with it. Or get a henchman to prime the barrel, I should say.

That's what asbestos golems are for.