D&D 5E Burning doors with firebolt

[Oofta]

Something else to consider is that charred wood is fire resistant. So after the first cantrip or two, the wood is going to be harder to burn.

In addition, I don't see the whole door going up in flames, I see a fist-sized hole being (very) slowly formed. It would take hours to burn down most doors, and probably create a great deal of smoke. Even creating a bonfire on one side of a door would take a significant amount of time to burn through the door.

It would be an interesting experiment. Take a wooden log (oak or similar hardwood) apply a blow torch to it for a couple of seconds, take the flame away for a few seconds and apply again. Kind of a "spell caster's Myth Busters". Having started my share of fires, if the flame ever did start the door on fire I suspect it would go out in a very short order. You need continual heat for several minutes to get a log burning.

 

[cmad1977]

You've vastly overpowered a cantrip.


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[ShadoWWW]

Thank you all for your tips. So basicly it's not that easy to burn it out, and there may be other consequences like unbreathable smoke or a random encounter meanwhile. I also heard about explosive gas in underground enviroment. Thank you all for your tips, again. I appreciate it very much.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

OTOH, what if it turns out the doors were all mimics? Doesn't look like such a bad idea then, hey?

When you say "all", are you possibly imagining a worldwide conspiracy between mimics and housing constructors? Because I am...

 

[MechaPilot]

To be fair, you couldn't kill a person by holding a lighter up to them either. So I guess firebolt is a bit more than that.

In accordance with the term "bolt" and the ranged attack nature of the spell, I always figured there was some measure of impact involved, despite there being no bludgeoning damage.

 

[jaelis]

When you say "all", are you possibly imagining a worldwide conspiracy between mimics and housing constructors? Because I am...

They are all biding their time, waiting for the signal.

 

[Henry]

Thank you all for your tips. So basicly it's not that easy to burn it out, and there may be other consequences like unbreathable smoke or a random encounter meanwhile. I also heard about explosive gas in underground enviroment. Thank you all for your tips, again. I appreciate it very much.

Happy to help - I'm a fan of saying "yes" when someone gets creative, but there's "saying yes" improv-style to add fun and continue the story, and then there's letting a player improvise to the detriment of other players' fun.

 

[schnee]

In accordance with the term "bolt" and the ranged attack nature of the spell, I always figured there was some measure of impact involved, despite there being no bludgeoning damage.

Lightning is a 'bolt' and there's no kinetic impact.

 

[SwivSnapshot]

Happy to help - I'm a fan of saying "yes" when someone gets creative, but there's "saying yes" improv-style to add fun and continue the story, and then there's letting a player improvise to the detriment of other players' fun.

A simple way to balance the equation- the random encounter table now results in an encounter on a 2 thru a 20 and the DM rolls 2 dice to determine the encounter monsters. If the DM feels like making the point even more obvious, the maximum possible number of monster arrive or the DM can roll for a random monster every round.

 

[SkidAce]

Agree with what others have said about practibility.

Who said doors are flammable? Just because it's made of wood doesn't mean it's immediately flammable, especially from any old piss-mote of flame and a paltry 1d10. Without kindling, or an already roaring campfire, that solid door is not going to burn.

I agree with not being immediately flammable, however....

"paltry 1d10" one shot kills commoners. (4 hp). Any blast of fire that can kill a person is a pretty fearsome flame.