Catching Fireballs

[whatisitgoodfor]

Would it be possible, with a readied action, to catch a fireball before it expoldes?

I can just imagine the Epic level barbarian walking up to the battle field with a tankard of ale in hand. He calms quaffs while the wizard begins casting his spell. The wizard makes his final motion and the barbarian simply catches the little green ball in the tankard and closes the lid.

 

[Nish]

From the SRD description of Fireball

A glowing, pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body or solid barrier prior to attaining the prescribed range, blossoms into the fireball at that point (an early impact results in an early detonation).

I think its pretty clear that as soon as the "bead" strikes anything it detonates.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

That's why he has to use a tankard with a top on it.

While it's inside the tankard, before it strikes the bottom, he has to close the lid and hold it closed.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

That's why he has to use a tankard with a top on it.

While it's inside the tankard, before it strikes the bottom, he has to close the lid and hold it closed.

So instead of getting hit with a fireball he gets hit with a fireball and shrapnel.

From the SRD:

The fireball sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in the area. It can melt metals with a low melting point, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, or bronze. If the damage caused to an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the fireball may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.

I don't think the fireball would have a problem breaking through a tankard of ale...

 

[drowdude]

That's why he has to use a tankard with a top on it.

While it's inside the tankard, before it strikes the bottom, he has to close the lid and hold it closed.

Yeah... but fireball still go BOOOOM!


Sure, the high-level Barbarian can soak the damage and all... but I think this would be a better trick for a monk or a rogue... since they have Evasion

 

[RangerWickett]

I once let a PC monk use his deflect arrows feat to do something like this. The wizard was casting a fireball past the monk into a crowd of allies, and since the monk was only five feet from the path of the fireball, I gave him a chance (Ref DC 20 + spell level). He jumped out, caught the fireball on his hand, and let it detonate on him instead of the rest of the party. Realistically, I made it so he'd take normal damage on a successful save, and double on a failed save, even _with_ evasion. He took the 35 points of damage, then ran like hell with only 7 hp left. But he managed to save the rest of the party, which had one wizardress with only 25 hp and a bad Ref save.

Now, the next time they run into the wizard, they're planning to load the monk up with protection from fire and have him run interference.

 

[Mahali]

That's why you use a Adamantine tankard +5 of fireball catching. That has fire resistance.

 

[Gaiden]

I recall the fireball saying something specifically about not having any explosive powers - it merely spreads the area in flame with no actual force.

 

[Nish]

I recall the fireball saying something specifically about not having any explosive powers - it merely spreads the area in flame with no actual force.

True, but the tankard will still take fire damage from the spell which will more than likely destroy it anyway. The fireball will then continue spreading to its full area of effect. At least that's how I would handle it.

Although, if someone did go through the trouble of creating a +5 Adamantine Tankard of Fire Resistance, I'd probably allow it to stop the fireball.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Neat Monk story... but was he making a ready action ? Without a ready action specifically looking to "bat" fireballs its very hard ruleswise.

Other good ways could be casting wall of force or sending summoned creatures to hit the incoming fireball...