Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Catching on fire rules ... contradictions?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="tmaaas" data-source="post: 476435" data-attributes="member: 6481"><p><strong>Thoqqua</strong></p><p></p><p>I thought I’d resurrect this thread to discuss the Thoqqua:</p><p></p><p>According to the MM, the Thoqqua has the following abilities:</p><p></p><p>Heat (Ex): Merely touching or being touched by a thoqqua automatically deals 2d6 fire damage.</p><p></p><p>and</p><p></p><p>Burn (Ex): When a thoqqua hits with its slam attack, the opponent must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 13) or catch fire. The flame burns for 1d4 rounds if not extinguished sooner. The burning creature can use a full-round action to put out the flame (see page 86 in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on catching on fire).</p><p></p><p>For the “Heat” ability:</p><p></p><p>I would rule that this damage would be taken by any weapon (natural or otherwise) used to attack the Thoqqua. Specifically, on any successful attack not only would the Thoqqua take damage, but the weapon used would also take fire damage from the Thoqqua.</p><p></p><p>I would also rule that this heat damage would be sufficient to have a creature/item catch on fire (per the DMG) if the Thoqqua came on contact with it. This would mostly be applicable to wooden weapons if used on the Thoqqua (I would not consider natural or metal weapons “flammable”).</p><p></p><p>For the “Burn” ability:</p><p></p><p>As with the Alchemist’s Fire discussion in the earlier part of this thread, this again seems to contradict the DMG catching on fire rules. And to make matters worse, it specifically references those rules in the description.</p><p></p><p>Point 1: The save DC is 13 here but 15 in the DMG for catching on fire. This is not a big deal, but it leaves open the question as to whether or not any subsequent saves use this DC or the DMG DC. I would normally rule that this governs only the initial chance to catch on fire, and then once on fire use the DMG rules, but that brings us to point 2:</p><p></p><p>Point 2: Once “on fire”, the fire only burns for 1d4 rounds, if not extinguished sooner. There is no limit in the DMG rules. There, the fire burns until extinguished (or, logically, it totally consumes what it is burning: i.e., the creature is dead). </p><p></p><p>In the earlier Alchemist’s Fire discussion, the other posters seemed to agree that the time limit on Alchemist’s Fire damage does not refer to or apply to “catching on fire” damage. Instead, the “alchemist’s fire” damage could ignite the “normal” catching on fire sequence, which would continue indefinitely until extinguished. This makes a certain amount of logical sense. But if we apply that here, then catching on fire from the Thoqqua’s burn would have to be considered differently from “normal” catching on fire. This does not seem to be the intent with the reference to the DMG rules and use of the same terminology. </p><p></p><p>Point 3: the Thoqqua rules state that a creature can use a full-round action to put out the flames. Does this mean the flames are automatically extinguished (as it seems to) or does it refer to attempting to put out the flames per the DMG? Where each round you get a “free” reflex save to extinguish the flames but by specifically attempting to extinguish them you get a second save attempt? </p><p></p><p>The biggest problem I see is that the rules in the Thoqqua’s entry are different than the DMG’s rules, but yet directly reference the DMG. Trying to integrate the two still leaves some ambiguities. Personally, it seems to me that the people writing the rules in the PHB, DMG, and MM did not correspond closely enough. </p><p></p><p>If there is an ‘official’ or ‘standard’ way for handling this, please let me know.</p><p></p><p>Oh yes, also: if you use the ruling that weapons are damaged when attacking a Thoqqua, and the DMG catch on fire rules (burns indefinitely)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tmaaas, post: 476435, member: 6481"] [b]Thoqqua[/b] I thought I’d resurrect this thread to discuss the Thoqqua: According to the MM, the Thoqqua has the following abilities: Heat (Ex): Merely touching or being touched by a thoqqua automatically deals 2d6 fire damage. and Burn (Ex): When a thoqqua hits with its slam attack, the opponent must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 13) or catch fire. The flame burns for 1d4 rounds if not extinguished sooner. The burning creature can use a full-round action to put out the flame (see page 86 in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on catching on fire). For the “Heat” ability: I would rule that this damage would be taken by any weapon (natural or otherwise) used to attack the Thoqqua. Specifically, on any successful attack not only would the Thoqqua take damage, but the weapon used would also take fire damage from the Thoqqua. I would also rule that this heat damage would be sufficient to have a creature/item catch on fire (per the DMG) if the Thoqqua came on contact with it. This would mostly be applicable to wooden weapons if used on the Thoqqua (I would not consider natural or metal weapons “flammable”). For the “Burn” ability: As with the Alchemist’s Fire discussion in the earlier part of this thread, this again seems to contradict the DMG catching on fire rules. And to make matters worse, it specifically references those rules in the description. Point 1: The save DC is 13 here but 15 in the DMG for catching on fire. This is not a big deal, but it leaves open the question as to whether or not any subsequent saves use this DC or the DMG DC. I would normally rule that this governs only the initial chance to catch on fire, and then once on fire use the DMG rules, but that brings us to point 2: Point 2: Once “on fire”, the fire only burns for 1d4 rounds, if not extinguished sooner. There is no limit in the DMG rules. There, the fire burns until extinguished (or, logically, it totally consumes what it is burning: i.e., the creature is dead). In the earlier Alchemist’s Fire discussion, the other posters seemed to agree that the time limit on Alchemist’s Fire damage does not refer to or apply to “catching on fire” damage. Instead, the “alchemist’s fire” damage could ignite the “normal” catching on fire sequence, which would continue indefinitely until extinguished. This makes a certain amount of logical sense. But if we apply that here, then catching on fire from the Thoqqua’s burn would have to be considered differently from “normal” catching on fire. This does not seem to be the intent with the reference to the DMG rules and use of the same terminology. Point 3: the Thoqqua rules state that a creature can use a full-round action to put out the flames. Does this mean the flames are automatically extinguished (as it seems to) or does it refer to attempting to put out the flames per the DMG? Where each round you get a “free” reflex save to extinguish the flames but by specifically attempting to extinguish them you get a second save attempt? The biggest problem I see is that the rules in the Thoqqua’s entry are different than the DMG’s rules, but yet directly reference the DMG. Trying to integrate the two still leaves some ambiguities. Personally, it seems to me that the people writing the rules in the PHB, DMG, and MM did not correspond closely enough. If there is an ‘official’ or ‘standard’ way for handling this, please let me know. Oh yes, also: if you use the ruling that weapons are damaged when attacking a Thoqqua, and the DMG catch on fire rules (burns indefinitely) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Catching on fire rules ... contradictions?
Top