Children + Matches = Wizard + Fireball

[Centaur]

Living in BC, I am keenly aware of the risk of Forest Fires every year. This year is especial bad with more and more of them poping up every day and no end it site.

Which brings be to my dilema. Here is a Hypothetical situation. Small town is being extorted by a group of Orcs on regualr enough basis that they are in danger of not having enough food for the following winter. They hire the PCs to get rid of the Orcs. Simple enough right.

The PCs go off into the woods to hunt the Orcs and within short order, find them and proceed to engage them in combat. Being summer, the forest is likely quite dry, the kind of conditions that a lightning strike would cause a forest fire. If the PC wizard (Or an Orc Wizard for that matter) uses a spell like Lightning bolt or fireball to defeat his enimies, should not a part of the collateral damage be to set the forest ablaze?

If so, How do we then deal with this situation? Are there guidelines in any of the books for dealing with this? Or should we just brush over this and not worry about it; it is after all, a RPG?

In the above senario, While the PCs may indead kill all the Orcs and therefore save the town from these mauraders, they may have inadvertantly doomed the Town to firey destruction if they can't bring the fire under control.

Which brings be to the second part of my question. What spells would someone use to bring a fire like this under control. Obviously spells like "Control Weather" would be quite handy, but if the weather is currently, Clear and Hot, then it might be difficult to shift it to Cool and Heavy Rain.

One possibility would be to use spells like "Cone of Cold" or Fireball metamagiced into a cold ball. But then, given the risk, these spells should have been used first.

I'm wondering if other people have ever delt with the issue of a forest fire in their Campaign and second, have they ever had the PC's actions result in such an occurence and how they handled it.

For the players out there, Has your GM ever sprung something like this on you?

 

[billd91]

Hey, I'm all for this kind of "actions have repercussions" adventures. But, to avoid players saying that you've screwed them over, make sure you point out the conditions to any druid or ranger in the party... or anyone with Survival/Wilderness Lore or Knowledge: Nature. Otherwise they'll cry foul because you didn't tell them how dry the forest was.
As far as using magic to put out the fire, you could use Quench (fairly obviously, that seems to be it's main reason for existance) but Pyrotechnics works pretty well too and now there are actually guidelines in the spell description that say how big a fire will be put out by casting it.
As far as using cold spells to put it out, you could assign a hp value to the fire and then say it's out when they've done enough damage to it with cold spells to wipe out those hp.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

The 3.5 DMG/SRD has information on forest fires in the environment section. . . .

 

[Simplicity]

Yeah, this actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun, if it's
done right. Be SURE you point out how dry things are BEFORE
the orc battle. And also be sure that the fighting doesn't SEEM to occur in a clearing, and then all of a sudden there were a bunch of trees nearby. Have the orcs use undergrowth for cover. When the players blast em, well... then they knew they were
shooting into vegetation.

 

[The Kender]

Ummm... Doesn't it say somewhere that Fireball can't ignite anything?

 

[root]

No, it does not say that.

Fireball
Evocation [Fire]
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area: 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes

A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level
(maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage. The explosion creates almost
no pressure.
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. 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.) If you attempt to
send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must ?hit? the opening with a ranged touch attack,
or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely.
The fireball sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in the area. It can melt metals with low melting points, such as
lead, gold, copper, silver, and 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.
Material Component: A tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur.

 

[Felix]

Remember that if the forest is a natural forest, it will be subject to forest fires more often than our forests here in Notrh America. Meaning, there will be less kindling on the ground for the fireball to ignite; the forest floor is more likely to have been cleared out in a "recent" natural wildfire.

We Virginians don't have to worry about wildfires as much as some do, but I'm fairly sure that while in modern times we experience fewer individual fires, those fires are much worse due to the buildup of dead wood from a lack of common wildfires.

P.S., interesting scenario.