Cigarette?


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Interesting intellectual puzzle. I've never smoked, so I'm going on observation, but if it ever came up in a game I'd probably accept the following handwave:

One move action to retrieve the pack and extract a single cigarette.
One move action to re-stow the pack and place the cigarette in the mouth.
One move action to retrieve the matches or lighter and prepare to create flame.
One standard action (draws AoO) to create flame and properly light the cigarette.
One move action to re-stow the matches or lighter.

Though it hasn't been mentioned, I'd probably insert another standard action (draws AoO) for cutting a cigar and two move actions to retrieve and re-stow the cutter.

In the event that keeping track of how much time it takes becomes important, I think losing two and a half rounds to light a cigarette (four for a cigar) sounds about right. It seems to me that it'd take noticeably longer than drinking a potion because all you have to do with a potion is get it out, open it, chug it, and drop the bottle. Of course if the player raises a hullaballoo ("but just look at all the different things I have to do!") I could be persuaded to make it cost twice as long instead. :)

If there's some reason the character needs to do it more quickly, I might call for a moderate DEX check (DC 15 or 17 or so) to do it a little quicker at the cost of attentiveness to surroundings:

One full-round action (draws AoO) to get out the pack, place the cigarette in the mouth, and re-stow the pack.
One full-round action (draws AoO) to get out the lighter or matches, light the cigarette, and re-stow the lighter or matches.
 

*grin* That's exactly what I was going for.

This actually sort of came up in a d20 modern horror game I played in. I had doused a zombie in gasoline, and another PC wanted to set it on fire. The GM, I swear to God, made it impossible to pull out a match and light it in one round, claiming it was a separate move action to draw the matches, to open the pack, to retrieve a match, and to light one, then a standard action to throw it on the zombie, which would still require a touch attack at a -4 penalty because you're non-proficient in "match."

Want to know how we managed to finally do it?

Player 1 - I draw the box of matches and open it. (Two move actions)
Player 2 - I take a match out of the box and strike it to light it. (Two move actions)
Player 3 - I reach over and take the burning match out of her hand, then throw it at the zombie. (Move and a standard)

So ever since then, my friends and I have joked about how long it takes to do mundane stuff in D&D. Like lighting a cigarette.

Our favorite solution so far was:

Player 1 - Draws the cigarette and readies an action to throw it into his mouth.
Player 2 - Draws a matchbox, and opens it.
Player 3 - Pulls out the match, lights it.
Player 1 - Throws the match into his mouth. As this is a ranged attack, it provokes an attack of opportunity. If Player 3 has taken 'exotic weapon proficiency - match,' he can make an attack of opportunity to sunder the cigarette, and hopefully deal enough fire damage to light it. Then Player 1 needs to have Snatch Arrows in order to grab the cigarette he threw at himself. Hopefully the DM is lenient and allows you to 'snatch' with your mouth.
 


Round 1: Move Action - retrieve pack and lighter (what, you keep yours in different places?), jiggle pack, extract raised cigarette from pack directly to mouth.

Round 2: Free Action - transfer lighter to other hand. Move Action - light cigarette, provoke an AoO. Free Action - transfer lighter back to first hand. Second Move Action - stow pack and lighter.



And yeah, the whole seperate action to retrieve matches, then take out match, etc, etc. Hogwash. You don't have to use seperate actions to retrieve a potion, then uncork it, then drink it, after all. Certain sub-actions are subsumed the base action.
 

Good grief, that's a... I don't think it makes sense to require the equivalent of three full-round actions to light something on fire. I suspect I would be very cross with a DM who didn't let me so much as get a match lit in a single round.

I'm pleased to note that my ad-hoc answer above *does* make it possible to light something that's within reach (or within reach after a 5' move) in a single round, even though there's probably a more elegant way of doing it. I'd also be fine with Sejs' solution -- totally blanked on the whole "keep the pack and the lighter in the same pocket and draw them both" idea.
 

I am 5 ft. away from a door, and have a move speed of 30. I can step up to the door (5 ft. step) and open it (move action), and then even shoot an arrow through it, but I can't walk through the door.

However, if I have Spring Attack and can deal enough damage, I can move up, smash the door open with my weapon, and continue through that way.
 

RangerWickett said:
I am 5 ft. away from a door, and have a move speed of 30. I can step up to the door (5 ft. step) and open it (move action), and then even shoot an arrow through it, but I can't walk through the door.

However, if I have Spring Attack and can deal enough damage, I can move up, smash the door open with my weapon, and continue through that way.
Spring Attack specifies when you're attacking. Nothing particular I can think of says you can't split your movement around another move action. Move 5' to the door, open it, move your remaining 25'.
 

RangerWickett said:
I had doused a zombie in gasoline, and another PC wanted to set it on fire.

Here's how I would have ruled:
1: You make a move action to retrieve matches.
2: You make a standard action to light and toss (make a touch attack). 20% or 50% the match goes out first depending on situation. Hooray, it lights!
3: I announce that the zombie which was previously just an animated corpse of murderous intent and inhuman strength is now a flaming animated corpse of murderous intent and inhuman strength. It hits you and grapples you and now you're being bitten and burnt.

Then when the TPK is over I explain that the zombies are created when a person dies from smoking Cthulhu Light Menthols and if you just gave it your cigarettes it would have left you in peace. :p
 

Darklone said:
Hmmm. Smokers with one box per day live 7 years less... smokers with two boxes per day 22 IIRC.

Totally tangental...

The guy I worked for in college (through 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad school) smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day, alternating between filterless Camels and Lucky Strikes.

Do the math...that's 80 cigarettes a day. He only slept 4 hours a night (another long story), but, still, that works out to lighting a cigarette every 15 minutes, all day long, every day.

When I started working for him, in 1983, he was 56 years old. He'd had a minor stroke the year before, and the doctor told him that if he quit smoking, and dropped 100 pounds (he was probably 6'5", 350 pounds, a big old football player gone to seed), the doc guaranteed he'd live more than one more year. Jack (my boss) said, "if I do that, I wouldn't be living anyway." So, he didn't.

In 1990, Jack won the Wisconsin Lottery. Back then, you couldn't take lottery winnings in a lump payment; it was to be stretched out over 20 years. He realized that he was unlikely to see most of his winnings if he didn't clean up his act, and so he lost some weight and cut back on the smoking some.

Last time I checked, he was still alive, in his late 70s. Man has an amazing Constitution score, is all I can say. :D
 

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