Consequences of setting a forest on fire...

[Celebrim]

Celebrim: Thanks for your help but PLEASE do not waste your time working out game mechanic specifics for MY benefit.

Your new here, but you might as well know now that when it comes to working out game mechanics, it's never just for the newbies benefit. I've got a 570 page house rule document, and how fast fire spreads isn't covered. It's been on the TODO list.

And yes, CR 6 is a bit much for the party of 5 level 3 PC's.

The CR of this is something that is easily tailored to whatever result you want. I presume that the following is true:

a) You haven't established an exact map on a 5' square level of the mile or two around the encounter.
b) You don't actually know and haven't established in play what the weather is like and has been like for the last few days.
c) Even to the extent that you have, you didn't establish things like relative humidity and exact windspeed.
d) Your players don't have forestry degrees and so don't know exactly how fast fire spreads.

So pretty much any result you want is plausible. If you don't want it to be a big problem, give them a few rounds 'head start' as the fire grows before it really picks up speed, have them hit a clearing or open path within a few rounds, and then let them switch to their run speed to out distance the fire perpendicular to the wind or discover a small pond or lake, etc.

It should be possible to run this as a reasonably interesting 'chase' scene with minimal chance of a TPK while still hitting them over the head with how stupid it is to set a fire when you are standing in a tinderbox.

There are other factors that could mitigate the fire. THe players pointed out that the smoke would easily alert the local good-aligned forest dwellers and the druidic circle that is known to keep an eye on these (spider infested) woods. Surely they could bring weather-spells to bear to help contain the fire. Wouldn't forest dwellers (elves gnomes) protect their portions of the woods from fire, wouldn't they have some kind of plan?

Bah. Never ask players for advice. They'll always insist 'god' will just fix the problem for them. I'd be more worried about what the local good-aligned forest dwellers will do to me after I set their home on fire than I would be about the fire itself. Do not just deus ex machina the problem. That's unsatisfying all the way around.

I think the bigger issue I'm grappling with is players who take actions who's consequences are beyond the scope of the adventure.
/shrug

Learn to embrace being off the rails.

 

[the Jester]

There are other factors that could mitigate the fire. THe players pointed out that the smoke would easily alert the local good-aligned forest dwellers and the druidic circle that is known to keep an eye on these (spider infested) woods. Surely they could bring weather-spells to bear to help contain the fire. Wouldn't forest dwellers (elves gnomes) protect their portions of the woods from fire, wouldn't they have some kind of plan?

Cities have plans to deal with fires, too, but it doesn't make 'em safe.

Fire is an extreme danger; it can easily get out of hand. Rain may stop it, but you certainly can't count on it, unless it's a long-lasting downpour. Any plan the good-aligned forest dwellers have is NOT a sure thing.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I'd recommend allowing the blaze, but you might want to consider giving them a way out. Point out a nearby river they didn't notice before, bring in a rain a few minutes in, or introduce a Druid NPC who saves them, than chastises them for their recklessness and holds them to a quest to atone for the damage they could have done to his forest.

 

[magnusmalkus]

Learn to embrace being off the rails.

What I mean is, it's a one-shot adventure and I won't be DM'ing at the conclusion of it next week.

 

[Celebrim]

What I mean is, it's a one-shot adventure and I won't be DM'ing at the conclusion of it next week.

Well then, so much the better. You don't have to worry about a TPK wrecking the game if it is a one shot. In fact, if you are running one shots in D&D, a TPK is almost the expected result and conversely if there is a good chance of a TPK its best to run things as a one shot. This is the reason 'Tomb of Horrors' or 'Ravenloft' is almost always ran as a one shot.

Even if they escape the fire, you can have the episode end with elves/gnomes taking the PC's prisoner on charges of wreckless vandalism, crimes against nature, and murder. Then, if you ever do want to return to these characters at some point, you've got a ready made scenario - 'escape from the prison of the Gnome king'.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

What I mean is, it's a one-shot adventure and I won't be DM'ing at the conclusion of it next week.

Ahhh.... very different. No strong reason to see the PC's survive.
Than allow the fire's full consequence to play out. Figure the speed the fire will travel per round, the number of rounds it will burn at a particular spot, and the damage it'll do per round. Than leave it to the party to try to outrun it or survive it.

 

[howandwhy99]

Fire used to be dealt with better. Fire would deal damage to its source until it was burned up or put out. Which meant players needed to act to put out flames if they didn't want it causing damage. Magical fire is different altogether. For a forest fire I'd check out potential fuel sources (vegetation, animals, insects) and environment (temperature, climate, elevation, etc.) and deal with start, spread, destruction, and end as needed. Remember, this stuff happens without human or monster interference already, so parts of the wilderness already have wildfire scorched earth as part of the terrain.