D&D 5E Fire Attacks

[Warpiglet-7]

Just curious if anyone has much experience with fire based characters.

I am looking at a tiefling with flames of Phlegethos and firebolt and green flame blade.

fire is frequently resisted and at times immunity plays a role (devils, dragons elementals) in particular.

thanks for ante red dragon sorcerer or other anecdotes...

 

[DND_Reborn]

Just curious if anyone has much experience with fire based characters.

I am looking at a tiefling with flames of Phlegethos and firebolt and green flame blade.

fire is frequently resisted and at times immunity plays a role (devils, dragons elementals) in particular.

thanks for ante red dragon sorcerer or other anecdotes...

We had a tiefling sorcerer who used fire well due to take the Elemental Adept feat. It is really annoying for creatures resistant to fire to lose that ability.

FWIW, we extended the feat to make it even better. Creatures immune to damage become resistant to your attacks for the chosen element.

 

[cbwjm]

I've a player who is a gold dragon sorcerer, almost completely fire spells, and he's done fine. On only a couple of occasions has he been less effective due to fire resistance and even then, he had other targets that he could choose so he could direct his magic elsewhere. He has picked up a different damage cantrip as a backup for those times when fire resistance is an issue, but most of the time he just burns his enemies

 

[The Crimson Binome]

A few years back, I ran a campaign where one of the players was a typically fire-obsessed warlock, although he did rely on eldritch blast in any situation that didn't warrant a spell slot. I remember him having the absolute worst time against helmed horrors.

 

[Oofta]

In my last campaign I had a player join that created a PC that focused almost entirely on fire spells. The big bad in my campaign happened to be a red dragon who was building an army of half-dragon hybrids. The dragon had also aligned himself with fire giants. All of which I had decided and set in motion before he ever joined.

I don't tailor encounters to PCs so the player was a frustrated on a fairly regular basis. Many of the opponents were resistant to fire damage, a decent number were immune.

After a bit he picked up elemental adept, but that still didn't help with the bad guys that were immune like red dragons and fire giants. Yet every level he added more fire spells instead of branching out.

I think being so laser focused on one damage type is generally a bad idea, especially fire. It's right up there with necrotic as the most common resistance or immunity. Then again, it may not matter much. Depends on the campaign, but a lot of BBEGs from dragons to fire giants to several fiends are immune to fire so have some alternatives handy.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

In my last campaign I had a player join that created a PC that focused almost entirely on fire spells. The big bad in my campaign happened to be a red dragon who was building an army of half-dragon hybrids. The dragon had also aligned himself with fire giants. All of which I had decided and set in motion before he ever joined.

I don't tailor encounters to PCs so the player was a frustrated on a fairly regular basis. Many of the opponents were resistant to fire damage, a decent number were immune.

After a bit he picked up elemental adept, but that still didn't help with the bad guys that were immune like red dragons and fire giants. Yet every level he added more fire spells instead of branching out.

I think being so laser focused on one damage type is generally a bad idea, especially fire. It's right up there with necrotic as the most common resistance or immunity. Then again, it may not matter much. Depends on the campaign, but a lot of BBEGs from dragons to fire giants to several fiends are immune to fire so have some alternatives handy.

Yes your point is well taken. Of course that sounds like the worst case scenario!

I am playing a tiefling Eldritch Knight. Theoretically, he could not cast and do more regular fighter stuff.

here is the ‘build’ though I hate that term!

I am playing a tiefling criminal Eldritch Knight.

he is Glasya subtype with some natural illusion. But I digress. I saw gfb and firebolt as possible cantrips at 3rd....then for a feat at 4th could take flames of Phlegethos! You can see where that is going. Angry burning devil!

for fire immune folks I could just take a few swipes with a great axe (as of 5th). Not as exciting maybe but I guess still a contribution.

 

[DND_Reborn]

for fire immune folks I could just take a few swipes with a great axe (as of 5th). Not as exciting maybe but I guess still a contribution.

Or just improve Elemental Adept as we did. The 1's become 2's for damage is pretty lame IMO, so allowing "immunity" to become "resistance" makes up for that. It really isn't OP at all so I highly recommend the change in the feat.

 

[aco175]

I'm running the elemental evil campaign right now and the cleric is a fire cleric from a 3pp. The fire temple was hard even with the ability to overcome resistance with your fire. The other areas are neutral to him. I have run a few other encounters with cold creatures that are more fun for him and do not plan to run the fire god at the end of the adventure to be fair to him, or rather to make things more fun for him.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Yes your point is well taken. Of course that sounds like the worst case scenario!

I am playing a tiefling Eldritch Knight. Theoretically, he could not cast and do more regular fighter stuff.

here is the ‘build’ though I hate that term!

I am playing a tiefling criminal Eldritch Knight.

he is Glasya subtype with some natural illusion. But I digress. I saw gfb and firebolt as possible cantrips at 3rd....then for a feat at 4th could take flames of Phlegethos! You can see where that is going. Angry burning devil!

for fire immune folks I could just take a few swipes with a great axe (as of 5th). Not as exciting maybe but I guess still a contribution.

Yeah, the situation where you either get to stick to your character's concept or get to be useful is pretty much the worst case scenario. Note that that DM was fully aware of putting the player in that situation and did it anyway however.

Fire is commonly less effective against some creatures, but note that it is also one of the best elements for being more effective.
If you're looking at an Eldritch knight though, you have a lot less to worry about: your spells will be secondary to your weapon damage.

 

[billd91]

I’ve been having fun with fire as an elven wizard. I did take Elemental Adept as a feat, so that helps. But I always make sure fire isn’t the only thing I do. I find players who over-specialize then whine about it extremely irritating because they’ve basically done it to themselves.