Fireball and catching creatures on fire

[hong]

Yeesh, a fireball leaving your clothes untouched is hardly the biggest gotcha with D&D magic. Consider, for example, how a disintegrate affects you, but not your items (except on a roll of 1 on the save). So you end up as a little pile of ash, and all your items, which are still intact, fall on top of it in a heap. It brings to mind Daffy Duck's disintegration-proof vest in Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

So why do they do any fire damage at all?
A wave of flame I can't picture hurting that much UNLESS it catches you on fire.

This seems to me to say more about the nature of your imagination than the nature of fire itsef.

 

[Uller]

So why do they do any fire damage at all?
A wave of flame I can't picture hurting that much UNLESS it catches you on fire.

It's the poke-your-hand-thru-a-flame effect.

How DOES a fireball do damage if it goes past you "in a flash"?

When I was in the army we used to blow stuff up a lot (imagine that...) In one case, we blew up a building that was to be cleared for new construction (they were renovating our base and allowed the combat engineering units to train on the old structures...FUN!).

Very often after a large explosion, there are all manner of melted and heat damaged items, yet nothing lit of fire (well...sometimes it did). This is because the initial explosion created a vacuum that either prevented object form lighting up or the on rushing wind as that vacuum is filled put them out...just a guess there.

Granted, a fireball is a different animal than 20 lbs of C4 (more fire, less boom) but I can see that happening with a fireball, too. A wave of pure heat that damages you, but the sudden vacuum makes it difficult to light stuff up. So while the characters may be smoldering, they normally can put out any fires on their person very quickly with no fuss. Unattended objects (and maybe unconscious, dead and dying characters) have no such luxary.

In any event, I've seen waves of fire damage stuff but not light it on fire...

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I had a munchkin PC (in 2e) tell me that his Fireballs should roast an enemies' clothes.

The next encounter, he got hit by a Delayed Blast Fireball. I ruled that his clothes burnt clean off, that he was stark naked (even his boxers got torched), his spellbook was destroyed, his scrolls turned to ash, his Cloak of Displacement burnt, his golden necklace of "cast Heal 1/day" melted (extra damage for scorched metal on his throat), and that he couldn't be effective until he got some clothes on (it's hard to hold a fig leaf over your front and back while casting a spell with a S component).

2e has clear rules about spells damageing attended items. Note that the DMG trumps splatbooks unless WotC says otherwise (eg Wildshape).

 

[reapersaurus]

Magic?

But how do we emulate this phenomenon you have acribed the term "magic" to?

If we are to have a proper reality simulation-session, we must quantify this 'magic', no?

 

[Darkness]

But how do we emulate this phenomenon you have acribed the term "magic" to?

If we are to have a proper reality simulation-session, we must quantify this 'magic', no?

Usually, we emulate it by rolling the proper number of d6, the appropriate save (Reflex) and not thinking too much about it.

 

[kreynolds]

Usually, we emulate it by rolling the proper number of d6, the appropriate save (Reflex) and not thinking too much about it.

How dare you suggest such a thing in regards to a fantasy style role-playing game!!!

 

[Kroax]

So why do they do any fire damage at all?
A wave of flame I can't picture hurting that much UNLESS it catches you on fire.

It's the poke-your-hand-thru-a-flame effect.

How DOES a fireball do damage if it goes past you "in a flash"?

Maybe the it's the heat wave that damages the character and not the fire itself? After all, a magical explosion of fire is more powerful than a candle.

But that still leaves to explain why everything else catches on fire...

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

It's called Balance. If Fireball destroyed equipment, it would have to be more powerful than Fireball + Shatterstorm, which is more powerful than Fireball + Shatter. I'd say... 8th-level?

But people want Fireball as a 3rd-level spell.
Note that Lightning Bolt, also a 3rd-level spell, can't do stuff like that.