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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6875197" data-attributes="member: 42582">I am saying that if an effect causes fire damage, it is not a house rule to say that it may set things alight because it has the capacity to do so - because that's what fire does.Here is the rule for torches, on p 68 of the SRD:A torch burns for 1 hour, providing bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. If you make a melee attack with a burning torch and hit, it deals 1 fire damage.The torch burns. And it does fire damage. Yet, by the above logic, it seems that it would be a house rule for a GM to allow the following action declaration: &quot;I use my burning torch to set the book alight!&quot;Here is another oddity. Page 68 of the SRD, in the entry for tinderboxes, describes torches as having &quot;abundant, exposed fuel&quot; (which permits them to be lit with an action rather than taking a minute). But on the above logic a torch can't set another torch alight, despite the fact that the currently-lit torch is burning more fiercely than a tinderbox (whose fire is not described as doing any damage, and takes a minute to set typical combustible objects alight) and the one that is not yet lit has &quot;abundant, exposed fuel&quot; of exactly the same sort as is currently burning in the lit torch.Unless the GM institutes a house rule, that is!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6875197, member: 42582"] I am saying that if an effect causes fire damage, it is not a house rule to say that it [I]may[/I] set things alight because it has the capacity to do so - because that's what fire does. Here is the rule for torches, on p 68 of the SRD: [indent]A torch burns for 1 hour, providing bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. If you make a melee attack with a burning torch and hit, it deals 1 fire damage.[/indent] The torch [I]burns[/I]. And it does [I]fire damage[/I]. Yet, by the above logic, it seems that it would be a house rule for a GM to allow the following action declaration: "I use my burning torch to set the book alight!" Here is another oddity. Page 68 of the SRD, in the entry for [I]tinderboxes[/I], describes torches as having "abundant, exposed fuel" (which permits them to be lit with an action rather than taking a minute). But on the above logic a torch can't set another torch alight, despite the fact that the currently-lit torch is [I]burning[/I] more fiercely than a tinderbox (whose fire is not described as doing any damage, and takes a minute to set typical combustible objects alight) and the one that is not yet lit has "abundant, exposed fuel" of exactly the same sort as is currently burning in the lit torch. Unless the GM institutes a house rule, that is! [/QUOTE]

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