Silly rules thoughts

[sheadunne]

The spell resist energy also protects equipment. Since its the spell used to make energy resistant items, one could say the same rules apply. But that still doesn't help with all the naked tieflings running around.

 

[Greenfield]

That's how I see it, also. Even if the initial attack lit stuff on fire I would look at the damage from the fire, if it's fully suppressed then so is the fire.

So, is the torch or lantern also protected? (It's part of your attended gear, after all.) If so, can you light it?

And if you can light it, will it ever burn out? (A Torch does a D3 of fire damage, if used as a weapon, so it can't penetrate even the weakest Energy Resistance).

This is the aspect that makes it silly: Either you can't ever carry a lit torch, or you can carry the same lit torch forever.

And I wonder why we don't see naked Fire Giants running around? Their personal immunity is natural, not a spell, so it wouldn't protect gear like the spell, would it?

By the way, this particular silly thought is based on an equally silly (and peripherally related) situation in 4th Edition.

4e has a specific "condition" for being in fire. By those rules you and your gear take damage every round you're burning, on your action. The silliness comes into play when you consider unattended items: They don't get actions, so by the rules they'll never take any damage from the "burning" condition. So your campfire will burn forever, unless someone is attending it. And the torches in that ancient temple, the ones that were lit when you came in? There's nothing magical about them, even though they've apparently been burning for thousands of years. They just haven't been held or carried in all that time, so they never take any fire damage and so they never burn out.

As a final bit of silliness on this: Our group recently had to face some Frost Giants. Now these guys are CR9s, so for a Level 15 party they're speed bumps. Their leader, however, was a Frost Giant Jarl right out of the book. And also right out of the book is the Ring of Fire Resistance, 5 points, that he wears. Even though they only come in 10, 20 and 30 point varieties because that's how the spell scales with levels.

So now our party has that oddest of items, the magic ring that no one can reproduce, because it's too low powered.

What's your favorite silly rule? (The Resist Fire one is fun, but my favorite is that trees are immune to Disintegrate because they are neither living creatures nor noliving objects, and those are the only classes of things the spell describes damage for. )

 

[Stormonu]

I guess resistance works like forming matter in Limbo: it behaves how you think it should. Don't want your clothes to burn? Then they're protected. Want the wick on your lantern to burn? Then you subconsiously turn off/remove it from protection.

Hmm... what happens if you cast Fire Resistance on a Fire Elemental?

(Also, 3E's damage from falling objects get silly with items heavier than about 400 lbs. A 200 ton ancient red dragon does 2d8 with a crush, but if it does a bellyflop from the top turnbuckle, it easily gets over 20d6 from just a 10' fall.)

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

What's your favorite silly rule? (The Resist Fire one is fun, but my favorite is that trees are immune to Disintegrate because they are neither living creatures nor noliving objects, and those are the only classes of things the spell describes damage for. )

Well, there's the stabalize-by-drowning thing in 3e. But that one's just poor wording so it's not my all-time favorite.

...Which for me is how WotC D&D treats size categories; particularly 3.x. Clearly someone said "Hey, let's relate size to racial height. Medium creatures range from 4' to 8', and other categories will halve or double that range. Medium creatures will have a 5' reach, and other categories will halve or double that reach as appropriate. Oh, and we can also tack on mods to grapple and sneaking and stuff...because physics!" Sounds good, right?

But then someone realized that nobody would play a gnome or halfling with a 0 (2-1/2 rounded down) reach, so all Small creatures suddenly got super-long ape arms or something. And whoever did the attack and AC mods based on size didn't think it thru or even take notes from the guy who did the grapple mods, because they don't make sense the way they're obviously supposed to. And whoever decided that modding hide checks, but not MS checks by size was just high. In short, size categories and related rules look sensible at a glance but become absurdist the closer you look.

Size categories have so far been one big farce of the Rules as Physics philosophy.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

So, is the torch or lantern also protected? (It's part of your attended gear, after all.) If so, can you light it?

If you had it when the resist was cast, or for an extended period while using a permanent item then I would rule you can't light it.

If it was recently picked up after the spell was cast (including put down and then picked back up) then it's not protected and burns normally.

And I wonder why we don't see naked Fire Giants running around? Their personal immunity is natural, not a spell, so it wouldn't protect gear like the spell, would it?

I figure they know how to make stuff that can take the fire.

As a final bit of silliness on this: Our group recently had to face some Frost Giants. Now these guys are CR9s, so for a Level 15 party they're speed bumps. Their leader, however, was a Frost Giant Jarl right out of the book. And also right out of the book is the Ring of Fire Resistance, 5 points, that he wears. Even though they only come in 10, 20 and 30 point varieties because that's how the spell scales with levels.

So now our party has that oddest of items, the magic ring that no one can reproduce, because it's too low powered.

I've always allowed making weaker versions of items and spells.

What's your favorite silly rule? (The Resist Fire one is fun, but my favorite is that trees are immune to Disintegrate because they are neither living creatures nor noliving objects, and those are the only classes of things the spell describes damage for. )

What dryad bribed the makers of the universe? And how?

 

[Raith5]

I have always viewed this effect as a kind of shield a few inches from the body - maybe of an opposite element to ward off the effects of the attack.

Something like the introduction video the RPG computer game Witcher 2 a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwUAv-SSZqw (about 90 seconds in)

 

[delericho]

So, is the torch or lantern also protected? (It's part of your attended gear, after all.) If so, can you light it?

And if you can light it, will it ever burn out?

Technically, you shouldn't be able to light it. In fact, since the fuel is now resistant to fire, the fire should extinguish as soon as the spell is cast. Though I doubt many DMs would actually apply that; I certainly would not.

This is the aspect that makes it silly: Either you can't ever carry a lit torch, or you can carry the same lit torch forever.

The first of these isn't actually silly; just annoying. Bear in mind that if the torch were soaking wet, it wouldn't be possible to light it then, either.

And I wonder why we don't see naked Fire Giants running around? Their personal immunity is natural, not a spell, so it wouldn't protect gear like the spell, would it?

Quite. D&D magic has never operated on anything approaching real world physics. And so, the fire giant's clothes are immune to fire... just because. The energy resistant torch can still be lit... just because. Superman's cape is immune to damage... just because. Don't look for consistency, because it just isn't there. And even if you were to rewrite the rules throughout to make them consistent, you'd almost certainly expend a whole lot of effort, make the game much less fun to play... and still miss something and be left with odd (silly) corner cases.

As a final bit of silliness on this: Our group recently had to face some Frost Giants. Now these guys are CR9s, so for a Level 15 party they're speed bumps. Their leader, however, was a Frost Giant Jarl right out of the book. And also right out of the book is the Ring of Fire Resistance, 5 points, that he wears. Even though they only come in 10, 20 and 30 point varieties because that's how the spell scales with levels.

I've missed something. Since you're talking about CR, I assume you're back to talking about 3.5e? But the Frost Giant Jarl in my 3.5e MM has a minor ring of fire resistance, and has fire resistance 10, in the book. Is it possible you've been looking at the 3.0e stats for this monster? Because IIRC, energy resistance was one of the things that changed in the update.

 

[Greenfield]

To clarify: I wasn't the DM, so I honestly don't know which edition the DM was looking in.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The Resist Fire one is fun, but my favorite is that trees are immune to Disintegrate because they are neither living creatures nor noliving objects, and those are the only classes of things the spell describes damage for.

Ooh! So I can carry a potted shrubbery as a shield and it will make me immune to disintegrate!

 

[Greenfield]

I think you need two shubberies, little pathway in between for a sort of high-low effect...

Oh, and the shrubbery needs to be carrying you, as an attended item, for you to be immune to Disintegrate...