The dangers of Alchemist's Fire

[The_lone_gunman]

Here is how I would do it:

Any time some critical hits the PC, there is a 50% chance one of the vials is shattered. The PC then gets to make a reflex save for half damage, otherwise he takes max damage from the exploding vial.

This way he/she can still do it, but there is a risk from it.


TLG

 

[pontus]

Alchemists fire ignites as soon as it's exposed to air. People who have it thrown at them don't get any initial save, so neither should the guy wearing the bottles. If they break in his bandoleer, I'd treat him as if he had just taken several direct hits from alchemist's fire (to a maximum of 5d6 points of damage).

 

[Artoomis]

Pontus has it right. It’s downright DANGEROUS to carry this stuff around.

I'm not sure why he would limit damage to 5d6, though. It seems to that if you had enough of them explode on you, that you would be a crispy critter.

On the up side, equipment is generally pretty safe in 3e. The shatter spell is the largest risk you'll face, though that threat alone would make me think twice about carrying more than two of the flasks around in any normal manner.

 

[AuraSeer]

Oh right, my bad. (I was thinking about regular oil.)

Since alchemist's fire is self-igniting, as soon as the flasks are broken, the poor guy goes up like a Roman candle.

 

[The_lone_gunman]

If the target doesnt get a save, then I would give a reflex DC 20 or take Max dmg, otherwise take normal damage.

It should be more dangerous to have it break on you than be thrown on you.


TLG

 

[Wippit Guud]

You guys have it easy... in the party I'm in, we have a barbarian with hide armor of fire resistance... he intentially breaks alchemists fire on himself.

 

[gamecat]

Dangerous Alchemist's Fire... Ack! We are playing a Spelljammer campaign, and can you imagine the repercussions if our rogue (who is strapped with alchemists fire trips while the ship is in phlogiston (highly explosive substance that binds crystal spheres)... The pyrotechnics would be awesome... But i am on that ship... (shiver)...

 

[Tony Vargas]

ship is in phlogiston (highly explosive substance that binds crystal spheres)...

Allow me to go way, way off-topic for a moment, for a not-entirely-serious rant: Phlogiston, as any knowledgeable 17th century physicist you care to ressurect will tell you, is not an explosive substance. Rather, it is a gas with negative weight that is released when something burns. In fact, burning /is/ the release of phlogiston. The more phlogiston you have in the atmosphere, the less tendency there is for phlogiston to be released by any objects in that atmosphere, thus, phlogiston, once released, far from being explosive, actually impedes combustion. It's also not breathable. Completely de-phlogistonated air, OTOH, promotes combustion. Lavosier, when he discoverd oxygen, for instance, was actually trying to de-phlogistonate air. If you're going to use a defunct scientific theory, at least get it right.

...

Sorry about that, back to the topic at hand:

In general items a character is carrying don't break unless he rolls a '1' on a save or something. But Shatter would certainly break the vials, as it targets anything crystaline/glass, in that 3' spread, not the character. 'Striking an Object' would also be an option to break the vials - it shouldn't take but 1hp of damage to do the job. The character should be treated as if hit with the darn things if the vials are broken for whatever reason.

That said, it can be a good idea to limmit the amount of damage a single character can take from burning oil, acid, or whatever in a single round. After a certain point, soaked is soaked, an all additional oil/acid/whatever is going to do is extend the amount of time he burns/disolves/whatever. Immersion damage (or half immersion damage) might be a reasonable cap. Anything more than that, and he just burns longer (save the extra dice for later). Just a thought.

 

[Artoomis]

My interest was peaked, so:

According to the phlogiston theory, propounded in the 17th century, every combustible substance consisted of a hypothetical principle of fire known as phlogiston, which was liberated through burning, and a residue. The word phlogiston was first used early in the 18th century by the German chemist Georg Ernst Stahl. Stahl declared that the rusting of iron was also a form of burning in which phlogiston was freed and the metal reduced to an ash or calx. The theory was superseded between 1770 and 1790 when the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier showed that burning and rusting both involved oxygen and concluded that both ash and rust were compounds of oxygen. Lavoisier's oxidization theory has been accepted by scientists from about 1800 to the present day.

Fascinating stuff!

 

[Caliban]

I wouldn't make the damage cumulative, but I would make increase the DC to put the flames out by 2 for every vial that broke (decreasing by 2 for every round beyond the first), and increase the duration of the additional damage by 1 round for every vial that broke.

That way you can have the guy covered in flames and flailing about for several rounds.