D&D (2024) Web: Power Overwhelming

[pemerton]

" Any 5-foot Cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 Fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire."

So each cube deals damage.

<snip>

It's the exact wording of the spell!

The exact wording of the spell is "any cube", not "each cube".

In other words, any cube of the web that is exposed to fire burns away. There are no cubes of the web that are immune to being burned.

The fire deals 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire. Nothing in the text of the spell states or even implies that there are multiple fires, one per cube, each of which is a distinct damaging incident.

An analogue in statutory drafting would be:

*If any part of a car is not fit for purpose, it is unroadworthy, rendering the driver of the vehicle liable for operating an unroadworthy vehicle."

That's probably not the best drafting of all time. But the most natural reading of it is not that the driver commits one offence of operating an unroadworthy vehicle per unfit part of the car; but rather that any part being unfit is sufficient to render the driver liable - ie there are not parts which can be unfit yet the driver not be liable.

The sentence structure is clear. "each cube" is the subject of the verb "burns" and is also the subject of the verb "dealing". Fire is not the subject of the verb dealing . If that was the intention, the sentence is not written properly.

It is the burning away that deals the damage, not the cube. This is clear both from syntax, and from common sense. And again, nothing in the syntax entails or even implies that multiple cubes entail multiple events of burning away.

By analogy, in my imaginary statute it is the being not fit for purpose, and hence unroadworthy, that renders the driver liable. But there is no entailment or implication that the state of being unroadworthy is distributive and cumulative.

 

[pemerton]

Imagine that your party is armed with torches and decides to light the ogre you've webbed up on fire. Each party member thrusts a torch into a different 5' cube on their turn. At the start of the Ogre's turn it takes no more damage than if only one cube was lit on fire?

Correct. I mean, why should AoE torches be any different from AoE fireball? Presumably this has all been bundled already into the Ogre's hit points.

If the fire was dealing 2d4 damage, wouldn't it mean that web is a form of defense against fireballs or dragon breath? We don't know what fire ignited the web! It could be a torch, it could be a red dragon. But if that starting fire is now dealing 2d4 damage, well that fireball is now a damp squib.

This doesn't make any sense to me.

If a fireball burns the web, then there are two damage sources for a creature in the web: the fireball itself; and the damage resulting from the burning of the cube(s) of web in which the creature is located.

Personally I think it's a bit weird that the incineration of the webs causes additional damage on top of being toastied by the fireball, but it wouldn't be the weirdest edge case in the game.

 

[Plaguescarred]

As written a 5-foot cube of web exposed to fire will burn for a round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

At this point the 20-foot web should have entirely burned. If at any time the fire cause the webs to not be anchored between two solid masses, it collapses on itself, and the spell ends at the start of the caster's next turn.

 

[James Gasik]

As written a 5-foot cube of web exposed to fire will burn for a round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

At this point the 20-foot web should have entirely burned. If at any time the fire cause the webs to not be anchored between two solid masses, it collapses on itself, and the spell ends at the start of the caster's next turn.

While this is a logical ruling (and probably intended), the web spell doesn't actually say that. All it says is:

The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.

Nothing is said about the fire spreading to other parts of the web.

 

[Plaguescarred]

While this is a logical ruling (and probably intended), the web spell doesn't actually say that. All it says is:

The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.

Nothing is said about the fire spreading to other parts of the web.

The entire web is flammable and each 5-foot cube is connected into a single area, so if not meant to burn by 5-foot increment but bound to burn completely if lit, why just not saying if the web is exposed to fire, it burns entirely in 1 round ?

Or else each 5-foot cube burns independently as if there was firedoor in between, proofing against spreading fire from one cube to another....

 

[James Gasik]

The entire web is flammable and each 5-foot cube is connected into a single area, so if not meant to burn by 5-foot increment but bound to burn completely if lit, why just not saying if the web is exposed to fire, it burns entirely in 1 round ?

Or else each 5-foot cube burns independently as if there was firedoor in between, proofing against spreading fire from one cube to another....

Again, I find your statement about the fire spreading to be logical, and is very likely the intent, it's just not what the spell description says. Compare and contrast the 2e PHB, which seems to have the whole web go up in flames at once.

 

[Ancalagon]

Again, I find your statement about the fire spreading to be logical, and is very likely the intent, it's just not what the spell description says. Compare and contrast the 2e PHB, which seems to have the whole web go up in flames at once.

View attachment 385537

You know, this is a pretty darn good ruling, and it's simpler than tracking which portion is on fire etc.

"how did they do it in older editions" is a valid source of outlook.

 

[Rabulias]

As written a 5-foot cube of web exposed to fire will burn for a round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

Next round, it will expose any adjacent 5-foot cube of web to fire, burning for a round and dealing 2d4 fire damage to a creature starting it's turn in it.

At this point the 20-foot web should have entirely burned. If at any time the fire cause the webs to not be anchored between two solid masses, it collapses on itself, and the spell ends at the start of the caster's next turn.

Sounds like you consider only contact with a face of an internal cube to spread the fire, and not contact along an edge? IMO a normal web spell can burn for at most 2 (or possibly 3) rounds. A 20-foot cube of webs has 8 5-foot cubes within it. Any one cube within in it directly contacts all the other cubes within. You could make the case that the upper and lower diagonally adjacent cubes only meet at a point, and don't connect substantially enough for the flames to transfer. If so, that final cube would burn on round 3.

There is no upcasting for web to increase its size, so perhaps the rules are giving general guidelines for natural webs which can be any size and shape. Imagine webs lining sinuous cavern tunnels and characters get stuck in the webbing and then notice an orange glow growing larger from the tunnel ahead as fire burns through the webs one 5-foot cube at a time...

Edited to add: Ignore most of the above. I somehow mixed up 5-foot cubes and 10-foot cubes.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Sounds like you consider only contact with a face of an internal cube to spread the fire, and not contact along an edge? IMO a normal web spell can burn for at most 2 (or possibly 3) rounds. A 20-foot cube of webs has 8 5-foot cubes within it. Any one cube within in it directly contacts all the other cubes within. You could make the case that the upper and lower diagonally adjacent cubes only meet at a point, and don't connect substantially enough for the flames to transfer. If so, that final cube would burn on round 3.

Isn't 20 feet cube = 16 x 5 feet cubes in 2D and/or 64 x 5 feet cubes in 3D? (4 x 4 x 4 for 20 feet on each side and as much high)

 

[pemerton]

Compare and contrast the 2e PHB, which seems to have the whole web go up in flames at once.

But that was a minute. Now it's only 6 seconds.

Unless the flammability of webs has changed across editions to correspond to purely metagame changes in how in-combat actions are resolved . . .