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In another thread, it was brought to my attention by LordGriffin that catching a Web on fire may not deal the damage I originally thought. Here is my original post and LordGriffin's response:
It may not sound like a good idea, but you can get damage if you mix web with fireball. Each square of web deals 2d4 points of fire damage when burning(no save), which means the larger creatures are, the more damage they'll take.I don't think this is accurate. The spell says "All creatures within flaming webs take 2d4 points of fire damage". It does not say "2d4 damage per 5' square the creature is in." If you wish to discuss this further, than please open a thread in the rules forum.
Now, reading this section of the Web spell..
The strands of a web spell are flammable. A flaming weapon can slash them away as easily as a hand brushes away cobwebs. Any fire can set the webs alight and burn away one 5-foot square in 1 round. All creatures within flaming webs take 2d4 points of fire damage from the flames.
..it seems to me that each burning square deals 2d4 points of fire damage.. So a medium creature(one square) only take 2d4 points of damage, while a large creature(four suares) would take 8d4 points of damage.
It seems that it sucks to be big. A flaming weapon can only affect one square at a time, but a fireball spell..... Well let's just say my two spell combo just got better*, even though I would rather have the enemy trapped. I never knew it was per 5ft until now.
*I have never used this combo, but I have always wanted to.
I never knew it was per 5ft until now.It may not be though, which is why this thread was made. It is a possibility that a creature only take 2d4 points of fire damage no matter how many squares they take up.
** spoiler omitted **
Web spells don't deal damage. The fire is damage is not a result of the web spell, but the result of being in a burning part of the web.
It says that creatures caught in burning webs take 2d4 fire damage PERIOD. Not 2d4 fire damage per 5-ft-square section of web they are in contact with. I think the designers would have specifically given an example of the fire dmg dealt to creatures of differing size if it was intended to work that way.
Think of it this way: whether you are Med or Large, you are engulfed in flames, which only does so much damage. It doesn't matter whether the surface area that is Med or Large or Colossal, fire burns it all the same. (If anything, I would think larger creatures should take less dmg, because less of their overall body is being burnt.)
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And I don't recall any other spells off-hand that do damage on a "per 5-foot" basis. For example, blade barrier, wall of fire, or similar. In addition, if a Large creature is caught in a fireball AoE, they only take the single damage, not the damage x4 for being Large.
Sorry, I'm going with 2d4 fire damage only.
I could see the enormous creatures taking that 2d4 damage for a longer period of time than a small one, because there's more webbing over it to burn.
That's what I was thinking. He doesn't take more damage because he is larger, he takes it again because it has to burn away more.
A fireball would deal fireball damage +2d4 to a webbed creature of any size, but a torch put to a web would deal 2d4 damage, burn away a square dealing another 2d4 damage, burn away a 3rd square dealing 2d4 more, etc.
I could see the enormous creatures taking that 2d4 damage for a longer period of time than a small one, because there's more webbing over it to burn.That's what I was thinking. He doesn't take more damage because he is larger, he takes it again because it has to burn away more.
A fireball would deal fireball damage +2d4 to a webbed creature of any size, but a torch put to a web would deal 2d4 damage, burn away a square dealing another 2d4 damage, burn away a 3rd square dealing 2d4 more, etc.
Your torch example deals damage per each application of fire to a 5' area, rather than a single application of fire to multiple 5' areas. The per application damage is somewhat mitigated by requiring the use of actions to accomplish and the inherent limit on actions allowed per round. The per 5' of area from a single application approach is not likewise constrained and, therefore, abusive.