I've been pondering the usage of non-magical fire for combat situations, and I'm a bit confused about how to handle it.
The most obvious situation to me is a group of PCs attempting to cause massive fire damage to something by first soaking it with lantern oil, and then igniting it. Obviously you can't ignite creatures with instantaneous-duration fire spells, nor can you with non-magical fire like crossbow fire bolts. However, I don't see why such things couldn't ignite a creature that is already soaked in lantern oil, which could easily be applied as a thrown splash weapon (doing no damage, but soaking the creature). Here's what the rules say about lantern oil:
Oil: A pint of oil burns for 6 hours in a lantern or lamp. You can also use a flask of oil as a splash weapon. Use the rules for alchemist's fire (see Special Substances and Items on Table: Goods and Services), except that it takes a full-round action to prepare a flask with a fuse. Once it is thrown, there is a 50% chance of the flask igniting successfully.You can pour a pint of oil on the ground to cover an area 5 feet square, provided that the surface is smooth. If lit, the oil burns for 2 rounds and deals 1d3 points of fire damage to each creature in the area.
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Alchemist's Fire: You can throw a flask of alchemist's fire as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet.A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.
If I forget about the fuse, and otherwise treat thrown lantern oil like alchemist's fire (obviously something still needs to ignite it), it would do 1d6 fire damage the first round, and 1d6 the second round, then go out by itself.
Does this make sense? Would fire really go out by itself after two rounds?
So the other question is, how to handle PCs who apply oil soaked rags to the front of their arrows. Do you guys add fire damage for such projectiles, or is there no extra damage except for the ability to ignite otherwise flammable creatures? The damage should be less than the fire bolts obviously, since that is much more advanced than just igniting the front of the arrow. Would it be 1d3 fire damage? or Just 1 point of fire damage?
Fill bag of holding/portable hole with oil flasks. Get above the enemy. Drop oil on enemy followed by a match.
I've been pondering the usage of non-magical fire for combat situations, and I'm a bit confused about how to handle it.
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If I forget about the fuse, and otherwise treat thrown lantern oil like alchemist's fire (obviously something still needs to ignite it), it would do 1d6 fire damage the first round, and 1d6 the second round, then go out by itself.
Does this make sense? Would fire really go out by itself after two rounds?
Probably, a pint of oil is not that much, now if you managed to pour gallons on the person/target and then light them, it might go for a while.
However, you could probably see if their clothes/hair/other flammable stuff would catch on fire from the flames.
There's a lot in the Catching on Fire section.
So the other question is, how to handle PCs who apply oil soaked rags to the front of their arrows. Do you guys add fire damage for such projectiles, or is there no extra damage except for the ability to ignite otherwise flammable creatures? The damage should be less than the fire bolts obviously, since that is much more advanced than just igniting the front of the arrow. Would it be 1d3 fire damage? or Just 1 point of fire damage?
Depends on your judgement, hitting someone with a lit torch does a single point of fire damage.