Do spells that deal fire damage, but aren't strictly fire set targets alight? Take sirroco from the APG for example. Is the "furnace hot wind" enough to set things on fire?
Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and non-instantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don't normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.
Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character's clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out—that is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he's no longer on fire.
A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.
Those whose clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.
Furthermore, how many GMs and players out there actually use the above rules on a regular basis? It's been my experience that most groups forget about or otherwise skip over the fact that spells such as flaming sphere are made MUCH more dangerous by the fact that they are non-instantaneous sources of fire damage that can potentially deal ongoing damage (wreaking havoc with spellcasters' concentration) and damage massive amounts of equipment (goodbye scrolls and magic robes). Most people and groups that I've observed simply deal the fire damage and move on. No side effects other than hp loss at all.
My arcane casters never let me forget they set things alight and if it does fire damage that meets the critera then you could have them make the check but at a lesser dc maybe
RAW however seems to say no it wouldn't
RAGM i would say yes you could
Spells like burning hands and fireball specifically mention that they catch things on fire. Scorching ray doesn't, so in my game it doesn't.
It would be more "realistic" to say all or most fire spells will catch your clothes and stuff on fire, but it's sort of a pain to have that to keep track of along with everything else. A burning corpse could catch other things on fire, people start choking on smoke, you have to put your burning enemies out before their items burn up, etc.
More true to life, I think, but more work for me. Me no like more work.
Huh. Missed that part. I figured, being instantaneous, burning hands and fireballs DIDN'T normally set things on fire.
Was I wrong? Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?
Fireball is already better than lightning bolt in many respects, if the above is true, than it becomes dramatically better.
Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?
Only if the victims are combustibles.
Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?Only if the victims are combustibles.
Aren't they though?
If nothing else, there clothes certainly would be.
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Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?Only if the victims are combustibles.
I knew that I should have told that dwarf to stop drinking.. :P
For the most part, I have only seen it worried about if it fits with the story line (from the GM) or if the spell calls it out (from the GM and Players).
Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?Only if the victims are combustibles.
Aren't they though?
If nothing else, there clothes certainly would be.
I assume Fireball is using combustible as a noun, so while most creatures are capable of igniting and burning, it's more reasonable to use 'A substance that ignites and burns readily', such as lamp oil, gunpowder, maybe some types of cloth, etc.
If your players find it fun to roll for every object in a fireball, and constantly replace their clothing and items, then go for it. I handwave all of it, Fireball is just damage and maybe some flavor text if they light the inn on fire or something.
Aren't they though?
If nothing else, there clothes certainly would be.
Clothes usually take a little while in a fire to get them burning, especially the heavy durable stuff adventurers are likely to favor. Clothes were less flammable when they weren't made out of petroleum based chemicals.
Oddly enough, I agree with Big Norse Wolf. Cotton, Wool and Silk don't burst into flames like Rayon or Nylon does.
The way I handle it is that if the spell calls out that it can ignite things, then it pretty much ignites unattended paper, dry leaves, gun powder, tissue paper, dry wood shavings, pitch, etc. Any of the previous list that's attended get's a save (someone carrying a scroll or map for example). Anything more substantial, like dried wood, cloth, get's a save, and attended objects only catch on fire if the attender rolls a 1 on their save. Any spell with [Fire] in it's descriptor can ignite things.
Spells that do NOT say they catch things on fire, and do not have the [fire] descriptor, but do have fluff saying they are extremely hot, are treated as one step more removed. So, unattended objects that are easily burned (paper, leaves, pitch, etc) get a saving throw against the heat, attended objects only make a saving throw if the attender rolls a 1 on his saving throw.
Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?Only if the victims are combustibles.
Aren't they though?
If nothing else, there clothes certainly would be.
Combustible are considered to be things that are easy to catch on fire or explode such as oils and what not. That was the community consensus anyway. I would give the thread, but I can't provide a link, and if fireball did that it would have come up already considering the amount of "evocation sucks" threads that have come along.
Use Flaming Sphere:
1. Not instanteous
2. [Fire]
Thus can set things on fire according to the rules.
Should fireball victims all have to make Reflex saves to avoid addition 1d6 damage each round?Only if the victims are combustibles.
Aren't they though?
If nothing else, there clothes certainly would be.
Lightning bolt does set stuff on fire.