Hello everyone,
"[...] If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must "hit" the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely. [...]"
Following the called shots rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/called-shots), you can imagine the wizard would want (and could) cast his fireball directly in the mouth of a purple worm (or any other creature stupid enough and with a mouth wide enough...) of course, with a tough malus like something around -8 (as aiming the head means -5 and aiming the heart means -10).
But if he just cast True Strike the round before...
What kind of damage would you apply in such case? x3? x5? I assume a cinematic approach would directly kill the creature but... how to deal with it to not completely break the game?
Thx of your answers.
|
Easiest way to deal with it is to not allow it all (less fun) as the rules are by no means clear that you can fire Fireballs inside mouths, nor that they do extra damage if they do somehow go inside the creature.
However, if I was going to allow it, I'd look at the Called Shot rules as you recommended and see if there's any rule I can immediately repurpose.
As it happens, I think that the "Vitals" target for Called Shot covers this situation and the penalties I would apply quite nicely.
A -5 seems reasonable for a creature like a Purple Worm with a yawning cavernous maw. The sickened/nauseated/Con damage/Con drain/Con bleed increasing severity seems to model the effects of increasing damage to the innards of the gizzard well enough to swear by.
Aside:
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think Leandro gave very good suggestions, I would only like to add a potentially important detail: the Swallow Whole rules. Many large and big-mouthed opponents which you'd typically try to "tummy-ball" have this ability, and it's ruined if their tummy takes enough damage to allow a creature to cut itself out. Which seems like a reasonable effect of having a fireball go off in the innards...
Meaning I think the fireball damage should also be counted against the creature's stomach HP if it has the Swallow Whole ability, and that the ability should no longer function if the stomach takes enough damage (as detailed in the rules).
I would simply disallow it because a called shot does has extra affects because it is focused on a single part. A fireball by definition is an area of affect and as such is not able to be focused on a single part. You can only aim the pea sized bead that delivers the fireball, not the actual explosion.
From a rules perspective there is not called shot mouth. Also even though a fireball may need to roll to hit in some situations it is not an attack. As such it has not chance of rolling a critical hit. The best I would allow would be a normal called shot to the head meaning it would be sickened for 1d4 rounds. In order to get the called shot you treat it as a ranged touch attack, meaning you need to hit the full AC of the creature with a -5 penalty. Also true strike by the rules is not allowed with called shots unless the GM is overruling the default rule.
If he's trying to fire it in the head, use the called shot rules for the head. But no extra damage.
As mentioned, true strike prevents called shot from working.
Please keep in mind fireball fires a tiny little bead, it can technically fit inside the mouth of medium and small creatures so be aware of those implications.
Firing into the mouth of a create with Swallow Whole could be handled by the to hit modifier of -5. Again, I'd agree there is no extra damage since it's an area effect and cannot target a vital area for extra damage. But if it is targeted on the inside of the creature's mouth, you could have the following effects:
- Ignore the saving throw for the creature - it takes full damage.
- Do not ignore SR. You would still have to check Spell Resistance.
- Determine the point of contact. This would likely be 5' into the mouth, but could be as far as 10'. Have that point be the center point, and have the flames come back out the mouth in a (15' or 10'?) arc.
- Since Fireball is low pressure, it wouldn't break through the throat to the stomach unless the creature was actively swallowing something when you cast the spell.
- It also wouldn't break through the sides of the throat, unless you dropped it into something with gills.
If the monster has Swallow Whole, the character could potentially trigger a Fireball after being swallowed.
How would you handle the Fireball in that scenario?
I had a PC swallow a Delayed Blast Fireball once, even without being a red dragon-wrought kobold, he would have easily survived.
In his case it was little more than a hiccup.
Hello everyone,
"[...] If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must "hit" the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely. [...]"Following the called shots rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/called-shots), you can imagine the wizard would want (and could) cast his fireball directly in the mouth of a purple worm (or any other creature stupid enough and with a mouth wide enough...) of course, with a tough malus like something around -8 (as aiming the head means -5 and aiming the heart means -10).
But if he just cast True Strike the round before...
What kind of damage would you apply in such case? x3? x5? I assume a cinematic approach would directly kill the creature but... how to deal with it to not completely break the game?
Thx of your answers.
Always keep in mind: What you can do NPCs can do, too!
Do you really want your "cool gib stunt" and 5 sessions later an enemy sorcerer blows up the party barbarian via a Called Shot into his rageing mouth?
I can already hear the righteous cries of indignation.