Magical item missuse and summoning?


Rules Questions


Hello,

I apologize in advance for my noobish questions.
I have been GMing a group for a while and one of my players just got a magical sword that deals fire damage. He asked me if the sword could be used to set wood on fire, and if so would the rules allow him to burn down a wooden building using it?
I have no idea how things like these work, I have myself played Pathfinder for a long time bun never had anyone in my groups use an item in this way. Can anyone explain this to me please?

The same player has a summon spell, he can summon a hippo of all things. He has in more than one occasion used the hippo to crush an enemy by summoning it on the roof (Since a hippo weighs 1500kg+ i would assume it instantly crushes the enemy?), Could someone kindly explain if that is a thing they can actually do? And if so, how does the "crushing" damage count?

Thanks for the help in advance :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Greetings!

A +1 flaming sword deals 1d6 extra fire damage on a successful hit; that's the default case of a magical sword dealing fire damage. That damage happens regardless of what you're hitting, whether it's a creature or an object. It does not, however, cause things to catch fire--unless you say it does, anyway. In general, magical effects only ignite combustible materials if their descriptions say so (see fireball for an example). It doesn't really break anything if it does, though. After all, there's nothing stopping the player from just lighting a torch and using that to set a fire instead.

Summoning a creature on a roof only for the roof to cave in is a non-starter--the spell would fail:

Conjuration, Magic wrote:
A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

I suppose one could summon a creature juuuuuust barely supportable by the roof then have the creature stomp around until the roof breaks, but that's a little harder to overexploit.

Regardless, there are no rules for falling creatures dealing damage to other creatures upon whom they land. Treated as a falling object, a hippo would deal 2d6 damage normally, assuming it fell at least 30', that the hippo's density is less than stone, and that the creature below was unaware or failed its DC 15 Reflex saving throw to attempt to get out of the way. But again, a hippo is not an object, so this is all house rule territory anyway. : )

Hope this helps!


blahpers wrote:

Greetings!

A +1 flaming sword deals 1d6 extra fire damage on a successful hit; that's the default case of a magical sword dealing fire damage. That damage happens regardless of what you're hitting, whether it's a creature or an object. It does not, however, cause things to catch fire--unless you say it does, anyway. In general, magical effects only ignite combustible materials if their descriptions say so (see fireball for an example). It doesn't really break anything if it does, though. After all, there's nothing stopping the player from just lighting a torch and using that to set a fire instead.

Summoning a creature on a roof only for the roof to cave in is a non-starter--the spell would fail:

Conjuration, Magic wrote:
A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

I suppose one could summon a creature juuuuuust barely supportable by the roof then have the creature stomp around until the roof breaks, but that's a little harder to overexploit.

Regardless, there are no rules for falling creatures dealing damage to other creatures upon whom they land. Treated as a falling object, a hippo would deal 2d6 damage normally, assuming it fell at least 30', that the hippo's density is less than stone, and that the creature below was unaware or failed its DC 15 Reflex saving throw to attempt to get out of the way. But again, a hippo is not an object, so this is all house rule territory anyway. : )

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much, this is a lot of help. This player was really getting me confused as I really haven't had to deal with stuff like this before. As a player I always just assumed that the magical effect on my weapons didn't affect the world around me.

Thank you again :D

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Magical item missuse and summoning? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rules Questions