Put a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life

[hcobb]

What is the duration of the sub-hex "controlled fire" at ITL19?

A: It's over in an instant.

B: It floats in midair for the next minute.

C: It sticks to the target as he runs around frantically screaming.

[tomc]

Originally Posted by hcobb

What is the duration of the sub-hex "controlled fire" at ITL19?

A: It's over in an instant.

B: It floats in midair for the next minute.

C: It sticks to the target as he runs around frantically screaming.

Not to be flippant, but what do you want it to be? This is one of the many (many) things that I'd rather have loosely described and left up to the GM. I'd probably allow any of three depending on the circumstances.

[Wayne]

Peter Sellers - setting Fire to the Policeman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ZCattmdnA

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by tomc

Not to be flippant, but what do you want it to be? This is one of the many (many) things that I'd rather have loosely described and left up to the GM. I'd probably allow any of three depending on the circumstances.

It's obviously not a C "napalm" spell as that's way too powerful for the cost. B would be interesting for wizards who wanted to spell out a message in giant flaming letters in the sky. But I suspect that the answer is A. You either put an entire hex on fire for a minute or you get an instant spark.

[tomc]

A very small controlled fire in the brain-stem is kinda lethal too. GMs can reign in the smarty-pants wizards. :)

[hcobb]

Aren't internal flames already covered by the case of creating a one-hex fire in an occupied hex? The result is that the fire is around the figure, but not inside its armor and they don't leave a man-sized hole in the fire when they step out of it.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by hcobb

What is the duration of the sub-hex "controlled fire" at ITL19?

A: It's over in an instant.

B: It floats in midair for the next minute.

C: It sticks to the target as he runs around frantically screaming.

D. You're the GM. Whatever you want.

Trying to create a rule for everything is, in my opinion, restrictive and unfun. GMs should do whatever they want with the game . . . the rules are a framework and writing detailed rules for _everything_ is dull.

[guymc]

“First thing we do — we hang all the rules lawyers.”

— Me, misquoting Shakespeare.

[tbeard1999]

Originally Posted by hcobb

What is the duration of the sub-hex "controlled fire" at ITL19?

A: It's over in an instant.

B: It floats in midair for the next minute.

C: It sticks to the target as he runs around frantically screaming.

Wouldn't the controlled fire last as long as the normal Fire spell would (or a lesser period of time if the wizard desires)? The spell description doesn't have a duration, but page 140 states that the duration is 12 turns.

[Skarg]

I think it's unclear as written, as it always ways.

As others have pointed out above:

A) A hex of fire specifically lasts 12 turns.*

B) The examples under controlled fire seem like one-time effects - "to light" a cigar, torch, or enemy's beard. The beard one was always a question we had - what are the effects and limits of that? And the answer, as hcobb mentioned, is critical since if you can light an enemy and it lasts 12 turns, it's very deadly. Our answer back in the day was that you can start things on fire, but a quick reaction will put it out, so the bearded enemy could shake his head and end up in a puff of smoke looking silly, but not be scarred or beardless, and you can't light enemies' eyes on fire, etc.

(* It's not entirely clear to me if the same options apply as for created living figures - i.e. can the wizard will fires/walls/shadow to go away? do they vanish if the wizard ends his turn unconscious?)