09-15-2017, 05:35 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Sep 2017
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Combat Utility of Create Fire?
Hey people,
I'm making a fire-based mage, based on everything that is available in the 4th edition Basic Set and Magic. I've been going through the spells and I'm a bit perplexed as to how some fire spells would behave in combat... more specifically, I'm interested in the utility of one of the most basic spells - Create Fire. Here's a hypothetical situation - our fighter character is holding off a human enemy, say the enemy is fully clad in light scale (DR 3 to all) but his feet are protected with leather boots (DR 2). They are dodging and missing each other constantly, this could take all day. I find a safe spot nearby, but in sight of the both of them, because I am aware that discretion is a better part of valor. I decide to cast Create Fire. And now come a bunch of things I don't quite understand... 1) So it says in the Magic book that I cast it on an area. It says I cannot cast it within things, so I assume there's nothing preventing me to cast it below things? Can I cast it in a single-yard area occupied by the enemy? I assume this would cost 2 energy (its base cost)? 2) If this is possible, are there any extra modifiers that affect the success of the spell, save for the distance between me and the spell 'edge'? 3) What are the options of the enemy once and if fire starts burning from below him? Can he dodge at that moment, or move to a nearby space? Can he snuff it out? 4) Does this spell deal actual damage? I've read that unattended fires deal something like 1d-1 burning damage if you spend a full second in them, and 1d-3 if you just pass over them. 5) If it does deal damage, does DR protect you? I would assume it does, but which part? Is the 'target' randomly chosen, is it the torso, or are your 'lower' parts more vulnerable? Feet, legs, groin? 6) Can you use Fast Fire to enhance this fire and make it deal double, triple, etc. damage, or any damage at all if the fire created can't deal damage in the first place? If you can, what is the effect on the duration of the Create Fire spell? 7) Can you use Shape Fire to move a fire below someone? 8) Can you ready an action to move a fire in a way so it's constantly below someone, and if the fire actually deals any damage, it always deals 1d-1 regardless of your enemy moving around? Not 1d-3 as if he just passed over it. 9) Can you make a Mortal Kombat-esque fatality by using Create Fire below someone, then cast Stun, and then brutally fanning the fire with Fast Fire? Assuming, of course, that you succeed on all spells? This was really the whole point of creating this character! Fast forward, the scale mail guy is killed but somehow he transformed into both a hostile spider swarm and a bat swarm! Oh, no! 10) Are swarms affected fully by fire created by Create Fire? It is an area spell! What about flying swarms, e.g. a bat swarm? It says that area spells extend up to four yards (EDIT: four feet -> four yards) in the air. Can I chase a bat swarm around with Shape Fire in the same way I could chase a ground enemy? (assuming that you can do #8) Thanks! Last edited by FrothFrenzy; 09-15-2017 at 06:21 AM. |
09-15-2017, 06:02 AM | #2 | |||||||||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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09-15-2017, 06:27 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2017
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
Thanks for the analytic response!
It seems I was editing the post while you were responding. I changed four feet into four yards for #10 (my bad, I'm also a D&D player so mistakes like this are common). Also, I added a question under #3 - can your enemy perform some kind of a maneuver to snuff out the fire? Some spell cast chains are indeed a bit unfeasible, but I'll try to stretch the points to fit a Great Haste spell, also. That just might do it. Otherwise, he'll remain a glorified eyebrow burner he was destined to be. |
09-15-2017, 06:55 AM | #4 | ||||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
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09-15-2017, 07:17 AM | #5 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
That's what I get for discussing hexes. I use free form measurements for my own games. Do you have a reference for this?
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
09-15-2017, 07:33 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
It's always been that way. Original reference Fantasy (1e) p.8. The GURPS 4e rule is on Basic p.239 and Magic p.13.
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09-15-2017, 08:31 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
If it makes you feel better, don't think of an Area N spell as "radius N", but rather "radius 0.5 + N - 1". The text doesn't actually define area by distance from a center, though it uses the word "radius", but rather by the patterns on a hex map. The base cost case is a single hex.
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09-15-2017, 09:54 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
I've had one of my players use Create Fire and Shape Fire to basically replicate Sphere of Flame from the old D&D druid spell list, and chased enemies around the battlefield with it.
If you have the FP and casting time to spare, Fast Fire makes your Create Fire do more damage, or you could make Essential Fire (also expensive) ... or even Essential Fire + Fast Fire. And then of course Shape Fire to chase your enemies around with it :) But the basic Create Fire + Shape Fire combo is quite handy.
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09-15-2017, 10:20 AM | #9 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
Glue also synergizes nicely.
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09-15-2017, 02:04 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Combat Utility of Create Fire?
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