Fire and lowtech questions.

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I think it's a commonly known fact that most people die from smoke inhalation in house fires and not from literal burning.

That, too. The superhot gas thing is what usually gets people who are being deliberately "burned alive", it's not the same as smoke inhalation.

...but there might be inhalation problems from fire even if that isn't a factor.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by tanksoldier

That, too. The superhot gas thing is what usually gets people who are being deliberately "burned alive", it's not the same as smoke inhalation.

...but there might be inhalation problems from fire even if that isn't a factor.

The fact that the smoke being inhaled is injuriously hot is relevant to its lethality, even if it's not the only element.

[mlangsdorf]

Per the rules, even if your low-tech armor provides complete protection from the flames, you start making HT rolls against the intense heat (B434) after DRx3 seconds and lose 1 FP on failure. So a normal ST 10 HT 10 healthy adult male can expect to pass out after 20-30 seconds of intense heat and risks death after a minute, and while DR 5 armor might protect you flames, it only gives you another 15 seconds of protection against heat.

It seems pretty sensible to me and in line with real world expectations. I've seen people put their feet too close to a campire and set their shoes on fire - they didn't instantly die, they beat the fire out and got some blisters on their hands and feet. Running briefly through fire while you are well-insulated by thick leather or cloth padding should be unpleasant but not kill you.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Is it really flammable on a time frame of a few seconds of light fire exposure?
I would have assumed it would smolder more than burst into flame except by blowtorch level heat.

B433 has leather (and clothing) as "Resistant" so spending a turn in an ordinary fire (1d-1) won't ignite all of it, but every 10 seconds has a 10 or less chance of doing so, and B434 says that only three points (so a roll of 4-6) will ignite some of your clothing, doing 1d-4 to you.

[Jaware]

That is pretty much what I would have thought it would have done.

The way I saw that it would happen, would be falling into the fire would have been extremely problematic.

Namely how we were running it, was 3 "large area dr" and 1d-1 burn a second. He was also on fire as well 1d-3 burn) from his clothing being caught on fire.

that let him lay facedown, stunned, in burning alchemist fire, for close to 4 seconds. Taking only minimum (some 1 or 2 injury) before he snapped to, and began to drawl out of said fire. (He has a crippled leg).

he called almost out of the 2 hex radius. All but his feet is out now. And he's fallen unconscious from a failed HT roll by 5+.

AL in all. He's spent some 8 or so seconds in the fire and only taken like 4 injury from the actual fire.

[Jaware]

But from now on, since this is a pretty common thing in the game, would be to treat it with the 1/5th dr Vs fire damage if you are surrounded by it.

I dont see a problem with running through fire, or anythijg like that.

But laying in burning oil in a heavy later currias, and light leather everything else (not even a helmet) , for 8 seconds and then being pretty much fine.

that was just to janky to me. Even for like, over the top dungeon fantasy minimal realism, that is janky.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Jaware

That is pretty much what I would have thought it would have done.

The way I saw that it would happen, would be falling into the fire would have been extremely problematic.

Namely how we were running it, was 3 "large area dr" and 1d-1 burn a second. He was also on fire as well 1d-3 burn) from his clothing being caught on fire.

that let him lay facedown, stunned, in burning alchemist fire, for close to 4 seconds. Taking only minimum (some 1 or 2 injury) before he snapped to, and began to drawl out of said fire. (He has a crippled leg).

he called almost out of the 2 hex radius. All but his feet is out now. And he's fallen unconscious from a failed HT roll by 5+.

AL in all. He's spent some 8 or so seconds in the fire and only taken like 4 injury from the actual fire.

Clothing being on fire for eight turns should have done at least eight damage by itself (armor shouldn't protect against) and unless he put it before he fell unconscious should have continued to do damage.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Clothing being on fire for eight turns should have done at least eight damage by itself (armor shouldn't protect against) and unless he put it before he fell unconscious should have continued to do damage.

Yeah it does. Basic is downright explicit on this. "Armor is good protection
against fire; clothing worn over armor (e.g., a surcoat) might burn, but the armor’s DR reduces the damage normally. Clothing that is wet or worn under armor is almost impossible to ignite, and won’t stay lit."

Now maybe the armor doesn't protect from damage caused by the armor itself burning...

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

The fact that the smoke being inhaled is injuriously hot is relevant to its lethality, even if it's not the only element.

I think we're saying the same thing, but it IS possible to die from inhaling smoke that isn't hot enough to injure just from it's temperature.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Jaware

Is it just me, or am I doing something wrong?

Regular old fire isn't nearly as injurious as people think it is. Even bonfires (though the centers are damn hot and dangerous to reach into).

I've reached into campfires to pull out stuff that's fallen in, move logs or rocks around, etc. As long as I had a decent pair of leather gloves and didn't just leave my hands in there for a long time (like no more than a few seconds, long enough to grab a pot, lid, piece of food, etc), zero injury. Even bare handed the injury was minor, as in barely worse than first degree (I didn't like grab coals or anything, just the recently caught on fire portion of logs a few times).


The only time I got seriously burned (2nd degree) doing this was when a hot coal popped and jumped up onto my arm and burned through my raylon (or something like it) jacket and stuck. Because melting plastic sticks and keeps right on burning. Which is when I switched back to natural fiber winter clothes when camping (a blue jean jacket wouldn't have even gotten burned).