Alternative Rules for Fire and Burn Damage

[Thunderfingerz]

I'm currently playing a fire mage in a TL 4 setting. After spending way too much time on figureing out the rules for making things bunr and fire damage I decided to homebrew some new Rules and would love some Feedback on that. There are several reasons for why I think the current rules from the campaign book are lacking:

1.) Fire is neither frightening nor intimidating. While you can RP that into your games, there is no mechanic that prevents anybody from running into a fire, which does not really make sense. Fire is scary and the rules should somewhat reflect that.

2.) There is a lot of inconsistent rulings when you look at fire from a combat perspective, i.e. when you actively try to set someone on fire. While it says under "Making Things burn" (B 433) that Clothing will catch fire after a damage roll of 10 points burn damage it is mentioned under "Catching Fire" B 434 that 3 points of basic burn damage will ignite part of your clothing. Also this sort of ruling does not mention fur, scales or any other type of DR.

3.) Fire produces Heat and Smoke which can be just as damaging as fire itself and again the campaigns book does not really cover that in an explicit way.

4.) There is no damage progression from beeing on fire and also being partially on fire is a condition that has allmost no effect on anyone wearing even the slightest bit of armor. Normally you take 1d-4 damage and you get -2 DX since you are distracted. However this only triggers if the flames can actually penetrate DR, otherwise you can be on fire more or less indefinitly without consequence.

5.) Running through fire is not just something everybody can and wants to do it also does allmost no damage and running through a 1 yard campfire is treated the same as running through a 4-5 yard wide wall of fire. While in GURPS-Terms both actions only take 1 second there should be some difference between the two situations. Also it is unclear what happens when you catch fire while you are standing in fire and while being partly on fire gives (in theory) -2 to DX standing in fire does in fact not distract you.

So while there is certainly rulings that I missed somehow somewhere I wanted to streamline those rules and make them a bit more realistic since I feel GURPS really does a bad job at giving you mechanics that represent the effects of fire. While I did not include all the aspects I mentioned earlier it is an attempt to get there (also going even further into moddeling this would make fire magic even more OP). Also this is just a draft so feel free to go ham with criticism and feedback- this is my first time homebrewing rules like that so I'm happy about any sort of Input.
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The Psychology of Fire

Fire is intimidating and the fear of it is deeply engrained into the psyche of most beeings. As such any action that goes against this instinct requires a WILL Roll at -2. Failure means you have to rethink your actions. For example if you want to run through a burning area make a WILL Roll at -2. Failure means that you can't enter the fire. If you start your turn within a fire you have to make a WILL Roll at -4, failure means that you must move towards the nearest hex that is not on fire. Critcal failure in any case results in a Stun- you are paralyzed by the fire and can only "Do Nothing"

Armor can mitigate some of the effect. Any sort of helmet gives +2 as it helps you brace yourself whiel making sure the most vital part of your body is somewhat protected. Buff Coats or Heavy Leather Armor that covers most of the body gives +2. Plate armor gives +4 also only if it covers the majority of your body (Running into a fire naked only with a breatplate is still terrifying). +4 also applies if you prepared for the situation, for example drenching your clothes in water beforehand. Any sort of Sealed armor gives +6.

However only wearing regular clothing or no clothes at all gives an additional -2.

Fire, Heat and Smoke

Fire tends to have nasty side-effects in the form of heat and smoke that intensifies the bigger the fire is. For every fire source add an are the size of half the fires radius rounded down. This is meant to reflect that small, contained fires are not as harmfull while bigger ones are. Standing 1yd away from a campfire is fine, standing 1 yrd away from a bonfire or a burning buidling certainly isn't.

Standing in this area means exposing yourself to heat and possibly being hit by random smoke going in your direction. If you start your turn in this area make a health role. Failure means you take 1d-4 FP damage. Critical Failure results in you coughing (see. B.428). beeing sourrounded by several sources of fire makes this worse, i.e. -2 for every other fire source in which area of Heat and smoke you are standing in.

Face protection can mitigate this. +1 if you cover your nose and mouth with cloth +2 if said cloth is wet. Armor with Face protection gives +4 while sealed systems can ignore this condition.

Making Things burn

A single Roll that causes half the required damage rounded up to ignite a substance (5 dmg for Resistant, 15 dmg for Highly resistant,... etc.) will mean that part of it will partly catch fire, or start smouldering. Roll 1d-3 burn per second. If at any point this results in 0 dmg the material stops burning. If not roll every turn as long as the threshhold of the material is reached (i.e. 10 dmg for resistant, and so on and so forth). Additional burn damage will also count towards igniting it and will nullify a roll of 0 dmg for this turn as the material is still being scorched.

Catching Fire

If part of your clothing is catching fire (see above) or is on fire you have to make a WILL Roll at -2 to NOT try and put it out immediatly. Again this is instinct not rationale. To put it out you can either take a ready-maneuver and make a DX Roll. Success means you can put it out. Otherwise you can make a DX- Roll at -4 to try and put out the flames while doing something else. Wether or not you suceed you suffer -2 DX to anything else you do this turn, because you are distracted. If you fail you initial WILL-Roll you have to take a ready maneuver as you are preoccupied with putting out any flames on your body.

As long as any material has not reached it's damage Threshhold it provides its regular DR against the burn damage. Once that Threshhold is reached the material is utterly ablaze, it looses it's DR and the victim suffers 1d-1 burn damage (minimum of 1) every second. Putting part of your clothing out that is completly on fire requires Three consecutives successes in the way described above, however with a WILL Roll of -4 to ignore and the DX Roll to put the fire out wille doing something else is at -6 and you have a penalty of -3 to whatever else you are doing.

Moving through Fire

While combat rounds in GURPS are allways consider to last one round there is still a difference wether you are moving through one burning hex or 5 within that one second. Basic fire damage is 1d-3 however add +1 to that roll for each hex you move through. Therefore running through 3 yards of fire will deal 1d dmage- guaranteeing at least one point of damage. This of course counts as large area injury. In addition apply this damage to your least fire resistant hit location. If you take enough damage this part of your clothing will catch fire after you leave a burning hex. If at the start of your next turn you are still in a burning hex you will suffer 1d-1 burn damage. Keep in mind that the +1 damage per hex still apllies.

[Pursuivant]

Some interesting ideas, especially the psychological issues.

More simply, people faced with massive amounts of fire, or trapped by fire, need to make Fright Checks, possibly at a penalty based on their situation. Failed Fright Checks mean useless or even suicidal behavior, like jumping out of a window.

Realistically, the most lethal part of a fire is hot smoke.

Heat rises, so the hottest part of the fire is immediately above it. Thermal decomposition (rather than true combustion) of materials contributes to smoke. Fires in enclosed areas contain this hot smoke, eventually creating an effect called "flashover" when thermally decomposed material spontaneously ignites.

Superheated air/smoke causes severe internal burns to the lungs and respiratory passages, which is one of the biggest causes of deaths due to fire. You catch a lung full of boiling smoke, you pass out, and you die from suffocation, toxic smoke, and/or burns. That's the reason that fire safety materials tell you to crawl out of a burning area. For the first few minutes of a fire, the deadly hot choking smoke might be at 3-6' from the floor rather than at floor level. People who stand up in a fire get seriously injured or die.

The problem from a roleplaying point of view is that respiratory burns are a bummer. Realistically, you don't get better - you'll always have moderately to severely impaired lung function. Also, they take time to kill you as fluid from the burned tissues builds up in your lungs and as you slowly suffocate due to respiratory insufficiency.

If you want to model the depressing reality, increase fire damage by 50% and apply the extra 50% as damage to the Vitals, but only (20 x HT) minutes later. For every 50% loss of original HP due to internal burns, reduce Fitness by one level to a minimum of Very Unfit. Lost levels of Fitness are restored as damage is healed, but levels of Fitness are permanently lost if you fail a roll vs. HT - (HP lost to internal burns/original HP).

Armor and clothing only protect against fire by providing insulation. Metallic armor can reflect radiant heat for a while and then it gets hot, causing underlying padding to scorch and burning areas where metal is in contact with skin. Unsealed fireproof clothing like firefighter's turnout gear can be treated as being ablative or semi-ablative vs. fire. Sealed and cooled fire protection gear provides its normal DR indefinitely. Anyone wearing insulated fireproof gear will be affected by the effects of Heat - firefighters often suffer heat injuries.

Heavy or damp cloth might take more than the listed amount of damage before it starts to char or burn. Say +10% or 20% over the listed number. Light, loose, or flammable clothing might ignite more easily, say -20% to -50%. Synthetic fibers melt onto the skin, causing more damage than if they just burned away, add +1 to damage. Wet clothing initially helps against fire damage until the water in the clothing heats to scalding point - then it inflicts just as much damage as fire would since steam is a better conductor of thermal energy than dry air. Increase effective DR by 50%, but treat the extra DR as ablative, then add +1 to damage once damage gets through.

[Thunderfingerz]

Hey thanks for the input! I also thought about fright checks, however I feel that for most situations fright checks hit way to heavy, allthough for situations where you are trapped by fire this is fine. The idea behind my Will Rolls is more about split second decisions- basically the character asking themselfs what running straight through a fire or ignoring smouldering clothing actually achieves for them. I would argue that most people (and especially animals, monsters, etc.) will gladly take a few extra seconds to charge an enemy instead of running through a burning area. This makes fire a somewhat realistic area denial effect- an armored and experienced warrior might ignore it, however his horse might see that differently ;)

For the context of the campaign I'm in fire is quite a regular occurancesince I play a fire mage. Therefore I want to keep the rules simple and managable. While i quite like your modeeling of the depressing reality of fire and also heat/smoke I think this would go to far. Also I woul argue that magically created fire (which needs no fuel as defined in M.72) would not create smoke or toxic fumes. However it might make sense to rule that the rules for defined above only apply if you hold your breath first. Otherwise it might make sense to also apply 1d-3 or 1d-1 to the vitals in addition to the damage you take on the outside.

And also modelling that wet clothing to first help and then inflict additional damage for the water turning into steam seems quite fun :D