Darkness and invisible Fire

[timm meyers]

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

I thought on this some more.

It is a "Darkness" spell and not an "extinguish fire" spell. The answer is in the name of the spell.

I hear you, even if the first word in the description is literally "Extinguishes..." the fact that they "...come back to life when the spell ends." means the fires are not permanently put out like dousing them with a rainstorm.

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

Darkening the flames but not putting them out. Like a large area affect Shadow spell. Thus we still have a need for Magic Rainstorm and Fireproofing.

or can just as easily be a 3rd magic that could effect hot situations? This is where I like the nuance of TFT magics as all 3 of these spells effect the same situation but each with their own results and or limitations.
Rainstorm- puts out any flame (real or magic) but is limited in area effect
Fireproofing- negates the effect of flames but only for one person
Darkness- Temporarily "removes" all light sources which includes the flames from torch, campfire or even an elemental / magic flame, but all return once the spell ceases.
This effect would never be preferred over either of the other 2 spells for a wizardly fire brigade but is an interesting bonus for the sneak thief who 99.9% of the time uses the darkness spell as cover.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

While I can understand the logic of that conclusion, I'm not sure I can accept it as the author's intent. It would certainly make the spell much more powerful (situationaly, of course) than it's IQ level and cost would imply.

If it was my job to add some clarity to things like this (which it isn't, but I've already started typing so I may as well finish the thought), I would rule that DARKNESS has no effect on Creation spells. Or that it just cannot extinguish magical fire.

I think I'll go along with it temporarily extinguishing even magical fires. I don't think it makes the spell particularly powerful. It has a good use when fighting fire-using foes, but it's the kind of clever usage that I really like with spells that otherwise don't come up much.

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by hcobb

1. If I cast the Fire spell (ITL 19) into a hex covered by the Darkness spell (ITL 19) and NOT Shadow (ITL 21), does it work?
2. Does an existing Fire hex under the effect of Darkness not burn? (Making Darkness a very cheap form of Fireproofing (ITL 25))
3. If the Fire hex continues to burn in Darkness then is it invisible as its light output has been suppressed?
4. Ditto for Dragon flame, fire elementals and such.

I wouldn't consider dragon flame, fire elementals, creatures that are bioluminescent, etc as artificial.

A Fire spell is rather tricky. Having a Darkness spell extinguish more than one Fire hex makes the former spell very powerful over a spell from higher IQ (I'm meaning from a 3 hex or greater Fire spell). Having it suppress one Fire hex for each megahex the Darkness affects would be IMO fair (kind of like targeting one torch in an area) for the duration. The Fire spell would reactivate upon the end of the Darkness spell.

I always envisioned this as like a switch turning off a flashlight or the 'gas' to a fireplace for the duration. The light source would still be hot depending on how long it has been heating the surrounding area (doing this at a forge would definitely anger the blacksmiths), but to get sciency nothing in the Red, Green, Blue wavelengths would be 'turned on'.