Any official rules for "being on fire?"

[Kevingway]

As the title says, I was wondering if there are any actual, consistent rules for someone taking fire damage from a source of fire. Not so much like being hit with a torch or a fire elemental, but rather simply standing in fire without oil coverage.

Would anyone be willing to shoot the sage a tweet about this? It seems like an important oversight.

[Douche]

Check out the spell "Immolation"

It deals initial damage, and then - you guessed it - can immolate the target, doing 3d6 damage for every subsequent failed save.

[Hudsonian]

That depends... How good is your mix tape?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Well, one thing I do know is that any attempt by a shadow monk to grapple (http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/4p15/) someone who is on fire automatically fails.

Seriously though, I'd just use the rules for Alchemist's Fire on pages 148/151.

[ruy343]

Alchemist's fire does, what, 1d4 each round? It's supposed to just catch whatever it spashed on fire, so it's not a... shall we say, whole body experience.

Were I to write a rule, I would say to roll 1d4 (maybe 1d4+1) for every limb on fire, to a max of 5d4 (since torso or head would also be on fire? I keep hoping there's a good way to use INT saves...) every round. The target may make a save of some kind (Maybe an INT save to maintain a clear head and think of Stop, Drop, and Roll or another clever thing while in pain?) to attempt to extinguish it. Each successful save extinguishes one or two limbs?

That said, with this method, a champion fighter with the feature that recovers hit points could have a limb on fire and NOT EVEN FLINCH as it continued to damage him over time, since once he was below half hit points, he could just sit there and and regenerate the hit points that he lost!

[JNAProductions]

Alchemist's fire does, what, 1d4 each round? It's supposed to just catch whatever it spashed on fire, so it's not a... shall we say, whole body experience.

Were I to write a rule, I would say to roll 1d4 (maybe 1d4+1) for every limb on fire, to a max of 5d4 (since torso or head would also be on fire? I keep hoping there's a good way to use INT saves...) every round. The target may make a save of some kind (Maybe an INT save to maintain a clear head and think of Stop, Drop, and Roll or another clever thing while in pain?) to attempt to extinguish it. Each successful save extinguishes one or two limbs?

That said, with this method, a champion fighter with the feature that recovers hit points could have a limb on fire and NOT EVEN FLINCH as it continued to damage him over time, since once he was below half hit points, he could just sit there and and regenerate the hit points that he lost!

I believe that's a feature, not a bug.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I believe that's a feature, not a bug.

Exactly. 1d4 damage per round is brutal to an ordinary human - that would kill you in 12 seconds - and it absolutely represents being engulfed in flame. Note that being hit with a burning torch does 1 point of damage.

Any amount of HP damage is a serious, serious injury by normal, human standards.

[ruy343]

Exactly. 1d4 damage per round is brutal to an ordinary human - that would kill you in 12 seconds - and it absolutely represents being engulfed in flame. Note that being hit with a burning torch does 1 point of damage.

Any amount of HP damage is a serious, serious injury by normal, human standards.

I agree wholeheartedly - since a commoner is supposed to have a handful of hitpoints, a d4 seemed like an appropriate approximation. The champion being able to just sit there and take it like a boss is a feature; I pointed it out because it would just be so awesome! I pointed out the rest for those situations where you wanted to make it more deadly (perhaps you're covered in gasoline), then you can add a few more d4s. Up to you.

On that gasoline note, if you're standing next to a barrel of an inflammable material and a wizard walks into the room and begins casting a fireball spell, PICK UP THE BARREL OF GASOLINE. The fire spells in the PHB clearly state that they ignite objects as long as they aren't worn or carried.

You're welcome.

[cobaltstarfire]

Seriously though, I'd just use the rules for Alchemist's Fire on pages 148/151.

This is what several different DM's I've worked with use, it's also the baseline I would use were I to DM.

[Shining Wrath]

What are you wearing and what is burning?
A guy in full plate, you ignite his cloak, he's barely going to notice. Something like alchemist fire or oil that runs down inside the plate, that's a different story.
You burn somebody at the stake, it takes longer for it to start hurting someone in full plate, but once that plate heats up it's Heat Metal spell effect.

[Addaran]

On that gasoline note, if you're standing next to a barrel of an inflammable material and a wizard walks into the room and begins casting a fireball spell, PICK UP THE BARREL OF GASOLINE. The fire spells in the PHB clearly state that they ignite objects as long as they aren't worn or carried.

You're welcome.

The wonderfull logic of D&D! I get it's for balance (fighters losing their gear everytime they receive a spell....), to avoid being too annoying to players and to prevent naked parties everywhere. But it really doesn't make sense that everything disapear in flames, but not the scroll you have in your hand. (or that some fire spells do affect objects but not others).

[BootStrapTommy]

That depends... How good is your mix tape?NO.

You go in the corner and think about what you've done!

[cobaltstarfire]

What are you wearing and what is burning?
A guy in full plate, you ignite his cloak, he's barely going to notice. Something like alchemist fire or oil that runs down inside the plate, that's a different story.
You burn somebody at the stake, it takes longer for it to start hurting someone in full plate, but once that plate heats up it's Heat Metal spell effect.

To add to that, our DM usually modified how long the fire lasted based on things.

Like we doused some bugbears (or were they hobgoblins? either way they were hairy) with oil and caught them on fire, and they burned for a very long time...and kept managing to recatch each other on fire in the cases that the fires went out. (I think he rolled to determine if they went out).

Actually we doused everything with oil and caught it on fire, it was practically our MO. The other being our druid/wizard/warlock accidentally summoning demons he couldn't sometimes control and the chaos that would ensue....

We were a very...neutrally aligned party. >.>

[Kevingway]

What are you wearing and what is burning?
A guy in full plate, you ignite his cloak, he's barely going to notice. Something like alchemist fire or oil that runs down inside the plate, that's a different story.
You burn somebody at the stake, it takes longer for it to start hurting someone in full plate, but once that plate heats up it's Heat Metal spell effect.

Mm... so let's say that I have a tinker's fire starter and I decide to cast Control Flames on it to expand the flames 5 feet in one direction. These 5 feet are, of course, where my enemy is standing, and the fuel would be his clothes/hair/what-have-you.

This is the concept that spurned the original question. So not necessarily walking into flames, but rather the flames walking into you in a non-spell attack form.

[Madbox]

Of course, if you light someone on fire, are they able to use an action and do a quick "Stop, drop, and roll" to put it out? Seems to me like six seconds of rolling in the dirt should be enough to extinguish burning hair and clothes. And of course, what creatures are intelligent enough to know to do this? I'd say INT score of 7 at a minimum personally. A five year old human would know to do it, but a wild animal wouldn't.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Of course, if you light someone on fire, are they able to use an action and do a quick "Stop, drop, and roll" to put it out? Seems to me like six seconds of rolling in the dirt should be enough to extinguish burning hair and clothes. And of course, what creatures are intelligent enough to know to do this? I'd say INT score of 7 at a minimum personally. A five year old human would know to do it, but a wild animal wouldn't.

Is it even a question of Intelligence? I might classify it more as Wisdom - it's about instinct, intuition, common sense... having your head in the game and a good feel for the world around you. An Intelligent person could sit in a room and say, "okay, if someone is on fire, they should stop, drop and roll." and they might further realise that "this is something we should teach our children to make sure it's buried deep in their minds and they can use it instinctively if and when they need to". But when it comes down to it, actions in the moment are mainly governed by Wisdom.

Yes, a wild animal will probably just run around in a panic if you set it on fire. But the fictional animals of D&D, especially those with fiery breath and so on, might have developed different instincts. So I'd judge it on a case-by-case basis.

[Madbox]

I used Intelligence because rolling around, in the case of humans, is a trained behavior, and I'd say closer to education than intuition or instinct. Hence the example of a kindergartner knowing to do it. I could see Wisdom working as well, since without training it would be a matter of intuition to realize that rolling around might extinguish flames. And obviously something with neither INT nor WIS, like a zombie, wouldn't know to do it.

Also, personally, I'd rule that if an animal had fire breath, it would be immune to being lit on fire without an external fuel source. Fire might hurt it, but it makes no sense that it could live long with fire breath if it was constantly in danger of lighting its own fur on fire. And if it can't light itself on fire, then I see no reason why it would know how to extinguish itself. Of course, I can see your logic there as well, and if a DM used that train of thought, I would accept it.

[Blacky the Blackball]

My official rule is "If you're on fire, you're doing it wrong".