Fire Elemental and rain

[giovaneduca]

Hello!
My party have to face a Fire Elemental and summon a "Sleet Storm".
The Elemental has "Water vulnerability" so it suffer 1 point of damage every gallon of water (or 5 foot it enters).
Sleet storm makes a lot of rain and sleet so how can I evaluate the damage the elemental suffers?

[Flashy]

Personally, since it's a 3rd level spell in a niche use I'd just have the caster roll fireball damage against the elemental.

[DMBlackhart]

Hello!
My party have to face a Fire Elemental and summon a "Sleet Storm".
The Elemental has "Water vulnerability" so it suffer 1 point of damage every gallon of water (or 5 foot it enters).
Sleet storm makes a lot of rain and sleet so how can I evaluate the damage the elemental suffers?

The correct way is to treat each 5ft space of heavy rainfall as 5 feet of submersion for the elemental's vulnerability and damage via water.

[Regitnui]

Personally, I'd call that a fireball-esque spell, with a caveat or two. What size is the elemental? If it's large, it's taking 4 squares worth of submersion damage every turn. This only lasts while the spell is going strong, though, since the fire elemental may be able to burn drizzle or light snow away with its Fire Aura.

[Coffee_Dragon]

The correct way is to treat each 5ft space of heavy rainfall as 5 feet of submersion for the elemental's vulnerability and damage via water.

Also convert the Sleet Storm into a Steam Cloud for the duration and give the elemental disadvantage on Perform (sing) checks.

[Slipperychicken]

The correct way is to treat each 5ft space of heavy rainfall as 5 feet of submersion for the elemental's vulnerability and damage via water.

Seconding this. Pretty underwhelming, but then again this is like 14 foot tall monster made of pure flame, not a campfire.

[Dalebert]

Somewhat tangential but interesting. Create Bonfire works underwater. All creatures have resistance to fire underwater, right?

https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/745060681762799616

[Slipperychicken]

Somewhat tangential but interesting. Create Bonfire works underwater. All creatures have resistance to fire underwater, right?

https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/745060681762799616

I guess it fits with the idea that a fire elemental could run through 510 feet of water before being KO'd

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9c/64/04/9c6404753ee4bef66cdb8c8459d5040f.jpg

[Regitnui]

I guess it fits with the idea that a fire elemental could run through 510 feet of water before being KO'd

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9c/64/04/9c6404753ee4bef66cdb8c8459d5040f.jpg

It is, after all, magic. I'm perfectly alright with a fire-making spell working underwater. The effect this has on underwater cultures...

[Dalebert]

It makes sense to me too. We can make fire underwater now with technology by continually providing the fuel and oxygen mixture. Why couldn't magic do the same? I just assume that's what's happening. We already know the spell continually provides fuel for the fire to burn for a minute. Why couldn't it also provide the oxygen needed?


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9c/64/04/9c6404753ee4bef66cdb8c8459d5040f.jpg

What's even crazier than that, IMHO?
http://i.imgur.com/sFckO86.jpg

[Slipperychicken]

What's even crazier than that, IMHO?
http://i.imgur.com/sFckO86.jpg

It is called the Goo Lagoon, so I think it's not actually water, but rather some kind of sludge that sea-creatures can't breathe. Hence why it's possible to drown there.

http://spongebob.wikia.com/wiki/Goo_Lagoon

[Dalebert]

It is called the Goo Lagoon, so I think it's not actually water, but rather some kind of sludge that sea-creatures can't breathe. Hence why it's possible to drown there.

Well, poo. It was funnier when it made no sense whatsoever just like the fire. Now you've ruined it for me. :P

[Estrillian]

1 inch of rain on a 5x5 square is 27 gallons of water. If you believe your rain storm can do as much as an inch of rain per round then 27 damage would be the result. "normal" heavy rain (whatever that means in fantasy terms) might be around 1/4 inch of rain per hour (say 7 gallons), meaning that your Elemental would take 0.001 damage per round from a heavy rain storm. Even scaling it up to tropical storm levels (say 4-10 times as much) is still doing 0.01 damage a round at that rate.

That's the very rough science, but of course probably not the exciting answer. Personally I had some players shoot a 12 gallon magic jet of water at an elemental last week and I doubled the damage of that to 24 because 12 just seemed boring. But it might indicate that as much damage as a fireball is on the heavy side. Maybe 1d10 damage a round, the same as being on fire?

[Slipperychicken]

1 inch of rain on a 5x5 square is 27 gallons of water. If you believe your rain storm can do as much as an inch of rain per round then 27 damage would be the result. "normal" heavy rain (whatever that means in fantasy terms) might be around 1/4 inch of rain per hour (say 7 gallons), meaning that your Elemental would take 0.001 damage per round from a heavy rain storm. Even scaling it up to tropical storm levels (say 4-10 times as much) is still doing 0.01 damage a round at that rate.

There is the question of whether the elemental is being hit by all of the rain. I don't believe it occupies its entire space like an ooze does.

[Regitnui]

It is called the Goo Lagoon, so I think it's not actually water, but rather some kind of sludge that sea-creatures can't breathe. Hence why it's possible to drown there.

http://spongebob.wikia.com/wiki/Goo_Lagoon


Well, poo. It was funnier when it made no sense whatsoever just like the fire. Now you've ruined it for me. :P

It's actually more likely to be a brine pool (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brine_pool), essentially a saltwater lake underwater. Science!

[Dalebert]

If you've ever had a campfire and it started raining, you probably have an idea that it will take a long time for rain to put out a fire of any substance. I would think a fire elemental could shrug off most rain. If anything, I think the damage should be minimal. As was just pointed out, it takes quite a long time for tiny falling droplets of water to amount to much volume.

[R.Shackleford]

Hello!
My party have to face a Fire Elemental and summon a "Sleet Storm".
The Elemental has "Water vulnerability" so it suffer 1 point of damage every gallon of water (or 5 foot it enters).
Sleet storm makes a lot of rain and sleet so how can I evaluate the damage the elemental suffers?
Lot of good ideas in this thread but I want to go simple.


While in the Sleet Storm the fire elemental takes disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. Creatures have advantage on attack rolls against the elemental.

[Regitnui]

If you've ever had a campfire and it started raining, you probably have an idea that it will take a long time for rain to put out a fire of any substance. I would think a fire elemental could shrug off most rain. If anything, I think the damage should be minimal. As was just pointed out, it takes quite a long time for tiny falling droplets of water to amount to much volume.

That's what I'd go with. A fire elemental should be able to operate in light rain or snow, as the heat from their fire evaporates the precipitation before it can hurt them. However, severe, sight-restricting precipitation would start counting as immersion.

Disadvantage on ability checks seems fair enough for a fire elemental caught in a rainstorm.