Fireball

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Hi

One Question - how ist damage calculated for the fireball spell. Local
damage or area damage? 30 pts of fire damage in 1s ignites flesh - does
a fireball do the same?

 

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tobias.langner wrote:
> Hi
>
> One Question - how ist damage calculated for the fireball spell.
Local
> damage or area damage? 30 pts of fire damage in 1s ignites flesh -
does
> a fireball do the same?

I think the book is pretty clear on this, although I don't have it in
front of me. It's 1d damage per point of fatigue put into it (or per 2
points of fatigue, I forget) to a maximum of 3d. Exploding Fireball
does damage over an area, regular fireball does not.

People are not very flammable from the standpoint of lighting on fire
like a candle, but you can certainly burn someone with less than 30
points of damage.

 

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On 11 Jan 2005 16:00:38 -0800, "Scooter the Mighty"
<Greyguy3@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>tobias.langner wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> One Question - how ist damage calculated for the fireball spell.
>Local
>> damage or area damage? 30 pts of fire damage in 1s ignites flesh -
>does
>> a fireball do the same?
>
>I think the book is pretty clear on this, although I don't have it in
>front of me. It's 1d damage per point of fatigue put into it (or per 2
>points of fatigue, I forget) to a maximum of 3d.

Or for the new rules, any amount up to your Magery level per second
for up to three seconds. So effectively 9d for a "normal" campaign.


Exploding Fireball
>does damage over an area, regular fireball does not.

He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
body, I believe.

>
>People are not very flammable from the standpoint of lighting on fire
>like a candle,

But you can do it with 30 points of fire damage in one second in the
new rules. And since fireballs do fire damage, if you hit someone
with one of those 9d fireballs, and they aren't wearing protective
clothing, the odds are about 50/50 that their flesh will catch on
fire.

 

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just to be more precise
>>
>>I think the book is pretty clear on this, although I don't have it in
>>front of me. It's 1d damage per point of fatigue put into it (or per 2
>>points of fatigue, I forget) to a maximum of 3d.
>
>
> Or for the new rules, any amount up to your Magery level per second
> for up to three seconds. So effectively 9d for a "normal" campaign.
>
We have a campaign where due to special talent (unusual background)
magery 10 is available. This is just background information
>
> Exploding Fireball
>
>>does damage over an area, regular fireball does not.
>
no - exploding fireball is not an area spell - it's an fire attack that
is so strong, that it affects nearby bystanders too. But you have to
increase the power in the center to affect more people. But again,
that's not the question
>
> He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
> body, I believe.
>
yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
to a specific hit location.
>
>>People are not very flammable from the standpoint of lighting on fire
>>like a candle,
>
yes - they are not.
>
> But you can do it with 30 points of fire damage in one second in the
> new rules. And since fireballs do fire damage, if you hit someone
> with one of those 9d fireballs, and they aren't wearing protective
> clothing, the odds are about 50/50 that their flesh will catch on
> fire.
>

I wondered if I got that right - with my 10d fireball it's pretty easy
to do 30 pts of damage (although I can't do it very often).

 

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On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:03:18 +0100, "tobias.langner"
<tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:

>> He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
>> body, I believe.
>>
>yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
>to a specific hit location.

In the original rules I would have said that it was whole body damage
to take advantage of any weaknesses in your armour. Now I think it's
just a flaming baseball that injures where it hits.

>>
>>>People are not very flammable from the standpoint of lighting on fire
>>>like a candle,
>>
>yes - they are not.
>>
>> But you can do it with 30 points of fire damage in one second in the
>> new rules. And since fireballs do fire damage, if you hit someone
>> with one of those 9d fireballs, and they aren't wearing protective
>> clothing, the odds are about 50/50 that their flesh will catch on
>> fire.
>>
>
>I wondered if I got that right - with my 10d fireball it's pretty easy
>to do 30 pts of damage (although I can't do it very often).

Of course that's not fundamentally different from having your clothes
set on fire, which is much easier to do. Either way, you still have
to stop, drop and roll.

 

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David Johnston wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:03:18 +0100, "tobias.langner"
> <tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:
>
>
>>>He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
>>>body, I believe.
>>>
>>
>>yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
>>to a specific hit location.
>
>
> In the original rules I would have said that it was whole body damage
> to take advantage of any weaknesses in your armour. Now I think it's
> just a flaming baseball that injures where it hits.
>
>
I thought because of B433 it is a large area injury.

 

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>>>>> "DJ" == David Johnston <rgorman@telusplanet.net> writes:

DJ> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:03:18 +0100, "tobias.langner"
DJ> <tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:

>> yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it
>> an attack to a specific hit location.

DJ> In the original rules I would have said that it was whole body
DJ> damage to take advantage of any weaknesses in your armour.
DJ> Now I think it's just a flaming baseball that injures where it
DJ> hits.

I'd say that the distinction is clearly demonstrated by Fireball
versus Explosive Fireball. Fireball is a flaming baseball, with hit
location; Explosive Fireball is an area effect.

Charlton


--
cwilbur at chromatico dot net
cwilbur at mac dot com

 

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On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 21:02:42 +0100, "tobias.langner"
<tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:

>>>yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
>>>to a specific hit location.
>>
>>
>> In the original rules I would have said that it was whole body damage
>> to take advantage of any weaknesses in your armour. Now I think it's
>> just a flaming baseball that injures where it hits.
>>
>>
>I thought because of B433 it is a large area injury.

It's not a "tight beam" attack, but I'd say it only affects one hit
location.

 

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30 points of damage for a part of a second or heck even for a full
second is a lot of damage but i really don't see it setting a person's
flesh on fire.
buy a pound of cheap hamburger and see what it takes to get that to
burn and then think that's actually a bit less difficult than a person
would be due to the person still containing a few quarts of blood.



On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:03:18 +0100, "tobias.langner"
<tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:

>just to be more precise
>>>
>>>I think the book is pretty clear on this, although I don't have it in
>>>front of me. It's 1d damage per point of fatigue put into it (or per 2
>>>points of fatigue, I forget) to a maximum of 3d.
>>
>>
>> Or for the new rules, any amount up to your Magery level per second
>> for up to three seconds. So effectively 9d for a "normal" campaign.
>>
>We have a campaign where due to special talent (unusual background)
>magery 10 is available. This is just background information
>>
>> Exploding Fireball
>>
>>>does damage over an area, regular fireball does not.
>>
>no - exploding fireball is not an area spell - it's an fire attack that
>is so strong, that it affects nearby bystanders too. But you have to
>increase the power in the center to affect more people. But again,
>that's not the question
>>
>> He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
>> body, I believe.
>>
>yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
>to a specific hit location.
>>
>>>People are not very flammable from the standpoint of lighting on fire
>>>like a candle,
>>
>yes - they are not.
>>
>> But you can do it with 30 points of fire damage in one second in the
>> new rules. And since fireballs do fire damage, if you hit someone
>> with one of those 9d fireballs, and they aren't wearing protective
>> clothing, the odds are about 50/50 that their flesh will catch on
>> fire.
>>
>
>I wondered if I got that right - with my 10d fireball it's pretty easy
>to do 30 pts of damage (although I can't do it very often).

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

 

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On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 03:05:53 GMT, Brian_knowspam.McDonald@shaw.ca
(forkliftramp.com) wrote:

>30 points of damage for a part of a second or heck even for a full
>second is a lot of damage but i really don't see it setting a person's
>flesh on fire.
>buy a pound of cheap hamburger and see what it takes to get that to
>burn

I'm not sure exactly how I'd generate the 9d flame attack required to
test the theory. Military flamethrowers and molten metal only do 3d
of damage after all. I guess I'd have to try to set hamburger on fire
with an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. Does anyone have one handy?


and then think that's actually a bit less difficult than a person
>would be due to the person still containing a few quarts of blood.

Not especially. The blood isn't evenly distributed throughout the
body and there isn't really any more blood in your body fat than there
is in a lump of hamburger. And since people have set their body fat
on fire with nothing more than a cigarette and a few hours in a
drunken stupor it is certainly possible to set your flesh on fire.

(Game mechanics for socalled "Spontaneous Human Combustion":
Your cigarette can catch fire to Flammable things in fairly short
order. That means that since you are Highly Resistant, you roll every
ten seconds for your flesh to catch fire as
your burning cigarette's tip rests against it. On a 6 or less your
flesh ignites.)

 

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On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 04:29:50 GMT, rgorman@telusplanet.net (David
Johnston) wrote:

>On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 03:05:53 GMT, Brian_knowspam.McDonald@shaw.ca
>(forkliftramp.com) wrote:
>
>>30 points of damage for a part of a second or heck even for a full
>>second is a lot of damage but i really don't see it setting a person's
>>flesh on fire.
>>buy a pound of cheap hamburger and see what it takes to get that to
>>burn
>
>I'm not sure exactly how I'd generate the 9d flame attack required to
>test the theory. Military flamethrowers and molten metal only do 3d
>of damage after all. I guess I'd have to try to set hamburger on fire
>with an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. Does anyone have one handy?
>

i can testify from first hand experience that even several seconds of
full blast oxy cutting torch will not set my flesh on fire though it
was damnably painful.

>
>and then think that's actually a bit less difficult than a person
>>would be due to the person still containing a few quarts of blood.
>
>Not especially. The blood isn't evenly distributed throughout the
>body and there isn't really any more blood in your body fat than there
>is in a lump of hamburger. And since people have set their body fat
>on fire with nothing more than a cigarette and a few hours in a
>drunken stupor it is certainly possible to set your flesh on fire.
>
>(Game mechanics for socalled "Spontaneous Human Combustion":
>Your cigarette can catch fire to Flammable things in fairly short
>order. That means that since you are Highly Resistant, you roll every
>ten seconds for your flesh to catch fire as
>your burning cigarette's tip rests against it. On a 6 or less your
>flesh ignites.)

this is a rule which i really doubt reflects the real world well
enough to be called silly. a 6- is what 6 or 8% odds per 10 seconds
of lighting a person's flesh on fire. if this was the case i would
think shc would be something other than the extreme rarity it is.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be lead to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

 

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In article <cs3vo3$e6n$03$1@news.t-online.com>, "tobias.langner" <tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:
>David Johnston wrote:
>> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:03:18 +0100, "tobias.langner"
>> <tobias.langner@t-online.de> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>He was asking whether fireballs hit specific locations on the human
>>>>body, I believe.
>>>>
>>>
>>>yes - that's it. Is a fireball a large area attack - or is it an attack
>>>to a specific hit location.
>>
>>
>> In the original rules I would have said that it was whole body damage
>> to take advantage of any weaknesses in your armour. Now I think it's
>> just a flaming baseball that injures where it hits.
>>
>>
>I thought because of B433 it is a large area injury.

Per the magic book, and Kromm, it is actually PHYSICAL force, not energy.
The fire is just a "Special Effect"

 

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On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:56:54 GMT, Brian_knowspam.McDonald@shaw.ca
(forkliftramp.com) wrote:

>
>>
>>and then think that's actually a bit less difficult than a person
>>>would be due to the person still containing a few quarts of blood.
>>
>>Not especially. The blood isn't evenly distributed throughout the
>>body and there isn't really any more blood in your body fat than there
>>is in a lump of hamburger. And since people have set their body fat
>>on fire with nothing more than a cigarette and a few hours in a
>>drunken stupor it is certainly possible to set your flesh on fire.
>>
>>(Game mechanics for socalled "Spontaneous Human Combustion":
>>Your cigarette can catch fire to Flammable things in fairly short
>>order. That means that since you are Highly Resistant, you roll every
>>ten seconds for your flesh to catch fire as
>>your burning cigarette's tip rests against it. On a 6 or less your
>>flesh ignites.)
>
>this is a rule which i really doubt reflects the real world well
>enough to be called silly.

Well I thought about it some more and I was probably wrong since
cigarettes would only be able to light off Very flammable things
quickly.

Also a fireball hitting someone lasts for less than a second so it
probably couldn't set flesh on fire.

 

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>
> i can testify from first hand experience that even several seconds of
> full blast oxy cutting torch will not set my flesh on fire though it
> was damnably painful.
>
still - 1s of lava ignites you. It really does. Molten metal does
(according to a former post) 3d - 10d is more than 3 times hotter.