Hi! So I am a first time DM, and I'm using a pre-made campaign. The main problem I'm facing is that I have two players that are currently trying to burn down an NPC's house and kill her. I am fine with them setting fire to things, but I'm not sure how to carry on with this. Currently, I'm having them roll a D20 to see if they successfully set something on fire, and I have the AC at 12. This is a one room log cabin that they are trying to burn. They are level 2. What should I do?
Realistically, setting a log cabin on fire is a not terribly subtle job of minutes to hours, involving piling up large quantities of kindling around the building, setting the kindling on fire, and waiting, so what happens is that the occupant notices, comes out, and either runs away, runs for help, or attacks the PCs.
Using a mix of things...You can make so that every turn five feet catches on fire from each source that is currently ablaze. So that gives you the option of spreading the fire out over the course of time in various directions also giving the characters/NPC chances to move or escape.
Let's say they cast burning hands or another spell that can set flammable material ablaze.
The specific part of the cabin is going to catch fire as stated in the spell effect. But only that part will catch fire. Unless the whole place is coated in oil (not outside the realms of possibility, but it would need barrels of the stuff) then only that part will be aflame, and it will die out.
Now, if there's thatch then that's a different story. Thatch will go up fast.
Regardless, the NPC will have plenty of time and be alerted to try to escape. I'm assuming that they are going to barricade the door, in which case the NPC will need to break it down. Use the stats for objects that BKThomson linked above. Or, the NPC can go out of a window.
Is this a house in the wilderness? If it's near other buildings, as soon as fire is noticed there will be a public outcry of people coming to help put it out.
Burning someone alive might be considered an evil act - it will perhaps depend on the NPC, how much proof they have of wrongdoing (if any). This does strike me as something of a "murderhobo" activity and you might need to consider how these characters are going to interact in the rest of the module, since most modules assume a Good aligned party rather than an Evil one. If the NPC isn't a direct villain and they are outside the law, then that usually means repercussions down the road.
Reinforcing what's already been mentioned here. Tinderbox has some guidance that might lend some inspiration, as does oil (flask). Setting a structure on fire might require more accelerants and fuel than the PCs have available for the potentially imagined blaze. I'm with Pantagruel on this one, the resident might have an opportunity to go for help, or at the very least make a run for it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I wouldn’t sweat out super detailed mechanics. Just use checks to drive the narrative. For example, have them explain how they are proceeding (do they block the door and such, for example) to set the context. Then set a survival Dc to light the fire. Add a stealth check if they are trying to avoid notice. I’d set a high DC, but allow them to retry. Each attempt burns 5 minutes (or whatever) and requires another stealth check (or perhaps the person gets +2 to their passive DC for each failure). A one room building from the pre-consumer world takes about 30 minutes to get to full blaze from a small fire, so I’d go with that. Then I’d set successively lower DC’s every five minutes to notice the fire. The passive DC willl tell you when they notice it. higher DC if the occupant is sleeping. They wake if they notice it and can attempt to escape if they are awake. Smoke inhalation is a possibility at half way. Do a constitution check every 5 minutes they are in the building to remain conscious. They are dead at 30 minutes.
I mapped it out off the top of my head, but I’d actually let it evolve more organically at the table depending on what the party does and how you think the person inside would react.
Also, unless arson is going to be a major thing in your campaigns, setting fire to a building is totally one of those "Ok, we tried it this way on one session, let's it try it this way in another in this one" until you settle on something that narratively flows in a way your table finds both entertaining and plausible and doesn't mechanically stretch to far beyond "conflagration minigame" (balance is also how many mechanical steps it takes to resolve in comparison to other tasks in game). For me, it's one of those areas where I'm cool with telling the table I'm not sure what the best way to resolve this is, let's try it this way and see what we think, and if it's "meh" we'll try something else next time you want to burn something down.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
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Hi! So I am a first time DM, and I'm using a pre-made campaign. The main problem I'm facing is that I have two players that are currently trying to burn down an NPC's house and kill her. I am fine with them setting fire to things, but I'm not sure how to carry on with this. Currently, I'm having them roll a D20 to see if they successfully set something on fire, and I have the AC at 12. This is a one room log cabin that they are trying to burn. They are level 2. What should I do?
Realistically, setting a log cabin on fire is a not terribly subtle job of minutes to hours, involving piling up large quantities of kindling around the building, setting the kindling on fire, and waiting, so what happens is that the occupant notices, comes out, and either runs away, runs for help, or attacks the PCs.
Using a mix of things...You can make so that every turn five feet catches on fire from each source that is currently ablaze. So that gives you the option of spreading the fire out over the course of time in various directions also giving the characters/NPC chances to move or escape.
Alchemists Fire to get some baseline burn and fire damage.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/alchemists-fire-flask
Look at the Stats for Objects
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/running-the-game#StatisticsforObjects
Object Armor Class
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/running-the-game#ArmorClass
Object Hit Points
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/running-the-game#HitPoints
Let's say they cast burning hands or another spell that can set flammable material ablaze.
The specific part of the cabin is going to catch fire as stated in the spell effect. But only that part will catch fire. Unless the whole place is coated in oil (not outside the realms of possibility, but it would need barrels of the stuff) then only that part will be aflame, and it will die out.
Now, if there's thatch then that's a different story. Thatch will go up fast.
Regardless, the NPC will have plenty of time and be alerted to try to escape. I'm assuming that they are going to barricade the door, in which case the NPC will need to break it down. Use the stats for objects that BKThomson linked above. Or, the NPC can go out of a window.
Is this a house in the wilderness? If it's near other buildings, as soon as fire is noticed there will be a public outcry of people coming to help put it out.
Burning someone alive might be considered an evil act - it will perhaps depend on the NPC, how much proof they have of wrongdoing (if any). This does strike me as something of a "murderhobo" activity and you might need to consider how these characters are going to interact in the rest of the module, since most modules assume a Good aligned party rather than an Evil one. If the NPC isn't a direct villain and they are outside the law, then that usually means repercussions down the road.
Reinforcing what's already been mentioned here. Tinderbox has some guidance that might lend some inspiration, as does oil (flask). Setting a structure on fire might require more accelerants and fuel than the PCs have available for the potentially imagined blaze. I'm with Pantagruel on this one, the resident might have an opportunity to go for help, or at the very least make a run for it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I wouldn’t sweat out super detailed mechanics. Just use checks to drive the narrative. For example, have them explain how they are proceeding (do they block the door and such, for example) to set the context. Then set a survival Dc to light the fire. Add a stealth check if they are trying to avoid notice. I’d set a high DC, but allow them to retry. Each attempt burns 5 minutes (or whatever) and requires another stealth check (or perhaps the person gets +2 to their passive DC for each failure). A one room building from the pre-consumer world takes about 30 minutes to get to full blaze from a small fire, so I’d go with that. Then I’d set successively lower DC’s every five minutes to notice the fire. The passive DC willl tell you when they notice it. higher DC if the occupant is sleeping. They wake if they notice it and can attempt to escape if they are awake. Smoke inhalation is a possibility at half way. Do a constitution check every 5 minutes they are in the building to remain conscious. They are dead at 30 minutes.
I mapped it out off the top of my head, but I’d actually let it evolve more organically at the table depending on what the party does and how you think the person inside would react.
Also, unless arson is going to be a major thing in your campaigns, setting fire to a building is totally one of those "Ok, we tried it this way on one session, let's it try it this way in another in this one" until you settle on something that narratively flows in a way your table finds both entertaining and plausible and doesn't mechanically stretch to far beyond "conflagration minigame" (balance is also how many mechanical steps it takes to resolve in comparison to other tasks in game). For me, it's one of those areas where I'm cool with telling the table I'm not sure what the best way to resolve this is, let's try it this way and see what we think, and if it's "meh" we'll try something else next time you want to burn something down.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.