Soon the party will be trying to delay the advance of an army for as long as possible. The party (a bloodhunter, wizard and rogue assassin (all 12th level) and a 9th level druid) have a delayed blast fireball scroll that I think they will be itching to use. I am wondering if the druid could summon a fire elemental, the wizard casts DBF into something, like a box or urn, hands it to the fire elemental and let's him run into the camp area?
How would you rule that? Obviously they want to get the full 1 minute duration and mess some stuff up, big time!
From the spell description: A beam of yellow light flashes from your pointing finger, then condenses to linger at a chosen point within range as a glowing bead for the duration.
So I’d rule they can’t put the bead in a box or anything. It lingers at the spot. If you move the box, the bead would stay where it was. You might even say it just blows up because something touched it. Though the rules say creature touching it, I still would make it blow up. I’m not going to allow some loophole where they use an object to fling it around freely.
There is the exception of someone touching it and trying to throw it, so they could maybe try that and see if the elemental can run up at the least second and toss the bead an extra 40’. But it would still be floating in the air for a minute. If I were in the party, I’d hit the caster with as much stealth boosts as I could, let them sneak in and try to place it somewhere it won’t be noticed. Like right into the middle of a campfire. Though the enemies still might notice the initial beam.
From the spell description: A beam of yellow light flashes from your pointing finger, then condenses to linger at a chosen point within range as a glowing bead for the duration.
So I’d rule they can’t put the bead in a box or anything. It lingers at the spot. If you move the box, the bead would stay where it was. You might even say it just blows up because something touched it. Though the rules say creature touching it, I still would make it blow up. I’m not going to allow some loophole where they use an object to fling it around freely.
There is the exception of someone touching it and trying to throw it, so they could maybe try that and see if the elemental can run up at the least second and toss the bead an extra 40’. But it would still be floating in the air for a minute. If I were in the party, I’d hit the caster with as much stealth boosts as I could, let them sneak in and try to place it somewhere it won’t be noticed. Like right into the middle of a campfire. Though the enemies still might notice the initial beam.
Pretty much what I was thinking. I wonder if having the druid summon the Fire Elemental and let it rampage through part of the camp where they would most likely cast the DBF would be enough of a distraction to not notice the beam of light.
From the spell description: A beam of yellow light flashes from your pointing finger, then condenses to linger at a chosen point within range as a glowing bead for the duration.
So I’d rule they can’t put the bead in a box or anything. It lingers at the spot. If you move the box, the bead would stay where it was. You might even say it just blows up because something touched it. Though the rules say creature touching it, I still would make it blow up. I’m not going to allow some loophole where they use an object to fling it around freely.
There is the exception of someone touching it and trying to throw it, so they could maybe try that and see if the elemental can run up at the least second and toss the bead an extra 40’. But it would still be floating in the air for a minute. If I were in the party, I’d hit the caster with as much stealth boosts as I could, let them sneak in and try to place it somewhere it won’t be noticed. Like right into the middle of a campfire. Though the enemies still might notice the initial beam.
Pretty much what I was thinking. I wonder if having the druid summon the Fire Elemental and let it rampage through part of the camp where they would most likely cast the DBF would be enough of a distraction to not notice the beam of light.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is only a 20' radius sphere. That isn't very big. In an army camp with even 100 soldiers in 10 tents the fireball may only get 1-4 tents. The army aren't about to set up the tents with a minimal spacing because (1) If someone accidentally set one on fire while cooking they would not want them all to burn, (2) the soldiers need room to move around the tents, (3) from a defensive point of view, they would want to minimize the number that can be affected by an AoE.
The best use would likely to be casting it on whatever tent or area of the camp has the leadership for the army.
P.S. A lot of D&D spells don't really scale well to the concept of armies, battlefields and combat. e.g. the wizard who pokes their head out to cast a fireball at an army may find themselves turning into a pincushion if the opposing archers are ready, waiting and expecting the mage to put in an appearance.
Yeah but it would really well on the wagons holding supplies, on horses picketed together, the commander's tent, or during a meeting in said commander's tent.
Soon the party will be trying to delay the advance of an army for as long as possible. The party (a bloodhunter, wizard and rogue assassin (all 12th level) and a 9th level druid) have a delayed blast fireball scroll that I think they will be itching to use. I am wondering if the druid could summon a fire elemental, the wizard casts DBF into something, like a box or urn, hands it to the fire elemental and let's him run into the camp area?
How would you rule that? Obviously they want to get the full 1 minute duration and mess some stuff up, big time!
From the spell description: A beam of yellow light flashes from your pointing finger, then condenses to linger at a chosen point within range as a glowing bead for the duration.
So I’d rule they can’t put the bead in a box or anything. It lingers at the spot. If you move the box, the bead would stay where it was. You might even say it just blows up because something touched it. Though the rules say creature touching it, I still would make it blow up. I’m not going to allow some loophole where they use an object to fling it around freely.
There is the exception of someone touching it and trying to throw it, so they could maybe try that and see if the elemental can run up at the least second and toss the bead an extra 40’. But it would still be floating in the air for a minute.
If I were in the party, I’d hit the caster with as much stealth boosts as I could, let them sneak in and try to place it somewhere it won’t be noticed. Like right into the middle of a campfire. Though the enemies still might notice the initial beam.
Pretty much what I was thinking. I wonder if having the druid summon the Fire Elemental and let it rampage through part of the camp where they would most likely cast the DBF would be enough of a distraction to not notice the beam of light.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is only a 20' radius sphere. That isn't very big. In an army camp with even 100 soldiers in 10 tents the fireball may only get 1-4 tents. The army aren't about to set up the tents with a minimal spacing because (1) If someone accidentally set one on fire while cooking they would not want them all to burn, (2) the soldiers need room to move around the tents, (3) from a defensive point of view, they would want to minimize the number that can be affected by an AoE.
The best use would likely to be casting it on whatever tent or area of the camp has the leadership for the army.
P.S. A lot of D&D spells don't really scale well to the concept of armies, battlefields and combat. e.g. the wizard who pokes their head out to cast a fireball at an army may find themselves turning into a pincushion if the opposing archers are ready, waiting and expecting the mage to put in an appearance.
Yeah but it would really well on the wagons holding supplies, on horses picketed together, the commander's tent, or during a meeting in said commander's tent.