So I have a situation where my characters were able to get an enemy character to come and meet them at the tavern they are using as a base in town. The meeting did not go well, and now combat is about to break out.
My villain is a brash kind of enforcer. He is averagely intelligent (10) and a little unwise (9), and uses the threat of violence (specifically arson) to get what he wants. So, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to decide that the best means of escape is to set fire to the building around him and force the players to chose what to do.
So the character has access to what is essentially an 11th level Produce flame attack (3d6 in my case), the attack says that if the target is flammable it catches fire. So I have a way to light something up, but what would you say are the mechanics of this? A real house type fire does get out of control super quick (2 minutes or less) but that is because of how out stuff is made today (go figure making everything out of petro chemicals makes them flammable). My first thought was to have him aim for the wine casks behind the counter, thinking that it could explode because of alchohol content. But some research has told me 1, wine is not as alchoholic and therefore does not really catch fire; 2, the casks themselves may be less likely to catch fire because of how they are constructed.
The walls of this tavern are wood, the furniture is wood, everything is wood, so it should light, but how fast could I reasonably expect the fire to exist before it is out of control by simply smothering it? My villain is out manned and probably out gunned in this fight, I am really trying to think of how to give him an advantage. I did a quick damage calculation on my party, at his current HP, my NPC is dead in 2 rounds without my artificially inflating his HP.
I was thinking on his first turn light something on fire, and then see how my party reacts. If someone addresses the fire, a survival check (DC 12?) to see if they can best determine how to tackle the problem, likely meaning smother it with a blanket or turn a barrel of water on it. Unless of course they use some type of spell or other creative solution, then I may just roll with them on that one. Then turn 2, if it is still going, the fire intensifies. Now it takes at least 2 characters acting together to try and manage the fire and maybe put it out (DC 14, Survival?). At this point my NPC may still be alive and force a decision from my Players, because on turn 3 if the fire is still going, it intensifies again, taking 4 actions (all requiring a successful DC 16 Survival) to try and beat back the flames. After that on turn 4, the fire is now not manageable and everyone needs to escape.
Does this sound reasonable? I am not sure it is tbh just because of the research I have done on this topic, but I am also perfectly willing to ignore reality to suit the narrative if need be. If you think this is no good, what would you do instead/how would you change it?
What kinds of businesses are attached to this tavern, is it also an inn? Is there stable nearby? Are there oil lanterns to illuminate the space?
Beds would probably be made of straw, and if this tavern isn't well cleaned, patrons may be tracking in hay or other flammable debris. Oil lanterns are obviously filled with plenty of fast burning accelerant. Wine may not burn, but hard spirits will.
If you want your villain to survive, have them book it to a chokepoint, like a stairwell, and fill that space with fire, either by tossing down a lantern, or igniting a mattress. Turning corners breaks line of sight to prevent the PCs from getting off a round of ranged attacks, and gravity may cause burning oil to spill onto multiple floors, causing the fire to spread faster than a PC can react to in a single turn. If the villain went into the "inn" portion of the tavern, they can hide in one of the rooms or bail out a window. If they went into a cellar, then there is usually a secondary entrance they can leave through, or bottles of spirits, dry goods, or other flammable materials, like firewood.
Molotov cocktails make a great mess, and a professional arsonist may bring fuel to the fight.
I had not considered the oil lanterns, that is a good fuel source.
Part of me wants my villain to escape, part of me doesn't. I just would like him to have a reasonable chance of escaping. I like to throw wrenches into my players plans. IMO if everything goes according to the players plan, the DM missed an opportunity to create drama (or it was a good plan, but such things are truly rare).
In this case I want the actions of my players to have far reaching consequences. Given the current state of affairs in the world I would like to see how my plyaers will choose to prioritize their interests. Do they chase down the bad guy? Or do they try to save the Tavern/Inn whose owners have only helped them out? Do they let the fire burn out of control and take out multiple buildings? Do the people who would be thier allies perish in a fire?
This is a lot more interesting than, welp that guy is now dead, what's next?
Since it sounds like your players are mid-level, you could give your villain an Elemental Gem(Red Corundum) to conjure a fire elemental in the middle of the tavern.
That would give you the arsonist flavor, start the tavern on fire, and give your players another target to spread out the attacks.
I've had to deal with this twice when two of my groups decided to set fire to the same building in order kill the monsters inside. Here's the rules I made up on the fly:
- Unless they use a fire spell that specifically says something about affecting nearby flammable objects, they needed to use some kind of accelerant.
- When the fire is lit, I roll a d8 to determine how quickly the fire spreads. The number I roll is the radius that the fire spreads at the start of each turn for the person who started it.
- Any creature who ends their turn in the fire gets 2d6 fire damage.
Then I just had to deal with the monsters trying to get out of the building. I set a strength DC for breaking through the windows, doors, etc. In come cases the PC's barricaded the doors to make it more difficult. Much to my disappointment, In both cases the monsters ended up not being able to escape the building and eventually were engulfed in the flames and died.
So I have a situation where my characters were able to get an enemy character to come and meet them at the tavern they are using as a base in town. The meeting did not go well, and now combat is about to break out.
My villain is a brash kind of enforcer. He is averagely intelligent (10) and a little unwise (9), and uses the threat of violence (specifically arson) to get what he wants. So, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to decide that the best means of escape is to set fire to the building around him and force the players to chose what to do.
So the character has access to what is essentially an 11th level Produce flame attack (3d6 in my case), the attack says that if the target is flammable it catches fire. So I have a way to light something up, but what would you say are the mechanics of this? A real house type fire does get out of control super quick (2 minutes or less) but that is because of how out stuff is made today (go figure making everything out of petro chemicals makes them flammable). My first thought was to have him aim for the wine casks behind the counter, thinking that it could explode because of alchohol content. But some research has told me 1, wine is not as alchoholic and therefore does not really catch fire; 2, the casks themselves may be less likely to catch fire because of how they are constructed.
The walls of this tavern are wood, the furniture is wood, everything is wood, so it should light, but how fast could I reasonably expect the fire to exist before it is out of control by simply smothering it? My villain is out manned and probably out gunned in this fight, I am really trying to think of how to give him an advantage. I did a quick damage calculation on my party, at his current HP, my NPC is dead in 2 rounds without my artificially inflating his HP.
I was thinking on his first turn light something on fire, and then see how my party reacts. If someone addresses the fire, a survival check (DC 12?) to see if they can best determine how to tackle the problem, likely meaning smother it with a blanket or turn a barrel of water on it. Unless of course they use some type of spell or other creative solution, then I may just roll with them on that one. Then turn 2, if it is still going, the fire intensifies. Now it takes at least 2 characters acting together to try and manage the fire and maybe put it out (DC 14, Survival?). At this point my NPC may still be alive and force a decision from my Players, because on turn 3 if the fire is still going, it intensifies again, taking 4 actions (all requiring a successful DC 16 Survival) to try and beat back the flames. After that on turn 4, the fire is now not manageable and everyone needs to escape.
Does this sound reasonable? I am not sure it is tbh just because of the research I have done on this topic, but I am also perfectly willing to ignore reality to suit the narrative if need be. If you think this is no good, what would you do instead/how would you change it?
What kinds of businesses are attached to this tavern, is it also an inn? Is there stable nearby? Are there oil lanterns to illuminate the space?
Beds would probably be made of straw, and if this tavern isn't well cleaned, patrons may be tracking in hay or other flammable debris. Oil lanterns are obviously filled with plenty of fast burning accelerant. Wine may not burn, but hard spirits will.
If you want your villain to survive, have them book it to a chokepoint, like a stairwell, and fill that space with fire, either by tossing down a lantern, or igniting a mattress. Turning corners breaks line of sight to prevent the PCs from getting off a round of ranged attacks, and gravity may cause burning oil to spill onto multiple floors, causing the fire to spread faster than a PC can react to in a single turn. If the villain went into the "inn" portion of the tavern, they can hide in one of the rooms or bail out a window. If they went into a cellar, then there is usually a secondary entrance they can leave through, or bottles of spirits, dry goods, or other flammable materials, like firewood.
Molotov cocktails make a great mess, and a professional arsonist may bring fuel to the fight.
I had not considered the oil lanterns, that is a good fuel source.
Part of me wants my villain to escape, part of me doesn't. I just would like him to have a reasonable chance of escaping. I like to throw wrenches into my players plans. IMO if everything goes according to the players plan, the DM missed an opportunity to create drama (or it was a good plan, but such things are truly rare).
In this case I want the actions of my players to have far reaching consequences. Given the current state of affairs in the world I would like to see how my plyaers will choose to prioritize their interests. Do they chase down the bad guy? Or do they try to save the Tavern/Inn whose owners have only helped them out? Do they let the fire burn out of control and take out multiple buildings? Do the people who would be thier allies perish in a fire?
This is a lot more interesting than, welp that guy is now dead, what's next?
Since it sounds like your players are mid-level, you could give your villain an Elemental Gem(Red Corundum) to conjure a fire elemental in the middle of the tavern.
That would give you the arsonist flavor, start the tavern on fire, and give your players another target to spread out the attacks.
I've had to deal with this twice when two of my groups decided to set fire to the same building in order kill the monsters inside. Here's the rules I made up on the fly:
- Unless they use a fire spell that specifically says something about affecting nearby flammable objects, they needed to use some kind of accelerant.
- When the fire is lit, I roll a d8 to determine how quickly the fire spreads. The number I roll is the radius that the fire spreads at the start of each turn for the person who started it.
- Any creature who ends their turn in the fire gets 2d6 fire damage.
Then I just had to deal with the monsters trying to get out of the building. I set a strength DC for breaking through the windows, doors, etc. In come cases the PC's barricaded the doors to make it more difficult. Much to my disappointment, In both cases the monsters ended up not being able to escape the building and eventually were engulfed in the flames and died.
Create an AC and Damage threshold for the things in the building.
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