They explode and die. No need to get any more granular than that.
Well, if they're immune to fire damage, then I'd say that they're fine (even though all their stomach acid would evaporate, but that can be overlooked). I might even give them a chance to live if they're just resistant, although they'd definitely take as much damage as the spell normally deals and a good deal extra. To be fun, maybe a fire-resistant creature that somehow survives would get a high level breath attack off of an adult/ancient red/gold dragon stat block.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
That sounds like very fair given the situation. I think that's how I would play it too. Thanks for the comments. :) Luckily this time the table convinced the player not to eat it, but I think that only made him want to do it the next time *sigh*
That sounds like very fair given the situation. I think that's how I would play it too. Thanks for the comments. :) Luckily this time the table convinced the player not to eat it, but I think that only made him want to do it the next time *sigh*
I mean, if this is a problem for the table dynamic, your group should take some time between sessions to talk it out.
Actually, I think you need to explain player knowledge vs character knowledge to the players at the table.
The player thinks it might be cool to swallow a delayed blast fireball. However, it is a role playing game, the player is role playing a character in the fantasy world. If a player is making a ridiculous decision, especially one that is likely to be suicidal, consider whether there is knowledge that the character would have that might impact the decision and tell the player. In this case, would ANY character ever swallow a delayed blast fireball knowing what it was in advance? The character would KNOW that this action will deliver the full damage of the fire to their insides without any save being possible.
I would rule that even a monk or a rogue with evasion could not "evade" the damage of something the character intentionally swallowed. I would also rule that a saving throw against the damage would not be possible. These rulings are important for the players to know in advance and it is important to tell the player that the CHARACTER expects that they will likely die if they swallow a delayed blast fireball. As DM, you need to make the choices clear to the player so that they can make appropriate role playing decisions. In this case, you should (at least, I would) explain to the player before they decide to swallow it that it amounts to suicide (in most cases).
There are still circumstances where the character might choose to swallow it if they were saving party members at the cost of their own life for example, but the player needs to know what the character would know in order to make a reasonable decision.
The zealot barbarian eats the delayed blast fireball right before he volunteers to be eaten by the ancient blue dragon as a sacrifice to show the party's obedience and fealty.
The players will always find a way to do the ridiculous
I'd be cautious about the "instant death" ruling, because that's going to make the players try extra hard to get the monsters to eat it.
As written, they get a dex save for half damage to the normal spell damage. DM's call as to whether "inside a creature" counts as fully obstructing it, or whether it still extends out to the spell radius.
Yes, this violates how we think it should work, but fireball isn't a hand grenade. A ruling that you don't get a save because you're incapable of avoiding it certainly seems reasonable, though.
Also, given that the thing goes off on contact, a ruling that there's no way to swallow it without it going off before you do is also valid.
I would rule instant death. HP is an abstraction, not “I can get stabbed in the gut 10 times and be just fine because I have 100 hp”
An example I’ve heard was from Tim Kask’s (worked in 1E D&D) YouTube videos. If you watched Game of Thrones, the scene where Arya and Brienne are sparring. Brienne is swinging and Arya is dodging and parrying and those are loss of HP even though Arya was not “hit”.HP are it just physical damage, its expenditure of energy, fatigue, the character being worn down etc
I'd be cautious about the "instant death" ruling, because that's going to make the players try extra hard to get the monsters to eat it.
As written, they get a dex save for half damage to the normal spell damage. DM's call as to whether "inside a creature" counts as fully obstructing it, or whether it still extends out to the spell radius.
Yes, this violates how we think it should work, but fireball isn't a hand grenade. A ruling that you don't get a save because you're incapable of avoiding it certainly seems reasonable, though.
Also, given that the thing goes off on contact, a ruling that there's no way to swallow it without it going off before you do is also valid.
Monsters aren't characters :) ... and personally, I might not rule "instant death" but I might go for "instant max damage" or some other ruling. However, in any case, I would be careful to explain to the table how the effect would be ruled BEFORE anyone decided to swallow it.
Various monsters though might have much tougher insides than a typical humanoid so I might not use exactly the same ruling with a monster than I would for a humanoid.
As far as spell radius, being swallowed provides total cover - in that case the spell effect would be limited to areas without total cover. On the other hand, spells like fireball will expand around corners so I might rule that the fireball comes out the mouth of the creature and expands to fill the volume if the creature had its mouth open though, to be honest, most creatures have a separation between their respiratory and digestive systems that blocks off the digestive system when the creature is breathing. So, depending on how nuanced the DM wants to get in their ruling, I could see a DM deciding either way on whether the spell can affect more than the inside of the creature affected.
Finally, you can move a Delayed Blast Fireball, it just requires a save. If someone decided to swallow such an item, I would likely impose the same requirement. The DBF does not instantly go off if someone moves it.
"If the glowing bead is touched before the interval has expired, the creature touching it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the spell ends immediately, causing the bead to erupt in flame. On a successful save, the creature can throw the bead up to 40 feet. When it strikes a creature or a solid object, the spell ends, and the bead explodes."
Finally, you can move a Delayed Blast Fireball, it just requires a save. If someone decided to swallow such an item, I would likely impose the same requirement. The DBF does not instantly go off if someone moves it.
"If the glowing bead is touched before the interval has expired, the creature touching it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the spell ends immediately, causing the bead to erupt in flame. On a successful save, the creature can throw the bead up to 40 feet. When it strikes a creature or a solid object, the spell ends, and the bead explodes."
That's specifically an attempt to throw it. The rules as written are silent as to whether you can do anything else with it. Walk around with it? Not specified. Put it in your pocket? Eat it? Also not specified.
Great feedback yall, I couldn't find anything on this online so its always great to hear from the community on stuffs. Didn't even think of the implications of players having monsters eating it...lol. All is well
Finally, you can move a Delayed Blast Fireball, it just requires a save. If someone decided to swallow such an item, I would likely impose the same requirement. The DBF does not instantly go off if someone moves it.
"If the glowing bead is touched before the interval has expired, the creature touching it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the spell ends immediately, causing the bead to erupt in flame. On a successful save, the creature can throw the bead up to 40 feet. When it strikes a creature or a solid object, the spell ends, and the bead explodes."
That's specifically an attempt to throw it. The rules as written are silent as to whether you can do anything else with it. Walk around with it? Not specified. Put it in your pocket? Eat it? Also not specified.
Sure. Anything else is a ruling. However, the DMs job is to make rulings consistent with the existing rules. Being able to throw a DBF indicates that it can be touched and handled without being detonated (throwing requires grabbing the object and moving it back and forth while held until it is released and flies through the air). The rules specify that it will detonate after release when it hits something after being thrown. On the other hand, if the creature who touched it was successful in the saving throw, the rules say nothing about WHEN the DBF needs to be thrown. The rules don't say the DBF must immediately be thrown. In addition, the rules only say that they CAN throw the DBF not that they must do so.
So, RAW, a creature can grab a DBF, pass the save and potentially do whatever they like with it before throwing it - that is at least one interpretation/ruling that is consistent with RAW.
Anyway, the point is that the rules don't go into details on doing anything except throwing, specifying that the DBF will detonate when it hits something. However, since the rules clearly use the word "can" and not "must" then there is no requirement that the creature handling the DBF needs to immediately throw it. In which case, they could likely swallow it or do whatever they like with it as long as they passed the initial save to handle it.
I mean, the save is only to toss the live grenade away from you before it goes off, and I’d call contact with the mouth/throat “strik[ing] a creature or solid object”.
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How would you rule a player wanting to eat the glowing bead from Delayed Blast Fireball...
Ah, the Forbidden Boba. I know it well.
They explode and die. No need to get any more granular than that.
Well, if they're immune to fire damage, then I'd say that they're fine (even though all their stomach acid would evaporate, but that can be overlooked). I might even give them a chance to live if they're just resistant, although they'd definitely take as much damage as the spell normally deals and a good deal extra. To be fun, maybe a fire-resistant creature that somehow survives would get a high level breath attack off of an adult/ancient red/gold dragon stat block.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
That sounds like very fair given the situation. I think that's how I would play it too. Thanks for the comments. :) Luckily this time the table convinced the player not to eat it, but I think that only made him want to do it the next time *sigh*
I mean, if this is a problem for the table dynamic, your group should take some time between sessions to talk it out.
Actually, I think you need to explain player knowledge vs character knowledge to the players at the table.
The player thinks it might be cool to swallow a delayed blast fireball. However, it is a role playing game, the player is role playing a character in the fantasy world. If a player is making a ridiculous decision, especially one that is likely to be suicidal, consider whether there is knowledge that the character would have that might impact the decision and tell the player. In this case, would ANY character ever swallow a delayed blast fireball knowing what it was in advance? The character would KNOW that this action will deliver the full damage of the fire to their insides without any save being possible.
I would rule that even a monk or a rogue with evasion could not "evade" the damage of something the character intentionally swallowed. I would also rule that a saving throw against the damage would not be possible. These rulings are important for the players to know in advance and it is important to tell the player that the CHARACTER expects that they will likely die if they swallow a delayed blast fireball. As DM, you need to make the choices clear to the player so that they can make appropriate role playing decisions. In this case, you should (at least, I would) explain to the player before they decide to swallow it that it amounts to suicide (in most cases).
There are still circumstances where the character might choose to swallow it if they were saving party members at the cost of their own life for example, but the player needs to know what the character would know in order to make a reasonable decision.
The zealot barbarian eats the delayed blast fireball right before he volunteers to be eaten by the ancient blue dragon as a sacrifice to show the party's obedience and fealty.
The players will always find a way to do the ridiculous
I'd be cautious about the "instant death" ruling, because that's going to make the players try extra hard to get the monsters to eat it.
As written, they get a dex save for half damage to the normal spell damage. DM's call as to whether "inside a creature" counts as fully obstructing it, or whether it still extends out to the spell radius.
Yes, this violates how we think it should work, but fireball isn't a hand grenade. A ruling that you don't get a save because you're incapable of avoiding it certainly seems reasonable, though.
Also, given that the thing goes off on contact, a ruling that there's no way to swallow it without it going off before you do is also valid.
I would rule instant death. HP is an abstraction, not “I can get stabbed in the gut 10 times and be just fine because I have 100 hp”
An example I’ve heard was from Tim Kask’s (worked in 1E D&D) YouTube videos. If you watched Game of Thrones, the scene where Arya and Brienne are sparring. Brienne is swinging and Arya is dodging and parrying and those are loss of HP even though Arya was not “hit”.HP are it just physical damage, its expenditure of energy, fatigue, the character being worn down etc
You want to eat that DBF you’re gonna be dead.
Monsters aren't characters :) ... and personally, I might not rule "instant death" but I might go for "instant max damage" or some other ruling. However, in any case, I would be careful to explain to the table how the effect would be ruled BEFORE anyone decided to swallow it.
Various monsters though might have much tougher insides than a typical humanoid so I might not use exactly the same ruling with a monster than I would for a humanoid.
As far as spell radius, being swallowed provides total cover - in that case the spell effect would be limited to areas without total cover. On the other hand, spells like fireball will expand around corners so I might rule that the fireball comes out the mouth of the creature and expands to fill the volume if the creature had its mouth open though, to be honest, most creatures have a separation between their respiratory and digestive systems that blocks off the digestive system when the creature is breathing. So, depending on how nuanced the DM wants to get in their ruling, I could see a DM deciding either way on whether the spell can affect more than the inside of the creature affected.
Finally, you can move a Delayed Blast Fireball, it just requires a save. If someone decided to swallow such an item, I would likely impose the same requirement. The DBF does not instantly go off if someone moves it.
"If the glowing bead is touched before the interval has expired, the creature touching it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the spell ends immediately, causing the bead to erupt in flame. On a successful save, the creature can throw the bead up to 40 feet. When it strikes a creature or a solid object, the spell ends, and the bead explodes."
That's specifically an attempt to throw it. The rules as written are silent as to whether you can do anything else with it. Walk around with it? Not specified. Put it in your pocket? Eat it? Also not specified.
Great feedback yall, I couldn't find anything on this online so its always great to hear from the community on stuffs. Didn't even think of the implications of players having monsters eating it...lol. All is well
Sure. Anything else is a ruling. However, the DMs job is to make rulings consistent with the existing rules. Being able to throw a DBF indicates that it can be touched and handled without being detonated (throwing requires grabbing the object and moving it back and forth while held until it is released and flies through the air). The rules specify that it will detonate after release when it hits something after being thrown. On the other hand, if the creature who touched it was successful in the saving throw, the rules say nothing about WHEN the DBF needs to be thrown. The rules don't say the DBF must immediately be thrown. In addition, the rules only say that they CAN throw the DBF not that they must do so.
So, RAW, a creature can grab a DBF, pass the save and potentially do whatever they like with it before throwing it - that is at least one interpretation/ruling that is consistent with RAW.
Anyway, the point is that the rules don't go into details on doing anything except throwing, specifying that the DBF will detonate when it hits something. However, since the rules clearly use the word "can" and not "must" then there is no requirement that the creature handling the DBF needs to immediately throw it. In which case, they could likely swallow it or do whatever they like with it as long as they passed the initial save to handle it.
I mean, the save is only to toss the live grenade away from you before it goes off, and I’d call contact with the mouth/throat “strik[ing] a creature or solid object”.