So....doing some research I came across some interesting facts. I had known for decades now that Islamic soldiers had used clay pots filled with heated petroleum against Crusader Knights (and the same being done in kind against Islamic soldiers by Crusaders). I had also known about Greek Fire being used by the Byzantines in naval battles. It didn't occur to me until I read about it that some evil genius decided to combine the two and have clay (or even metal) pots with Greek Fire in them...with the added bonus of Caltrops to produce a type of fragmentation grenade. At least one version required an Onager (Stone Thrower) to hurl the missile, but there apparently were ones made to also be hurled by soldiers.
An interesting bit of real-world medieval European/Western Asian technology that could be adapted for D&D (especially for settings like The Flanaess/Greyhawk where gunpowder isn't a thing). Of course, for settings like Blackmoor, where Magic is indistinguishable from Super Technology (yes, in Dave Arneson's campaign a Wand of Fire could be a blaster from the SS Beagle/City of the Gods) you could have the excuse to have such weapons be even more advanced than those of real-world medieval Europe/Western Asia.
Pretty interesting. I might use this... against my players, of course.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Alchemist Fire flasks exist as a thing in the Equipment section of the PHB. As written it's sort of "meh". Deadly to fodder, nuisance to anything with more than one HD. It isn't napalm, nor was the Greek Fire or Byzantine sea fire historically. So you're not going to get an explosive fragmentation effect any more than you would if you hurled a bottle of wine containing caltrops. It doesn't blast so much as splash slosh and smear. Also the flask in the PHB isn't much of an area effect weapon, it seems to be short ranged and applicable to one target. You'd need a bigger vessel, like a barrel and the large frame or mechanism to deliver that sort of vessel to accomplish any sort of AoE type attack. It's either been speculated or inferred that the substance could be "projected" somehow without being tossed via a vessel.
Non magical fire in RAW is sort of lame. I could see someone house rule a fear check or some sort of "on fire" condition (that fire resistant beings would have immunity from). But non magical fire is extinguished from a body in RAW via a DC 10 DEX save.
I mean you could "magic tech" napalm ... but that's sort of what Fireball is anyway.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Non magical fire in RAW is sort of lame. I could see someone house rule a fear check or some sort of "on fire" condition (that fire resistant beings would have immunity from). But non magical fire is extinguished from a body in RAW via a DC 10 DEX save.
It requires an action to attempt to extinguish the flame, at least in the case of Alchemist Fire. You either get rid of the bad guy's action, or a little bit of damage every turn.
Fire damage is extremely helpful against a fair number of creatures in the D&D universe.
If non magical fire did substantial damage in addition to turning off regenerative properties, certain monsters might as well not exist in the GM's arsenal.
Alchemist's fire is a solid item. Even a flask of oil or a torch can be a powerful tool at low levels against certain monsters.
So....doing some research I came across some interesting facts. I had known for decades now that Islamic soldiers had used clay pots filled with heated petroleum against Crusader Knights (and the same being done in kind against Islamic soldiers by Crusaders). I had also known about Greek Fire being used by the Byzantines in naval battles. It didn't occur to me until I read about it that some evil genius decided to combine the two and have clay (or even metal) pots with Greek Fire in them...with the added bonus of Caltrops to produce a type of fragmentation grenade. At least one version required an Onager (Stone Thrower) to hurl the missile, but there apparently were ones made to also be hurled by soldiers.
An interesting bit of real-world medieval European/Western Asian technology that could be adapted for D&D (especially for settings like The Flanaess/Greyhawk where gunpowder isn't a thing). Of course, for settings like Blackmoor, where Magic is indistinguishable from Super Technology (yes, in Dave Arneson's campaign a Wand of Fire could be a blaster from the SS Beagle/City of the Gods) you could have the excuse to have such weapons be even more advanced than those of real-world medieval Europe/Western Asia.
Pretty interesting. I might use this... against my players, of course.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Alchemist Fire flasks exist as a thing in the Equipment section of the PHB. As written it's sort of "meh". Deadly to fodder, nuisance to anything with more than one HD. It isn't napalm, nor was the Greek Fire or Byzantine sea fire historically. So you're not going to get an explosive fragmentation effect any more than you would if you hurled a bottle of wine containing caltrops. It doesn't blast so much as splash slosh and smear. Also the flask in the PHB isn't much of an area effect weapon, it seems to be short ranged and applicable to one target. You'd need a bigger vessel, like a barrel and the large frame or mechanism to deliver that sort of vessel to accomplish any sort of AoE type attack. It's either been speculated or inferred that the substance could be "projected" somehow without being tossed via a vessel.
Non magical fire in RAW is sort of lame. I could see someone house rule a fear check or some sort of "on fire" condition (that fire resistant beings would have immunity from). But non magical fire is extinguished from a body in RAW via a DC 10 DEX save.
I mean you could "magic tech" napalm ... but that's sort of what Fireball is anyway.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It requires an action to attempt to extinguish the flame, at least in the case of Alchemist Fire. You either get rid of the bad guy's action, or a little bit of damage every turn.
Fire damage is extremely helpful against a fair number of creatures in the D&D universe.
If non magical fire did substantial damage in addition to turning off regenerative properties, certain monsters might as well not exist in the GM's arsenal.
Alchemist's fire is a solid item. Even a flask of oil or a torch can be a powerful tool at low levels against certain monsters.
Sure, assuming you were a Wizard/Sorcerer. The average dumb grunt, on the other hand, now becomes as deadly as the guy chucking flaming spheres.....
I guess, I mean just juice slingstones with your magic fire tech and in a generation you have Eberron in what's left of your world ;).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.