I was playing and someone in my party is running this build but somehow the wildfire spirit gets hit by a melee and they don't take fire damage at all, that doesn't make any sense to me since it is living fire basically. I feel like the wildfire spirit needs to be buffed before they actually release it.
I understand the logic you're putting out there, however I think it comes down to balanced effects in relationship to scale of the ability.
Wildfire Circle UA was new to me. Looking over the Wildfire Spirit stat blot, my impulse was to cross reference it with the Fire Elemental (something Circle of the Moon can summon at Level 10). The Fire Elemental is a 12 hit die entity, and does inflict 5 or 1d10 fire damage when struck by an assailant in melee. That's a Fire Elemental. A Wildfire Spirt is novel take or application or expansion of the Wild Shape / Combat Wildshape power. Giving 1d10 fire damage as a reaction for something that can be summoned at 2nd level, just seems too formidable a power.
Let's not forget that the Wildfire Spirit has an impressive in scale area of effect attack upon arrival.
Lastly, while the Fire Elemental is a being of pure fire, the Wildfire Shape manifests as a humanoid made of gnarled branches on fire or a beast shape wreathed in fire. To me, I'm reading this as less a manifestation of pure fire but a manifestation of fire's relationship with nature. In that, I see a narrative or lore out of your reaction fire damage belief. It's just not fire elmental intense an inferno.
If you really feel compelled to make contact a damage conduit, maybe a 1 hp damage total, perhaps increasing as Druid level increases to no more than 1d4 or 1d6.
I mean, it seems like this should lead up to a level 10 Fire Elemental Wildshape, but that's not in the UA. Basically it's a cool flavor a little specialized for a Druid, if you ask me (while it's true fire does have a role in the life cycle of forests, it seems weird to have a Druid tend to only that aspect of the forest life cycle). What you see is clearly a compromise of probably a longer list of cool pyromania including the Fire Elemental.
Fire doesn't hurt as instantly as people might think. You could easily punch a fire or an object on fire without hurting yourself at all, even more easily so if you used a weapon instead of your fist.
Fire doesn't hurt as instantly as people might think. You could easily punch a fire or an object on fire without hurting yourself at all, even more easily so if you used a weapon instead of your fist.
Fire doesn't hurt as instantly as people might think. You could easily punch a fire or an object on fire without hurting yourself at all, even more easily so if you used a weapon instead of your fist.
What with being grappled by the spirit?
How can it? It is tiny, and so can't really. I'm not sure about raw, but I would not allow it.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
It's small not tiny. So it can take hold of a leg, to give only one example. But even if it was tiny, I'm sure I could find new and novel ways to make things burn. I look at it as a burning Tiny Servant.
Nechaef's grappling idea fits within the RAW, small creatures (size category in the stat block) can grapple creatures of one size larger and most humanoid PC races are medium, so a grapple would work.
However, that's not what was proposed. What was proposed is that the Wildfire spirit automatically does fire damage to anything that comes into melee contact with it, and I think between game balance and some notes on how real fire actually works that seems too great a buff.
Grapple could be a decent compromise though. Still, I wouldn't believe a character in a grappled state by the wildfire spirit would be sustaining constant automatic damage as a result of being in that state. I suppose the Wildfire spirit could get advantage to its further attacks on a grappled opponent....
Oh wait, two issues here. First, the wildfire spirit's only mode of attack (besides its area of effect damage on arrival) is flame seed, which is a missile weapon. Second, the wildfire spirit has conditioned immunity to being grappled, so I don't know if that means it can grapple. Given that, I think we're talking about an entity that is more spiritual than corporeal, it's not even clear whether the wildfire spirit can do tasks outside of combat. It does seem the point of the ability is to allow a combat assistant in lieu of a combat wild shape, rather than a fiery servant, as a result what it can and can't do in the corporeal world may be limited to flame seed and fiery teleportation, which is a lot for a combat buff that a character can begin to use at 2nd level.
I was playing and someone in my party is running this build but somehow the wildfire spirit gets hit by a melee and they don't take fire damage at all, that doesn't make any sense to me since it is living fire basically. I feel like the wildfire spirit needs to be buffed before they actually release it.
Maybe. It does seem like a good idea, but it's actually already pretty balanced.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
I understand the logic you're putting out there, however I think it comes down to balanced effects in relationship to scale of the ability.
Wildfire Circle UA was new to me. Looking over the Wildfire Spirit stat blot, my impulse was to cross reference it with the Fire Elemental (something Circle of the Moon can summon at Level 10). The Fire Elemental is a 12 hit die entity, and does inflict 5 or 1d10 fire damage when struck by an assailant in melee. That's a Fire Elemental. A Wildfire Spirt is novel take or application or expansion of the Wild Shape / Combat Wildshape power. Giving 1d10 fire damage as a reaction for something that can be summoned at 2nd level, just seems too formidable a power.
Let's not forget that the Wildfire Spirit has an impressive in scale area of effect attack upon arrival.
Lastly, while the Fire Elemental is a being of pure fire, the Wildfire Shape manifests as a humanoid made of gnarled branches on fire or a beast shape wreathed in fire. To me, I'm reading this as less a manifestation of pure fire but a manifestation of fire's relationship with nature. In that, I see a narrative or lore out of your reaction fire damage belief. It's just not fire elmental intense an inferno.
If you really feel compelled to make contact a damage conduit, maybe a 1 hp damage total, perhaps increasing as Druid level increases to no more than 1d4 or 1d6.
I mean, it seems like this should lead up to a level 10 Fire Elemental Wildshape, but that's not in the UA. Basically it's a cool flavor a little specialized for a Druid, if you ask me (while it's true fire does have a role in the life cycle of forests, it seems weird to have a Druid tend to only that aspect of the forest life cycle). What you see is clearly a compromise of probably a longer list of cool pyromania including the Fire Elemental.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Fire doesn't hurt as instantly as people might think. You could easily punch a fire or an object on fire without hurting yourself at all, even more easily so if you used a weapon instead of your fist.
What with being grappled by the spirit?
How can it? It is tiny, and so can't really. I'm not sure about raw, but I would not allow it.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
It's small not tiny. So it can take hold of a leg, to give only one example. But even if it was tiny, I'm sure I could find new and novel ways to make things burn. I look at it as a burning Tiny Servant.
Nechaef's grappling idea fits within the RAW, small creatures (size category in the stat block) can grapple creatures of one size larger and most humanoid PC races are medium, so a grapple would work.
However, that's not what was proposed. What was proposed is that the Wildfire spirit automatically does fire damage to anything that comes into melee contact with it, and I think between game balance and some notes on how real fire actually works that seems too great a buff.
Grapple could be a decent compromise though. Still, I wouldn't believe a character in a grappled state by the wildfire spirit would be sustaining constant automatic damage as a result of being in that state. I suppose the Wildfire spirit could get advantage to its further attacks on a grappled opponent....
Oh wait, two issues here. First, the wildfire spirit's only mode of attack (besides its area of effect damage on arrival) is flame seed, which is a missile weapon. Second, the wildfire spirit has conditioned immunity to being grappled, so I don't know if that means it can grapple. Given that, I think we're talking about an entity that is more spiritual than corporeal, it's not even clear whether the wildfire spirit can do tasks outside of combat. It does seem the point of the ability is to allow a combat assistant in lieu of a combat wild shape, rather than a fiery servant, as a result what it can and can't do in the corporeal world may be limited to flame seed and fiery teleportation, which is a lot for a combat buff that a character can begin to use at 2nd level.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.