Grease spell = grease fire?

[pokedigimaniac]

Quick question - I seem to recall reading somewhere that the grease from a grease spell will not burn. Can someone confirm or deny this for me, please?

 

[frankthedm]

Previous editions did this, 3.5 is quiet on the subject. That means a lot of folks think of the spell more as Lubricating Slime.

 

[pokedigimaniac]

I had noticed that 3.5 was quiet about it. So was 3.0, upon checking my old PHB. Did previous editions agree that it was nonflammable?

At the same time, would it be fair to let it burn a bit - maybe copying the rules for something else?

One idea is to work it like oil rules:

You can pour a pint of oil on the ground to cover an area 5 feet square, provided that the surface is smooth. If lit, the oil burns for 2 rounds and deals 1d3 points of fire damage to each creature in the area.

Except that it only burns for one round, and after that, the grease is all burned out and no longer slippery.

In which case, if something is in the area, these rules might apply:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#catchingOnFire

Catching On Fire

Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don’t normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.

Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character’s clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out. (That is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he’s no longer on fire.)

A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.

Those unlucky enough to have their clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.

I may be overthinking this, but it's either tell the players that the 'grease' spell does not burn, period, or let it have a minor burning effect if set on fire by something like a fireball.

 

[Cedric]

I had noticed that 3.5 was quiet about it. So was 3.0, upon checking my old PHB. Did previous editions agree that it was nonflammable?

In previous editions it was a fatty substance (I think the material component was butter, pork fat, etc).

And it was permanent.

Natural fatty grease is flammable, so in 1st ed. we always treated grease from the spell as flammable. But not something you could cast on a torch...something you would have to cast and throw a torch on, if that makes sense.

 

[Deset Gled]

But not something you could cast on a torch...something you would have to cast and throw a torch on, if that makes sense.

In 3.x, the Grease spell can be targeted on an object, including a torch or even clothing.

The spell description says nothing about whether or not the grease is flammable. Personally, I think that spells like this should perform only the actions that the spell states; the spell doesn't state the grease is flammable, so it isn't. Ruling otherwise opens up a slipperly slope (pun intended). From a balance perspective, it think that forcing a balance check (which can make an opponent flat-footed) is powerful enough for a first level spell.

Also, note that Grease is a Conjuration (Creation) spell with a non-instantaneous time. This means the grease is "held together" by magic forces. I think it is reasonable to assume that the physical properties of the grease are limited by this magic. The arguement that the grease is flammable would be stronger if the duration of the spell was instantaneous.

 

[Cedric]

In 3.x, the Grease spell can be targeted on an object, including a torch or even clothing.

Sorry, I was vague...in 1st ed it could be cast on a torch or anything else for that matter. However, "we" (being my groups) never would have expected that torch to just burst into flames. Kind of like throwing a bucket of melted fat on a torch, it's not going to flare up, it's going to go out.

But if you carefully catch the fat on fire, it'll burn really nicely. We treated Grease from the Spell the same way. It was flammable, but wasn't like gasoline.

 

[werk]

Quick question - I seem to recall reading somewhere that the grease from a grease spell will not burn. Can someone confirm or deny this for me, please?

Take some butter out of the fridge and smear it on the counter. Add flame. What happens?

Grease does not burn IMC.

 

[Cedric]

From a Fire Safety Manual

Classes of Fire

1. Ordinary combustibles: paper, cloth upholstery, trash, plastic, wood…

2. Flammable liquids, gasses and greases: kerosene, oil, paint, cleaning, fluids, cooking oil…
3. Energized electrical components: appliances, wiring…

4. Combustible metals: potassium, magnesium…

Grease of the cooking oil or animal fat variety is definitely flammable. In fact, one of the most dangerous house fires is a grease fire. The temptation is to throw water on it, but this scatters the grease (while it's still burning) and will not put out the fire.

I can understand your butter analogy, but grease itself is absolutely flammable.

Mind you, this has nothing to do with the spell. Just talking about actual grease.

 

[Dracorat]

The actual spell is not flammable.

 

[Cedric]

/Rant_On

They seem to have tried to remove or reword every spell that had some unintentional use that would allow it to be cool and allow players to actually be creative. Now each spell has to fit into some cookie cutter mold of "it does this and this only."

This isn't even mentioning the way durations have been castrated.

Invisibility - once a great scouting spell. Now a short lived spell which primarily is used to give an immediate combat advantage for one round, then is discarded.

The more 3.5 I play, the more I can't stand huge parts of it.
/Rant_Off