Into the inferno	-	Some shocking news	-	Footnotes
Dragon	-	-	-	Dragon 123

Have you ever participated in an AD&D®
game in which a magic-user’s fireball is as
selective as a cruise missile in its choice of
targets? In which a lightning bolt arcs
unerringly to hit only the monster among
the circle of your attacking party members? In which the flame strike cast by the
party cleric burns the monsters to ash, but
leaves their possessions in an unaltered,
cool-to-the-touch condition, failing to set
the wooden furniture and wall paneling
on fire?

Oftentimes, the DM and the players
concentrate only on the damaging aspects
and capabilities of the energy released
from magical spells or natural abilities,
disregarding other, inherently unavoidable
results of their release. These “unavoidable” results are defined, examined, and
discussed in this article in a game context,
with a focus on the consequences of the
released energy against the characters,
their possessions, and their environment.
A secondary focus is on gaming considerations for a more accurate, and perhaps
safer, handling of energy-releasing magic
and abilities by the PCs, and
includes some recommendations for the
DM concerning a more thorough handling
of these treatments in the game. 2 main
categories of energy-releasing magic will
be examined: fire-based, including spells
such as fireball and flame strike, and
abilities like red dragon breath or demon
immolation; and electricity-based, such as
the spells of lightning bolt and call lightning, as well as abilities like blue dragon
breath.

Spells, breath weapons, and magical device discharges all have prescribed
ranges, durations, damage allotments, and
areas of effect laid out in the Players
Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide,
and the other official AD&D game books.
Almost all DMs abide faithfully by these
written constraints: a lightning bolt cast
by a magic-user has a range of 60’ plus an
additional 10’ per level of his experience; a
red dragon’s breath weapon extends in a
cone 90’ long; and a fireball from a wand
of fire does precisely 6d6 hp damage
against the recipients who fail to make
their saving throws. These rules are usually followed, but what happens after the
recipients of the fireball’s heat mark off
the damage on their character sheets? Do
the PCs continue on or does the DM
inform the players that they are now
faced with the problem of putting out the
fires which are consuming the PCs’ clothing and leather goods, and have heated
their armor to an intolerable level?

A good DM recognizes that the area of
effect of a spell or ability is a nonselective
characteristic, meaning that everything
and everyone within it is unavoidably
affected by the energy released. A poor
DM allows a character to cast a fireball
into a wooden building and not set the
place on fire, lets a magic-user cast a lightning bolt as if it were laser-guided, and
neglects to tell the unarmored recipient of
a red dragon’s breath that not only has he
suffered serious wounds, but his clothing
and gear are ablaze! In short, the nonselectivity of the energy-releasing magic’s
area of effect must be remembered when
it comes time for the DM to judge who and
what are affected by the released energy.

Into the inferno

In the case of fire-based magic, heat
makes up the largest percentage of the
energy released, and so characters and
material goods within the area of effect
suffer damage caused by heat exposure. A
character’s wounds are handled easily
enough — the DM rolls the appropriate
dice and calculates the character’s damage.
Too often, though, the process stops here.

The area of effect is nonselective by definition, so it should also affect the character’s
clothing, gear, treasure, and his immediate
surroundings.
But how? There are no published, quantitative temperatures for the heat generated by something like a fireball, red
dragon’s breath, or even a normal bonfire.
There are only some qualitative phrases in
the AD&D® game books, such as the heat
“will melt soft metals” and will ignite “all
combustible materials within its blast
radius.”¹

To quantify and define the temperature
ranges and capabilities of these fire-based
magics, consider the temperatures at
which normal fires burn. In the DMG,
under the description of a ring of fire
resistance, a “normal” fire is defined as the
temperature at which torches or bonfires
burn.2 Using untreated wood as a guide,
which burns at temperatures of 250-300°C
(480-570°F),3 one can assign “normal” fires
this range based upon the DMGs description.
At these temperatures (up to three
times the boiling point of water), cotton,
wood, hemp, wool, and some leathers
burn easily, so that a character forced to
endure a “normal” fire soon finds his skin,
clothing, and gear are burning!

Now, consider the category of “very
large and hot” fires, listed as being produced by molten lava, demon immolation,
or a wall of fire under the same descrip
tion.4 Molten lava, depending upon its type
and proximity to the volcanic crater, can
be up to 750-1,100°C (1,380-2,000°F).5
Thus, according to the listed comparisons,
a wall of fireand the like must produce an
average temperature of about 925°C
(1,700°F).

The last mentioned description qualifier
under this reference is “exceptionally hot”
fires, some examples of which are fire
storms, flame strikes, fireballs, red
dragon’s breath, etc.6 Assuming that the
increment between “very large and hot”
and “exceptionally hot” fires is about the
same as between “normal” and “very large
and hot,” one can assign a temperature
range of 1,250-1,950°C (2,280-3,540°F) to
“exceptionally hot” fires. On the average
then, this classification of fire has a temperature of about 1,600°C, or 16 times
that heeded to boil water, with a peak of
close to 2,000°C!

Think of what this means to a character
caught in such an infernal environment!
He is breathing superheated air sufficient
to severely damage his lungs. Exposed
clothing, leather goods, rope, armor, and
treasure all conduct this heat, and those
materials which reach or exceed the temperature needed for their combustion (i.e.,
flash point) burst into flames. This almost
always includes the nonmetallic items
carried by a character or in the immediate

vicinity of the area of effect, whereas
metal goods probably suffer from superheating and melting. The character himself also conducts this heat and suffers
wounds since his body cannot possibly
stand such high temperatures.
Another ramification often overlooked
or simply ignored when magical energy is
released is the effect of this heat on the
character?s surrounding environment.
Raising the temperature of a room filled
with wood products from room temperature (20°C) to over six times its flash point,
even if only for the brief time it takes to
detonate a  fireball,  is more than sufficient
for combustion to occur. Thus, fire-based
magics, when used in most medieval
homes and buildings, or outdoors within
timberlands or brushlands, not only
wound any opponents caught within the
conflagaration but may cause major (possibly
uncontrollable) fires. This has the
potential of bringing much harm down on
the party of characters. Thus, PCs should
carefully consider not only when and how
to use such energy-releasing magic, but
also what the effects and aftereffects are,
and how to make preparations for dealing
with them.

As previously mentioned, these tempera
tures can also affect metal goods by heating, rather than by igniting them. These
metal goods can burn a character who
attempts to handle or wear them. Temperatures can also affect metal goods by
causing melting and deformation. Basic,
unrefined iron, such as that often used in
fashioning armor, weapons, and building
materials, suffers melting and deformation
in the extreme temperatures of ?exceptionally hot? and, to some degree, ?very
large and hot? fires. Iron has a melting
point of 1000-1,300°C, depending upon
the purity and presence of trace elements.7 Metal doors, door frames, iron
bands around crates, doors, gates, metal
bracings, and metal weapons made of iron
are all affected.

Imagine your party of PCs is trapped
inside a room because the group?s magician cast a  fireball into the hallway on the
opposite side of an iron door. The action
separates the group from an overpowering force of nasties, but also deforms the
door and causes it to stick fast from the
intense heat! It?s a horrible fate, but it and
similar applications of the high temperatures produced by energy-releasing magic
should be kept firmly in mind by the players as well as the DM.
Iron is not the only metal that suffers
melting or deformation. Most treasure is
made up of precious metals that have
melting points in the same range as iron,
and should be handled in a similar manner. Picture the following scenario:
After several grueling days in the dark

ness of the catacombs, a party of adventurers near their goal: the lair of a huge,
black dragon where untold treasure
awaits! The thief scouts ahead and
reports that the dragon is currently eating, lying on one side of a pile of gold and
goodies.

The party moves quietly down the passage to a point at which the party sorcerer
steps forward,  invisible  and wearing the
thief?s  boots of elvenkind.  He casts a  fireball  at the dragon to ?soften him up.? After
the detonation occurs, the fighters charge
up to do hand-to-hand combat, while the
sorcerer prepares to zap any unobstructed part of the dragon with his  wand of
l i g h t n i n g .
The dragon, angered by this interruption of its dinner, turns toward the charging fighters and sprays its acid breath on
one, then engages the others in hand-tohand combat. The sorcerer sees an opportunity to use his wand and zaps the
dragon?s exposed flank, which rests atop
the pile of treasure.
Soon, through team effort, the dragon is
defeated. Now is the time to leisurely
scoop up the loose treasure. . . .

If the DM allows the characters to simply ?scoop up the loose treasure,? then he
has not fully recognized nor considered
the effects of the magical energy released
during the battle. Reviewing the temperatures produced by a  fireball,  an average of
about 1,600°C, it is seen that the heat is
sufficient to melt copper, gold, tin, and
even platinum, to some degree, as
described in the table appearing later in
this article. In an impure state, as would
be the case with metals of a medieval
society, metals melt at considerably lower
temperatures ? perhaps as low as 100-
400°C less. Silver, which has a pure-state
melting point of 961°C and boils at about
2,000°C,8 becomes a liquid at the temperatures associated with ?exceptionally hot?
or ?very large and hot? fires. If the heat
persists for any length of time, as with a
fire storm  or  flame strike  spell, this liquid
has a chance of flowing and coming in
contact with other metals or objects, fusing the lot together upon cooling. Therefore, if any of these metals are present
along the extreme edges of a pile of treasure and are exposed to these fires, the
result is a melted, fused, and utterly
deformed outer layer which, after cooling
and hardening, requires a concerted effort
on the part of the characters (with the
appropriate tools) to chisel apart into
manageable chunks. In the future, the
players may wish to make different combat plans based upon these postulated
temperatures and the applications of them
on the characters and material goods, now
that a more involved and definitive handling has been discussed.

Some shocking news
This brings us to the second main category of energy-releasing magic originally
put forth: that which is based on electricity. The energy released in this case usually
takes the form of a discharged bolt of raw
power, such as that produced by a  lightning bolt  spell, blue dragon?s breath, or by
a spell of  call lightning.  Treatments of
these forms of electricity usually stress the
heat- and force-generating capabilities
more than the voltages associated with
these forms in the AD&D® game.

Like fire-based energy releasing magic,
no quantitative listing of the temperatures
associated with a  lightning bolt  or blue
dragon?s breath are provided by the
AD&D® game books. Instead, phrases
explaining that such attacks will ?
"melt
metals with a low melting point" and "set
fire to combustibles"9 do not give the DM
or player a good handle on the temperatures produced by an electrical discharge.
They do, however, show that any such
attack will ?sunder wooden doors? and
?splinters up to one foot thickness of
stone;?10 thus clearly qualifying its forcegenerating power
It should be safe to assume that, because
lightning attacks (like  fireball  spells) melt
metals with low melting points such as
?lead, gold, copper, silver, and bronze,?11 the
temperatures produced by a discharge of
lightning should be roughly equivalent to
an ?exceptionally hot? fire. Therefore,
lightning bolts from spells and nature, and
those produced by an innate ability,
should all cause the same effects already
discussed for the fire-based ones, as well
as create a powerful force on impact. Use
simple common sense to determine what
this force might feasibly do against a wall,
a suit of plate mail, a large shield, a wag
on, or a wooden gate. Also remember that
most of these magic spells and abilities,
like their fire-based counterparts, affect
anything within their areas of effect to.
some degree.

Note the use of the phrase "to some
degree" in the previous paragraph. This is
used because the rules stipulate ?that
magic items and even normal items and
weapons must be saved for--12 and that a
saving throw "represents the chance for
the figure (character) to avoid the cruel
results of fate"13 The point of defining the
approximate temperatures of the fire- and
electricity-based energy releases is to
allow a more thorough handling of the
effects and aftereffects set off by the DM
and the players. It is not meant to imply
that saving throws are no longer useful
nor applicable. Saving throws are an
important aspect of the game and should
be used, but this does not mean that the
DM needs to roll to determine the fate of
every piece of equipment, furniture, clothing, or treasure.
Instead, he should use
reasonable, bulk considerations to speed
the game along, such as considering a pile
of treasure as one entity and making individual saving throws for special or magical
items only. Likewise, he should consider
each character and his equipment as one
entity for the saving throw, making extra
rolls only for special or magical items.
Above all, common sense should be used
to temper the dice rolls when determining
t h e   d e g r e e   o f   t h e   e f f e c t s   f e l t   b y   a   c h a r a c ter or the environment, as described in
the  DMG  (pp. 80-82).

Now that an awareness of the actual
power of energy-releasing magic has been
discussed, how can the PCs use these
abilities effectively, protecting themselves
and keeping the damage to their surroundings to a minimum?
First, the players must remember the nonselectivity of
the energy-releasing magic?s area of effect,
and that anything trapped inside it is
susceptible to the full effects of the energy
released. The most mishandled fire-based
example is the  fireball  spell; although it
has an area of effect of a 40?-diameter
sphere, players and DMs fail to realize
that the fire and heat generated from the

detonation conform as best they can to fill
the surroundings. A  fireball  has just over
33,500 cubic feet of volume as indicated in
the  Players Handbook. 14 Thus, if it is cast
from a 10? x 10? corridor into a room
measuring 60? x 30? x 10? (18,000 cubic
feet), the heat and flames use up that
room and flow 155? down the corridor
(assuming, of course, that that much corridor is available). Those characters foolish
enough to have disregarded this fact will
find themselves caught in their own spell?s
area of effect.

Tordek falls victim to a magick lightning trap.

Of the electricity-based energy-releasing
magics, the one most usually mishandled is
the  lightning bolt.  As is characteristic of
electricity, it follows the path of least
resistance to discharge its immense potential energy. It should be virtually impossible to ?fork? a bolt to avoid metal
structures, metal-armored characters, and
other highly conductive materials that
might be interposed between the caster
and the target. Instead, the bolt tends to
discharge upon encountering any
"ground" - a path that offers it a chance
to discharge through to the ground.
Therefore, having a  lightning bolt  strike
only one creature among many is ridicu-

lous. Instead, it must affect all who are
within its area of effect, dispensing intense
heat and force against the recipients.

This mishandling warrants some common sense suggestions for the players
whose characters use such energyreleasing magics, and for the DM when he
interprets the results of their use:

1. Always consider the nonselectivity of
the area of effect, making any necessary
(if rough) calculations or approximations
for it. Players should position their characters a safe distance from it, and DMs
should give the full effects of any energy
released to those characters within the
area of effect.

2. Remember what temperatures are
produced. Consider the effects of the heat
or force against the game environment,
the characters and their possessions, and
any treasure exposed to it. DMs should
implement any effects and aftereffects
described herein when applicable.

3. Keep space considerations in mind.
Don?t forget that many energy-releasing
magics conform to fill a certain volume or
occupy a certain area. Lightning tends to
discharge on interposing objects or creatures between the caster and the target; it
also rebounds from nonconducting surfaces back toward the caster. Energy released
in a confined area can cause unpredictable
results for the characters.

With the temperatures, types of energy
released, and the main effects of the
selected energy-releasing magic spells and
abilities thus defined, it should be easier
for the DM to apply the unavoidable and
nonselective parameters associated with
them. He should also be able to better
describe the results when PCs or NPCs
make use of them. Additionally, players
should now have a better understanding
of the actual temperatures and forces
produced under these conditions, and
should apply this knowledge to avoid the
many problems possible with the misuse
or mishandling of energy-releasing magics.
Ridiculous game occurrences can be eliminated by challenging the players to have
their characters be more considerate of
the power at their fingertips and by giving
the DM the information he needs to create
a more accurate scenario for the game.

Melting and Boiling Points of Pure Metals and Alloys

Metal	Melting point (degrees C)	Boiling point (degrees C)
Pure metals	-	-
Copper	1, 083	2,59515
Gold	1,064	2,70016
Iron	1,000-3,000a	3,00017
Lead	327	1,74018
Platinum	1,774	3,82719
Silver	961	2,00020
Tin	232	2,50721
Zinc	420	90822
Alloys	-	-
Brass, redb	985-1,000	2,435-2,45023
Brass, yellowc	931	2,40024
Bronze, highd	1,000-1,017	2,483-2,50025
Electrume	1,000	2,50026
AD&D game alloys	-	-
Adamantitef	3,410	5,90027
Iron, meteoriteg	1,500	3,30028
Mithralh	1,800	3,90029

^a Depends upon the trace elements present.
^b Alloy composed of 80% copper and 20% zinc.
Melting point varies due to trace elements.
Boiling point is estimated.
^c Alloy composed of 70% copper and 30% zinc.
Boiling point is estimated.
Red brass was commonly used in medieval society.
^d Alloy composed of copper and up to 25% tin (plus traces of silicon).
Melting points vary by tin and silicon content (the low figure means more of each is present).
Boiling points are estimated.
^e Alloy composed of gold and silver.
Melting and boiling points are estimated, based upon data for gold and silver.
^f Alloy composed of mithral silver and iron (meteorite or other).
Melting and boiling points are estimated, based upon data for titanium.^30
g Alloy composed of iron and carbon, among other rare or unknown metals.
Melting and boiling points are estimated, based upon data for iron.
^h Alloy composed of adamantite and iron (meteorite or other).
Melting and boiling points are estimated, based upon data for tungsten.³¹

Note: A temperature of X degrees C may be converted to Y degrees F by the formula: (X + 17.78) x 1.8 = Y

F o o t n o t e s
1 Players Handbook,  p. 73.
2 Ibid.
3 Essentials of Fire Fighting,  pp. 7-8.
4 Players Handbook,  p. 73.
5 "Rock,"  The World Book Encyclopedia,
1969, XVI, p. 352.
6 Players Handbook, p.  73.
7 The Merck Index,  p. 735.
8 Ibid.,  p. 1221.
9 Players Handbook,  p. 74.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.,  p. 105.
13 Dungeon Masters Guide,  p. 80.
14 Players Handbook,  p.  73.
¹⁵ The Merck Index, p.358.
¹⁶ Ibid., p. 648.
¹⁷ Ibid., p. 735.
¹⁸ Ibid., p. 776.
¹⁹ Ibid., p. 1085.
²⁰ Ibid., p. 1221.
²¹ Ibid., p. 1353.
²² Ibid., p. 1455.
²³ Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook, secs. 23-5, 23-41.
²⁴ Ibid.
²⁵ Ibid., secs. 23-5, 23-42.
²⁶ Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary., p. 402.
²⁷ Dungeon Master's Guide, p.164.
²⁸ Ibid.
²⁹ Ibid.
³⁰ The Merck Index, p.1356.
³¹ Ibid., p. 1402.

Bibliography

Bond, Richard E.,  et al., eds.  The CRC
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 59th
ed. West Palm Beach, Fla.: CRC Press,
1979.

Budvari, Rosemary,  et al., eds.  The
Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals. 10th ed. Rahway, N.J.: Merck & Company, Inc., 1983.

Gygax, E. Gary.  Dungeon Masters Guide.
Lake Geneva, Wis.: TSR, Inc., 1979.

Gygax, E. Gary.  Players Handbook. Lake
Geneva, Wis.: TSR, Inc., 1978.

International Fire Service Training Association.  Essentials of Fire Fighting. Stillwater, Okla: International Fire Service, 1977.

Perry, R. H.,  et al. Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook.  4th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1963.

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.  Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Inc., 1986.

The World Book Encyclopedia.  Chicago:
World Book, Inc., 1969.