I know there's an ongoing fire damage of some sort when an enemy is lit ablaze (specifying that would be nice, but that's aside my main question)
Is there something they'd have to roll while lit on fire to continue fighting and not scream in agony and panic?
I don't think however that there are any existing rules for this kind of thing.
Assume I use Grease and pour it all over a group of enemies early in the campaign (we're level 2 at this point) and then immediately use the Fiery Burst feat to do an area fire attack and light a bunch on fire....
I know there's an ongoing fire damage of some sort when an enemy is lit ablaze (specifying that would be nice, but that's aside my main question)
Is there something they'd have to roll while lit on fire to continue fighting and not scream in agony and panic?
There are no rules for lighting that "grease" on fire. The spell is more "make the floor slippery" than it is "summon actual patch of quick drying grease." Grease simply sounds better than Slippery Floor. Your DM is perfectly within his rights to not have it ignite at all (and is actually setting a dangerous precedent for the balance of his campaign if he does so).
Real world physics are mostly suspended in D&D, especially as it relates to magic. Lightning spells don't disperse with a wider zone in water, fire spells don't ignite anything unless they say they do, thunder spells don't have their range increased underwater, etc.
Though if you are playing 3.5, there is a higher level version of the Greese spell in the Complete Mage that explictly allows you to ignite it.
Assume I use Grease and pour it all over a group of enemies early in the campaign (we're level 2 at this point) and then immediately use the Fiery Burst feat to do an area fire attack and light a bunch on fire....
I know there's an ongoing fire damage of some sort when an enemy is lit ablaze (specifying that would be nice, but that's aside my main question)
Is there something they'd have to roll while lit on fire to continue fighting and not scream in agony and panic?
There are no rules for lighting that "grease" on fire. The spell is more "make the floor slippery" than it is "summon actual patch of quick drying grease." Grease simply sounds better than Slippery Floor. Your DM is perfectly within his rights to not have it ignite at all (and is actually setting a dangerous precedent for the balance of his campaign if he does so).
Real world physics are mostly suspended in D&D, especially as it relates to magic. Lightning spells don't disperse with a wider zone in water, fire spells don't ignite anything unless they say they do, thunder spells don't have their range increased underwater, etc.
Sort of DM we have would indeed let the Grease be flammible (has confirmed it when I asked, but she's out of town so I can't ask about rolling for not-freakout)
Lightning dispersal with water has actually been done LOTS in DND as far as I know - There may not be a rule to cover it, but I would assume it's something our DM would give a nod to
I can't tell for sure but it sounds like sounds like you're playing 3.5 since Fiery Burst is a 3.5 feat. Though the answer is the same in 3.5 and 4e. By the RAW (rules as written), spells/powers only do what they say they do, and neither version's Grease spell mentions being able to ignite it. Of course you DM is free to houserule otherwise.
Though if you are playing 3.5, there is a higher level version of the Greese spell in the Complete Mage that explictly allows you to ignite it.
I'm not asking specifically whether the grease is flammable. xD I'm asking if it's been a common thing for flaming human enemies to spaz if they don't roll properly... If your clothes are suddenly on fire, its hard to keep fighting, yes?
3e: There's rules for catching on fire:
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.
Actions in combat:
Extinguish flames: full round action, does not provoke AoOs
I can't tell for sure but it sounds like sounds like you're playing 3.5 since Fiery Burst is a 3.5 feat. Though the answer is the same in 3.5 and 4e. By the RAW (rules as written), spells/powers only do what they say they do, and neither version's Grease spell mentions being able to ignite it. Of course you DM is free to houserule otherwise.
Though if you are playing 3.5, there is a higher level version of the Greese spell in the Complete Mage that explictly allows you to ignite it.
I'm not asking specifically whether the grease is flammable. xD I'm asking if it's been a common thing for flaming human enemies to spaz if they don't roll properly... If your clothes are suddenly on fire, its hard to keep fighting, yes?
Well, sure. But remember, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. If you use this tactic against enemies, don't be surprised if your DM uses it against you, too.
I can't tell for sure but it sounds like sounds like you're playing 3.5 since Fiery Burst is a 3.5 feat. Though the answer is the same in 3.5 and 4e. By the RAW (rules as written), spells/powers only do what they say they do, and neither version's Grease spell mentions being able to ignite it. Of course you DM is free to houserule otherwise.
Though if you are playing 3.5, there is a higher level version of the Greese spell in the Complete Mage that explictly allows you to ignite it.
I'm not asking specifically whether the grease is flammable. xD I'm asking if it's been a common thing for flaming human enemies to spaz if they don't roll properly... If your clothes are suddenly on fire, its hard to keep fighting, yes?
Ooooh....
Then no, there is nothing you need to roll to continue fighting or not panic while taking ongoing damage, nor does there need to be. How a foe reacts to combat is the sole discretion of the DM and how they want to roleplay their NPCs and monsters. If the DM feels their monsters should stop everything to do nothing but scream and panic (as opposed to scream in pain while still continuing to fight) is completely their choice. Though the point were pain is too unbearable to tolerate any further is usually abstracted as being reduced to 0 hit points.
That said, keep in mind that D&D combat is high-fantasy and cinematic first, with realism taking a back seat. Most effects being tossed around in combat would have at least as much "stopping power" as ongoing fire (a sword to the gut does make it very hard to concentrate on what you are doing, as does your flesh being corroded by necrotic energy, your mind being scramble by psychic blasts, and your mid-section being bitten through by a frickin' dinosaur). At least, it would be an aribitary decision to only consider ongoing damage in this houserule and not damage in general.
And in both real life and fantasy, increased pain threshold and tolerance due to adrenaline response can account at least somewhat for the ability to ignore pain at least enough to continue fighting until the end of the encounter. In real life, people can be completely unaware of broken bones and other similarly severe trama for several minutes while their adrenaline response is active. And creatures in D&D tend to be made of tougher stuff than real life creatures on top of that. Ongoing damage may stop regular people in their tracks, but not D&D heroes and the foes they typically face.
And finally, regularly giving ongoing damage that level of stopping power will cause mechanical repercussions since it makes powers that deal ongoing damage far more powerful than originally intended.
The same warning goes for lightning dispersal in water, though to a lesser extent since the situation is not likely to come up regularly.
I had a level 2 player throw some lantern oil on some rats and set fire to them with a burning torch. I made the oil throw an attack with an improvised weapon. It hit and then she set them on fire.
I did 1d4 fire damage per round and ongoing 2 fire until the rat swarm succeeded in a saving throw. The player thought it might have done more damage but it took off nearly a quarter of the swarm's health before they saved.
Was that too little?
I had a level 2 player throw some lantern oil on some rats and set fire to them with a burning torch. I made the oil throw an attack with an improvised weapon. It hit and then she set them on fire.
I did 1d4 fire damage per round and ongoing 2 fire until the rat swarm succeeded in a saving throw. The player thought it might have done more damage but it took off nearly a quarter of the swarm's health before they saved.
Was that too little?
Well, this depends. If the character just dumped oil on the rats initially, I'd happily rule that the next attack that did fire damage to the rats triggered 2 ongoing fire damage (save ends). Hitting the rats with the burning torch would do normal damage divided by 2 for being a swarm, plus ongoing fire 2.
If she was setting the oil on the ground on fire, it would create a zone until the end of the encounter, creatures entering or starting their turns in the zone would take 2 fire damage (maximum once per round, just because I don't like the cheese the official ruling allows). Might even require an acrobatics check to move through the oil-coated squares without falling prone.
If, however, she had done something like a Molotov cocktail, I'd have made the initial attack a ranged burst attack and upped the damage die to bring it in line with a standard attack, which would have made it 1d8 + the swarm's vulnerability, ongoing fire 2 (save ends), half damage on miss. More damaging than alchemist's fire, sure, but lower chance to hit.
I'm not asking specifically whether the grease is flammable. xD I'm asking if it's been a common thing for flaming human enemies to spaz if they don't roll properly... If your clothes are suddenly on fire, its hard to keep fighting, yes?
I suspect you want GURPS, where an average hit from an average weapon on an average person triggers between 2 and 4 "roll 3d6 and get less than 12 or be completely incapacitated" mechanics.
Which is another way of saying: Yeah, no, D&D is about heroic exceptional people being exceptional and heroic. Anyone who'd stop fighting because his clothes are on fire is a Minion, and he stopped fighting because his clothes were on fire.