Arson.

[Lateral]

So, I need to set a building on fire. Without spells. How can I light a large object on fire? Are there rules for this, or items that will help? Something cheap and/or reusable would be preferable, since I plan on setting a lot of fires.

[Vegan Zombie]

Alchemist fire. Lots and lots of alchemist fire.

Molotov those suckers!

[GreenSerpent]

Be a Swordsage with the 9th level maneuveur that generates a burst for 100 points of Fire damage.

Normally it's the worst maneuveur, but the power to burn down a building once every 12 seconds all day long is quite nice.

[Xerinous]

Flint, steel and hay. Lamp oil might help.

[Calanon]

Alchemist fire. Lots and lots of alchemist fire.

Molotov those suckers!

Entirely possible. Now what level of fire are you trying to attain? Burning down an entire city? (start at the farm lands and let it grow out of control, then hire some necromancers to let you borrow some zombies and just light them on fire and send them through the town)

A lot of people on this forum are PCs... I'm sure someone here will give you the best idea to burn down an entire town... OH and here is the easiest one: Be a PC

[Water_Bear]

Stupid question here but, can wood burn in D&D 3.5?

Wood has a Hardness 5, non-magical Fire deals 1d6 damage. Normally this would just mean wooden objects take ~1min per 10hp to burn, but depending on how you read the way objects react to being on fire.

SRD

Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness.

If being on fire constitutes an "Energy Attack" then no amount of non-magical fire could ever burn down a Wooden object. I personally would rule it doesn't but I'm not a RAW expert.

-Edit-

I read a little further; you could rule that Wood is Vulnerable to Fire damage, and thus it ignores Harness and deals full damage. Logically that holds up but it's a DM ruling, not necessarily RAW.

[VGLordR2]

I once took a dip in DFA for this exact purpose. A 15-foot cone of fire every round is surprisingly efficient.

[Alleran]

I believe my signature may be relevant to this thread.

In any case, Alchemist's Fire is probably the simplest mundane method.

[Drelua]

Well, I once got mad at a noble and burned his house down. Short version: 10 pints of oil only costs 1 gold.

Long version: his daughter had been kidnapped and somehow transformed into a medusa, so he disowned her. I was in a vengeful mood, so I walked into a store, bought 10 pints of oil, intimidated the salesman into keeping his mouth shut and sneaked off. Then, I used 10 pints of oil to make a huge fire around his wine cellar, just to add a little fuel to the fire. And yes, I know that wine doesn't burn, but the wine cellar was my DM's idea, and he didn't seem to.

Then, when his house was burning to the ground, I ran in and pulled him and his wife out of the building, saving their lives and looking like a hero. I went with him to the tavern, where we talked for a while before a very badly timed 1 gave away my guilt. I let the guy attack me for a while since I was level 7 and he had no idea what he was doing. Then he took a guard's sword and cut me with it. So I took out my sword and hacked his head off in one blow, thanks to Paizo's critical hit deck.

So... I'm not welcome in that town anymore.

[Doughnut Master]

For a little more dazzle, you can make flour bombs. You just need a small explosive to set it off.

[DarkestKnight]

Without knowing what you are exactly what you are trying to burn down, alchemist fire/lamp oil is likely the best way.

As for flour bombs, I see it and raise with my C4 golem. Fireball it, I dare you.

[killem2]

Catching on Fire
Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires such as a wall of fire might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells such as fireball or flame strike 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.



As a DM, I would say, that if you are dealing with something inanimate that cannot move, cannot then make a reflex save to put itself out, so each round it will just keep burning. Wouldn't?

[Bahamut Omega]

Without knowing what you are exactly what you are trying to burn down, alchemist fire/lamp oil is likely the best way.

As for flour bombs, I see it and raise with my C4 golem. Fireball it, I dare you.

C4 can be set on fire and not explode. It's not recommended, obviously, but a lot of soldiers in Vietnam did this. C4 almost always needs a detonator to go off, so a lightning bolt is more likely to make it explode than a fireball which explicitly states it creates a minimal amount of pressure change.

The more you know!

Also, as for rules regarding setting a building on fire, consider the forest fire rules. It's pretty much all the same risks for anyone caught in the house:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm#forestFiresCr6

[Hylas]

Usually the problem is unintentionally burning down a building, not intentionally.

One time we were escorting orphans to an orphanage, we even managed to get 12 out of 15 there successfully (one was put into slavery for burning down a grain mill, the other two were adopted by the wizard's guild), which is impressive since bandits on horses managed to burn down an entire town we were staying at on the way (noticing a theme?). Once we got them there, a giant spider problem was infesting the basement. Of course we knew that spider webs were flammable so obviously the easiest way to get rid of them was fire.

But we had a wizard with an "extinguish flame" spell, so no problem.


So yeah, just adventure regularly. I'm sure you'll end up burning down a town or two without realizing it!

[DarkestKnight]

@Bahamut Omega: I agree a Lightning Bolt would likely work better, but a fireball may work though we don't know the force that it creates. sounds like a job for Metamagics!

OP: I recalled that there are some kobold explosives that use fire and acid to destroy pretty much and object nearby, though i cannot remember the book. Anyone else know?

[Hylas]

OP: I recalled that there are some kobold explosives that use fire and acid to destroy pretty much and object nearby, though i cannot remember the book. Anyone else know?

Races of the Dragon p122.

[Ravens_cry]

For a little more dazzle, you can make flour bombs. You just need a small explosive to set it off.

Thermobaric explosives, my favourite!

[Lateral]

Hmm. Lots of good stuff here.

• Alchemist's fire is 20 GP a pop. I can't really afford that; that would really add up if I'm trying to light a large thing on fire.
• Oil, on the other hand, is a lot cheaper. That might be my best option, I'm thinking, but… well, it takes up a lot of space.
  
• Can you elaborate more on the flour bomb idea? I get how it works, but what would be sufficient to set it off? Are there rules for throwing flour into the air, and how long would it stay suspended (at a high enough concentration to allow an explosion)? How big would the explosion from one pound of flour be (for any of you who might know what math is involved)? How much force would that exert? Obviously, we have plenty of oxidant, and a source of ignition shouldn't be difficult, so the only difficult requirements are dispersion/suspension and confinement. For one pound of flour, how small a space would it need to be confined to? What's the relationship between the amount of flour and the volume required for an explosion? Would just throwing the flour into the air produce dust suspended enough at high enough concentration to satisfy the requirement for a decent explosion?

[Doughnut Master]

Thermobaric explosives, my favourite!

Perfect for the mad bomber on a budget.

[Doughnut Master]

Hmm. Lots of good stuff here.

• Alchemist's fire is 20 GP a pop. I can't really afford that; that would really add up if I'm trying to light a large thing on fire.
• Oil, on the other hand, is a lot cheaper. That might be my best option, I'm thinking, but… well, it takes up a lot of space.
  
• Can you elaborate more on the flour bomb idea? I get how it works, but what would be sufficient to set it off? Are there rules for throwing flour into the air, and how long would it stay suspended (at a high enough concentration to allow an explosion)? How big would the explosion from one pound of flour be (for any of you who might know what math is involved)? How much force would that exert? Obviously, we have plenty of oxidant, and a source of ignition shouldn't be difficult, so the only difficult requirements are dispersion/suspension and confinement. For one pound of flour, how small a space would it need to be confined to? What's the relationship between the amount of flour and the volume required for an explosion? Would just throwing the flour into the air produce dust suspended enough at high enough concentration to satisfy the requirement for a decent explosion?

Well, to give you an idea of power, this is what 4kg looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIkk0...eature=related


I'm sure there are methods to make it more efficient. Perhaps as your character gains ranks in alchemy your dm might let you build better bombs.

[Ravens_cry]

Perfect for the mad bomber on a budget.

Hey, why carry lug around oxidisers when the atmospheric can give you it for free amiright?

[Vegan Zombie]

If alchemist fire is too expensive for you, you could try improvising Molotov cocktails to save gp. Ask your GM if you can do it without ranks in a Craft skill

[Ravens_cry]

For something more ambitious, there is this.
(WARNING: CONTAINS NEAR-FATAL DOSES OF AWESOME)

[Vegan Zombie]

For something more ambitious, there is this.
(WARNING: CONTAINS NEAR-FATAL DOSES OF AWESOME)

That would be fantastic, but I think you would need too many ranks in Profession: Mythbusting

[Menteith]

[*]Can you elaborate more on the flour bomb idea? I get how it works, but what would be sufficient to set it off? Are there rules for throwing flour into the air, and how long would it stay suspended (at a high enough concentration to allow an explosion)? How big would the explosion from one pound of flour be (for any of you who might know what math is involved)? How much force would that exert? Obviously, we have plenty of oxidant, and a source of ignition shouldn't be difficult, so the only difficult requirements are dispersion/suspension and confinement. For one pound of flour, how small a space would it need to be confined to? What's the relationship between the amount of flour and the volume required for an explosion? Would just throwing the flour into the air produce dust suspended enough at high enough concentration to satisfy the requirement for a decent explosion?[/LIST]

I would draw inspiration from the trapmaking rules. I mean, that's basically what a Flour Bomb is, isn't it? A specialized, single use trap, with a trigger of "apply fire to fuse".

[Ravens_cry]

That would be fantastic, but I think you would need too many ranks in Profession: Mythbusting

But there is so many uses around the home for Profession: Mythbusting.
For example, moving a cement truck to many places at once.
To some, that may defy the laws of physics, to Mythbusters it merely requires a single high speed exothermic reaction.

[Doughnut Master]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cMm...eature=related

Now you just need Craft: Thermite?

[Ravens_cry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cMm...eature=related

Now you just need Craft: Thermite?

Assuming you can get your hands on the aluminium, hard in a medieval level tech society, but not impossible thanks to magic, I'd say that'd be a Craft: Alchemy check.

[Lateral]

While that would be sweet and awesome and totally ridiculous, I don't think my DM will go for letting me just craft thermite.

...Wait a minute, wait a minute. I can use Psionic Minor Creation, which means I basically have an infinite supply of nonliving vegetable matter products so long as I can craft it or whatever. Thermite isn't vegetable matter, but there's gotta be something that's highly explosive that would qualify. Any ideas?

[Ravens_cry]

Vegetable oil is (unless aerosolized) not explosive, but burns quite well.