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Post Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:43 pm 
 

Agent Cooper wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I like to incorporate alignment into Summon Monster spells.  IE a Good aligned character can only summon good or neutral  r aligned creatures or beings, evil aligned characters can only summon evil or neutral beings.  Why would a Celestial Owl come to the the aid of an evil mage?  It's a nice role playing touch.


That makes perfect sense.


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 7:21 pm 
 

Question about Flame Tongues: it gives bonuses vs. certain creature types due to its flame, but what about damage? I usually rule it does 1-8 extra vs. cold-using/inflammable/avian/undead, and 1-4 extra vs. everything else except the obviously resistant/immune (stone golems, fire elementals, galeb duhrs etc.). I also have it be quenched on hit for 1-3 rounds when it strikes water creatures such as water elementals. Does that sound reasonable?


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:39 pm 
 

The Flame Tongue or flaming swords in my campaigns typically do an extra 1d6 fire damage and the standard pluses for to-hit and damage, as stated in the DMs guide. For example, against an undead creature, the Flame Tongue would be +4 to hit and +4 to damage, plus an additional 1d6 of fire damage, unless the creature being hit had an immunity/resistance to fire, of course.

On the second point about quenching the fire, I don't believe I've ever had a player do that, or be in a situation where that occurred, but the extinguishing effect seems reasonable. Personally, I'd probably only extinguish it as long as there wasn't any air to perpetuate the flame. It would still hit as a +1 weapon, though. The sword would instantly reignite the next round after being exposed to air. That would also keep it in alignment with the rules for the underwater effects on flaming weapons. If a person were to use the sword in the rain, I wouldn't have it be affected, unless it was an extreme amount, since the flame is perpetual.

  


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 10:50 pm 
 

Interesting Doug. I had never thought of a Flame Tongue being anything more than +1 to hit and +1 damage from flame. Why (and how) did you decide on an extra d6 of damage?


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Post Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 11:30 pm 
 

For me, it just comes down to basic logic: a sword engulfed in fire should burn anything it hits. By the book, it only acts as a basic +1 sword against a normal person, which never made sense to me. Even the minor Fire Finger cantrip from the original Unearthed Arcana, which is literally just a localized spark / candle-sized flame, does 1 point of fire damage. A whole sword blade engulfed in fire should easily scale up to 1d6. The precedent? Not sure what it was specifically, but 1d6 is the logical choice for fire-based damage, such as a flaming oil splash, or a 1st-level fire-based spell.

Later editions actually changed the rules to match this exact line of thinking, too. I believe they dropped the specific monster categories entirely and just gave the Flame Tongue extra fire damage dice against every target.

Yes, this does make the Flame Tongue a slightly more formidable weapon, but the magic and physics make more sense this way.

I have created variants of flaming weapons over the years that do more, or less, damage, as well.

  
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