If you didn’t get into trouble with these as a kid then I feel sorry for you. They’re so much fun and so cool and so going into your D and D game. Just imagine what that one guy in your group will do with a handful of bottle rockets!
Fireworks
“Fireworks” is a general term used to describe a multitude of explosives, the most common of which is a rocket that explodes into a shower of brightly colored sparks. Fireworks are created with a mix of gunpowder and other alchemical ingredients that provide the color. They are mot often used in celebration or as a signal, but can be used as weapons.
Fireworks create a loud bang and a bright flash of light when they explode; any creature within a 10 foot radius of the explosion must make a DC 13 Reflex save, or become deafened for 1d4 rounds and dazzled for 1d6 rounds. Fireworks can be heard from further away with a successful Listen check (DC 1 per five foot square) or seen with a successful spot check (DC 10 +1 per five foot square).
Fireworks can also be used as improvised weaponry. Doing so is considered a ranged touch attack. They have various effects, based on what variety of fireworks they are. Whatever the variety, lighting a firework is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
Obviously, fireworks are dangerous and unstable; even small stray sparks have been known to set them off with catastrophic results. DMs are urged to consider this whenever a character toting around a bag of bottle rockets takes a bunch of fire damage.
Bottle Rocket
The most basic of rockets, this one is no longer than 6 inches, made of paper and mounted to a small stick. It’s exterior has been painted with bright and colorful images, and a short length of fuse hangs out of the back end.
Damage: 1d6 Fire (Reflex save for half, DC 10+damage dealt)*, Critical: N/A, Range: 50ft**, Size: Tiny, Cost: 20gp, Weight: 1/2lb
*targets that take damage from a bottle rocket must also save against the deleterious effects of fireworks described above.
**after travelling 50ft, a bottle rocket explodes, whether it hits anything or not. Striking a solid surface before then causes a bottle rocket to explode prematurely.
Bottle Rocket Volley
This devious device is a small wooden or paper box with up to 20 bottle rockets in it. It is designed so as to be easily wieldable in 1 hand. Like the rockets it launches, it is painted in bright, garish designs.
Bottle Rocket Volleys function exactly like normal bottle rockets, except that after lighting the device, it automatically fires 1 bottle rocket each round until it has expended it’s entire compliment. Bottle Rocket Volleys are useless after being fired and cannot be reloaded.
Size: Medium, Cost: (20gp +5gp per shot), Weight: 1/2lb per shot
Roman Candle
Looking like long paper candles, these fireworks are -like all others- painted with bright and colorful scenes. Roman candles are approximately the size and shape of a wand. When lit, they spew up to 20 crackling fireballs.
Damage: 1d4 Fire*, Critical: 20×2, Range: 50ft**, Size: Small, Cost: 20gp (+5gp per shot), Weight: 1lb per 5 shots
*targets that take damage from a roman candle must also save against the deleterious effects of fireworks described above.
**after traveling 50ft, a roman candle’s fireball fizzles out.
Lighting a Roman Candle is a standard action the provokes attacks of opportunity. After lighting the device, it automatically launches 1 fireball each round until it has expended it’s entire compliment. Roman Candles are useless after being fired and cannot be reloaded.
Mortar
This paper tube features a relatively wide base so that it can be set flat on the ground. It can also be held so as to fire it’s projectile at any angle (even parallel to the ground). Like all fireworks, it is painted with a gaudy, colorful design.
Damage: 3d4 Fire (Reflex save for half, DC 10+damage dealt)*, Critical: N/A, Range: 100ft** x 20ft burst radius, Size: Medium, Cost: 20gp (+10gp per shot), Weight: 1lb per shot
Like other multi-shot fireworks, once a mortar is lit, it fires a projectile each round until it has expended it’s entire compliment.
*targets that take damage from a mortar must also save against the deleterious effects of fireworks described above.
**after travelling 100ft, a mortar explodes, whether it hits anything or not. Striking a solid surface before then causes a mortar to explode prematurely.
Flare
Flares are mortars designed to hang in the sky for a long period and provide illumination to those below.
Damage: 3d4 Fire*, Critical: 20×2, Range: 100ft**, Size: Medium, Cost: 20gp (+10gp per shot), Weight: 1lb per shot
Like other multi-shot fireworks, once a flare is lit, it fires a projectile each round until it has expended it’s entire compliment.
*targets that take damage from a flare must also Reflex save against DC: 10+damage dealt or catch fire.
**after travelling 100ft, a mortar deploys a parachute, stopping it in it’s tracks. Striking a solid surface before then prevents a flare from deploying it’s parachute, and works like a conventional ranged touch attack if aimed at a creature.
If fired directly up and allowed to travel 100ft, a flare’s parachute causes it to hang in the sky. While burning, a flare casts bright illumination in a 100ft radius and shadowy illumination out to a 200ft radius. Left to it’s devices, such a flare will burn for 1d4 minutes before fizzling out. Flares are (of course) non-magical fires and can be extinguished as such.
NOTE: wind can have a strong influence on flares as they are utterly beholden to it. GMs will be required to make arbitrations here, simple as that.
Cherry Bomb
This small clay sphere has been painted bright red. The fuse sticking out of the top makes it look uncannily like a cherry.
Cherry Bombs explode 1 round after being lit, dealing 1d6 Fire (Reflex save for half, DC 10+damage dealt)*, to all inside a 5ft radius.
Cost: 20gp, Weight: 0.25lbs
*targets that take damage from a Cherry Bomb must also save against the deleterious effects of fireworks described above.
Daisy Chain
By tying the fuses of many fireworks together (usually Cherry Bombs) they can be made to go off in spectacular (and sometimes dangerous) sequences.
Targets that save against the deleterious effects of fireworks more than once in a round suffer a cumulative -2 circumstance penalty on each save after the first.
Daisy chains are limited in size only by the tolerance of the DM, but no more than 10 devices is a good guidepost value.
Multiple fireworks (especially Cherry Bombs) can be tied together such that they explode simultaneously. For each additional firework tied together in this way, the save DCs associated with it increase by 2. As with daisy chains, DMs are encouraged to pose maximum limitations based on whatever makes sense in your game.
As always, feel free to take and use and change these as you see fit. It’s your game, after all!
-L. Doderman (still terrified of fireworks)
