Tunneling with Fire Balls and Lightening Bolts

[gemini476]

In The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures p.9, there is a short discussion on fireballs in confined space. The text notes that while "some referees" allow them to blast apart stone in the remainder of their normal shape, it suggests that instead the Fire Ball/Lightening Bolt [sic] should rebound to hit the caster.

The text then concludes, however, with the following sentence:

It may also be comprimised, allowing say two feet of stone wall to be destroyed (allowing one foot of stone destroyed for every ten feet the space is short of full distance) and rebounding the missile onehalf the distance short.

How do you handle this in your games? Do you allow wizards to excavate dungeons with their fireballs, and if so how effective are they? Have you experienced this to lead to problems in play, or are Gygax/Arneson being too cautious here? If nothing else, I imagine that you will need to update your maps a lot!

[Deleted]

Fireballs fill up a 40' circle, always, and lightning bolts bounce back without doing any digging.

Because it's funnier that way.

[muddy]

I use the compromise rule, it rewards good map making and gives the party a way of permanently impacting the dungeon by potentially creating new passages - or at least windows between rooms/halls.

[doublejig2]

Most recent TPK, adventurer cast a lightning bolt when his party was in 20x20 square metal room. Wrong move. Gruesome.

[Zakharan]

The way a Fireball achieves its full size interests and entertains me. Fun uses to be had in narrow passages. I don't personally use the bouncing Lightning Bolt.