Let's decide once and for all: Can you deflect a fireball with a large mirror??

>The caster targets an area and the fireball erupts from nowhere at said location
He needs a line of sight with the area. If the mirror is really big, enough to cover the entirety of wizard's vision, then there is no line of sight.

Mirrors reflect EM energy, not thermal energy.

So only as much as the backing material could deflect a fireball.

>Mirrors reflect EM energy, not thermal energy.
>EM energy, not thermal energy
What did he mean by this?

A bit obtuse, but you could just cast fireball AT the mirror, or have yourself or a party member smash said mirror, or just- you know- throw a rock at it. While that might be an interesting scenario, I don't see it doing much good against a spell-happy wizard.

What if the mirror causes the Wizard's designated line-of-sight to be himself?

Ranged spells like that depend on where you are visualizing the target, so if he targets in the direction of the mirror wouldn't he be visualizing himself?

The reflect light (electromagnetic energy), they don't reflect heat (thermal energy).

Dude, thermal radiation is a kind of electromagnetic radiation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation

heat IS em energy, just a different frequency you god dam moron.

thermal mirrors exist.

I don't know.

You're going to have to be more specific because all I can't find in that page is this passage:
>Infrared radiation in the spectral distribution of a black body is usually considered a form of heat, since it has an equivalent temperature and is associated with an entropy change per unit of thermal energy. However, "heat" is a technical term in physics and thermodynamics and is often confused with thermal energy. Any type of electromagnetic energy can be transformed into thermal energy in interaction with matter.
which only reinforces my point.

Heat produces thermal radiation, which is electromagnetic in nature, but heat itself is defined as kinetic energy in individual particles.

Heat is NOT EM energy. Heat is atomic vibration, while EM is a literal photon. While both can become the other, they are NOT the same thing.
IMO, a fireball would melt the mirror. I have no reason to expect otherwise, as a fireball is literally just an eruption of plasma that transfers heat wherever the plasma goes, igniting other things by heating flammable material to combustion temperatures.

Fuck off retard

>Mirrors reflect EM energy

Wait, are you guys saying magnets affect mirrorism?

Guess we're gonna need a large mirror and a flamethrower to settle this

But he would target his projection in the mirror and not his own body.

I mean, if it reflects you're gonna hurt yourself very badly.

That's why you fire on the mirror at an angle, dingus.

Some rulesets specifically say that the fireball is a small pebble that moves forward in a straight line until it contacts the target and then explodes.

Then you can't be sure its not reflecting due to the expansion of gas behind it. If the mirror will not reflect the flamethrower (which it won't) the burning gas will spread outward like a disk on the flat of the mirror. Shooting at an angle will cause it to glance off the mirror but you can't be sure its because its 'reflected' or because the gas behind it is pushing it out of the way.
Straight on will then either be a reflected cone or a disk.

Yes

Well kinda.

If it's an aluminum mirror the aluminum will reflect the infrared just like a mirror and if the aluminum is thick enough the hot air from the flames will splash over the mirror rather than stick to it.

For a while anyway. Aluminum isn't a particularly good insulator so eventually it's going to heat up and melt.

no, he's right. Infrared is a product of heat, not heat it'self. Otherwise, air would never warm and perfect vacuum wouldn't insulate.

For some reason that drawing made me laugh way too much

Or put a lighter against a mirror.

Can you repeat the question?

Only if the fireball can be deflected with any smooth, flat surface.
Mirrors don't reflect fire; fire isn't light.

Hook it up to a simple machine to pull the trigger for you, much safer that way.

Beam attacks could probably be deflected by a mirror, since they're basically magical lasers.

But with a fireball, I think the biggest variable would be whether it's a solid or a plasma.

If it's plasma, then no. This is because any solid contact will instantly end cohesion of the plasma cloud and cause it to dissipate.

If it's solid, then possibly. It would all depend on the strength of the mirror, the velocity of the fireball and the angle you held the mirror.

At best in this scenario, the fireball would bounce off the mirror and harmlessly land elsewhere.

So in that regards. Yes, you could technically deflect a fireball with a mirror.

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For the record, a mirror doesnt reflect fire. Also. You know fire is just hot gas, right? It's not fucking plasma. It's just hot gas that emits visible light since it's so fucking hot. Jesus. Would a mirror reflect a stream of cold carbon dioxide and oxygen? Fucking no? Okay.

Fire on fantasy realms is an element of energy. Things are partially made of fire. There is a plane of Fire. In D&D, where the iconic Fireball spell originates, so don't tell me to not play D&D, you can conjure fire (flaming sphere) or evoke fire (burning hands). Evocation sort of unleashes the potential for fire that's present in everything. Just like evoking cold unleashes the potential for cold. It's weird and fucked up and doesn't into physics, but it makes sense if you believe that everything isn't made of atoms, but is instead made of phlogiston, aether, rocks, and water.

Fireball specifically evokes the ability for air to turn into fire. In a way that isnt transmutation because reasons. It doesn't inherently evoke the ability for solids to become fire (see: implosion) . So the mirror is suddenly awash with a bunch of air that has suddenly gained the properties of the Platonic ideal of fire: hot, red, burning.

AND IT ALSO DOESN'T GET DEFLECTED, nor is it PLASMA

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Holy fuck, this thread...

I thought we're talking about flamethrowers and mirrors, not playing portal.

So lets say a wizard, wearing the traditional purple robe and pointy hat, is walking through a dungeon and reaches a turn. At the turn there is a mirror, and in the mirror the wizard can see the reflection of a nasty goblin. Because wizards are cowardly by nature, he doesn't want to face the goblin head-on. Can he, using the mirror, target the goblin with a fireball?

guys, the op specifically asked for deflection, not reflection.

No because he has no direct line of sight to the goblin. He might think he's targeting the goblin, but when he launches the fireball, it explodes on impact with the mirror.

Nothing in the description of Fireball says that it can be deflected (there are specific spells that deflect other spells). Only that it explodes either on impact or at a certain distance.

Only if it's a magic mirror. Otherwise, the only interaction would be if it's big enough to block line-of-effect.

Does it truly matter of a mirror (magical or otherwise) can successfully reflect a fireball, as long as the person standing behind the mirror is unharmed? Or is your standard of success that the mirror remain completely undamaged and can be used over and over again?

>A fireball spell generates a searing explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage. The explosion creates almost no pressure.

>You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. A glowing, pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body or solid barrier prior to attaining the prescribed range, blossoms into the fireball at that point. An early impact results in an early detonation. If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must “hit” the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely.

>The fireball sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in the area. It can melt metals with low melting points, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, and bronze. If the damage caused to an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the fireball may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.

The fireball travels in a straight line, via straight line of effect and sight, towards a point set up at casting. It cannot bend around corners, and is not reflected by the mirror. It explodes at the mirror, doing on average 17 damage at minimum casting level, shattering and melting the mirror if it is made of glass. If the goblin and or wizard are close enough they also get toasted.

Fireballs do travel in D&D/PF. That is why the spell itself includes stuff on getting the bead through narrow openings, notes how any impact on an object in the path will detonate it, and specifically states that the bead shoots from your finger.

that really depends on the nature of the fire. but generally being a mirror or not isn't what will deflect it.

Yes, the same way you can deflect a bowling ball with a large (thick) mirror. It would fuck up the mirror, though, glass melting and all that

Only if it's magical. However, Sunburst can be reflected(it just wouldn't do any damage to the original caster).

If you've ever played Rogue, you ought to know that shit bouncing off walls is a huge concern with magic.

It... didn't reflect! Holy shit I've got a vampire lighter, halp.