I can't find it anywhere, but people in my group say that elemental spells only cause elemental effects for the round it's cast in. Not after that. So a fireball can't set someone on fire, etc.

Is that right? And where is it? If it's true what is the benefit to casting fireball over powerball or manaball? It hardly would be worth the extra drain.

they only cause the effect on the turn they are around. this doesn't mean the effect won't persist once the spell is over, however. so sure, the fireball won't set anything on fire the next IP, but it can certainly catch things on fire in the first IP, and if it does, the fire that started from the fireball could catch something on fire the next IP. naturally, if the fire was put out (or never started) then it couldn't catch anything on fire the next IP, because the fireball has been and gone.

to argue that a fireball cannot have a permanent effect which remains after the spell is done is to say that the spell only does damage that lasts for the turn the spell was cast in, which i think you'll agree is just plain silly.

"Objects hit by a Fire damage attack are in risk of catching fire."

From the main rules book. There are rules to determine what catches fire. Naturally anything that "catches" fire from a fire attack would continue to burn once the fire attack was finished.

The big difference comes in acid elemental effects vs real acid. Real acid continues to burn; the spell's acid goes away completely.

The way I look at it, the element created by the spell only exists for the (brief) duration of the spell. Any manifestations of an element that exist afterward (for example, a fire that has been created by virtue of the "fire triangle") persist, as they're not made of mana.

so your players are saying if I cast fireball in on a 55 gallon barrel of gasoilne that it won't burn? ludicrous. there are, however other elemental effects that won't last very long... electricity, acid, cold and actually most everything other than fire.
The thing that makes the elemental spells so useful is that you don't actually have to see something to effect it. if the target is hiding behind a giant shipping crate, you can put a fire ball above and behind it and fry the sucker. A mana ball won't do that.

The elemental energy itself only lasts one round, but the effects of it don't go away - tires slagged by an acid spell are still slagged, fires started by a fireball continue to burn, etc.

pg. 197 for an example, under the Flamethrower spell:

"These flames burn out after striking the target, but their secondary effects may ignite flammable materials that will continue to burn after the spell is exhausted." (emphasis mine).


I think you players are confusing the term "elemental effects", referring to the extra effects an indirect spell can do in addition to normal damage, with effects of the spell, which can persist after the "elemental effect".