AD&D 2nd Edition The Time of Troubles      In the year 1358 DR, the deities of Faerun were forced out of the heavens until they could find the stolen and hidden Tablets of Fate, which detailed all of the gods' domains of power. The only deity who was left in the heavens was Helm, the god of guardians, tasked with keep the other gods out until the tablets could be recovered.      When Mystra was taken out of power, it had a negative effect on the Weave. Magic became wild and unpredictable across most of Faerun. Spells cast in some areas would have unpredictable effects, and in other areas magic would not work at all.      Mystra traveled with a small band of adventurers to the silver stair so that she could try and reenter the heavens. Helm stopped her and told her she could not pass. Growing angry, Mystra attacked Helm and was slain, all of her power going to one of her traveling companions, a human wizard named Midnight.     Midnight, upon gaining the mantle of Mystra, changed her name to that of the dead goddess and proceeded to try and repair the damage done to the Weave. Mystra vs. Helm From https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Mystra Burning Hands by Jaworski From https://www.deviantart.com/neothera/art/Burning-Hands-504876931 Burning Hands      "When the wizard casts this spell, a jet of searing flame shoots from his fingertips. His hands must be held so as to send forth a fanlike sheet of flames: The wizard's thumbs must touch each other and the fingers must be spread. The burning hands send out flame jets 5 feet long in a horizontal arc of about 120 degrees in front of the wizard" (AD&D Player Handbook, 2nd ed, 262).      This iconic spell (pictured to the left) has been recreated in every edition of Dungeons and Dragons, though it's area of effect and its damage have changed in every edition as well. But It's a Dry Heat      To determine the amount of energy that this spell requires, we first have to find it's volume. the fan is described as a 5ft long fan, so, using the area of an arc: Aarc = π r2 ( θ / 2π )      This gives us an area of about 26.2 ft2. Assuming the fan has a thickness of about 1 inch, it has a volume of 2.18 ft3 or 0.0617 m3.      Now that we have a volume, we can determine the amount of energy that the spell needs in order to be cast. We are going to assume that the spell is cast at standard temperature and pressure (STP) of 0º C, and 100 kPa in dry air. Given the color of the fire in the official artwork, we can place the temperature of the flames as reaching around 1300º C.      We can now use the the following formula to find the thermal energy (Q) of the spell. Q = c m ΔT      Given the specific heat capacity (c) for dry air, the mass (m) of the air (calculated from our volume and the density of the air at STP), and our change in temperature, this version of burning hands requires 103. kJ to be transformed into thermal energy.