As I interpret the description of Flaming Sphere:
It occupies a space, meaning that foes can not enter or pass through the square its in. If they attempt to, they will take damage. If they are forced to they get a Reflex save to avoid taking damage. The same holds true for allies.
It does not count as an ally for flanking or any other purpose.
It can move into a space occupied by a creature whereupon it deals damage and stops moving. If the creature remains in that square it deals its damage again the following round on your turn and can not move (or it can move out of the square without dealing damage depending on the caster's choice?).
If the ball 'jumps up' to strike a flying or elevated foe, it returns to the ground at the end of its/your turn, it does not hover in place in the square of the creature it struck.
It can roll up normal sized stairs but it can not roll up or along walls.
Does all of this sound correct?
Some other rulings we've had with this spell:
It can roll along a curved surface, ignoring gravity (if you were in a large tunnel shaped like a tube for instance).
Widen Spell increases the diameter of the ball to 10'.
If a creature makes its save it has avoided contact with the ball, meaning that the ball can continue to the limit of its normal movement (unless it enters another square occupied by a creature before then).
The forum search feature is your friend.
There's this thread.
And this one.
This one's about interaction with Maximize Spell, rather than widen spell, but it still might be useful.
This one's about passing through the square containing the sphere.
etc. There's a whole bunch of them.
I submit that you should be able to tumble through the square containing the sphere, but otherwise don't disagree with what you've said.
The forum search feature is your friend.
There's this thread.
And this one.
This one's about interaction with Maximize Spell, rather than widen spell, but it still might be useful.
This one's about passing through the square containing the sphere.
etc. There's a whole bunch of them.
Thanks.
Those threads, nor any of the other ones I found, answered the questions I have above, with the lone exception of offering up opinions on whether or not the ball falls after striking a flying foe.
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It occupies a space, meaning that foes can not enter or pass through the square its in.
Clearly a creature can occupy the same square as a Flaming Sphere, so I disagree with this.
If they attempt to, they will take damage. If they are forced to they get a Reflex save to avoid taking damage. The same holds true for allies.
Although it doesn't specifically say so, that sounds reasonable.
It does not count as an ally for flanking or any other purpose.
Of course not.
It can move into a space occupied by a creature whereupon it deals damage and stops moving. If the creature remains in that square it deals its damage again the following round on your turn and can not move (or it can move out of the square without dealing damage depending on the caster's choice?).
I would rule that the flaming sphere always does damage at the end of the caster's turn, so if the caster moved it out of the square the creature would take no damage. Again, not clear.
If the ball 'jumps up' to strike a flying or elevated foe, it returns to the ground at the end of its/your turn, it does not hover in place in the square of the creature it struck.
I'd rule that it falls back down at the beginning of the caster's next turn, and that doesn't count as part of the 30' movement per round. But that's really not specified. At any rate, I don't think it's totally immune to gravity; otherwise it would just say to.
It can roll up normal sized stairs but it can not roll up or along walls.
Except when jumping to hit someone, of course.
It can roll along a curved surface, ignoring gravity (if you were in a large tunnel shaped like a tube for instance).
Widen Spell increases the diameter of the ball to 10'.
If a creature makes its save it has avoided contact with the ball, meaning that the ball can continue to the limit of its normal movement (unless it enters another square occupied by a creature before then).
Interesting house rules. As far as Widen Spell goes, usually that only works on spells with an Area and Flaming Sphere is an Effect. But then again, I've almost never seen Widen Spell used, so maybe that's not a bad thing...
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Wiggz wrote:
It can move into a space occupied by a creature whereupon it deals damage and stops moving. If the creature remains in that square it deals its damage again the following round on your turn and can not move (or it can move out of the square without dealing damage depending on the caster's choice?).
I would rule that the flaming sphere always does damage at the end of the caster's turn, so if the caster moved it out of the square the creature would take no damage. Again, not clear.
I don't agree with this. Would the same apply to a Wall of Fire? Can I walk through it without being hurt because it doesn't do damage until the caster's turn? I don't think so.
I do agree with the rest of Hogarth's comments.
Hogarth, I appreciate the responses.
The Flaming Sphere is a 5' diameter ball... I would think that would pretty much fill up a 5' square, leaving very little room for a medium or even a small creature, no? And while its substance isn't rigid, it IS solid - its not as if this were a ball of pure flame (which, in my opinion, would have been a better description).
Hogarth, I appreciate the responses.
The Flaming Sphere is a 5' diameter ball... I would think that would pretty much fill up a 5' square, leaving very little room for a medium or even a small creature, no? And while its substance isn't rigid, it IS solid - its not as if this were a ball of pure flame (which, in my opinion, would have been a better description).
Notwithstanding the description of the ball, the spell says: "If it enters a space with a creature, it stops moving for the round and deals 3d6 points of fire damage to that creature [..]". So by definition, it's able to enter a space with a creature (and it's even possible to do so harmlessly), and I don't see why the converse wouldn't be true.
Personally, I think having the word "spongy" in the spell is misleading; the spell description would make much more sense to me if it just said that the ball was made out of fire, period. (Cf. wall of fire)
But with it being spongy, someone with decent fire resistance could grab it and do all kinds of fun things with it! Do you really want to remove those possibilities? ;)
Yes. :-)
Hogarth, I appreciate the responses.
The Flaming Sphere is a 5' diameter ball... I would think that would pretty much fill up a 5' square, leaving very little room for a medium or even a small creature, no? And while its substance isn't rigid, it IS solid - its not as if this were a ball of pure flame (which, in my opinion, would have been a better description).
Notwithstanding the description of the ball, the spell says: "If it enters a space with a creature, it stops moving for the round and deals 3d6 points of fire damage to that creature [..]". So by definition, it's able to enter a space with a creature (and it's even possible to do so harmlessly), and I don't see why the converse wouldn't be true.
Personally, I think having the word "spongy" in the spell is misleading; the spell description would make much more sense to me if it just said that the ball was made out of fire, period. (Cf. wall of fire)
I agree that there is a definite disconnect between description and effect, and I agree that it should probably simply be a ball of flame... which would then preclude its need to 'roll', particularly along the ground.
Part of me suspects that this mechanic is left over from backwards compatability stuff. Personally, I think we're going to rule that it IS a ball of flame and as such can be directed through the air in any direction (a la Ball Lightning) but is still limited to the spell's range and its movement of 30'/round. I don't see anything unbalancing about that, particularly if we keep its low damage in tact - its certainly better than the clumsy 'jumping' mechanic...
Part of me suspects that this mechanic is left over from backwards compatability stuff.
Actually, the logistics of Flaming Sphere have never made much sense to me, even going back to 1E Unearthed Arcana. :-)
Personally, I think we're going to rule that it IS a ball of flame and as such can be directed through the air in any direction (a la Ball Lightning) but is still limited to the spell's range and its movement of 30'/round. I don't see anything unbalancing about that, particularly if we keep its low damage in tact - its certainly better than the clumsy 'jumping' mechanic...
Sounds eminently reasonable.