Flaming Sphere - How to use it?

[FireBorn]

Hi everyone,

I have some questions about "Flaming Sphere" spell.

1) does the spell have to enter a square that is occupied by a creature to deal damage to that creature or it tries to enter and at that time it deals damage?

2) it says it stops when it enters a square occupied by a creature; my question is, what if it strikes a flying creature. does it fall after hitting the creature? if it falls then when (at the end of my turn or at the start of my next turn)?

3) can i cast this spell at a creature's square to deal damage as soon as i cast the spell?

4) it says that, flaming spehere rolls over barriers less than 4 feet. what does a barrier means? a box that is 4 feet high and occupies a 5x5 feet square? what if there is a small box in that square, let's say 2x2x2 feet in all dimensions. does it still rolls over it?

as you can see, i am very confused about how to use this spell acording to the rules.

i will be glad if you can help me

thanks

[spalding]

FireBorn wrote:

Hi everyone,

I have some questions about "Flaming Sphere" spell.

1) does the spell have to enter a square that is occupied by a creature to deal damage to that creature or it tries to enter and at that time it deals damage?

2) it says it stops when it enters a square occupied by a creature; my question is, what if it strikes a flying creature. does it fall after hitting the creature? if it falls then when (at the end of my turn or at the start of my next turn)?

3) can i cast this spell at a creature's square to deal damage as soon as i cast the spell?

4) it says that, flaming spehere rolls over barriers less than 4 feet. what does a barrier means? a box that is 4 feet high and occupies a 5x5 feet square? what if there is a small box in that square, let's say 2x2x2 feet in all dimensions. does it still rolls over it?

as you can see, i am very confused about how to use this spell acording to the rules.

i will be glad if you can help me

thanks

1> The spell enters the area, the creature gets its save damage is applied.

2> It jumps up to hit said creature then... doesn't say... I would assume a bouncy ball action where it comes back down, however without that actually being in the discription it would be fair to say it stops exactly in the square it hit the creature (i.e. off the ground).

3> Yes you can but it doesn't move then.

4> It's says 4 feet tall specificially.

Some other thoughts on this spell...

1. If it's in the square of a creature already at the start of your turn it will damage the creature meaning it stops there and doesn't move.

2. If it can jump up 30 feet why can't it get over a 4 foot 2 inch wall? Should verical height be counted as if it is horizontal height so it doesn't matter how high the wall is it just takes longer to get over?

[FireBorn]

thanks for the quick reply.

i asked this question because my group's DM said that this spell was too powerful and it should need a touch attack roll to hit the target in addition to the reflex save.

for your question about 4 foot 2 inch wall, i think the ball shouldn't be able to climb a wall, but can roll over a obstacle that has a ramp. like motorbikes jumping over cars by using jumping ramps.

[Kalyth]

FireBorn wrote:

thanks for the quick reply.

i asked this question because my group's DM said that this spell was too powerful and it should need a touch attack roll to hit the target in addition to the reflex save.

for your question about 4 foot 2 inch wall, i think the ball shouldn't be able to climb a wall, but can roll over a obstacle that has a ramp. like motorbikes jumping over cars by using jumping ramps.

I would think that if the sphere can jump to strike a target up to 30ft in the air then why cant it jump over a 10 foot tall wall?

[Theodore Tibbitts]

FireBorn wrote:

thanks for the quick reply.

i asked this question because my group's DM said that this spell was too powerful and it should need a touch attack roll to hit the target in addition to the reflex save.

for your question about 4 foot 2 inch wall, i think the ball shouldn't be able to climb a wall, but can roll over a obstacle that has a ramp. like motorbikes jumping over cars by using jumping ramps.

Flaming Sphere, to my mind, has always been a horribly broken spell... the other way. It's damage too low and it's save too generous. It just can't compete with any other comparable damage spell. Yes, it's max damage is pretty high, but with a reflex save to negate and divided into such small segements, you're lucky to do anything with it.