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Having searched to see if this issue had been covered before, I was surprised to find nothing in the forums about it. Surely it's occured to someone before.
You create a rolling sphere of churning water that can engulf those it strikes. The aqueous orb can move up to 30 feet per round, rolling over barriers less than 10 feet tall. It automatically quenches any nonmagical fires and functions as dispel magic against magical fires as long as those fires are size Large or less.
Any creature in the path of the aqueous orb takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage. A successful Reflex save negates this damage, but a Medium or smaller creature that fails its save must make a second save or be engulfed by the aqueous orb and carried along with it. Engulfed creatures are immersed in water and must hold their breath unless capable of breathing water. They gain cover against attacks from outside the aqueous orb but are considered entangled by its churning currents, takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage at the beginning of their turn each round they remain trapped. Creatures within the orb may attempt a new Reflex save each round to escape into a random square adjacent to the aqueous orb . The orb may hold one Large creature, 4 Medium, or 16 Small or smaller creatures within it.
The sphere moves as long as you actively direct it (a move action for you); otherwise, it merely stays at rest and churns in place. An aqueous orb stops if it moves outside the spell's range.[/b]
Bolding by me. Is there anything stopping the caster from having the Aqueous Orb initially appear atop one or more creatures, having it roll 5-ft off and then back onto the creature(s), then back off, on, off, and back on; effectively attempting to engulf it/them up to four times per round? This could result in up to eight saving throws and possibly 8d6 points of nonlethal damage if the target(s) fails every odd numbered Reflex save in the sequence. More likely, the target(s) will fail to consecutive saving throws at some point and simply end up being engulfed and carried away by the orb.
Am I missing something?
Someone brought this up the other day with the spell Fire Snake. The wording there is very similar to the wording here. S/He asked if one could have the spell pass through a creature's square multiple times dealing multiple damage. The answer there was no, because the spell specifies that "Creatures in the path of the fire snake take 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 15d6)" not that creatures take damage each time the fire snake passes through their square.
It's the same here. It may not make a lot of sense, but the first sentence of the second paragraph specifies that the damage is dealt to "any creature in the path of the aqueous orb" and not "each time a creature is struck by the aqueous orb" or somesuch. Essentially, an aqueous orb can only effect a particular creature once per round.
Mauril's almost certainly correct here. I ran into a similar issue to this in 3.5 with the spell Exploding Cascade, which created a 5ft. fireball that bounced through 1 square / caster level before fizzling. It eventually received errata which specifically stated that you could only hit a specific creature once per casting, to prevent people from just bouncing it back and forth on top of a creature multiple times.
Someone brought this up the other day with the spell Fire Snake. The wording there is very similar to the wording here. S/He asked if one could have the spell pass through a creature's square multiple times dealing multiple damage.
You may in fact be right, but it seems to me that there's a significant difference between the two spells. Fire Snake describes a static area of affect while Aqueous Orb moves dynamically around the battle field. It'd seem terribly odd that, after successfully saving once against it's effect, a creature could all but ignore a 10-ft. sphere of water sloshing repeatedly through its space.
It may not make a lot of sense, but the first sentence of the second paragraph specifies that the damage is dealt to "any creature in the path of the aqueous orb" and not "each time a creature is struck by the aqueous orb" or somesuch. Essentially, an aqueous orb can only effect a particular creature once per round.
Re-read that bit you quoted and you'll realize that there's nothing that says a creature can be affected once per round. So, if you're in fact correct, it'd mean that a creature could only be affected once per casting. That'd significantly limit the orb's usefulness.
Fire Snake is an instantaneous effect, so it is a little different than Aqueous Orb in that manner. But, barring specific metamagic feats, name me a spell that causes a creature to make multiple SoL saves at level 3. Fire Snake, a level 5 spell, only allows for affecting a creature once.
Look at it this way: the Reflex save they make essentially determines their luck for that round's contact with the orb. Whether you hit them with it once or 8 times, their save determined whether, over that round, the orb was going to effect them.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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If the creature is "in the path of the aqueous orb," it takes the listed damage. It doesn't matter if that path overlaps itself repeatedly, being in the path of the orb is a binary thing; either you are or you aren't.
Much like with fire snake, overlapping the path is only screwing yourself out of area you could be affecting, cuz creatures already in the path (that you have traversed previously) are, well, ALREADY IN THE PATH. They don't get MORE in the path of the orb by being crossed over again.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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As a common-sense houserule, I'd imagine you might benefit from rolling the sphere back and forth, sacrificing an expansive area effect for an increased chance of grabbing a particular target.
But I would rule each additional roll-over adds a +2 to the Reflex DC, rather than requiring an entirely new set of saving throws.
But, barring specific metamagic feats, name me a spell that causes a creature to make multiple SoL saves at level 3.There are plenty of spells that can require multiple saves. Off the top of my head, there are the Pit spells which require a reflex save for every round that a creature remains in an adjacent space to the pit.
Whether you hit them with it once or 8 times, their save determined whether, over that round, the orb was going to effect them.You again refer to making one save per round but, as I pointed out, the wording could be interpreted to mean that being hit by the orb in subsequent rounds wouldn't provoke any subsequent saving throws since since all of its movements are a part of the same "path".
Much like with fire snake, overlapping the path is only screwing yourself out of area you could be affecting, cuz creatures already in the path (that you have traversed previously) are, well, ALREADY IN THE PATH. They don't get MORE in the path of the orb by being crossed over again.
Is the spell of your design? If so, was it in fact your intention that each target only require one save per casting?
Fire Snake is an instantaneous effect, so it is a little different than Aqueous Orb in that manner. But, barring specific metamagic feats, name me a spell that causes a creature to make multiple SoL saves at level 3. Fire Snake, a level 5 spell, only allows for affecting a creature once.
Look at it this way: the Reflex save they make essentially determines their luck for that round's contact with the orb. Whether you hit them with it once or 8 times, their save determined whether, over that round, the orb was going to effect them.
SoL or no, this is obviously comparable to Flaming Sphere. Are we going to argue that Flaming Sphere can only damage a creature once during its duration?
EDIT:
It should work once per round but could be repeated.
Yes, Ambrus, there are plenty of spells that offer multiple saves over multiple rounds. I meant to ask you (or anyone) to pull up a spell that required multiple saves in the same round, especially ones that target the same save repeatedly and offer no diminishing returns for succeeding on any of those saves.
Also, it's not part of the same path, in the same way that Fly checks are only required if maneuvering is done in the middle of the round. If you want to turn 90 or 180 degrees from the direction you traveled last turn? Go nuts. Want to do it in the middle of your turn? You need a feat or to succeed on a fly check. From this we can deduce that a "path" is determined from the beginning of your turn until the end of it.
By RAW, it is a little fuzzy. RAI seems very clear to me. But, just to confirm, I'm going to FAQ the OP to see if we can get a Dev response.
@Cartigan: I'm arguing that Aqueous Orb (and Flaming Sphere) would effect a single target once per round, not once per casting. It was Ambrus who suggested the once per casting interpretation.
So.... any official ruling here? Can it, in fact, roll on a single target more than once in a single round?