D&D 5E Using a Flaming Sphere while hidden

[Celebrim]

Can you move the sphere to a location you cannot see/don't have a line of sight to?

I would think the intention of the spell is "No", but as written I think you can. You would have no information about what the sphere is actually doing, so if it is stuck against a wall or a creature you wouldn't know, but the sphere has no official target and as such isn't limited by targeting rules about line of sight or line of effect.

 

[Zaukrie]

How would you know where to move it if you couldn't see where you are moving it?

 

[James Gasik]

Is merely causing damage to foes a clause to cancel invisibility? The text says attacks or casts a spell. Is

How would you know where to move it if you couldn't see where you are moving it?

Allies telling you, your familiar?

 

[greg kaye]

How would you know where to move it if you couldn't see where you are moving it?

that relates to the question:

... Would I know if it hit something?

If you don't know that the sphere has been stopped then you won't know its current position when you start its next move.
In regard to control it says: "As a bonus action, you can move the sphere up to 30 feet. .... When you move the sphere, you can direct it over barriers up to 5 feet tall and jump it across pits up to 10 feet wide."
It is uncertain whether the control is:
go in this direction or
go to this location
but, I guess, the DM might choose one or the other.
If it doesn't hit anything then you can calculate where it is.
If it hits something and controls are to go to a location, you can have an idea where it should be going.
If your metal box is getting hot, it's too close.

 

[ECMO3]

Can you move the sphere to a location you cannot see/don't have a line of sight to?

RAW yes you can. There is nothing in the rules about seeing it to move it.

This skirts the question though, because you can be fully obscured while still being able to see someone else in a variety of ways. Being in darkness looking at an area in dim or bright light (which the flaming sphere provides), being behind an illusion or using a familiar's senses when the familiar is not obscured. These are all common for Wizards.

 

[Oofta]

How would you know where to move it if you couldn't see where you are moving it?

That was my question as well. If your PC can't see where to move the sphere, I'm just going to have it move in random directions. Might hit an enemy, an ally or nothing at all. If playing on VTT I could blind the PC, if playing in person it's tougher.

 

[Maxperson]

RAW yes you can. There is nothing in the rules about seeing it to move it.

Absence is not assent. There's nothing either way, so it's a rulings situation, not one of RAW.

 

[ECMO3]

Absence is not assent. There's nothing either way, so it's a rulings situation, not one of RAW.

Actually there is, from the spell description:

"As a bonus action, you can move the sphere up to 30 feet."

Being unable to see the Sphere, or even being blinded, does not affect that at all. As long as you have a bonus action available and the terrain is such that the sphere can move, then you can move the sphere.

Now saying I have no idea where I am moving it is a fine interpretation (as Paul alluded to). But unless the sphere is surrounded by creatures, or you cast it into a pit greater than 5 foot (for an unknown reason), then it can absolutely move.

The relevant question is not whether I can move it, that is settled science .... the question is whether or not I stay hidden and the sight discussion is really a sidebar because most of the time that will be irrelevant and you will be able to see it while also being hidden.

 

[ECMO3]

That was my question as well. If your PC can't see where to move the sphere, I'm just going to have it move in random directions. Might hit an enemy, an ally or nothing at all. If playing on VTT I could blind the PC, if playing in person it's tougher.

If you close your eyes while driving your car and turn the steering wheel the car will go where you steer it, whether you see the granny pushing the baby stroller that you are going to hit is not really relevant. If you point the car at granny you will hit her.

Same thing here. You may not be able to see it (although that is a rarity IMO) but you can still move it.

 

[Maxperson]

Actually there is, from the spell description:

"As a bonus action, you can move the sphere up to 30 feet."

In 5e if it doesn't explicitly say something, it's not there. Crawford has made that abundantly clear several times.

It does not explicitly say that you can move it when you can't see it. Adding the ability to not have to see it makes it a house rule. It's reasonable, but then so is adding that you can't move it if you can't see it, inferring that limitation from the general spell rules.

Being unable to see the Sphere, or even being blinded, does not affect that at all. As long as you have a bonus action available and the terrain is such that the sphere can move, then you can move the sphere.

Maybe. The text does not explicitly say that, and in 5e the lack of explicit language means that it is not in the RAW.

Now saying I have no idea where I am moving it is a fine interpretation (as Paul alluded to).

I agree with this as well and I would probably rule that you can move it blind through guesswork.