Flaming Sphere questions

[Hypersmurf]

The sorcerer in my group throws these around like nickels, and it's led to a few questions...

As a sphere 6' across, but with a "spongy, yielding consistency", can the globe squeeze into a 5' corridor? Can it be conjured into a 5' corridor?

When the sphere enters a space with a creature, it stops moving and deals damage. Should the sphere then be considered to be occupying the same square as its target, or the square it attacked from? We're having trouble understanding the effect of someone making a Reflex Save and taking no damage, but occupying the same 5' square as a 6' ball of flame that continues to burn.

Can the sphere be Bull Rushed or otherwise shifted without the consent of the caster? A Wall of Fire can be passed (though damage is incurred) since the flames have no substance. But the description of the Flaming Sphere specifically describes a material surface - which suggests that a pair of them can block a 10' corridor more completely than the Wall.

If someone deliberately enters the same sqaure as the Sphere, does it automatically deal its 2d6 damage? Or can it only deal damage while being directed by the caster as a MEA? Would someone choosing to enter its square still be entitled to a Reflex Save to avoid damage?

Does a Wall of Fire provide Cover or Concealment against ranged attacks? Does a Flaming Sphere?

-Hyp.

 

[Pielorinho]

Yowza! I always thought that it was a 3' diameter sphere, but you're right. Here's, as I understand it, the official answers.

1) The globe could be conjured into a small space, since it's yielding.
2) When the sphere moves into someone's space and they make their reflex save, they occupy the same space as the sphere, but take no damage. Don't think about it too closely. Or else read my suggestions below.
3) Because its consistency is yielding, I'd say that it yields to any bull-rush or anything like that -- but that the bull rush doesn't move the sphere. Think of bullrushing apricot jam.
4) It doesn't burn someone who moves into its space: specifically, "if it enters a space with a creature, it stops moving for the round and deals 2d6 damage to that creature." According to that reading, it also doesn't deal damage if it remains in a square with a creature, and it doesn't deal damage to inanimate objects beyond setting them alight.
5) Since it's yielding, I'd say it provides no cover, but probably provides concealment.

Now, for how I'd rule it. First, IMC I describe it differently: for my game, it's a gout of fire from the ground that the caster can direct. Second, if I were to be closer to the real image of it, I'd describe it as a ball of pure fire -- no spongy yielding nonsense. I'd make it 3' diameter, not radius. And I'd say that whenever it enters a space containing something flammable, or something flammable enters a space containing the sphere, damage occurs (subject to reflex save, subject to flammable stuff being unattended, etc.).

I think that ruling it this way gets rid of all the silly problems with it that you correctly describe.

Daniel

 

[Grayswandir]

Hmm. Maybe it really *is* made of apricot jam. A giant ball of apricot jam that's on fire. But only the surface (skin of slightly hardened apricot jam? skim?) is actually on fire. So when it moves into the same square as you, it engulfs you completely, and you take damage from passing through the fiery skim. Or, with a successful Reflex save, you pass through the flaming skim without taking damage. Then, once you're engulfed, you don't take further damage, because only the surface is on fire. And you can still breathe and fight normally because ... um, it's magic.

And then when you exit the square, or the ball of apricot jam moves on to jam someone else, you don't take damage from passing back through the fiery skim because you're covered in apricot jam (not skim) which does not burn and therefore insulates you. Then, exposed to air, the apricot jam quickly (instantaneously) turns into skim and sloughs off your body.

... No, that's far too silly.

 

[Grendel]

Think of it like a slime.
A very hot slime.
it moves around and can get in your area it cna burn you if it creeps up your leg, but you can step around it, or avoid it easily enough.

That is how i describe the flaming "sphere".

 

[bret]

So the Flaming Sphere is basically Napalm Slime?

 

[kamosa]

I would think of it, well, like flame. It has a defined shape and can be moved, but has no force or substance. If it attacks the square a player is standing in, it envelops the player. The player can move freely through it, but must take damage from it (like the wall of fire).

JMTC

 

[Hypersmurf]

I would think of it, well, like flame. It has a defined shape and can be moved, but has no force or substance. If it attacks the square a player is standing in, it envelops the player. The player can move freely through it, but must take damage from it (like the wall of fire).

The slime, the pillar of flame, and the "no force or substance" all sound nice, but they all differ from the wording of the spell - "the surface of the sphere has a spongy, yielding consistency". House Rules that would make sense... but it would mean suddenly altering the manifestation of a spell the sorcerer has been casting for a couple of levels.

I tend to think of a sponge as a porous solid, rather than a gelatinous mass... something that can be compressed, but not passed through.

Am I interpreting the official wording correctly?

-Hyp.

 

[green slime]

So the Flaming Sphere is basically Napalm Slime?

This is an explanation I like!

 

[Pielorinho]

Smurf, I'm afraid that you face a dilemma. Either keep your current description of the spell, and deal with some major rules-silliness, or change the description and correct some of the silliness.

The smallest change you could probably make and still have the spell make sense would be to reduce the sphere's radius to 1.5'. That way, people can visualize what happens when they make their reflex save, and they can understand why the sphere won't affect them if it stays in the same square with them, and they can understand why they can enter a square with the sphere and not take damage from it.

Alternatively, you could leave the radius as it currently is and rule that anyone entering a square with a sphere takes damage, and on the caster's turn, the caster can move it into someone's square and force them to take damage (reflex saves in both cases, reflecting some mysterious ability to twist out of the way of a 6' burning ball of doom). This makes the spell significantly more powerful: it can now be bull-rushed, and can block a passage, and can damage someone twice in a round (once when they run through it, and once when the caster bounces it onto them).

I'd go for option #3 myself, making the sphere intangible; but that sounds like it's not an option for you.

Daniel

 

[Xahn'Tyr]

If you need to go by the letter of the rules, then keep in mind the following:

If it enters a space with a creature, it stops moving for the round and deals 2d6 points of fire damage to that creature.

That is the only time that it ever directly causes damage to someone. A creature can move through the sphere, or hang out in the same square all day without taking any damage.

The surface of the sphere has a spongy, yielding consistency and so does not cause damage except by its flame. It cannot push aside unwilling creatures or batter down large obstacles


Only the surface of the sphere has any tactile qualities. The interior is probably as substantial as plain old fire. So how hard would it be to break through a thin spongy surface? Not very. Also, if the sphere cannot push aside creatures, I would doubt that creatures could push aside it. The spongy surface just parts and passes around any solid bits.