Lord Pendragon said:
It doesn't imply multiple creatures at all. The expanding size means that the spell can trap successively larger single creatures. Note that the spell description mentions that if there isn't enough room to completely catch the target, the spell fails.
With the possible exception of the "those" mentioned in the last line, every reference to the target is singular. That rather strongly implies a single target, not multiple ones. And as for the "those" reference, I believe that's singular as well. Such as "A single subject can be trapped in the sphere, so long as they fail their reflex save." i.e. the word is being used as a gender neutral, rather than a true plural. (Note that the sentence starts, The subject may struggle..."
I see your point. Mine is simply that it doens't say Target: one creature. Rather it say: Effect: 1-ft.-diameter/level sphere, centered around a creature.
In other words, while I agree that it doens't
imply multiple creatures at all, indeed it implies a single creature, I'm also not going off the spells implications, but the spells listed effects.
The effect is a shpere, one which must be centered on a creature, but really (even if the spell wasn't *designed* to catch more than one creature), the spell indeed can catch more than one creature. Otherwise you can use it to push a creature around. (What if I center the spell on that between the fighter and the monster, will it push the monster off the cliff? Will it smash the fighter??)
Anything else seems to be reading something into it. Certainly the wizard who designed the spell meant for one critter to be affected. Just as clearly the spell creates a shpere of a certain size, with a creature at it's center. ... The size can be enough to enclose multiple creatures.
SRD said:
A globe of shimmering force encloses a creature, provided the creature is small enough to fit within the diameter of the sphere. The sphere contains its subject for the spell’s duration. The sphere is not subject to damage of any sort except from a rod of cancellation, a rod of negation, a disintegrate spell, or a targeted dispel magic spell. These effects destroy the sphere without harm to the subject. Nothing can pass through the sphere, inside or out, though the subject can breathe normally.
The subject may struggle, but the sphere cannot be physically moved either by people outside it or by the struggles of those within.
Emphasis mine...
It does refer to one subject all the time. Well, other than that once at the end. That's either all flavor text or none, however.
It could be a typo!
But really, while the spell was clearly designed to catch only one target, saying that it can ONLY catch one target seems to be a house-rule to me.
