D&D 5E Wherein we discuss spells and other magical things.

[Oofta]

As for passage of light & sound, we know that the occupant can see and hear. But the ORS will not allow energy of those kinds though in lethal amounts.

This is where you completely lose me, because that's just something you're arbitrarily throwing in.

In addition, when you hit the ground, there is no direct transfer of energy from the sphere to the occupant. At the instant of impact, the sphere's velocity becomes zero. That's all. The fact that the occupant's velocity is still thirty mph (or whatever their speed is) is not affected by the sphere coming to a dead stop.

When the sphere stops the occupant still has significant velocity which will be reduced to zero by the sphere a moment after the sphere's velocity becomes zero. Depending on their velocity at the time of the sudden deceleration, the damage could be significant.

 

[Lanefan]

You raise a good point, though it is not, strictly speaking, explicit in the spell description. Moving by pushing on the sphere's "walls" [I find the use of this word, in the plural, quite odd.] to roll it might not require a physical interaction with the ground; it might be a further magical effect of the spell.

Even given that gravity maintains its usual hold on the creature, if it, inside the sphere, does fall after rolling off a cliff, do we know that the sphere and character would accelerate? Or would they continue to move at the half-speed rate of rolling, constrained by the magic of the spell and limited in the kinetic energy that can be imparted to the occupant by the work of gravity?

Then, if they did accelerate, surely the airfoil of the sphere would factor into their rate of acceleration and terminal velocity, right? Using a handy online calculator (http://www.calctool.org/CALC/eng/aerospace/terminal), I find that the terminal velocity of the sphere, with the occupant's weight in it, would be around 25-30 mph. (I'm making assumptions using a medium-sized creature of 150 pounds). For comparison, via Wikipedia, the terminal velocity for a belly-down person is about 122 mph, depending on altitude and other factors, and for a person with a parachute, it's about 17 mph (about three times the speed of the feather fall spell). According to another handy tool (https://www.google.com/search?q=mph+to+km/h&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) 30 mph (or 48 km/h) would be reached under normal conditions by a person falling approximately 9.1 meters, or just about 30 feet. Thus if the sphere and content accelerate while falling, and if they fall far enough to reach terminal velocity, the occupant should take no more damage than he or she would by falling 30 feet under normal conditions.

OK, if the sphere is affected by wind resistance I can get behind this.

Which means by extension that if there's any significant breeze the fall is very likely not going to be in a straight line.

And if, as someone else has suggested, both sphere and occupant are effectively weightless a good breeze could put them in Kansas before the spell wore off.

There is one other unresolved aspect of the scenario, and that is what actually happens when the sphere strikes the ground (or some other surface). I find the hypothesis that the sphere would stop virtually instantaneously and the occupant would take falling damage as normal to be unsatisfactory. We know that the sphere is immune to all damage, and that physical objects cannot pass through the barrier. This means that the force of the impact will be transferred either to the sphere's contents or to the ground itself. We know that "a creature or object inside can’t be damaged by attacks or effects originating from outside," and the cause (gravity) leading to the effect (acceleration and impact) is outside the sphere. All of the energy of the impact, therefore, should go into the ground, and a small crater should be blown out until the sphere stops--or else the sphere should push the entire planet a minuscule distance--leaving the rider unharmed.

Or does it just bounce?

The sphere is moving toward the planet, which in turn means the planet is (relatively) moving toward the sphere. Planet is bigger than sphere. Impact, as would happen with two very different sized pool balls, shifts planet the tiniest imaginable amount. Planet shifts sphere a whole bunch.

Lanefan

 

[Reynard]

On reflection with stuff like this, I think it is best to go with the intent of the spell. In this case, the intent is that for the duration the creature in the sphere is immune to harm.

Now, I bet they should be susceptible to something like hypnotic pattern.

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[Dannyalcatraz]

This is where you completely lose me, because that's just something you're arbitrarily throwing in.

I'm not arbitrarily throwing in anything.

We all agree the occupant of ORS can see and hear, right? Now, imagine light intense enough to burn, sound intense enough to cripple. But ORS says:

a creature or object inside can’t be damaged by attacks or effects originating from outside

Doesn't matter how bright or loud, the occupant is safe from that damage.

In addition, when you hit the ground, there is no direct transfer of energy from the sphere to the occupant. At the instant of impact, the sphere's velocity becomes zero. That's all. The fact that the occupant's velocity is still thirty mph (or whatever their speed is) is not affected by the sphere coming to a dead stop.

When the sphere stops the occupant still has significant velocity which will be reduced to zero by the sphere a moment after the sphere's velocity becomes zero. Depending on their velocity at the time of the sudden deceleration, the damage could be significant.

In the posited scenario, the ONLY reason the sphere could conceivably exert force to stop the occupant is because the ground is its backstop, and thus, the ultimate source of the unbalanced force upon the occupant.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now, I bet they should be susceptible to something like hypnotic pattern.

Nope.

Nothing---not physical objects, energy, or other spell effects---can pass through the barrier,

(Emphasis mine.)

 

[Satyrn]

Again, the creature inside the sphere cannot be the source both of the momentum and the unbalanced force that stops him by simply falling. That is physics nonsense.

http://www.r.com/Class/newtlaws/u2l1d.cfm#balanced

A falling impact is- by definition- the falling object exerting a force on the surface it falls upon, and the surface exerting a force on the falling object.

But for the ground, there is nothing to exert that force upon the occupant- the ORS is merely in between.

Or to put it differently, if you asked a physics prof about the source of the unbalanced force that stopped a falling egg, and busted the yolk within (which would also likely shatter the egg, but that's not the issue), would he say it was the ground or the eggshell?

That last analogy shows I did not explain myself well enough; if I had you would not have asked the question the way you did. You're treating the shell and yolk as a single entity; I am not.

See, what I'm seeing is a)Hitting the ground causes the shell to break; and b) hitting the shell causes the yolk to break.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understood you perfectly.

The analogy is imperfect, as all analogies are.

Yes, in the analogy, the shell breaks. But let us assume, arguendo, that a significant portion the shell at the point of contact retains structural integrity and- unlike the rest of the shell- doesn't actually disperse, instead remaining between the egg and earth.

No serious physicist will then assert that the interposing eggshell was the source of the force that destroyed the yolk.

The ORS is described as weightless- a.k.a. without mass. How can it possibly exert a stopping force on its contents? The only possible answer is if it is solidly jammed against something that can exert such a force and transmit it through the sphere...but that answer is nullified by the spell's description.

 

[Reynard]

Nope.


(Emphasis mine.)

Ah. I did not go back and read it so I thought it was just damage. I only picked hypnotic pattern because ostensibly one can see through the globe.

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[doctorbadwolf]

Why couldn't they be? By definition, it's a condition imposed on a target, not HP damage. A mechanical distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.

And one that could explain/handle the bizarre dichotomy of a magical barrier that protects you from HP damage...when you've fallen off a cliff.

The other thing I see here, and I haven't read the 5e description, but the "hamster ball" thing seems to bare this out...Resilient Sphere is not the same as "Telekinetic Sphere," wherein the encased IS, by definition, floating in the middle of the sphere and thus suffers no impact, from any direction, from the sphere or anything outside of it.

With Resilient sphere, clearly, the "sphere" is falls because the person inside in falling, and pressing against the inside of the sphere in a downward force. That downward force will come to an abrupt end when hitting the ground, receiving an equal and opposite force in an upward direction.

IF we are saying the Resilient sphere is accepting, even negating, the brunt of the HP damage that upward force would instill, the interior being is still being thrown/"bounced" upward (and conceivably all over within the sphere) without the corresponding HP damage (cuz: MAGIC). They can be unconscious or stunned from that "knocking around" inside the solid energy sphere without having actually taken any HP damage from the fall.

But literally just changing directions that suddenly, at that velocity, assuming a rather high cliff, would most likely kill you. If it is damping the inertial force enough to make it not hurt your body *at all*, it is damping it enough that it wouldn't knock you out.

G-forces that don't harm your body noticeably can make some people pass out, but if hat is happening, energy is being transferred from outside to inside the ball. If all Force is magically rerouted around the ball, never touching you inside, you wouldn't even have any sensation of moving. Only way you would pass out is from vertigo or fear.

As for the hamster ball thing folks keep bringing up, it's magic. Perhaps the spell simply is coded to respond to you stepping forward by rolling the sphere.

 

[Lanefan]

Ah. I did not go back and read it so I thought it was just damage. I only picked hypnotic pattern because ostensibly one can see through the globe.

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One has to assume visual illusions would still be effective, though, if for no other reason than if the sphere is also in effect giving the occupant immunity to illusions that's a bit much.

Lanefan