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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cognomen's Cassowary" data-source="post: 7079343" data-attributes="member: 6801445">Well, in point of fact, they do deform when they strike. The two games you cite are both designed to have the most elastic collisions possible, meaning that as much energy is retained within the system as possible, and none of the moving bodies in billiards or curling is massive enough that its gravity perceptibly affects the motion of the other bodies.The sphere striking the ground would, in all likelihood (though, again, we don't really know how the sphere behaves) be far less elastic, as both the rigidity of the sphere and the gravity of the planet would resist its bouncing. Assuming the planet is an actual planet as we think of them--i.e., if it has collapsed into a spheroid under its own mass and gravity--then the sphere will be drawn toward its center of mass at a right angle to its surface. The sort of glancing blow one sees in pool and curling is impossible. If the ground is level, the sphere either bounces if it can deform and regain its shape or does not if it cannot.And if it strikes a slope? Exactly the same. It bounces (or deflects) if it can deform and spring back or it does not if it cannot. It might conserve some momentum by rolling, but, again, we don't really know. It could be sticky for all it matters.Except, as I mentioned earlier, the "hamstering" might simply be a magical effect of the spell and not a physical interaction with the ground. If the sphere is weightless, taking that to mean neutrally buoyant in air (assuming that the spell is cast in air, which is a whole other can of worms), then why should it cost an action and half the occupant's speed to move it? It would take almost no effort if this were a purely physical interaction.A fun hypothetical: if the resilient sphere is cast on a flying creature, what happens? Can the creature move the sphere simply by flying against its side? It is, after all, weightless. Can the creature move it only at half speed? Why--what is resisting? If the creature cannot move the sphere, since it needs to be "hamstering" against the ground, and if the creature needs to move to keep flying, what happens? If the creature cannot continue flying and settles to the bottom of the sphere, does the sphere begin to fall? Why--how is this different from the creature pushing on its side? If the sphere falls, does it accelerate as though the creature were falling unimpeded, or does it use the sphere's flow characteristics? If the creature accelerates at its normal rate--i.e., if the air does not interact in any way with the sphere--and the creature reaches a speed at which it would normally be able to fly, can it gain lift and level off the descent of the sphere, or can can it still not move the sphere horizontally? Can it use its wings within the sphere to break its fall?Or, instead, if the creature is able to move the sphere, can it keep flying despite the sphere preventing air from moving over its wings as normal? Is the creature able to keep flying by circulating the air within the sphere, basically flying on a treadmill? If so, does it keep moving forward?Another fun hypothetical: a creature is in a resilient sphere on the ground. Somebody casts reverse gravity in the area. What happens? Does the creature fall up and the sphere fall with it, since the creature is affected by gravity? Or does the creature stay where it is, because spell effects cannot penetrate the barrier?</blockquote>

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