Flaming Sphere: Store Brand Fireball
Spell Level: 2
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (a bit of tallow, a pinch of brimstone, and a dusting of powdered iron)
A 5-foot-diameter sphere of fire appears in an unoccupied space of your choice within range and lasts for the duration. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the sphere must make a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 2d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
As a bonus action, you can move the sphere up to 30 feet. If you ram the sphere into a creature, that creature must make the saving throw against the sphere’s damage, and the sphere stops moving this turn.
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. The sphere ignites flammable objects not being worn or carried, and it sheds bright light in a 20-‐‑foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
For the casters out there who want to conjure a big, fat, ball of fire into a fight and just throw it around at people, do I have some great news for you. Flaming Sphere is a single space wide sphere that you can throw around like a dodgeball that also burns people if they continue to stand next to it. All in all, a pretty baller effect!
Damage wise, to justify the cast over something like Burning Hands, you’re going to need a few creatures to make more than one save against it, which because the damage is only 2d6, is surprisingly consistent to pull off. Flaming Sphere is an easy to cast damaging effect you’re pretty happy to concentrate on at 3rd and 4th level. The damage doesn’t scale well enough to justify up-casting basically ever, and it eating your concentration will leave this out to dry the moment you pick up longer duration or more powerful concentration effects, but up until that point, Flaming Sphere does what it says on the tin.
Flaming Sphere also has some of the most notable “ignites objects not being worn or carried” text, as it's a lot easier to remember it’s happening with the persistent flame in the middle of the area. Fireball and Burning Hands can feel like instantaneous damage effects, and often the set pieces in the background fall away from your mind in the middle of a fight. With Flaming Sphere being persistent, and offering you a constant burning effect, weaponizing the ignition capabilities becomes a lot easier to justify and try out, and will be something you’ll more frequently remember as part of the spell. It can be used to interact with the environment as it grows and develops, something Burning Hands and Fireball can’t really do because of their instantaneous nature.
All things considered, Flaming Sphere is an entirely reasonable 2nd level damage spell for the options that get it that you’ll probably forget about as soon as you reach 5th level. Up until then, though, it can be a great asset to character sheets looking for a repeatable source of area of effect fire damage. I’d recommend it.
Flaming Sphere FAQ
Can a Flaming Sphere be moved up and down?
While the rules don’t explicitly forbid up and down movement, it’s heavily implied that such movement isn’t allowed. They wouldn’t have bothered writing that it can be moved over five-foot-tall barriers and jumped over ten-foot-wide pits if moving it through the air was an option.
Can I damage a creature twice in the same round with Flaming Sphere?
The ramming rules are a little confusing the first couple of times you read them, which often leads to this question being asked. Let’s see if I can clarify…
Short answer: Yes.
If you ram a creature with your Flaming Sphere, it makes a saving throw then and there and takes damage if it fails. If said creature fails to get more than five feet away from the sphere during their turn (perhaps they’re being held, or they’re extremely stupid) then it will need to make an additional saving throw or take further damage.
Do I take damage when passing through a Flaming Sphere?
Only if you end your turn within five feet of it. Contrary to conventional wisdom, you may walk right through this ball of fire without suffering any consequences.
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