Resilient Sphere: Human Hamster Ball

Usable By: Wizard

Spell Level: 4

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Components: V, S, M (A hemispherical piece of clear crystal and a matching hemispherical piece of gum arabic)

A sphere of shimmering force encloses a creature or object of Large size or smaller within range. An unwilling creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is enclosed for the duration.

Nothing—not physical objects, energy, or other spell effects—can pass through the barrier, in or out, though a creature in the sphere can breathe there. The sphere is immune to all damage, and a creature or object inside can’t be damaged by attacks or effects originating from outside, nor can a creature inside the sphere damage anything outside it.

The sphere is weightless and just large enough to contain the creature or object inside. An enclosed creature can use its action to push against the sphere’s walls and thus roll the sphere at up to half the creature’s speed. Similarly, the globe can be picked up and moved by other creatures.

A Disintegrate spell targeting the globe destroys it without harming anything inside it.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Sometimes you just really need to stick something in time out. Things are getting heated, you may have offended a guard demon because you may or may not have tried to steal an ancient key to a lockbox containing the souls of the damned or something, but at the end of the day you and the giant hellspawn guarding the entrance to hell can resolve your differences with words like adults. For those moments, you have Resilient Sphere.

4th level slots that temporarily deal with a problem are numerous, and while Resilient Sphere is probably worse in that case than Banishment and Polymorph, Resilient Sphere comes with the flexibility of being an odd protection piece and a hilarious image. Sure, you can use it to contain an angry young dragon trying to eat you, but you can also put YOURSELF inside to have immunity to damage for a full minute!

The latter utility is tricky to get the most out of, but can work wonders in the right circumstances. Creatures inside the sphere can’t DAMAGE anything on the outside of it, but they can still take actions to affect the fight. You can command summoned creatures or weapons that don’t take concentration to control, take time to investigate an area or rifle through a bag for the perfect magic item, or do any number of other actions that don’t lead to you directly harming outside creatures. You can protect an NPC vital to the plot or hide away the Haste casting ally to keep the paladin moving at warp speed while mowing down the non-believers.

We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet: it's a giant hamster ball. You, or whatever is inside, has free reign to bounce the place in a truly goofy way. The image of a young red dragon rolling head over tail around inside a giant pink translucent sphere takes a tense, dramatic encounter and makes it stupid silly. It is the best kind of nonsense, and while important to the spell’s power for the most part, makes the spell a 10/10 in my heart.

If you’ve done the whole Polymorph/Banishment thing and are in the market for a different version of those effects with an extra element of silliness, Resilient Sphere is here for you. Otherwise, it’s another great option among the sea of great options in the 4th level spells, but not quite to the level of the main offenders mentioned prior.

5e Spells

Resilient Sphere: Human Hamster Ball