Hey, I wonder how the following interaction works.
Scenario: An Alchemist uses Transmuted Spell to cast Flaming Sphere to deal Acid damage to a group of enemies caught in a Web.
My specific question relates to the wording in web (highlight mine):
The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.
I'm unsure whether "fire" in this instance is fire damage (which is now acid damage) or whether the flaming sphere is still considered fire after being transmuted. I expect the other parts of Flaming Sphere still apply (sheds bright light) but RAI would an acidic sphere set things on fire? What if it was transmuted to cold damage?
As a houserule I would say transmuting the fire to acid makes it an Acidic Sphere and no longer a Flaming Sphere - since the RAI of the transmute feature is to change the fundamental nature of your spells in an ad hoc way without having to homebrew a new spell. That being said, electricity, acid, radiant - these can all start fires in real life, anyway, so it wouldn't be immersion breaking or weird to let an acid sphere still ignite things.
By RAW, if the spell specifically states it ignites flammable things then it still does, regardless of what damage type you have changed it to. Because magic.
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Hey, I wonder how the following interaction works.
Scenario: An Alchemist uses Transmuted Spell to cast Flaming Sphere to deal Acid damage to a group of enemies caught in a Web.
My specific question relates to the wording in web (highlight mine):
The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.
I'm unsure whether "fire" in this instance is fire damage (which is now acid damage) or whether the flaming sphere is still considered fire after being transmuted. I expect the other parts of Flaming Sphere still apply (sheds bright light) but RAI would an acidic sphere set things on fire? What if it was transmuted to cold damage?
The Transmute spell only change damage to acid and not the rest of the spell effect by strict reading of the rules so a Web would still be exposed to fire sphere even though it didn't take fire damage. A Transmuted Flaming Sphere to acid reads as follow:
Flaming Shpere: 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 acid 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.
The spell specifically states that it can ignite flammable objects, so it should continue to do so regardless of the transmutation. Flavor as desired.
However, I assume secondary combustion would revert back to Fire damage, where applicable. It would be strange to see a Sphere of Cold lighting a trail of forest on fire, but such is the nature of magic.
I have a character who uses transmute spell and is super into elemental admixture fluff/flavor and he runs into these weird edge-cases all the time. Like is a transmuted Rime's Binding Ice still encasing creatures in Ice? Would a transmuted Armor of Agathys still look like spectral frost if it now does fire damage? Etc etc. The number of weird oddities tranmute spell creates is manifold.
I recommend thinking about it as mixing elements instead of replacing elements, though. You're not replacing the fire from your flaming sphere with acid, instead you're making the fire behave more like acid. But it still is flames. Just, flames that dissolve things like acid while damaging them instead of incinerate like normal flames. You're mixing the influence of acid into the fires, not replacing the fires.
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Hey, I wonder how the following interaction works.
Scenario: An Alchemist uses Transmuted Spell to cast Flaming Sphere to deal Acid damage to a group of enemies caught in a Web.
My specific question relates to the wording in web (highlight mine):
I'm unsure whether "fire" in this instance is fire damage (which is now acid damage) or whether the flaming sphere is still considered fire after being transmuted. I expect the other parts of Flaming Sphere still apply (sheds bright light) but RAI would an acidic sphere set things on fire? What if it was transmuted to cold damage?
As a houserule I would say transmuting the fire to acid makes it an Acidic Sphere and no longer a Flaming Sphere - since the RAI of the transmute feature is to change the fundamental nature of your spells in an ad hoc way without having to homebrew a new spell. That being said, electricity, acid, radiant - these can all start fires in real life, anyway, so it wouldn't be immersion breaking or weird to let an acid sphere still ignite things.
By RAW, if the spell specifically states it ignites flammable things then it still does, regardless of what damage type you have changed it to. Because magic.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
The Transmute spell only change damage to acid and not the rest of the spell effect by strict reading of the rules so a Web would still be exposed to fire sphere even though it didn't take fire damage. A Transmuted Flaming Sphere to acid reads as follow:
Web + Vitriolic Sphere, the combo everyone loves.
Agreeing with Plaguescarred.
The spell specifically states that it can ignite flammable objects, so it should continue to do so regardless of the transmutation. Flavor as desired.
However, I assume secondary combustion would revert back to Fire damage, where applicable. It would be strange to see a Sphere of Cold lighting a trail of forest on fire, but such is the nature of magic.
I have a character who uses transmute spell and is super into elemental admixture fluff/flavor and he runs into these weird edge-cases all the time. Like is a transmuted Rime's Binding Ice still encasing creatures in Ice? Would a transmuted Armor of Agathys still look like spectral frost if it now does fire damage? Etc etc. The number of weird oddities tranmute spell creates is manifold.
I recommend thinking about it as mixing elements instead of replacing elements, though. You're not replacing the fire from your flaming sphere with acid, instead you're making the fire behave more like acid. But it still is flames. Just, flames that dissolve things like acid while damaging them instead of incinerate like normal flames. You're mixing the influence of acid into the fires, not replacing the fires.
I got quotes!