Anyone know what happens to a creature killed by the Sphere? Is their soul destroyed too or just their body? Like if someone had their blood, could they still be resurrected?

DMs discretion, but I think if you are not contested it is just a one-time check. If you are contested it could be a check made at regular intervals. Or if contested it could be something akin to concentration

That's the way we ruled it as well, just seemed to make sense.

it is stationary until moved by someone so it wouldnt fall at all

Quote from Gambal >>

 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Do they move with vehicles, or are they stationary in spacetime unless moved?

 

 "The sphere is stationary until someone controls it."

So the vehicle would have to move at the speed the controller can move it. (5 x INT mod).

 
As  a DM I would rule that it moves with the vehicle.  Why?  Because the magic stabilizing it must be able to attach to a frame of reference or it would be utterly unusable at all, it can not be stationary in space-time.

The planet is not stationary. Many of the ideas around it being stuck in space-time at a location and unable to move at all unless deliberately controlled fall into the trap of thinking your location is also fixed in space time... but it isn't. That's an illusion generated by the fact you are pinned down to the Earth by gravitational effect of the curvature of space time from the planets mass, and the fact that your perception is limited by your physiology and small size to your local conditions. Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting still in say one train and watching another train pass you by through a window that limits your view and it makes you feel like you are actually the one moving? Reverse that. The truth is you are careening through space at probably something like Mach 3 - Mach 4 while your experience says you are sitting still.

Let's take Toril as the sort of primary D&D setting as an example: It has a 24 hr day, and a 365 day year, so it's comparable to Earth.

At the equator, the Earth is moving at roughly 460 meters per second as it spins on it's axis that's roughly .29 miles per second, or 1.7 miles in your 6 second round. It will be less the further north or south you go towards the poles, but its still not going to be an insignificant pace unless you are at the severe ends of the globe. And this does not take into account how fast the Earth is rotating around the Sun.

The Earth is moving through space rotating around the sun at roughly 18.6 miles per second, or roughly 111.6 miles in your 6 second round. And that does not take into account how fast the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy as we corkscrew around it.

The Sun is orbiting the galaxy at roughly 138 miles per second, or 828.5 miles in your 6 second round.

And this does not take into account how fast the Galaxy itself is moving through existing space.

Nor does it take into account the expansion of space itself.

All of which dwarf the previous speeds we are talking about.

So, given that if the Sphere was stationary in space, completely stationary (if such a thing is even possible given the expansion of space)... the item would be many hundreds to thousands of miles away from you by the end of your turn... it must be able to affix to a location and frame of reference. If it wasn't, it would blip through your experience in the blink of an eye.

You would not even be able to see it.

*Really*.

Your location is moving in relation to a nearby fixed point in space faster than a sniper bullet.

And this doesn't even consider weirder things like the theoretical branching wave functions of the uni/multi verse in quantum mechanics.

Granted, this does not take into account some of the games alternate cosmology, planar existence, crystal spheres if those are still a thing, phlogiston, etc... but even if all you are taking into account is the existence of a year and day, the Sphere can't be totally stationary.

If it can affix to the surface of the planet as a frame of reference to move on, then it doesn't seem unreasonable that if you put it on a vehicle to move it, that it could affix to that frame of reference and move there too.

If for no other reason than the "rule of cool".

It wouldn't be a lot of fun to say have the group have to take a journey by sea or air ship, or even maybe a spelljammer, and have to leave one of the team members hard won legendary items behind (or potentially render a second useless if they have acquired the talisman too). And it wouldn't be logistically fun to have to try and figure out how to get the ships to move at a rate that the controller of the Sphere would be able to keep it moving.  Now, that's explicitly different than if you are hopping through portals, etc. as that's defined to be a risky procedure with the Sphere. But more mundane travel is not covered in that.

The Sphere is a cool item, but it's not unbalanced. It's legendary, and you can do a lot of fun things with it. But it's mechanical rules aren't difficult to adjudicate as a DM, and it's not going to ruin your game.

First things first, if you don't want it in your game, just don't add it.  If you want it in game and only in a specific location, make that clear in your environment's construction. Think about something like the Tomb of Annihilation and how some of those magic items would turn to dust if you try to leave with them for the reasons given in the Adventure.

And if you bring it in and let your party take it with them, and it's causing you balance problems then you have any means you want to remove it from the game.

Sure you could use this: "it can't move with vehicles" option, but it's a fairly anti-climatic way to go about it. And that's not going to feel satisfying to your players for something they're likely not going to be able to get their hands on until a fairly decently high level, like tier 3-4 if you are being reasonable as a DM about when you allow them access.

It feels like the kind of thing where if you need to get rid of it for some reason you should plan something a little more spectacular and epic like a scenario where you force the players to make a hard choice on entering a portal and have to sacrifice the Sphere or sacrifice something else of high value to keep it... like maybe a beloved NPC that's been with them for a while, or the team's ultimate quest goals. Or just have sending the Sphere into the portal as the MacGuffin that's able to keep them on their path towards what they are trying to accomplish.

Or even something like destabilizing the magic that's holding it together, or having a powerful organization or adversary chasing them to wrest control of it from them as a plot device for something more compelling. In fact, we know Spheres of Annihilation are highly coveted items by many high level Wizards and spellcasters like Entropomancers. Why would they be something they want so badly if they were more of a PITA to use than is worth the trouble? Sure they can be compelling traps or have lair or stronghold uses. But if that's all they had in terms of their use you wouldn't think they'd be as highly prized.

Anyway, you are the DM and have only your creativity as a barrier for dealing with it. I'd say, don't short change your players on an unsatisfying technicality. Especially when we know it's definitely *not* stationary in space-time.

I don't know.

I just got the "Tomb of Anniahlation" module and apparently Acererak has this thing called "Talismen of the sphere" (i dont know how to spell) anyway he can control the sphere with it. How does that work? I can't find any info on it in the book. Are there any side affects?

Quote from Torinn_Myastan >>

I just got the "Tomb of Anniahlation" module and apparently Acererak has this thing called "Talismen of the sphere" (i dont know how to spell) anyway he can control the sphere with it. How does that work? I can't find any info on it in the book. Are there any side affects?

The description for the Talisman of the Sphere along with how it works is described in the Basic Rules on page 207 or in the DMG on page 207. 
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/talisman-of-the-sphere

Quote from Nezalhualixtlan >>

Quote from Gambal >>

 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Do they move with vehicles, or are they stationary in spacetime unless moved?

 

 "The sphere is stationary until someone controls it."

So the vehicle would have to move at the speed the controller can move it. (5 x INT mod).

 
As  a DM I would rule that it moves with the vehicle.  Why?  Because the magic stabilizing it must be able to attach to a frame of reference or it would be utterly unusable at all, it can not be stationary in space-time.

The planet is not stationary. Many of the ideas around it being stuck in space-time at a location and unable to move at all unless deliberately controlled fall into the trap of thinking your location is also fixed in space time... but it isn't. That's an illusion generated by the fact you are pinned down to the Earth by gravitational effect of the curvature of space time from the planets mass, and the fact that your perception is limited by your physiology and small size to your local conditions. Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting still in say one train and watching another train pass you by through a window that limits your view and it makes you feel like you are actually the one moving? Reverse that. The truth is you are careening through space at probably something like Mach 3 - Mach 4 while your experience says you are sitting still.

Let's take Toril as the sort of primary D&D setting as an example: It has a 24 hr day, and a 365 day year, so it's comparable to Earth.

At the equator, the Earth is moving at roughly 460 meters per second as it spins on it's axis that's roughly .29 miles per second, or 1.7 miles in your 6 second round. It will be less the further north or south you go towards the poles, but its still not going to be an insignificant pace unless you are at the severe ends of the globe. And this does not take into account how fast the Earth is rotating around the Sun.

The Earth is moving through space rotating around the sun at roughly 18.6 miles per second, or roughly 111.6 miles in your 6 second round. And that does not take into account how fast the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy as we corkscrew around it.

The Sun is orbiting the galaxy at roughly 138 miles per second, or 828.5 miles in your 6 second round.

And this does not take into account how fast the Galaxy itself is moving through existing space.

Nor does it take into account the expansion of space itself.

All of which dwarf the previous speeds we are talking about.

So, given that if the Sphere was stationary in space, completely stationary (if such a thing is even possible given the expansion of space)... the item would be many hundreds to thousands of miles away from you by the end of your turn... it must be able to affix to a location and frame of reference. If it wasn't, it would blip through your experience in the blink of an eye.

You would not even be able to see it.

*Really*.

Your location is moving in relation to a nearby fixed point in space faster than a sniper bullet.

And this doesn't even consider weirder things like the theoretical branching wave functions of the uni/multi verse in quantum mechanics.

Granted, this does not take into account some of the games alternate cosmology, planar existence, crystal spheres if those are still a thing, phlogiston, etc... but even if all you are taking into account is the existence of a year and day, the Sphere can't be totally stationary.

If it can affix to the surface of the planet as a frame of reference to move on, then it doesn't seem unreasonable that if you put it on a vehicle to move it, that it could affix to that frame of reference and move there too.

If for no other reason than the "rule of cool".

It wouldn't be a lot of fun to say have the group have to take a journey by sea or air ship, or even maybe a spelljammer, and have to leave one of the team members hard won legendary items behind (or potentially render a second useless if they have acquired the talisman too). And it wouldn't be logistically fun to have to try and figure out how to get the ships to move at a rate that the controller of the Sphere would be able to keep it moving.  Now, that's explicitly different than if you are hopping through portals, etc. as that's defined to be a risky procedure with the Sphere. But more mundane travel is not covered in that.

The Sphere is a cool item, but it's not unbalanced. It's legendary, and you can do a lot of fun things with it. But it's mechanical rules aren't difficult to adjudicate as a DM, and it's not going to ruin your game.

First things first, if you don't want it in your game, just don't add it.  If you want it in game and only in a specific location, make that clear in your environment's construction. Think about something like the Tomb of Annihilation and how some of those magic items would turn to dust if you try to leave with them for the reasons given in the Adventure.

And if you bring it in and let your party take it with them, and it's causing you balance problems then you have any means you want to remove it from the game.

Sure you could use this: "it can't move with vehicles" option, but it's a fairly anti-climatic way to go about it. And that's not going to feel satisfying to your players for something they're likely not going to be able to get their hands on until a fairly decently high level, like tier 3-4 if you are being reasonable as a DM about when you allow them access.

It feels like the kind of thing where if you need to get rid of it for some reason you should plan something a little more spectacular and epic like a scenario where you force the players to make a hard choice on entering a portal and have to sacrifice the Sphere or sacrifice something else of high value to keep it... like maybe a beloved NPC that's been with them for a while, or the team's ultimate quest goals. Or just have sending the Sphere into the portal as the MacGuffin that's able to keep them on their path towards what they are trying to accomplish.

Or even something like destabilizing the magic that's holding it together, or having a powerful organization or adversary chasing them to wrest control of it from them as a plot device for something more compelling. In fact, we know Spheres of Annihilation are highly coveted items by many high level Wizards and spellcasters like Entropomancers. Why would they be something they want so badly if they were more of a PITA to use than is worth the trouble? Sure they can be compelling traps or have lair or stronghold uses. But if that's all they had in terms of their use you wouldn't think they'd be as highly prized.

Anyway, you are the DM and have only your creativity as a barrier for dealing with it. I'd say, don't short change your players on an unsatisfying technicality. Especially when we know it's definitely *not* stationary in space-time.

 Einstein D&D style!

Sorry, I didn't read the entire comment before I posted. Pretend I only commented on the relevant bit.

Anyway, has anyone else wondered what would happen if a gelatinous cube or something somehow took control of this?

Or if a troll ate it?

Quote from Nezalhualixtlan >>

Quote from Gambal >>

 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Do they move with vehicles, or are they stationary in spacetime unless moved?

 

 "The sphere is stationary until someone controls it."

So the vehicle would have to move at the speed the controller can move it. (5 x INT mod).

 
As  a DM I would rule that it moves with the vehicle.  Why?  Because the magic stabilizing it must be able to attach to a frame of reference or it would be utterly unusable at all, it can not be stationary in space-time.

The planet is not stationary. Many of the ideas around it being stuck in space-time at a location and unable to move at all unless deliberately controlled fall into the trap of thinking your location is also fixed in space time... but it isn't. That's an illusion generated by the fact you are pinned down to the Earth by gravitational effect of the curvature of space time from the planets mass, and the fact that your perception is limited by your physiology and small size to your local conditions. Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting still in say one train and watching another train pass you by through a window that limits your view and it makes you feel like you are actually the one moving? Reverse that. The truth is you are careening through space at probably something like Mach 3 - Mach 4 while your experience says you are sitting still.

Let's take Toril as the sort of primary D&D setting as an example: It has a 24 hr day, and a 365 day year, so it's comparable to Earth.

At the equator, the Earth is moving at roughly 460 meters per second as it spins on it's axis that's roughly .29 miles per second, or 1.7 miles in your 6 second round. It will be less the further north or south you go towards the poles, but its still not going to be an insignificant pace unless you are at the severe ends of the globe. And this does not take into account how fast the Earth is rotating around the Sun.

The Earth is moving through space rotating around the sun at roughly 18.6 miles per second, or roughly 111.6 miles in your 6 second round. And that does not take into account how fast the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy as we corkscrew around it.

The Sun is orbiting the galaxy at roughly 138 miles per second, or 828.5 miles in your 6 second round.

And this does not take into account how fast the Galaxy itself is moving through existing space.

Nor does it take into account the expansion of space itself.

All of which dwarf the previous speeds we are talking about.

So, given that if the Sphere was stationary in space, completely stationary (if such a thing is even possible given the expansion of space)... the item would be many hundreds to thousands of miles away from you by the end of your turn... it must be able to affix to a location and frame of reference. If it wasn't, it would blip through your experience in the blink of an eye.

You would not even be able to see it.

*Really*.

Your location is moving in relation to a nearby fixed point in space faster than a sniper bullet.

And this doesn't even consider weirder things like the theoretical branching wave functions of the uni/multi verse in quantum mechanics.

Granted, this does not take into account some of the games alternate cosmology, planar existence, crystal spheres if those are still a thing, phlogiston, etc... but even if all you are taking into account is the existence of a year and day, the Sphere can't be totally stationary.

If it can affix to the surface of the planet as a frame of reference to move on, then it doesn't seem unreasonable that if you put it on a vehicle to move it, that it could affix to that frame of reference and move there too.

If for no other reason than the "rule of cool".

It wouldn't be a lot of fun to say have the group have to take a journey by sea or air ship, or even maybe a spelljammer, and have to leave one of the team members hard won legendary items behind (or potentially render a second useless if they have acquired the talisman too). And it wouldn't be logistically fun to have to try and figure out how to get the ships to move at a rate that the controller of the Sphere would be able to keep it moving.  Now, that's explicitly different than if you are hopping through portals, etc. as that's defined to be a risky procedure with the Sphere. But more mundane travel is not covered in that.

The Sphere is a cool item, but it's not unbalanced. It's legendary, and you can do a lot of fun things with it. But it's mechanical rules aren't difficult to adjudicate as a DM, and it's not going to ruin your game.

First things first, if you don't want it in your game, just don't add it.  If you want it in game and only in a specific location, make that clear in your environment's construction. Think about something like the Tomb of Annihilation and how some of those magic items would turn to dust if you try to leave with them for the reasons given in the Adventure.

And if you bring it in and let your party take it with them, and it's causing you balance problems then you have any means you want to remove it from the game.

Sure you could use this: "it can't move with vehicles" option, but it's a fairly anti-climatic way to go about it. And that's not going to feel satisfying to your players for something they're likely not going to be able to get their hands on until a fairly decently high level, like tier 3-4 if you are being reasonable as a DM about when you allow them access.

It feels like the kind of thing where if you need to get rid of it for some reason you should plan something a little more spectacular and epic like a scenario where you force the players to make a hard choice on entering a portal and have to sacrifice the Sphere or sacrifice something else of high value to keep it... like maybe a beloved NPC that's been with them for a while, or the team's ultimate quest goals. Or just have sending the Sphere into the portal as the MacGuffin that's able to keep them on their path towards what they are trying to accomplish.

Or even something like destabilizing the magic that's holding it together, or having a powerful organization or adversary chasing them to wrest control of it from them as a plot device for something more compelling. In fact, we know Spheres of Annihilation are highly coveted items by many high level Wizards and spellcasters like Entropomancers. Why would they be something they want so badly if they were more of a PITA to use than is worth the trouble? Sure they can be compelling traps or have lair or stronghold uses. But if that's all they had in terms of their use you wouldn't think they'd be as highly prized.

Anyway, you are the DM and have only your creativity as a barrier for dealing with it. I'd say, don't short change your players on an unsatisfying technicality. Especially when we know it's definitely *not* stationary in space-time.

Counterpoint...you can't simply put it as "the user defines a frame of reference" or else you could just move it to "the end of my sword" and then you have a black hole on a stick, able to wave it around wherever and carve through enemies and obstacles with no limitations.

If I was setting house rules, it can anchor to any enclosed space capable of comfortably holding a medium humanoid. So you can take it on a boat or in a wagon...but it can't, eg, ride a horse with you, or be put in a trunk

Quote from Jorick_Shortbeard >>

If a sphere of annihilation fell from outer space and hit Toril, what would it's impact radius be, if it had one at all?

Two feet, ie the spheres radius. It has no mass so there is nothing to impact.  Also it can't travel faster than a few dozen feet per round, and has no mass, so it can't "fall" from anywhere, and wouldn't go very fast even if made to move downward 

An interesting application, though...if a particularly mad and patient wizard got the notion to - and assuming Toril was structurally and cosmologically similar to Earth - you could continue willing it downward until it reached the planet's mantle, at which point it would start to swallow the planet's liquid interior as magma kept flowing into the hole and being annihilated.  Assuming there was no max capacity for annihilation, eventually the pressure of the mantle would be less than the weight of the overlying crust, and the entire surface would begin to buckle and collapse in on itself, with the planet shrinking until the sphere had come to rest in solid rock again and the mantle had been squeezed enough to repressurise and bear the weight of the lithosphere.  It would be an apocalyptic cataclysm on the surface and subsurface worlds, in the meantime, with giant thrust faults forming and huge, craggy new mountains being shoved up around the world, and relative ocean levels rising resulting in huge coastal flooding, not to mention a complete collapse of any major subsurface open space, ie the underdark.

Quote from Nezalhualixtlan >>

Quote from Gambal >>

 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Do they move with vehicles, or are they stationary in spacetime unless moved?

 

 "The sphere is stationary until someone controls it."

So the vehicle would have to move at the speed the controller can move it. (5 x INT mod).

 
As  a DM I would rule that it moves with the vehicle.  Why?  Because the magic stabilizing it must be able to attach to a frame of reference or it would be utterly unusable at all, it can not be stationary in space-time.

The planet is not stationary. Many of the ideas around it being stuck in space-time at a location and unable to move at all unless deliberately controlled fall into the trap of thinking your location is also fixed in space time... but it isn't. That's an illusion generated by the fact you are pinned down to the Earth by gravitational effect of the curvature of space time from the planets mass, and the fact that your perception is limited by your physiology and small size to your local conditions. Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting still in say one train and watching another train pass you by through a window that limits your view and it makes you feel like you are actually the one moving? Reverse that. The truth is you are careening through space at probably something like Mach 3 - Mach 4 while your experience says you are sitting still.

Let's take Toril as the sort of primary D&D setting as an example: It has a 24 hr day, and a 365 day year, so it's comparable to Earth.

At the equator, the Earth is moving at roughly 460 meters per second as it spins on it's axis that's roughly .29 miles per second, or 1.7 miles in your 6 second round. It will be less the further north or south you go towards the poles, but its still not going to be an insignificant pace unless you are at the severe ends of the globe. And this does not take into account how fast the Earth is rotating around the Sun.

The Earth is moving through space rotating around the sun at roughly 18.6 miles per second, or roughly 111.6 miles in your 6 second round. And that does not take into account how fast the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy as we corkscrew around it.

The Sun is orbiting the galaxy at roughly 138 miles per second, or 828.5 miles in your 6 second round.

And this does not take into account how fast the Galaxy itself is moving through existing space.

Nor does it take into account the expansion of space itself.

All of which dwarf the previous speeds we are talking about.

So, given that if the Sphere was stationary in space, completely stationary (if such a thing is even possible given the expansion of space)... the item would be many hundreds to thousands of miles away from you by the end of your turn... it must be able to affix to a location and frame of reference. If it wasn't, it would blip through your experience in the blink of an eye.

You would not even be able to see it.

*Really*.

Your location is moving in relation to a nearby fixed point in space faster than a sniper bullet.

And this doesn't even consider weirder things like the theoretical branching wave functions of the uni/multi verse in quantum mechanics.

Granted, this does not take into account some of the games alternate cosmology, planar existence, crystal spheres if those are still a thing, phlogiston, etc... but even if all you are taking into account is the existence of a year and day, the Sphere can't be totally stationary.

If it can affix to the surface of the planet as a frame of reference to move on, then it doesn't seem unreasonable that if you put it on a vehicle to move it, that it could affix to that frame of reference and move there too.

If for no other reason than the "rule of cool".

It wouldn't be a lot of fun to say have the group have to take a journey by sea or air ship, or even maybe a spelljammer, and have to leave one of the team members hard won legendary items behind (or potentially render a second useless if they have acquired the talisman too). And it wouldn't be logistically fun to have to try and figure out how to get the ships to move at a rate that the controller of the Sphere would be able to keep it moving.  Now, that's explicitly different than if you are hopping through portals, etc. as that's defined to be a risky procedure with the Sphere. But more mundane travel is not covered in that.

The Sphere is a cool item, but it's not unbalanced. It's legendary, and you can do a lot of fun things with it. But it's mechanical rules aren't difficult to adjudicate as a DM, and it's not going to ruin your game.

First things first, if you don't want it in your game, just don't add it.  If you want it in game and only in a specific location, make that clear in your environment's construction. Think about something like the Tomb of Annihilation and how some of those magic items would turn to dust if you try to leave with them for the reasons given in the Adventure.

And if you bring it in and let your party take it with them, and it's causing you balance problems then you have any means you want to remove it from the game.

Sure you could use this: "it can't move with vehicles" option, but it's a fairly anti-climatic way to go about it. And that's not going to feel satisfying to your players for something they're likely not going to be able to get their hands on until a fairly decently high level, like tier 3-4 if you are being reasonable as a DM about when you allow them access.

It feels like the kind of thing where if you need to get rid of it for some reason you should plan something a little more spectacular and epic like a scenario where you force the players to make a hard choice on entering a portal and have to sacrifice the Sphere or sacrifice something else of high value to keep it... like maybe a beloved NPC that's been with them for a while, or the team's ultimate quest goals. Or just have sending the Sphere into the portal as the MacGuffin that's able to keep them on their path towards what they are trying to accomplish.

Or even something like destabilizing the magic that's holding it together, or having a powerful organization or adversary chasing them to wrest control of it from them as a plot device for something more compelling. In fact, we know Spheres of Annihilation are highly coveted items by many high level Wizards and spellcasters like Entropomancers. Why would they be something they want so badly if they were more of a PITA to use than is worth the trouble? Sure they can be compelling traps or have lair or stronghold uses. But if that's all they had in terms of their use you wouldn't think they'd be as highly prized.

Anyway, you are the DM and have only your creativity as a barrier for dealing with it. I'd say, don't short change your players on an unsatisfying technicality. Especially when we know it's definitely *not* stationary in space-time.

 As impressive as your understanding of real-world physics is, you are making an incredibly massive assumption by applying them to a fictional setting such as Toril. Let us take Ea, the universe in which the Silmarillion - and all related works - takes place as an example of a well-known and established fantasy setting that follows very few, if any, of our laws of physics and science : as an example, in the Third Age, when elves sail west from Middle-Earth, they eventually arrive in Valinor, to the west of which exists the physical end of the world, however, when a human sails west from Middle-Earth, they travel in a complete circle around the world, arriving in Rhun or Mordor, this creates a paradox in which Arda is both a spherical planet and a flat planet at the same time.

Now, as far as game mechanics are concerned, I agree with your ruling, as it is very reasonable. I merely like to provoke more open-ended thought on any subject I can.

Guys, am I guessing right that anyone enclosed in Otiluke's Resilient Sphere isn't affected by the Sphere of Annihilation's effect?

Guys, am I guessing right that anyone enclosed in Otiluke's Resilient Sphere isn't affected by the Sphere of Annihilation's effect?

I got some ideas why it would not protect you.

1. Since the sphere states that "The sphere obliterates all matter it passes through and all matter that passes through it. Artifacts are the exception. " I would argue that all magical items would be destroyed which to me would signal that magical effects have no effect on it. I would say that " Otiluke's Resilient Sphere" would get destroyed by the sphere of Annihilation.

2. The resilient sphere states that "Nothing—not physical objects, energy, or other spell effects—can pass through the barrier, in or out (...)", one could argue that the sphere basically is "nothing". It also is no physical object, nor energy nor a spell effect (since its at best a magical effect).

3. The resilient sphere can be destroyed using a Disintegrate spell. I think it is fair to assume that a legendary magical item is stronger than a 6-th level spell that also deals force damage (although the spell is really good).

4. And finally: The resilient sphere states that "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." I believe that the sphere of Annihilation would make a hole into the resilient sphere (since that is no damage dealt but an effect forced upon it) which might close due to the fact that the spell is continous but since the sphere of Annihilation is now inside the resilient sphere it would be able to damage you.

tldr: I would rule that the resilient sphere wont protect you.

This thing has weird interactions with Mythlars.

If this thing is matter, can it move with a Mythar?

If it touches a Mythar, do both go boom?

Quote from Adrahil_Laenhyr >>

Quote from Nezalhualixtlan >>

Quote from Gambal >>

 

Quote from Aries50 >>

Do they move with vehicles, or are they stationary in spacetime unless moved?

 

 "The sphere is stationary until someone controls it."

So the vehicle would have to move at the speed the controller can move it. (5 x INT mod).

 
As  a DM I would rule that it moves with the vehicle.  Why?  Because the magic stabilizing it must be able to attach to a frame of reference or it would be utterly unusable at all, it can not be stationary in space-time.

The planet is not stationary. Many of the ideas around it being stuck in space-time at a location and unable to move at all unless deliberately controlled fall into the trap of thinking your location is also fixed in space time... but it isn't. That's an illusion generated by the fact you are pinned down to the Earth by gravitational effect of the curvature of space time from the planets mass, and the fact that your perception is limited by your physiology and small size to your local conditions. Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting still in say one train and watching another train pass you by through a window that limits your view and it makes you feel like you are actually the one moving? Reverse that. The truth is you are careening through space at probably something like Mach 3 - Mach 4 while your experience says you are sitting still.

Let's take Toril as the sort of primary D&D setting as an example: It has a 24 hr day, and a 365 day year, so it's comparable to Earth.

At the equator, the Earth is moving at roughly 460 meters per second as it spins on it's axis that's roughly .29 miles per second, or 1.7 miles in your 6 second round. It will be less the further north or south you go towards the poles, but its still not going to be an insignificant pace unless you are at the severe ends of the globe. And this does not take into account how fast the Earth is rotating around the Sun.

The Earth is moving through space rotating around the sun at roughly 18.6 miles per second, or roughly 111.6 miles in your 6 second round. And that does not take into account how fast the Sun is orbiting the Galaxy as we corkscrew around it.

The Sun is orbiting the galaxy at roughly 138 miles per second, or 828.5 miles in your 6 second round.

And this does not take into account how fast the Galaxy itself is moving through existing space.

Nor does it take into account the expansion of space itself.

All of which dwarf the previous speeds we are talking about.

So, given that if the Sphere was stationary in space, completely stationary (if such a thing is even possible given the expansion of space)... the item would be many hundreds to thousands of miles away from you by the end of your turn... it must be able to affix to a location and frame of reference. If it wasn't, it would blip through your experience in the blink of an eye.

You would not even be able to see it.

*Really*.

Your location is moving in relation to a nearby fixed point in space faster than a sniper bullet.

And this doesn't even consider weirder things like the theoretical branching wave functions of the uni/multi verse in quantum mechanics.

Granted, this does not take into account some of the games alternate cosmology, planar existence, crystal spheres if those are still a thing, phlogiston, etc... but even if all you are taking into account is the existence of a year and day, the Sphere can't be totally stationary.

If it can affix to the surface of the planet as a frame of reference to move on, then it doesn't seem unreasonable that if you put it on a vehicle to move it, that it could affix to that frame of reference and move there too.

If for no other reason than the "rule of cool".

It wouldn't be a lot of fun to say have the group have to take a journey by sea or air ship, or even maybe a spelljammer, and have to leave one of the team members hard won legendary items behind (or potentially render a second useless if they have acquired the talisman too). And it wouldn't be logistically fun to have to try and figure out how to get the ships to move at a rate that the controller of the Sphere would be able to keep it moving.  Now, that's explicitly different than if you are hopping through portals, etc. as that's defined to be a risky procedure with the Sphere. But more mundane travel is not covered in that.

The Sphere is a cool item, but it's not unbalanced. It's legendary, and you can do a lot of fun things with it. But it's mechanical rules aren't difficult to adjudicate as a DM, and it's not going to ruin your game.

First things first, if you don't want it in your game, just don't add it.  If you want it in game and only in a specific location, make that clear in your environment's construction. Think about something like the Tomb of Annihilation and how some of those magic items would turn to dust if you try to leave with them for the reasons given in the Adventure.

And if you bring it in and let your party take it with them, and it's causing you balance problems then you have any means you want to remove it from the game.

Sure you could use this: "it can't move with vehicles" option, but it's a fairly anti-climatic way to go about it. And that's not going to feel satisfying to your players for something they're likely not going to be able to get their hands on until a fairly decently high level, like tier 3-4 if you are being reasonable as a DM about when you allow them access.

It feels like the kind of thing where if you need to get rid of it for some reason you should plan something a little more spectacular and epic like a scenario where you force the players to make a hard choice on entering a portal and have to sacrifice the Sphere or sacrifice something else of high value to keep it... like maybe a beloved NPC that's been with them for a while, or the team's ultimate quest goals. Or just have sending the Sphere into the portal as the MacGuffin that's able to keep them on their path towards what they are trying to accomplish.

Or even something like destabilizing the magic that's holding it together, or having a powerful organization or adversary chasing them to wrest control of it from them as a plot device for something more compelling. In fact, we know Spheres of Annihilation are highly coveted items by many high level Wizards and spellcasters like Entropomancers. Why would they be something they want so badly if they were more of a PITA to use than is worth the trouble? Sure they can be compelling traps or have lair or stronghold uses. But if that's all they had in terms of their use you wouldn't think they'd be as highly prized.

Anyway, you are the DM and have only your creativity as a barrier for dealing with it. I'd say, don't short change your players on an unsatisfying technicality. Especially when we know it's definitely *not* stationary in space-time.

 As impressive as your understanding of real-world physics is, you are making an incredibly massive assumption by applying them to a fictional setting such as Toril. Let us take Ea, the universe in which the Silmarillion - and all related works - takes place as an example of a well-known and established fantasy setting that follows very few, if any, of our laws of physics and science : as an example, in the Third Age, when elves sail west from Middle-Earth, they eventually arrive in Valinor, to the west of which exists the physical end of the world, however, when a human sails west from Middle-Earth, they travel in a complete circle around the world, arriving in Rhun or Mordor, this creates a paradox in which Arda is both a spherical planet and a flat planet at the same time.

Now, as far as game mechanics are concerned, I agree with your ruling, as it is very reasonable. I merely like to provoke more open-ended thought on any subject I can.

 you have invoked a Tolkien nerd, there is no paradox. Elves can't *just* sail west and reach Valinor, they have to do it from the Havens, with the intention of reaching Valinor. When an Elf sets sail for the Havens, a magical pathway, akin to wormhole opens up, transporting them Valinor. This done by the power of the gods. The world is not flat and round. It is litteraly stated the Eru Iluvatar made the Earth round. 

i feel like an anti magic field would get rid of th migac field aroud it and the black hole thats in it (if there is one ) would row after every turn sucking everything in to until the magic field is back 

The impact crater would be 2 feet by 2 feet, by how ever deep the controller wanted it to go