Question about "ramming range":

If on your turn a creature is 20' away from the sphere you can use your bonus action to ram it into the creature. That's easy. The sphere then stops moving. The creature gets it's turn and moves 30' away from the sphere (perfectly sensible and a common movement distance). Then it's your turn again and you use your bonus action to move the sphere 30' toward the creature. Does this achieve a "ram"? It would take all it's 30' of movement to get to a space adjacent to the creature, which doesn't seem consistent with ramming the creature to me (though a bit disappointing) (it'd still be a nice tactical thing to make enemies have to use all their movement fleeing the sphere to avoid taking damage). 

If I end up playing a character who can take this spell I'll probably ask the DM ahead of time, since it seems to be a likely situation. 

Have a question about the “ramming” aspect.

So if you or a teammate are able to push or shove a creature into the sphere, like with repelling blast invo or the Sheild Master feat, does that trigger the DEX save feature? 

Quote from DMBeauregard >>

Quote from kyle_the_wizard >>

Just for point of clarity.  

 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.

The spell dc stays the casters DC it doesnt become whatever the damage rolled. 

I.e, A caster with a spell DC of 15 used their bonus action to slam a monster.  it rolled an 8 for the 2d6 damage.  The save DC stays 15 correct?  It doesn't drop down to the 8 it rolled for damage.

 

[Edit: meant to reply by quoting, forgot to do that.]

I was wondering this exactly (as I plan on using it in an upcoming encounter with some Flameskulls.)

My reading is this: in the spirit of "spells do exactly what they say, nothing more or less," I'm looking at "the saving throw against the sphere's damage" on a bonus action ramming as the same kind of saving throw against damage if they are within 5 feet of it at the end of their turn. Since the text says "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," I would read "the saving throw against the sphere's damage" as a save against the caster's DC.

If it said "must make a saving throw against the sphere's damage" then I would assume it would be a contested roll. 

So, a scenario: a caster with a spell save DC of 15 casts Flaming Sphere as an action. It doesn't do damage when cast. As a Bonus Action, the caster rams it into a PC. That PC has to make a Dex save against a 15 DC when they are hit. If a PC ends their turn within 5 feet of it, they make the same DC 15 Dex save.

Does that make sense?

 ALWAYS USE CASTERS SPELLSAVE DC, NEVER ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from adammillen >>

Question about "ramming range":

If on your turn a creature is 20' away from the sphere you can use your bonus action to ram it into the creature. That's easy. The sphere then stops moving. The creature gets it's turn and moves 30' away from the sphere (perfectly sensible and a common movement distance). Then it's your turn again and you use your bonus action to move the sphere 30' toward the creature. Does this achieve a "ram"? It would take all it's 30' of movement to get to a space adjacent to the creature, which doesn't seem consistent with ramming the creature to me (though a bit disappointing) (it'd still be a nice tactical thing to make enemies have to use all their movement fleeing the sphere to avoid taking damage). 

If I end up playing a character who can take this spell I'll probably ask the DM ahead of time, since it seems to be a likely situation. 

 I would say that it would count as a ram because melee attacks hit the 5ft adjacent square. Although I could see the flame sphere having to be in the same square to have rammed the opponent. This is highly dependent on the DM.

Quote from FoolyCoolyMJ >>

Have a question about the “ramming” aspect.

So if you or a teammate are able to push or shove a creature into the sphere, like with repelling blast invo or the Sheild Master feat, does that trigger the DEX save feature? 

 Usually the creature must use it's own movement to activate any damaging effect but once again highly dm dependent. Raw no. The sphere must ram or the creature must end it's turn with in 5t of the sphere. Technically the enemy could run through the sphere without incurring any additional amount of damage as raw. Also this spell mentions nothing about the flame being physical so you can run through it like any othe fire.

I kinda wish upcasting (to say 4th level or something) generated multiple spheres . . .

Or pin it in a corner.

Since you can move and "ram" creatures with the sphere, can you use it to block creates from passing through them?

Quote from srbairett >>

I kinda wish upcasting (to say 4th level or something) generated multiple spheres . . .

 This would be great, a 2nd sphere at lvl 4 and a 3rd sphere at lvl 7 or 8. But then again... do we need to break the game even more? YES WE DO :D

as a wildfire druid with enhanced bond (TCoE, pg. 40) - 

you would not get to add the d8 after ramming or after damage occurs as a result of a creature ending its turn in proximity, right? 

.....or would you?

Quote from vonklauzewitz >>

as a wildfire druid with enhanced bond (TCoE, pg. 40) - 

you would not get to add the d8 after ramming or after damage occurs as a result of a creature ending its turn in proximity, right? 

.....or would you?

 I think you would be able to add it to one of the damage rolls but just one

Quote from Ryokirah >>

Big question: does it occupy a space? Can you block a 5' wide hallway with it? Can it occupy someone's space like an air elemental?

 

Quote from ZZC >>

Since you can move and "ram" creatures with the sphere, can you use it to block creates from passing through them?

 The spell creatues a sphere of magical flame. It does not block a creature from passing through it. A creature can also stand in the same space as the sphere if it so chooses. The sphere does not automatically burn creatures that pass through it the same way quickly swiping your hand through a candle flame would not automatically burn it.

Quote from FoolyCoolyMJ >>

Have a question about the “ramming” aspect.

So if you or a teammate are able to push or shove a creature into the sphere, like with repelling blast invo or the Sheild Master feat, does that trigger the DEX save feature? 

 Shoving a creature into the sphere does not do damage.

What of someone moves through it? I gave dex save or acrobatics to avoid the damage. We had a player cornered by two of them by twin cultists of light. 

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

My player used this! Pretty nifty spell! Congrats dnd!

I'm confused, the spell stat block says that the area is five feet. I read this to mean that it can affect only one medium sided creature, because a medium sized creature occupies a five for space. However, the text says that anyone within five feet of the sphere takes damage. This wording makes it sound like it has an effectively 15 foot diameter of effect. Which is correct?

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

 You can also automatically set fire to

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

 You can also use it to set

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from Chalkbrood >>

how this isn't just a cantrip is beyond me. such low damage

Well, it lasts for 1 minute and you can keep smacking people with it as a bonus action every turn, so potentially you can do that "low" damage up to 10 times with one casting. That'd be a bit much for a cantrip.

 You can also you it to set any number of flammable objects on fire before hitting a creature with it, creating hazardous terrain. That includes rugs, furniture, drapes, ect. If you use it in an enemy hideout you can potentially turn their lair into a death trap.

Quote from shongshing2 >>

I'm confused, the spell stat block says that the area is five feet. I read this to mean that it can affect only one medium sided creature, because a medium sized creature occupies a five for space. However, the text says that anyone within five feet of the sphere takes damage. This wording makes it sound like it has an effectively 15 foot diameter of effect. Which is correct?

It occupies a 5ft space. i.e. one grid square on a battlemap. A creature ending it's turn within 5ft translates to: a creature ending it's turn in any of the 8 surrounding tiles (or on the same tile as the sphere, technically). Much like you don't need to stand directly in a 5ft tall bonfire to get burnt, standing that close will hurt.

For the ram ability, it can only actively target a single creature, regardless of the creature's size (RAW). Although if you were fighting a horde of tiny creatures, it would be the DMs discretion as to whether you could ram a full 'tile' of those creatures.