One of my players emailed me to appeal my ruling about Flaming Sphere. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Maybe he's wanting more than the spell should offer? Maybe this has been definitively answered by WotC (though I couldn't find it)?I'll address the situation that made him question my handling of the spell and post the text of his email below.
The game situation...
The party was fighting 6 wights in a 35' x 70' room. There were 5 NPCs and 5 party members, so it was a little tight quarters. The wizard dropped a flaming sphere next to a wight (who was engaged with the party's monk and rogue) and wanted to ram the creature with it. I said that meant moving it into the wight's space, where it would stop once it made contact with a living creature. At that point, the monk and rogue would be required to move away before the end of their next turn or be subject to the 2d6 fire damage (since they would both be within 5 ft of the sphere).
You can read the player's email below, but basically he is saying the the ramming is an attack from the sphere and doesn't require moving it.
My thought is that if it were like an attack like a "minotaur ramming" or a spiritual weapon strike, it would be an attack roll - not a saving throw. The "saving throw" indicates that it is occupying the same area as the creature (not unlike a fireball or lightning bolt).
The player's email...
"I’d like to appeal on (Flaming Sphere | D&D 5th Edition on Roll20 Compendium) occupying the same space as a monster.
- The sphere must originate in an unoccupied space.
- This implies it has a physical-ness. If it was able to occupy the same space why must it originate in unoccupied space?
- Ramming verses occupying
- Ramming the sphere is more akin to minotaur ramming a player in that they don’t both occupy the same space
- Ramming implies physical-ness otherwise it would only occupy
- The sphere is 5m diameter
- Unless the monster is versed in clown geometry, that’s the entire square.
- The spell loses substantial damage.
- The monster is effectively protected from players who don’t want to end their turn within 5 feet or risk damage
- Not ramming means the monster needs to merely move to ignore the sphere’s damage."
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