can someone explain the prismatic sphere to me?

[dehro]

Maybe it's the heat, but I'm having serious trouble understanding how it works..
what happens if someone tries to get in a melee attack, what if it's a magic weapon, what if it's an AoE spell... but most importantly, I am having a hard time understanding the whole colour progression... and the bit about violet rendering the rest moot.
ultimately, what does it protect me from if I'm inside one, and how do I attack someone who is inside his own or dispell/beat one?
I've been reading it over in two different languages, and I'm stumped either way.
:smalleek:

[Quertus]

IIRC (AFB), it protects from everything.

To attack someone inside, you have to tear it down, one layer at a time, in order.

Since the last layer still protects you from pretty much everything all by itself, that's 7 very specific spells you have to use in order to destroy the sphere.

[Psyren]

IIRC (AFB), it protects from everything.

To attack someone inside, you have to tear it down, one layer at a time, in order.

Since the last layer still protects you from pretty much everything all by itself, that's 7 very specific spells you have to use in order to destroy the sphere.

Almost everything (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesDisjunction.htm)

[HolyDraconus]

Almost everything (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesDisjunction.htm)

A rod of Cancellation works too. Or.. just jack up your SR to something the caster of the Sphere can't beat and walk through it.

[Red Fel]

Maybe it's the heat, but I'm having serious trouble understanding how it works..
what happens if someone tries to get in a melee attack, what if it's a magic weapon, what if it's an AoE spell... but most importantly, I am having a hard time understanding the whole colour progression... and the bit about violet rendering the rest moot.
ultimately, what does it protect me from if I'm inside one, and how do I attack someone who is inside his own or dispell/beat one?
I've been reading it over in two different languages, and I'm stumped either way.
:smalleek:

Well, let's go through it piece by piece. The Sphere functions as a Prismatic Wall, but with some modifications, so we can use the text of Prismatic Wall (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prismaticWall.htm) as our guideline. Let's review each layer.
Red: It stops nonmagical ranged weapons, deals fire damage to those passing through it, and is negated by Cone of Cold.
Orange: It stops magical ranged weapons, deals acid damage, and is negated by Gust of Wind.
Yellow: It stops poisons, gases, and petrification, deals electricity damage, and is negated by Disintegrate.
Green: It stops breath weapons, deals a lethal poison, and is negated by Passwall.
Blue: It stops divination and mental effects, turns those who pass through to stone, and is negated by Magic Missile.
Indigo: It stops all spells, drives those who pass through it insane, and is negated by Daylight.
Violet: It destroys all objects and effects, plane shifts those who pass through it, and is negated by Dispel Magic.
So let's look at your specific questions.

First: What happens if you try a melee attack? Well, one of two things. If you're close enough to strike it, you may touch the wall - doing so triggers its effects. All of them. If somehow you strike it without touching it, then your weapon triggers its effects, and the Violet effect - all objects destroyed - destroys your weapon. This is true even if the weapon is magic. Given that the sphere is opaque, however, you're rolling against a target with concealment (I think), so using melee attacks is generally ill-advised.

Second: What happens if someone uses an AoE spell around a Prismatic Sphere? Well, both the Indigo and Violet layers simply block the spell. Indigo stops all spells, Violet destroys all effects, so that AoE spell isn't doing anything.

Third: Why does Violet render the rest moot? Because the Violet layer blocks everything the other layers do. It destroys all objects and effects, which would include nonmagical and magical ranged weapons, poisons, gases and petrification, breath weapons, divination and mental effects, and all spells. Further, any object that would be damaged by the outermost layers is simply destroyed, rather than merely damaged (it might otherwise take fire, acid, and electricity damage). And so forth. The Violet layer pretty much obviates the effects of the outer layers in that sense, but all are listed for completeness' sake.

[Mr Adventurer]

It doesn't make the other layers pointless. The whole point is that it's a layered defence.

[Requiem_Jeer]

As long as Violet is still there, exactly which other colors remain is academic, unless someone's passing through the thing. It provides a VERY comprehensive protection.

Of course, it's also the easiest to remove (tossing a normal bogstandard dispel magic removes it), so the other colors are very handy to have to protect you if the violet is removed.

[Zanos]

As long as Violet is still there, exactly which other colors remain is academic, unless someone's passing through the thing. It provides a VERY comprehensive protection.

Of course, it's also the easiest to remove (tossing a normal bogstandard dispel magic removes it), so the other colors are very handy to have to protect you if the violet is removed.
Wall effects have to be destroyed in order, so Violet is the last to go if someone is peeling it away layer by layer.

[sleepyphoenixx]

It protects from anything except Disjunction. If you want to attack someone in a Prismatic Sphere you use either that or you have to bring down every color in order with the respective spell.
On the other hand the caster can't attack you from inside it, so he'll have to leave it eventually. He can use Flyby Attack or Mobile Spellcasting to slip right back in, but you can ready an action for that.

That doesn't stop the caster from using it to summon, buff or other things like that, and even if you have all the counterspells ready he'll be long done by the time you get through. So Disjunction is pretty much your best bet unless you have enough spell resistance to make it through, which is unlikely.

[Psyren]

As long as Violet is still there, exactly which other colors remain is academic, unless someone's passing through the thing. It provides a VERY comprehensive protection.

Of course, it's also the easiest to remove (tossing a normal bogstandard dispel magic removes it), so the other colors are very handy to have to protect you if the violet is removed.

It's not academic at all. Unless you have one of the aforementioned effects that can deal with the entire wall/sphere in one shot (disjunction, RoC), then you must deal with the layers in order, which means that the violet layer is protected by the others.

[Requiem_Jeer]

...Well I'll be. I'm lost on the point of the defensive properties of the lower layers then.

Edit: Oh wait:

"The violet effect makes the special effects of the other six colors redundant, but these six effects are included here because certain magic items can create prismatic effects one color at a time, and spell resistance might render some colors ineffective (see above)."

Only problem is I don't know of any effects besides Initiate of the Sevenfold veil that actually does so.

[dehro]

that's cleared up things a bit for me... thank you all.

[Âmesang]

I had renewed interest in the spell after reading about its (possible) use by Althabazzerid before he activated the Bringer of Doom, and I'll admit I was certainly more confused by which (if any) spells could be cast out of it.

I'd certainly love to use this in game, but not if I had to stand there doing nothing at all. :smallconfused:

[Seppo87]

I love to build winged, unarmed melee with evasion, mettle, and saves so high that they don't even bother rolling, plus ways to not fail on a nat1 or tons of rerolls so basically the answer is "it does not work".

[MasterFu]

...Well I'll be. I'm lost on the point of the defensive properties of the lower layers then.

Edit: Oh wait:

"The violet effect makes the special effects of the other six colors redundant, but these six effects are included here because certain magic items can create prismatic effects one color at a time, and spell resistance might render some colors ineffective (see above)."

Only problem is I don't know of any effects besides Initiate of the Sevenfold veil that actually does so.

I had a character in an AD&D game with an item that could generate any one layer of a sphere for a single charge, plus summon monster spells. I want to say a staff/wand of conjuration? Can't find the item online and can't remember as the campaign was many years ago.

[Crake]

Almost everything (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesDisjunction.htm)

To be fair, it still protects you from mages disjunction, as it blocks line of effect for the spell when it's cast, but the disjunction will tear the sphere down in one go. Celerity->Prismatic sphere is a go-to disjunction protection in my high level games.

[charcoalninja]

Violet blocks all effects so how is Disjunction killing the sphere?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Violet blocks all effects so how is Disjunction killing the sphere?It blocks the effects of disjunction but is itself also destroyed by it.

Also, this is a great use for the incantatrix's Metamagic Effect and the Selective Spell feat. Want to walk right through? Be my guest. The only way to prevent it is to use Selective Spell on it as you cast it, since you can't apply metamagic feats more than once.

[Crake]

It blocks the effects of disjunction but is itself also destroyed by it.

Correct, to further clarify, at the instant disjunction comes into effect, the sphere is there, and blocks the disjunction from affecting anything inside the sphere, but the disjunction still has line of effect to the sphere itself, thus negating the sphere (as stated in the prismatic wall spell, a disjunction removes the whole thing in one go), but leaving the inside of the sphere unaffected by the disjunction.

[Psyren]

Yes, I apologize for not being clear - my intention was to counter the "7 specific spells in order" assertion, rather than the "protects from everything" assertion. I'd edit the older post but that ship has seemingly sailed.

[PandaPhobia]

Maybe it's the heat, but I'm having serious trouble understanding how it works..
what happens if someone tries to get in a melee attack, what if it's a magic weapon, what if it's an AoE spell... but most importantly, I am having a hard time understanding the whole colour progression... and the bit about violet rendering the rest moot.
ultimately, what does it protect me from if I'm inside one, and how do I attack someone who is inside his own or dispell/beat one?
I've been reading it over in two different languages, and I'm stumped either way.
:smalleek:

As to how to get around it, any teleportation spell, like dimension door or misty step or a spell that shifts you into the astral plane would allow you to pass through or around it with no resistance at all.

[zergling.exe]

As to how to get around it, any teleportation spell, like dimension door or misty step or a spell that shifts you into the astral plane would allow you to pass through or around it with no resistance at all.

This thread is a year and a half old, please don't necro old threads.