Can someone explain prismatic sphere?

[rweird]

Prismatic sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prismaticSphere.htm) protects against most things. One thing it may or may not protect against is melee attacks.

The first sentence of the spell states "This spell functions like prismatic wall, except you conjure up an immobile, opaque globe of shimmering, multicolored light that surrounds you and protects you from all forms of attack."

It goes on to elaborate how the sphere protects you, but it never explicitly calls out melee attacks as something blocked. The violet layer creates an "Energy field destroys all objects and effects." If someone uses a melee weapon, the sphere should destroy it. A counter argument is that "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm)" However, the violet layer isn't exactly dealing damage, it's destroying outright.

Also, "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)."

So, I have several questions:

1) Does the first sentence of the spell mean whoever is inside is invulnerable regardless of if they can save (possibly including if the sphere fails to overcome SR for each layer)?

2) Do melee attacks count as "an attempt to project something through the sphere" and are thusly blocked because "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)?"

3) "A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save." Does the sphere specifically target magic items?

4) "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save." However, the violet layer destroys rather than damages. Do magic items get a save?

Essentially, what happens?

[Necroticplague]

Prismatic sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prismaticSphere.htm) protects against most things. One thing it may or may not protect against is melee attacks.

The first sentence of the spell states "This spell functions like prismatic wall, except you conjure up an immobile, opaque globe of shimmering, multicolored light that surrounds you and protects you from all forms of attack."

It goes on to elaborate how the sphere protects you, but it never explicitly calls out melee attacks as something blocked. The violet layer creates an "Energy field destroys all objects and effects." If someone uses a melee weapon, the sphere should destroy it. A counter argument is that "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm)" However, the violet layer isn't exactly dealing damage, it's destroying outright.

Also, "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)."

So, I have several questions:

1) Does the first sentence of the spell mean whoever is inside is invulnerable regardless of if they can save (possibly including if the sphere fails to overcome SR for each layer)?

2) Do melee attacks count as "an attempt to project something through the sphere" and are thusly blocked because "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)?"

3) "A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save." Does the sphere specifically target magic items?

4) "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save." However, the violet layer destroys rather than damages. Do magic items get a save?

Essentially, what happens?

1. Not quiet. It simply means the Sphere protects them from all forms of attack. If you figure out a way to subvert the sphere, such as by using Burrowing Power to go around it, they can a still be hit.
2. Yes. If a spell counts, trying to project a melee weapon most certainly counts.
3. No, it doesn't. The Sphere has no target whatsoever, instead having an Effect.
4. No. Doesn't say there's a save to resist being destroyed, so there isn't.

[Calthropstu]

Prismatic sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prismaticSphere.htm) protects against most things. One thing it may or may not protect against is melee attacks.

The first sentence of the spell states "This spell functions like prismatic wall, except you conjure up an immobile, opaque globe of shimmering, multicolored light that surrounds you and protects you from all forms of attack."

It goes on to elaborate how the sphere protects you, but it never explicitly calls out melee attacks as something blocked. The violet layer creates an "Energy field destroys all objects and effects." If someone uses a melee weapon, the sphere should destroy it. A counter argument is that "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm)" However, the violet layer isn't exactly dealing damage, it's destroying outright.

Also, "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)."

So, I have several questions:

1) Does the first sentence of the spell mean whoever is inside is invulnerable regardless of if they can save (possibly including if the sphere fails to overcome SR for each layer)?

2) Do melee attacks count as "an attempt to project something through the sphere" and are thusly blocked because "the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)?"

3) "A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save." Does the sphere specifically target magic items?

4) "Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save." However, the violet layer destroys rather than damages. Do magic items get a save?

Essentially, what happens?

Heh. I believe the gm smacks you for being stupid and says "no."

There's three ways this could be ruled:
The the weapon strikes the wall and is disintegrated (Or gets a save and simply bounces off)
The weapon simply cannot pass through.
The attack counts as you going through the sphere... eat all the effects. I don't think 6 attacks a round is looking so good here.

All forms of attack MEANS all forms of attack. Either you eat the effects of the spell, or you don't attack.

[Calthropstu]

1. Not quiet. It simply means the Sphere protects them from all forms of attack. If you figure out a way to subvert the sphere, such as by using Burrowing Power to go around it, they can a still be hit.


I would personally rule that burrowing spell can't get through.

[KillianHawkeye]

About item saving throws: Yes, magic items get a save even if they are unattended. Attended items always use the save of the person using them (or their own, if better). However, not everything grants a saving throw to resist it. If there's no save to resist the effect, then your item doesn't get a save even if it's magical.

[Necroticplague]

I would personally rule that burrowing spell can't get through.

Of course not. Burrowing Power goes around the sphere, via a different plane, not through it.

[Ualaa]

How many people use a Prismatic Sphere offensively... ie., centered around an opponents big melee guy, and then step away without them easily being able to follow.

Or do you primarily use it as a safe refuge?

The spell states, 'You can pass into and out of the prismatic sphere and remain near it without harm. When you're inside it, however the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells).'
Does that mean your own spells are blocked, since they're passing through the sphere?

[Braininthejar2]

The last layer sends creatures to another dimension. So I always interpreted it as "the charging guy rolls a save - either he gets sent to Florida, or ge gets through and hits you."

[Segev]

Isn't the last layer "forcefield protection," and expressly noted to render the others redundant?

[Necroticplague]

How many people use a Prismatic Sphere offensively... ie., centered around an opponents big melee guy, and then step away without them easily being able to follow.

Or do you primarily use it as a safe refuge?

The spell states, 'You can pass into and out of the prismatic sphere and remain near it without harm. When you're inside it, however the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells).'
Does that mean your own spells are blocked, since they're passing through the sphere?

You can't center it around an opponent.

Abjuration
Level: Protection 9, Sor/Wiz 9, Sun 9
Components: V
Range: 10 ft.
Effect: 10-ft.-radius sphere centered on you

And yes. It gives no exception to your own spells, so you can't cast spells through it either. Still let's you cast spells that don't go through the sphere, like self-buffs.

[Calthropstu]

How many people use a Prismatic Sphere offensively... ie., centered around an opponents big melee guy, and then step away without them easily being able to follow.

Or do you primarily use it as a safe refuge?

The spell states, 'You can pass into and out of the prismatic sphere and remain near it without harm. When you're inside it, however the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells).'
Does that mean your own spells are blocked, since they're passing through the sphere?

Yes. This spell is a "Ok guys, time out!" spell. Only the most reckless will charge on through sine they have to make 7 saves against all 3 save types. At best you're looking at eating a good amount of spell damage.

This spell could be used in any number of ways though.

[rweird]

If burrowing power works on getting through a prismatic sphere, does it also work on AMFs or globes of invulnerability?

The consensus is that a prismatic sphere would destroy weapons (magical or otherwise) with no save, but also blocks things in general?

[denthor]

Can I cast this then cast teleport? That is a great Escape if possible.

[Necroticplague]

If burrowing power works on getting through a prismatic sphere, does it also work on AMFs or globes of invulnerability?

The consensus is that a prismatic sphere would destroy weapons (magical or otherwise) with no save, but also blocks things in general?
No, because those are worded differently. Prismatic Sphere specifically effect things that try to pass through the sphere, while Globe of Invulnerability and AMF just protect things that are in the area.

An antimagic field suppresses any spell or magical effect used within, brought into, or cast into the area

Such spells fail to affect any target located within the globe.
So as long as you're in the area/globe, you're good, and path travelled is unimportant.


Can I cast this then cast teleport? That is a great Escape if possible.

Yep. Teleport works via transporting you to a different plane, so it let's you slip out. Not sure why you wouldn't just Teleport and save a turn, though.

[Ualaa]

You can't center it around an opponent.



While not 'centered' on an enemy, with a 10 ft. radius that means it has a diameter of 20 ft.
If it is four squares across, and you're occupying one of the middle squares... there's probably space for the thing that is adjacent to you.

Then you step out of the sphere, easily.
But not so easy for them to follow you.

[Calthropstu]

Yep. Teleport works via transporting you to a different plane, so it let's you slip out. Not sure why you wouldn't just Teleport and save a turn, though.

I beg to differ.

Going to another plane or coming in from another plane is "Going into or out of" the sphere.

This is blocked RAW.

[Necroticplague]

I beg to differ.

Going to another plane or coming in from another plane is "Going into or out of" the sphere.

This is blocked RAW.
Yes, but the sphere doesn't stop things from going into the sphere or going out of it. It stops things from going through the sphere. Going around the sphere is perfectly acceptable. Whether that's around by going through the floor (if the caster was on the ground when it was made), or around by entering the interior via a plane the Sphere isn't on, since spells,by default, only exist on one plane (Force spells and Extradimensional Spells being the main exceptions I know of).
Additionally, how can you say the spell is moving through the sphere when it's target and it's caster are both inside the sphere?

[rweird]

The sphere fills a 10 ft radius, even if you don't go through the edge, the sphere fills the inside (at least it looks that way to me).

[Fizban]

Other creatures that attempt to attack you or pass through suffer the effects of each color, one at a time.
Seems pretty clear. Attempt to attack person in sphere, eat sphere. If you survive, congratulations you managed to make one attack.

Not that it's hard to survive, as many high level monsters are resistant or immune to the majority of the effects and have a good chance of SR or saving against those than actually threaten them. A couple well placed buffs and anyone can walk right through it.

[Calthropstu]

Yes, but the sphere doesn't stop things from going into the sphere or going out of it. It stops things from going through the sphere. Going around the sphere is perfectly acceptable. Whether that's around by going through the floor (if the caster was on the ground when it was made), or around by entering the interior via a plane the Sphere isn't on, since spells,by default, only exist on one plane (Force spells and Extradimensional Spells being the main exceptions I know of).
Additionally, how can you say the spell is moving through the sphere when it's target and it's caster are both inside the sphere?

Because the effect passes through the sphere to enter another plane. I would rule it as being blocked.

[Âmesang]

Theoretically an artifact could go through the sphere:

https://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/backup/pictures/indent.gif"We have set up magical circles of protection, but we don't know how long we can keep them up. I hope that my observations may be of help to my fellow researchers of the Mages' Guild of MakBran. The assault against the black tower went well, the elven archers easily destroying Althabazzerid's undead army while we dealt with his dragon allies. We had closed in and were in the midst of magical combat when Althabazzerid himself appeared on the tower's battlements, protected by a multicolored sphere of light. He raised a small box in his left hand, and perhaps pressed a button on it—hard to tell from our vantage point."
https://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/backup/pictures/indent.gif"At once there was a deafening blast, and the wizard and his tower were destroyed. A huge hole in space opened, and we could see into the dismal spaces of the Gray Wastes. A great crowd of horrid beings—a more fantastic mix of humans, beasts, and fiends cannot be imagined—began moving into our world. Some walked, some hopped, some dragged their deformed bodies along. They gibbered and screamed. Some spat fire, or gas, or acid. Some were horned, others bore tentacles. More and more came, destroying the elves by sheer press of numbers. They attacked without plan or strategy, yet their horrid deformations allowed them many advantages."
https://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/backup/pictures/indent.gif"Then a great fiend flew out from the darkened sky of the Gray Wastes. It has assaulted unceasingly since then. Soon our magics will fail, and we will die either at the hands of the fiend or the press of the horde of darkness…"

PLANESCAPE™ Monstrous Compendium Appendix, p.55
…granted, it might be a unique condition of the Bringer of Doom, who's effect appears to be a cross between an area-of-effect disintegrate/destruction and Mordenkainen's disjunction/rod of cancellation.

[Segev]

Unless the spell blocks teleportation and planar travel explicitly, it does not do so implicitly. The sphere creates a barrier, not a field, and anything that doesn't attempt to move through the barrier is unaffected.

[Calthropstu]

Unless the spell blocks teleportation and planar travel explicitly, it does not do so implicitly. The sphere creates a barrier, not a field, and anything that doesn't attempt to move through the barrier is unaffected.

Stopping ALL SPELL EFFECTS from passing through includes teleportation. Is Teleportation a spell effect? Yes? Then teleporting = no.

Edit: If it doesn't block teleportation, this is NOT a 9th level spell. Sorry, but a ultimate 9th level protection spell is not being completely ignored by everything more powerful than an imp. Not in my games.

[Crake]

Stopping ALL SPELL EFFECTS from passing through includes teleportation. Is Teleportation a spell effect? Yes? Then teleporting = no.

Edit: If it doesn't block teleportation, this is NOT a 9th level spell. Sorry, but a ultimate 9th level protection spell is not being completely ignored by everything more powerful than an imp. Not in my games.

The problem with this argument is that teleportation spell effects do not "pass through" the sphere. The way teleportation is described is that you pass onto the astral plane, then, since the astral plane is connected to all places at all times, you can go anywhere else you want from there, without actually interacting with anything on the material plane.

Also note that unless you cast prismatic sphere in the air, it has no floor, so the "sphere" actually has a big hole underneath it which spells could use to get in. You could for example disintegrate the floor underneath it, or ethereal jaunt through the ground then pop up into the sphere. A simple fix would just be to cast a selective dimensional lock at the same time as a prismatic sphere, that way nobody can get in or out with teleportation spells except you.

Personally though, I just use prismatic sphere in conjunction with craft contingent spell as a disjunction counter

[rweird]

What makes people think the sphere is hollow?

[Calthropstu]

The problem with this argument is that teleportation spell effects do not "pass through" the sphere. The way teleportation is described is that you pass onto the astral plane, then, since the astral plane is connected to all places at all times, you can go anywhere else you want from there, without actually interacting with anything on the material plane.

Also note that unless you cast prismatic sphere in the air, it has no floor, so the "sphere" actually has a big hole underneath it which spells could use to get in. You could for example disintegrate the floor underneath it, or ethereal jaunt through the ground then pop up into the sphere. A simple fix would just be to cast a selective dimensional lock at the same time as a prismatic sphere, that way nobody can get in or out with teleportation spells except you.

Personally though, I just use prismatic sphere in conjunction with craft contingent spell as a disjunction counter

That argument can be made... and rejected. Like I said, unless you want the spell to be absolutely worthless, it HAS to block teleportation. A good 50 - 70%+ of monsters have ways around it if it doesn't block teleportation. Nearly all the outsiders can ignore it, incorporeal undead can ignore it, anyone with dimension door can ignore it, anyone with teleport can ignore it, anyone with blink can ignore it. Yeah, a cr2 creature (blink dog) automatically bypassing a 9th level "ultimate" protection spell? Not on your life. You interpret it how you like. Me? As a GM I am ruling in all of my games that teleportation is a spell effect and cannot pass through the sphere. PERIOD. Because otherwise, the spell is absolutely worthless.

Edit: and for the record, any gm that allows craft contingent spell is insane.

[Echch]

Edit: and for the record, any gm that allows craft contingent spell is insane.

Well, he did say he uses it as a counter to Disjunction, and if the GM puts that spell on the table, sanity has been gone for some time anyway...


A couple well placed buffs and anyone can walk right through it.

Doesn't the final layer destroy all effects, thus stripping you of your buffs?

[Âmesang]

As it's based on prismatic wall Spell Resistance should have a chance to pass through it… but each layer has to make its own check against it.

[rweird]

Isn't disjunction called out as being able to destroy prismatic spheres (at least it destroys prismatic walls)?

[prufock]

That argument can be made... and rejected. Like I said, unless you want the spell to be absolutely worthless, it HAS to block teleportation.
Appeal to consequences is not a valid argument. Just because you don't like the outcome, doesn't mean the interpretation is wrong.

[Kantolin]

Me? As a GM I am ruling in all of my games that teleportation is a spell effect and cannot pass through the sphere. PERIOD.

Can you use plane shift, to go to the astral plane, without moving from your spot?

If not, presume a denizen of the astral plane was on the astral plane. Can they plane shift /from/ the astral plane into the sphere? Can they walk through the area the sphere would take up (But presumably doesn't, since they're on a different plane than it)?

If both first and second of those are untrue, then that leads to the entertaining mental picture of 'suddenly a sphere popped up in front of you, since someone on /some/ plane put up a prismatic sphere'. Although then it brings up the 'Can you put up the abjuration effect if it would be concurrent with someone on any plane' question, since otherwise you could be standing around and then be in a sphere.

Although personally, I could accept it if someone adjusted prismatic sphere so, 'And creatures within cannot use teleportation abilities to get out, and vice versa' as an arbitrary adjustment. It just isn't what the spell does by default, but then again a lot of high level spells (polar ray? Energy drain?) aren't really worth their position.

Edit: But sadly, those are house rules, and not 'how the spell works'. Saying you can't teleport around a prismatic sphere is like saying you can't walk around a prismatic wall.

(Personally, I also house rule that you can remove layers even out of order, since I'd like people to use that method of solving prismatic walls and the like so you can do something like 'Well I can dispel magic the death effect, but I don't have daylight. Worth a try?' But that's also clearly a house rule, haha, and thus isn't too helpful for a discussion about 'what does this spell do'.)

[zergling.exe]

Isn't disjunction called out as being able to destroy prismatic spheres (at least it destroys prismatic walls)?

Indeed, prismatic wall can be entirely destroyed by rod of cancellation and disjunction, and no provision is made to protect prismatic sphere from the effect.

[Douglas]

That argument can be made... and rejected. Like I said, unless you want the spell to be absolutely worthless, it HAS to block teleportation. A good 50 - 70%+ of monsters have ways around it if it doesn't block teleportation. Nearly all the outsiders can ignore it, incorporeal undead can ignore it, anyone with dimension door can ignore it, anyone with teleport can ignore it, anyone with blink can ignore it. Yeah, a cr2 creature (blink dog) automatically bypassing a 9th level "ultimate" protection spell? Not on your life. You interpret it how you like. Me? As a GM I am ruling in all of my games that teleportation is a spell effect and cannot pass through the sphere. PERIOD. Because otherwise, the spell is absolutely worthless.

Edit: and for the record, any gm that allows craft contingent spell is insane.
Blink doesn't ignore it, actually. There's a little-known clause that abjurations extend from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#etherealness), Blink uses the Ethereal Plane, and Prismatic Sphere is an abjuration.

Teleportation uses the Astral Plane, however, and Prismatic Sphere has no special interaction with that.

[Fizban]

Doesn't the final layer destroy all effects, thus stripping you of your buffs?
Standard attended items clause applies, your items are completely unaffected and as a creature you receive only the transported to other plane effect from the final color, easily negated by Dimensional Anchor.

As far as I'm concerned, trying to read the wall that way is just being willfully obtuse. Each line of prismatic wall gives two effects, the first for what happens to objects/effects trying to pass the barrier, the second for what happens when creatures try to cross the barrier, which very clearly implies that the first line is for unattended objects/effects only. Nothing in the spell says it ignores standard standard attended item rules or that it strips active spells off of creatures or even unattended items. It's an easy example of people trying to override game terms with non-game meanings to get what they want.

[Echch]

Standard attended items clause applies, your items are completely unaffected and as a creature you receive only the transported to other plane effect from the final color, easily negated by Dimensional Anchor.

As far as I'm concerned, trying to read the wall that way is just being willfully obtuse. Each line of prismatic wall gives two effects, the first for what happens to objects/effects trying to pass the barrier, the second for what happens when creatures try to cross the barrier, which very clearly implies that the first line is for unattended objects/effects only. Nothing in the spell says it ignores standard standard attended item rules or that it strips active spells off of creatures or even unattended items. It's an easy example of people trying to override game terms with non-game meanings to get what they want.

Ah ok, I was just reading over the spell when I saw the thread and that line of "Prismatic Wall" really caught me off guard... On that note, what happens if you use the spell in another Abjuration effect? As in, what happens when the final layer interacts with an persistent area effect?

[Fizban]

Nothing. The other effect isn't trying to move through the wall and the wall is static. Unless you want to rule that a Prismatic Wall instantly annihilates all air touching it, creating vortex as surrounding air rushes to fill the unfillable void-a rather significant effect the spell would probably describe. You're looking too hard for problems where there aren't supposed to be any. It's a wall, it sits there and does nothing unless something else runs into/through it. The craziest thing it does is give you something to telekenisis/bull rush/whatever someone into over and over for tons of kill.

[Segev]

What makes people think the sphere is hollow?

The spell description which specifies "layers." And, I believe only refers to those who "pass through" as being affected.



And teleportation need not pass through it. By definition. Teleportation doesn't pass through anything. By definition, it is motion without crossing intervening space.

This is why effects which block teleportation are fields or targeted. They can prevent start points and end points. But there is no "in between" to block, so barriers alone cannot prevent teleportation.

[Echch]

Nothing. The other effect isn't trying to move through the wall and the wall is static. Unless you want to rule that a Prismatic Wall instantly annihilates all air touching it, creating vortex as surrounding air rushes to fill the unfillable void-a rather significant effect the spell would probably describe. You're looking too hard for problems where there aren't supposed to be any. It's a wall, it sits there and does nothing unless something else runs into/through it.

Ah ok, thanks^^


The craziest thing it does is give you something to telekenisis/bull rush/whatever someone into over and over for tons of kill.

Ohh... that's a good idea :D

[Douglas]

The craziest thing it does is give you something to telekenisis/bull rush/whatever someone into over and over for tons of kill.
One of the nastiest high level spell combination tricks I've thrown at my players is Time Stop + Prismatic Sphere + Reverse Gravity. Catch the party inside the sphere, the party falls up into 7 layers of nastiness when the Time Stop ends, gravity is normal outside the sphere so they fall right back into it again and just sort of oscillate through on the edge repeatedly until they stop it somehow.

I suspect that encounter would have been a TPK if I hadn't been very generous about allowing reflex saves for the one flying party member to both adjust his flight to the new gravity before hitting the sphere and grab other party members to stop them from hitting it. They still had to go plane hopping to find the petrified remains of one character afterwards.

[SethoMarkus]

What makes people think the sphere is hollow?

I'd like to ask why you assume it isn't? Not as an attack, mind you, I just never considered that it might not be hollow before and am curious as to your reasoning. I had always imagined it as a bubble; a thin shell with a hollow space within (as though a flat wall were wrapped into a spherical shape). I never even thought to imagine it as a solid orb.

[Necroticplague]

It would be incredibly wierd if it were solid. The mechanics make you subject to all of the filters if you pass through it. This seems to imply that all the layers are in one spot. If it was a solid sphere, you would expect the layers to be thick enough that you could stand in the outer laters and only be subject to some of the filer's effects.
Plus, there's the fact it's called a globe, which seems to imply hollowness. Never seen a globe that wasn't.

[rweird]

A Globe of Invulnerability isn't hollow.

I'm not saying its obvious that it isn't hollow, it just is a lot of people are claiming it is for discussing how it blocks (or doesn't block) things like teleportation when I don't really see evidence that it is.

As for the "layers don't make sense" argument, it says "The sphere flashes in all colors of the visible spectrum." If it were layered, shouldn't the sphere appear red, once that is destroyed, orange, and so-on (its opaque after all). The layer thing is just the order it is applied, and a specific order it must be destroyed in, however, because it is flashing different colors, I've always imagined it to be more of a swirling orb of color, the order of effect existing principally to make it more dangerous (if you get sent to another plane first, it won't deal damage).

Besides how I imagine it, it not being hollow doesn't have any real support, but I don't think the layers really exist in separate, consecutive places in a very thin barrier (as it changes color and all that) as I believe you envision it in your hollow imagining.

[SethoMarkus]

Alright so your position is more "it isn't indicated as being hollow, nor of being filled in, so let's not assume one way or the other"? I can respect that.




Besides how I imagine it, it not being hollow doesn't have any real support, but I don't think the layers really exist in separate, consecutive places in a very thin barrier (as it changes color and all that) as I believe you envision it in your hollow imagining.

I actually imagine the "shell" the same as you, there. It is not layers like an onion. It is a swirling, multi-colored sphere, like a soap bubble. Although it is clear the order you activate the "layers" by RAW.

Edit: Actually, soap bubble is a perfect representation of how I imagine it. A giant, magical, opaque soap bubble.

[KillianHawkeye]

Standard attended items clause applies, your items are completely unaffected and as a creature you receive only the transported to other plane effect from the final color, easily negated by Dimensional Anchor.

As far as I'm concerned, trying to read the wall that way is just being willfully obtuse. Each line of prismatic wall gives two effects, the first for what happens to objects/effects trying to pass the barrier, the second for what happens when creatures try to cross the barrier, which very clearly implies that the first line is for unattended objects/effects only. Nothing in the spell says it ignores standard standard attended item rules or that it strips active spells off of creatures or even unattended items. It's an easy example of people trying to override game terms with non-game meanings to get what they want.

Wait, since when do attended items stop being objects? :smallconfused:

[Necroticplague]

A Globe of Invulnerability isn't hollow.

And? There's a difference between something being in the name of the spell, and the description of the spell. Globe of Invulnerability is, despite the name, an Area spell. Prismatic Sphere isn't (note it lacks an Area entry).

[Fizban]

What makes people think the sphere is hollow?
It's a spherical version of Prismatic Wall, which creates a plane with no given thickness at all. Why would bending it into a sphere instead of a plane cause the interior to fill solid?