Spellbook of flame sphere - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: /* Taking shops with spheres */ pothole

2025-08-25T18:20:04Z

‎Taking shops with spheres: pothole

Umbire the Phantom: pothole

2025-08-25T18:18:29Z

pothole

Ion frigate: more wording

2025-05-27T08:22:10Z

more wording

Ion frigate: rework; get the reason correct, clarify about how many it takes; draw energy is completely useless (in general tbh); power surge is also available to necros and monks, but too late to be necessary for this

2025-05-27T08:16:27Z

rework; get the reason correct, clarify about how many it takes; draw energy is completely useless (in general tbh); power surge is also available to necros and monks, but too late to be necessary for this

Umbire the Phantom: formatting + copyedit pass - calling flame sphere cheese out as "degenerate" when it's one of the tamer forms of cheese that exist in SLASH'EM by far is hilarious

2024-02-11T15:03:58Z

formatting + copyedit pass - calling flame sphere cheese out as "degenerate" when it's one of the tamer forms of cheese that exist in SLASH'EM by far is hilarious

Vivit: /* Techniques */

2020-02-07T15:34:31Z

‎Techniques

Vivit at 15:30, 7 February 2020

2020-02-07T15:30:23Z

Quantum Immortal: /* See also */

2015-03-22T14:45:50Z

‎See also

Quantum Immortal: /* See also */

2015-03-22T14:45:30Z

‎See also

Quantum Immortal: /* Techniques */

2015-03-22T14:43:49Z

‎Techniques

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 Attacking a shopkeeper with a flaming sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continually switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[Shotgun (SLASH'EM)|shotguns]] at you, as well as using any attack wands they possess.
-This will usually take around 10 or so spheres; early [[Flame Mage]]s, [[Ice Mage]]s, and [[Wizard/SLASH'EM|Wizard]]s can easily use the [[power surge]] technique to summon that many in one go.
+This will usually take around 10 or so spheres; early [[Flame Mage]]s, [[Ice Mage]]s, and [[Wizard/SLASH'EM|Wizards]] can easily use the [[power surge]] technique to summon that many in one go.
 ==See also==

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 ===Taking shops with spheres===
-Attacking a shopkeeper with a flaming sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continually switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[shotgun]]s at you, as well as any attack wands they possess.
+Attacking a shopkeeper with a flaming sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continually switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[Shotgun (SLASH'EM)|shotguns]] at you, as well as using any attack wands they possess.
 This will usually take around 10 or so spheres; early [[Flame Mage]]s, [[Ice Mage]]s, and [[Wizard/SLASH'EM|Wizard]]s can easily use the [[power surge]] technique to summon that many in one go.

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 ===Taking shops with spheres===
-Attacking a shopkeeper with a flame sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continue to switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[shotgun]]s at you, as well as any attack wands they possess.
+Attacking a shopkeeper with a flaming sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continually switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[shotgun]]s at you, as well as any attack wands they possess.
 This will usually take around 10 or so spheres; early [[Flame Mage]]s, [[Ice Mage]]s, and [[Wizard/SLASH'EM|Wizard]]s can easily use the [[power surge]] technique to summon that many in one go.

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 ===Taking shops with spheres===
-In SLASH'EM, shopkeepers cannot easily adapt their movement to a character positioned on a certain square, which can be exploited to kill them easily with several flaming spheres without them leaving the shop and attacking you: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell and a combination of the [[power surge]] and [[draw energy]] [[technique]]s as necessary. The shopkeeper will continue to switch weapons and patrol the shop interior, unsure of your position, until they are eventually killed.
+Attacking a shopkeeper with a flame sphere will anger them, but unlike other attacks from outside their shop, it will not trigger the "hot pursuit" behavior that causes them to leave their shop and chase you.  This can be exploited to safely kill them with numerous flaming spheres: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell. The shopkeeper will continue to switch weapons and patrol the shop interior until they are eventually killed.  Be careful not to stray into their line of fire: they will still shoot their [[shotgun]]s at you, as well as any attack wands they possess.
 ==See also==

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 {{spellbook|name=flame sphere|level=1|type=matter|turns=2}}
-The '''spellbook of flame sphere''' is a [[deferred feature]]. It creates a [[tame]] [[flaming sphere]] which explodes at an enemy. It is implemented in [[SLASH'EM]].
+The '''spellbook of flame sphere''' is a [[deferred feature]] that exists in the code of ''[[NetHack]]'', and can be read to learn the '''spell of flame sphere'''. It is a level 1 [[matter spell]], and the [[spellbook]] takes roughly two turns to read.
-==SLASH'EM==
+The spellbook is implemented in [[SLASH'EM]], [[GruntHack]], [[SlashTHEM]], [[EvilHack]], and [[Hack'EM]].
-In SLASH'EM, the spellbook of flame sphere is part of the starting equipment of the [[flame mage]] class.  It is the staple attack spell for the flame mage in the early game, since the more powerful [[fireball]] begins out of reach.  The flame mage starts with [[matter]] skill at [[basic]] level. As this skill improves, the number of flaming spheres summoned will increase to two at [[skilled]] and three at [[expert]], all for the same casting cost.
+==Generation==
-===General Strategy===
+==Description==
-Since the flame sphere does not attack a monster directionally in the way that [[force bolt]] or [[magic missile]] does, the flame mage must learn to manipulate the flame sphere's position to defend against enemies. Using pet displacement is an important aspect; you will learn to dance through your spheres to get them into range of enemies. The flame mage should generally keep a flame sphere floating around in the early game just in case.  In the likely event that your spheres sometimes get left behind, they may go feral and revert to peacefully bobbing around in empty rooms.  Flame spheres do not appear able to turn hostile.
+When cast, the spell creates a [[tame]] [[flaming sphere]] - if cast at Skilled level, two flaming spheres are created, and if cast at Expert, three are created.
-On the other hand, flame spheres left to their own devices can cause a lot of problems.  Since they are summoned monsters rather than pets, responsibility for their kills accrues to the player.  This means not only that you will get the experience for the kills, but also the blame: [[shopkeeper]]s, [[guard]]s, [[peaceful]] monsters, and [[god]]s will direct their anger at you if your spheres blow up in the wrong direction.  The flame mage thus needs to keep an eye on where his or her spheres go and make a point of using them only in safe contexts.  It is usually unwise to attack [[mimic]]s in [[shop]]s with sphere attacks: they may miss their mark.  The flame mage should use closed doors to control where spheres can travel and try to "burn off" excess spheres after a major battle before exploring the dungeon too far.  (The fungi that crop up on a batch of corpses in SLASH'EM may be useful for this purpose.)
+Flaming spheres created by this spell are considered [[spell being]]s: monsters killed by exploding flaming spheres are considered the responsibility of the player character, i.e. they gain experience from monsters the sphere killed, as well as any blame if the sphere attacks a [[peaceful]] monster. In addition, some variants make it so that flaming spheres created by the spell will only exist for a certain amount of time.
-Finally, the flame mage must use caution while [[blind]], since flame spheres will not show up through [[telepathy]] and killing one by accident has the same [[anger]] effects as killing a pet.
+==Strategy==
-===Techniques===
+Discretion is the better part of valor in utilizing the flame sphere spell: do not allow summoned spheres to drift near [[shopkeeper]]s or other similar peacefuls, e.g. by trying to attack [[mimic]]s in [[shop]]s with them, and exercise caution if moving while [[blind]] to avoid killing pet spheres - flaming spheres are mindless, and early hits to [[alignment]] and [[luck]] may take a while to repair if you plan on [[pray]]ing to your [[deity]]. This is especially true in variants that give spheres 3x3 explosions similar to [[gas spore]]s.
-Find a magic whistle early to keep your spheres close.
+Closing [[door]]s can be used to control where spheres move, and [[magic whistle]]s can help keep them close; in variants where summoned spheres do not vanish, weaker hostile monsters such as [[fungi]] can be used to "burn off" extra spheres from a major fight before proceeding.
-Keep in mind monsters' different vulnerabilities: flame spheres will not affect high-level [[demon]]s, nor, of course, fire [[elemental]]s, [[fire vortex|fire vortices]], etc.
+===Taking shops with spheres===
+In SLASH'EM, shopkeepers cannot easily adapt their movement to a character positioned on a certain square, which can be exploited to kill them easily with several flaming spheres without them leaving the shop and attacking you: stand diagonally next to an open shop door, using a digging tool to carve out a suitable niche if necessary, then summon flame spheres using this spell and a combination of the [[power surge]] and [[draw energy]] [[technique]]s as necessary. The shopkeeper will continue to switch weapons and patrol the shop interior, unsure of your position, until they are eventually killed.
 ==See also==
-*[[Spellbook of freeze sphere]]
+* [[Spellbook of freeze sphere]]
-*[[Spellcasting (SLASH'EM)#SLASH'EM spellbooks|List of SLASH'EM spellbooks]]
+{{variant-343|offset=2}}
+{{slashem-7E7|offset=1}}
-{{se-stub}}
+{{nethack-367}}
 [[Category:Deferred features]]
 [[Category:Spellbooks|Flame sphere]]