Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere 5e Spell Deep Dive Analysis

Featured image for Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere D&D 5e is “Ice Colossus” by Feig-Art, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
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“I’m afraid that my condition has left me cold to your pleas of mercy.”
—Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, Batman and Robin (1997)

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Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere is only available on the Wizard spell list (and Sorcerer spell list after it was added to their list in Tasha’s). As an evocation, it’s predictably a blast spell, but there’s much more to it to keep me interested. For this reason, I did the research so I can provide this deep-dive exploration of the spell. I plan on trying it in-game soon as my wizard is reaching the necessary character level, so I plan on applying what I’ve learned to see just how good this spell is. I hope you’ll read all my ideas so you can push this spell’s limits. This spell also makes me feel like Sub-Zero, which feels too right to ignore.

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How does Freezing Sphere compare to other spells?

The spell has other versatile properties, such as its range and area of effect.

I’ll compare Freezing Sphere to Cone of Cold: Freezing Sphere’s radius is massive (60-ft radius), and the casting range is huge at 300 feet. This 60-ft radius sphere covers 4x the area of Cone of Cold. Neither spell spreads around corners. Cone of Cold cannot freeze a body of water as Freezing Sphere can. The ability to explicitly freeze a body of water is rare, though I suspect many game masters implicitly allow cold damage to freeze water.

At its core, this spell is meant to blast enemies, so damage is important. The damage is comparable to spells of lower levels, meaning it’s not crazy high damage. Cone of Cold’s average damage (36) is nearly the same as Freezing Sphere (35), but if Cone of Cold is cast at 6th level (the level of Freezing Sphere), the average damage becomes 40.5 (five more damage than Freezing Sphere at the same level). However, Freezing Sphere’s total damage can ramp up quickly due to its massive area of effect. Freezing Sphere’s 60-ft radius area of effect could potentially outperform Cone of Cold’s damage in a target-rich environment.

Fireball, which is likely the most common blast spell, would deal 11d6 fire damage at 6th level (1d6 more than Freezing Sphere). Fire damage is not as valuable as cold damage due to common resistances.

I’d conclude that Freezing Sphere’s damage is acceptable when compared to other spells. That’s good news because if the damage was poor, the other features of the spell might be overlooked. The other features of the spell are what really make it stand out to me.

It’s a bummer that the spell requires a Constitution saving throw since it’s not common for a creature to have a bad Constitution saving throw bonus (it might be fairly neutral, but probably not poor). It’s unfortunate that most cold spells will force Constitution saves instead of something else, but I admit it’s the saving throw that makes the most sense.

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How good is Freezing Sphere’s effect to freeze water?

Freezing Sphere can trap dozens of creatures in ice due to its radius. If low-strength characters become trapped, they probably won’t get out unless they have other escapes like Misty Step.

If Freezing Sphere restrains or traps creatures below the water’s surface, those creatures can’t see or speak. That means no Misty Step to escape. These creatures may eventually drown if they can’t swim beyond the ice barrier. Suffocation/drowning is unlikely because the ice barrier will last only one minute; suffocation RAW gives the creature more time before suffocation unless there are other circumstances that would cause the creature to lose its breath.

A Strength check may be difficult for many creatures (you should note that it’s not an Athletics check, just Strength). If creatures are restrained by the ice, their speed is zero, attacks have advantage against them, and they have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws. This means you can cast other spells that force Dexterity saving throws, and the creatures will be less likely to pass their saving throws.

This barrier of ice atop a body of water could also result in an interesting environmental hazard as the ice rotates and breaks, like the bear scene in Balto. Imagine dueling fighters trying to fight while keeping the ice balanced to avoid falling. The spell can freeze water in a sewer, well, or river to clog and block them. It’s best to remember that ice counts as difficult terrain as well, and creatures can slip and fall if they fail a DC 10 acrobatics skill check (you can check the DMG for rules on slippery ice and thin ice).

As I mentioned earlier, the freezing water effect is rare. You can bet that it’s handy in the right situations. Another spell that specifically mentions freezing water is Wall of Water, just for reference.

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How good is Freezing Sphere’s effect to delay the cold explosion and create a globe for one minute?

Characters with Extra Attack can throw several Freezing Sphere globes in one round if you prepare the globes. You won’t have much time since they explode after one minute. This damage output in a large area would be impressive for a fighter. Imagine 20d6 cold damage as a fighter uses a sling to throw two delayed Freezing Spheres; pretty cool, pun intended. The action economy, however, is not great if you need to use three rounds in combat to use two Freezing Spheres as slingstones, so this is best if prepared before combat (in my experience, not likely to time this so perfectly).

If you have multiple wizards that can cast Freezing Sphere, you can prepare heaps of these globes. You can also prepare globes at higher levels with multiple rounds of combat while time halts for you by casting the 9th level Time Stop! I’m not sure that’s the best use of your spell slots, but it’s still cool.T

Alternatively, you can place a globe in a tactical position like a timed blizzard bomb. A character could function as something of a suicide bomber while carrying multiple globes. I imagine a DM using this concept as a chilly surprise). If you play in a lighthearted game that can get cartoonish, you could give the villain a gumball machine that dispenses a Freezing Sphere, or you could sabotage a game of Bingo. I know these scenarios probably won’t occur, but I hope the idea puts a smile on your face.

Also, if the globe is used as a sling stone, I recommend that the attacker can roll a normal attack for their sling and resolve that damage. Immediately after that attack is resolved (hit or miss), the globe explodes. Creatures will make their saving throws at that point as if you had just cast the spell.

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Does it freeze magical water, such as water created by Watery Sphere or Tidal Wave spells?

Freezing Sphere’s description treats mundane and magical water in the same way. The only specification is that water must be a ‘body of water or a liquid that is principally water (not including water-based creatures)’. This could open up interesting interactions for casting Watery Sphere or another water-conjuration spell and then freezing its surface so the victim suffocates/drowns inside the frozen Watery Sphere. If anything, it’s a method for seeing how creative your game master is on the fly!

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What happens when Freezing Sphere is cast while fully submerged in water?

To me, the intent is that the spell can be cast through water. If you cast this spell with intent to ‘strike’ a body of water, the spell’s area of effect will begin at the point that you choose within range and within line of sight. That point in the water is where the freezing effect occurs.

You can debate that water is frozen six inches deep within a 30-ft square at any point where the water is affected by the cold damage AOE. I personally believe that the freezing effect only occurs when the Freezing Sphere’s “globe of cold energy [that] streaks from your fingertips” directly impacts a body of water as the center of the spell’s cold blast. I could go either way on it.

There was a discussion of this question in this forum if you want more opinions.

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Who is Otiluke?

Otiluke was an archmage of Greyhawk until he perished in the Greyhawk Wars. He was slain by someone named Rary. In life, Otiluke was a short fellow with short black hair and a thin beard. He preferred to dress well, perhaps to make up for his scrawny figure.

He famously invented magic that focused on bubbles, globes, spheres, etc. Otiluke was a member of the Society of the Magi and the Circle of Eight, but his most notable affiliation may have been to Greyhawk City as part of the city’s oligarchy.

Oti’s known affiliations were with his ‘henchman’ Imiric von Suss-Varren (a gnomish count) and Glorial (his apprentice and concubine in his final years of life).

To combat an invasion of Slaadi, Otiluke created an abomination hybrid called the ‘howler wasp’ (giant wasps crossed with carnivorous monkeys). It’s unclear how helpful these abominations were against the Slaadi, but they managed to escape into the wild as Oti couldn’t control them.

Archmage Otiluke is known to have authored several works, including Gazette on the Norse Climates, Otiluke’s Practical Gardening, and Spherogenesis of the Multiverses.

Spells created by Otiluke include the following spherical spells:

• Freezing Sphere or Otiluke’s Icy Sphere
• Resilient Sphere
• Telekinetic Sphere
• Acid Cloud
• Boiling Oil Bath
• Bubbling Buoyancy
• Death Screen
• Diamond Screen
• Dispelling Screen
• Electrical Screen
• Excruciating Screen
• Fire and Ice
• Force Umbrella
• Greater Dispelling Screen
• Orb of Containment
• Polar Screen
• Radiant Screen
• Siege Sphere
• Smoky Sphere
• Steaming Sphere
• Suppressing Field

You can learn more about Otiluke in books of lore devoted to Greyhawk.

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Conclusions on Freezing Sphere

I have yet to experiment with this spell as I only recently reached levels high enough to learn and cast it. My wizard has plans to try it out, but there are other spells necessary to the setting that is causing me to delay taking the spell. For this reason, I’m counting on all of you to help me test it. Please share your experiences with this spell so I can judge the extent of its usefulness. The range, AOE, damage, water freezing, and delayed globe effects are worthy of experimentation. I look forward to hearing what you can do with it.

Thank you for reading!

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If you enjoyed this spell analysis, check out our other spell analyses here, or follow links to the following spells:

Nystul’s Magic Aura

Dream

Ideas to revise unpopular/bad spells