Let's say a vampire is trapped inside a Resilient Sphere, which says:
Nothing can pass through the sphere, inside or out, though the subject can breathe normally.
And now this vampire (and that sphere) is put under the natural sunlight.
Since "Nothing can pass through the sphere, inside or out", should I say this vampire can survive? If so, should I tell my PCs that "light and sound cannot pass through, so all you can see is a purely-black (or mirror-like, if it reflects all kinds of lights) sphere that you just created, and creatures trapped by it are also considered blind and deaf to the outside world"?
Best Answer
The vampire's safe from outside sunlight while it's inside the sphere
Unlike some force effects that call out the fact that they're invisible, the 4th-level Sor/Wiz spell Otiluke's resilient sphere [evoc] (PH 258–9) doesn't say that its globe effect is invisible but, instead, that its effect is a "globe of shimmering force." (Compare this with, for example, the 5th-level Sor/Wiz spell wall of force [evoc] (PH 298–9) that, in part, says, that it "creates an invisible wall.")
So while I had always imagined the resilient sphere effect as transparent—because, let's face it, it totally sounds like it's trapping a victim within a magical hamster ball—, the spell hasn't ever actually said that the force effect that it creates is transparent—or even translucent like the amber that's half of its material component (clear crystal is the other). To make sure, I went back and checked, and, sure enough, that part of the resilient sphere spell's description remains unchanged from the spell's original appearance in Gygax's "New Magic-user Spells" (Dragon #67 (1982) 57) through "the Player's Handbook (1989) for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, and into Third Edition.
Before you asked this question, I would've ruled that the vampire was destroyed because the sphere effect is obviously transparent. However, now that you've pointed out that I've imposed my imagination on this spell for the last forty years, I'd rule that the vampire's safe, both sound and light (even the direct light of the sun) being unable to penetrate the resilient sphere effect.