How much damage from going along a wall of fire?

[Vahktang]

Rather than just going through, what if our heroes have to go along the length of a Wall of Fire spell?
Would it be damge per 10' section?
(ouch)
Damage again only if their movement ends before getting out?
Other?

It's a minimum of 140' long, so, doing cold damage to eliminate a 5' section may be prohibitive.

Your thoughts?

 

[frankthedm]

The Damage is taken Once per round is the way the rules and wotc indicate, though not everyone likes that

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Rather than just going through, what if our heroes have to go along the length of a Wall of Fire spell?

The spell description is clear as far as it goes:

The wall deals this damage when it appears and on your turn each round to all creatures in the area.

Would it be damge per 10' section?

No, and no reason to even begin thinking it would.

Damage again only if their movement ends before getting out?

Yeah, this.

Other?

Although not described that way the area should probably be considered an emanation of sorts (emanating from a plane rather than a single point). That is, by a stupidly strict reading of the spell a character could avoid any damage from the wall by never beginning or ending his movement in the spells area of effect. If the wall does not make its initial appearance with the character in the area of effect, and the character then is never in the area of effect ON THE CASTERS TURN he technically sustains no damage because those are the two times when the spells description clearly states he takes damage.

It seems a bit obvious though that if a character moves into the area of effect at any time he should still be subject to the appropriate level of damage. But no more than the single, damage-per-turn amount.

 

[eamon]

It seems a bit obvious though that if a character moves into the area of effect at any time he should still be subject to the appropriate level of damage. But no more than the single, damage-per-turn amount.

Well, a wall of fire isn't written to be used as a barrier against "walking alongside it", but rather simply as a wall radiating heat. It does deal damage even outside of the caster's turn, namely when a creature passes through it. If it seems odd that the wall does not damage those merely coming close for a short time, then imagine it to be a giant radiator of sorts: touching it immediately burns you, and staying close for long (approximated as 1 round being 6 seconds) also burns you, but merely dashing past does not - the duration of exposure is presumably not long enough.

The real solution? The caster should use the wall as a barrier - it won't necessarily harm those walking along it, which isn't (necessarily) a mistake of the rules but a mistake of the caster.

Sure, it's a rough approximation, but it's definitely usable.