wall of stone, was: Will I survive?

[Winternight]

having a second thought.
Am I able to shape a wall of stone as a dome with me as center and with small arrow slits in it. thru wich I can cast but those bloodfrenzy figthers doing 50 hp/round cant do anything?
Main question:
May I cast thru an arrowslit?
may the other mage cast:" I want my fireball to detonate right in that dome?" (from 150 feet away?)
Shure he can want to but does it happen?

 

[FrankTrollman]

There is a minimum size of arrow slit you can fire magic through. You need at least 1 square foot in order to cast your magic through, bizzarely enough. Such an opening can give you 9/10 cover - which is only +10 AC. So you'll get an AC bonus, but it's normally not worth doing.

-Frank

 

[Magic Slim]

Hm. The spell description says nothing about a dome. It talks about a ramp, a bridge, but not a hemisphere.

This said, the description of the spell implies that if you want to do something else than a wall with it, you'll get a reduced area. So, I'd probably let it happen (a dome).

As for the arrow slits, sure, why not. The description talks about crenellations and battlements, so why not arrow slits?

I don't remember any rules about aiming spells in small openings. In 2nd edition, you had to make a to-hit roll in order to shoot a fireball through an arrowslit, but in 3rd edition, haven't seen anything like that.

Slim

 

[Magic Slim]

There is a minimum size of arrow slit you can fire magic through. You need at least 1 square foot in order to cast your magic through, bizzarely enough. Such an opening can give you 9/10 cover - which is only +10 AC. So you'll get an AC bonus, but it's normally not worth doing.

-Frank

Wouldn't that be if the fireball exploded on the wrong side of the wall?

I remember that a lightning bolt needs at least a 1'-square to pass through, don't know if that means anything...

Slim

 

[FrankTrollman]

I remember that a lightning bolt needs at least a 1'-square to pass through, don't know if that means anything...

That's what you need for "line of effect" - which you need for just about everything.

The problems with this model are numerous - people are immune to all spells except area of effect damage spells while in a canopied bed, for example. In fact, cover is one of the places where D&D (3.5 in particular) really falls down. A covered Wagon is immune to almost all forms of magical assault, although you can still shoot crossbows out of it, and so on. This is one of those areas of the game where things are better if you don't think about them, because the spells and cover rules work really poorly.

---

That being said - the 3.5 Wall of Stone is contradictory about what it can or cannot do. The 3rd edition spell was capable of being created right into people, trapping them in pillaries of stone, and the 3.5 version still contains some of that language. It also however says that it can't intrude into occupied squares.

So, if you can figure out how to trap someone in or under a Wall of Stone without intruding into a square they occupy - then perhaps you can parse the 3.5 version and whether or not it can make domes. The 3rd edition version was explicit - and you could dome yourself or your enemies if you wanted to.

-Frank

 

[Magic Slim]

So, if you can figure out how to trap someone in or under a Wall of Stone without intruding into a square they occupy - then perhaps you can parse the 3.5 version and whether or not it can make domes. The 3rd edition version was explicit - and you could dome yourself or your enemies if you wanted to.

-Frank

Actually, you can try to trap creatures under a wall of stone, the wall just can't occupy the same square as they do.

It is possible, but difficult, to trap mobile opponents within or under a wall of stone, provided the wall is shaped so it can hold the creatures. Creatures can avoid entrapment with successful Reflex saves.

Slim

 

[FrankTrollman]

Which sends us to the second part:

The squares are two dimensional, and go up indefinately until we bust out 3d combat. If it can't enter your square, how can it be "over" you for you to be "under" it? You'd have to be longer than a geometrical line - which is going to be exceedingly difficult for anything of finite length.

It's a clumsy slap-patch of the new square rules onto a previously working (if powerful) spell. Now it has to stay in the interstices between squares - which means that nobody in those squares can be "under" it. But it still says you can put people "under" it. Which means that it is now contradictory.

I assume that the new text overrides the old, and that creating domes is now impossible. But this is one of the many reasons I don't play 3.5. Any time you turn a wargame into a role playing game and then back into a wargame you'll have problems. Try multiple translations with Babelfish sometime - it's hilarious.

-Frank

 

[Hypersmurf]

In 2nd edition, you had to make a to-hit roll in order to shoot a fireball through an arrowslit, but in 3rd edition, haven't seen anything like that.

The rules for shooting a Fireball through an arrowslit are cunningly hidden in the description of... Fireball.

"If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must “hit” the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely."

-Hyp.

 

[Norfleet]

The rules for shooting a Fireball through an arrowslit are cunningly hidden in the description of... Fireball.

"If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must “hit” the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely."

-Hyp.

Those rules are for launching fireballs through ENEMY arrow slits. If you had to do this to launch a fireball through your OWN arrow slits, that would make the very concept of arrow slits useless.

The entire concept of the arrow slit is that it reduces the target profile of person on the other side: Since you see and aim with only a small part of your own body, from up close, the arrow slit does not impede your ability to aim since the portion of your viewing area blocked by the non-open areas is considerably less than it is for someone outside, far away.

 

[Winternight]

The rules for shooting a Fireball through an arrowslit are cunningly hidden in the description of... Fireball.

"If you attempt to send the bead through a narrow passage, such as through an arrow slit, you must “hit” the opening with a ranged touch attack, or else the bead strikes the barrier and detonates prematurely."

-Hyp.

Ok. two questions
a)
Fire ball is a burst, right? That means even if ti detonate on the outside of the wall me, standing right behind the arrowslit still get all the damage (though IIRC i geta bonus to my ref save thru the cover)
b)
If the evil enemy mage cast a stinking cloud, may he cast it within my dome? Then I would be stinked up, because I can`t escape.