D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] What was so broken about Wall of Iron?

[bret]

I noticed that Wall of Iron was moved up a level. It is now 6th level, a full level higher than Wall of Force.

I must be missing something. What was so broken about Wall of Iron that it had to be moved up a level? In almost all cases, Wall of Force looks like a better spell to me.

 

[mmu1]

1. Wall of Force got nerfed in terms of duration and shape (1 round/level, can't use it to make a hemisphere). Perhaps they felt the 3E version should have been higher than 5th level, but instead of moving it, they changed the spell.

2. Wall of Iron is permanent, can be cast at Medium instead of Short range, and has some limited use as an AOE spell when cast among a group of enemies. Because of the change in duration, it is much better at keeping most creatures out of an area than a Wall of Force now.

 

[drnuncheon]

Yeah...I'd be comparing wall of iron with wall of stone myself. Similar durations, wall of iron is much stronger, wall of stone is shapable, wall of iron can be used as a weapon (sorta)...I think they moved wall of iron because it was too similar to wall of stone to be at the same level.

J
which is kind of a weird reason when you think about it