3.x - question about wall of force spell

[boomerwang]

Hi everyone,

I signed up a couple years back but this is my first post. Wow. If there's been an answer to this question already and you know the thread, could you link it? Thanks!

On the 3.5 PH pg. 299 it says "... breath weapons and spells cannot pass through the wall..."

Does this also include the casting of the spell, since many spells can be cast at a range, I see (unless by default all spells originate from the caster, like with fireball, where the 'bead' would hit the wall of force and detonate prematurely, I'm assuming).

So could you cast wall of force, then cloudkill so that it begins on the other side of the wall? Hard to interpret because you could say the cloudkill spell (effect) did not pass through the wall, but you still cast it through the wall.

 

[Pergentile]

Google the difference between "line of sight" and "line of effect". You need line of effect to the single origin point to be able to cast the spell there. Once cast, it would also not pass through the wall.

 

[Greenfield]

Essentially, nothing goes through a Wall of Force except Gaze attacks.

You can, however, get creative by firing spell effects *around* the wall, either under, over, left or right. Wall of Force doesn't have to rest on a surface, after all.

Some spells are odd with this. Chain Lightning needs a Line of Effect from the caster to the primary target, then a separate Line of Effect from that target to everyone else being affected. This lets you do something akin to shooting around a corner. You need to *see* the other targets (usually), but you don't have to have a direct line between you and them.

Area spells like Fireball work well on that shoot-around style, and Cloud Kill can be magnificent since it continues to move once cast.

Summoning spells are also useful in this way, calling the creature to a spot you have Line of Effect with, then letting them run loose on the far side while you sit nice and safe in your force fortress.

Also be aware that you can leave a selective "notch" in the wall. It has to be vertical and continuous, but it's an assembly of 10 foot panels. Some DM's read "continuous" as "having no holes" Others read it as "All sections must be connected, so you are making one wall, not two or three." In either case, leaving one or more panels out at one edge is legal. While some would insist that the notch or hole needs to be 5 or 10 feet in size, the simple fact is that not everything needs to snap to grid. So be a little creative with the spell and form it into one flat wall of a bunker, set up to provide cover while having a horizontal slot to fire through. Duck down as needed.