Blade Barrier

[Mahali]

This spell creates a spinning disk of razorsharp blades. These whirl and flash around a central point, creating an immobile, circular barrier. Any creature passing through the blade barrier takes 1d6 points of slashing damage per caster level (maximum 20d6). The plane of rotation of the blades can be horizontal, vertical, or slanted.
Creatures within the blade barrier when it is invoked take the damage as well. They can negate the damage with a successful Reflex saving throw, provided they can and do physically leave the area of the blades by the shortest possible route. Once the barrier is in place, anything entering or passing through the blades automatically takes damage.
A blade barrier serves as one-half cover (+4 AC) for anyone beyond it.

Do you think this applies to any movement (including from a Bull Rush)?

How much needs to be between two people ot get 1/2 cover, do you give 1/4 cover for less distance?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Do you think this applies to any movement (including from a Bull Rush)?

Yup.

How much needs to be between two people ot get 1/2 cover, do you give 1/4 cover for less distance?

The blade barrier is not a "zone", it's a plane. Imagine a giant rotating fan, or a helicopter blade.

If the fan is vertical between you and your target, they have half-cover. If it's tilted 45 degrees, they probably still have half-cover. If it's horizontal, then it no longer obstructs your line of effect/missile trajectory/line of sight/whatever. No cover.

-Hyp.

 

[Mahali]

Would you apply damage:
1. per instance moved
2. once per intitive click (so a creature moves and gets bull rushed takes damage twice, someone else Ring of Rams him (another Bull Rush) and that's three times)

Max # of times per round? The reason I ask is a mix of Knock Back, Bull Rush, Ring of Ram, and Control Winds. Trying to have some fun with my combat Shaman.

[q]Knockback. This quality can apply only to ranged weapons. Any creature struck by this weapon must make a Strength check with a DC of 20. Those who fail are knocked back 5 feet. Developed by the Seekers of the Heart of Truth, arrows with this magical quality prove very useful in cliff-fighting.
Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Magical Arms and
Armor, telekinesis; Market Price: +1 bonus[/q]

 

[Hypersmurf]

I would apply damage:

a/ to a creature within the area when the barrier is invoked, providing they fail their save, or cannot exit the area,

and b/ to any creature passing through the barrier.

If someone chooses to run back and forward through the blades seven times, they take damage seven times. If someone gets knocked back and forth through the blades four times, they take damage four times.

Note that by the wording of a spell, someone who stays within the area doesn't take damage every round, only once. So tricks involving Blade Barrier and Reverse Gravity, or Entangle, or Wall of Force, designed to keep someone within the blades for a long time, don't work if the person just stays still.

Cloudkill, Blade Barrier, and Solid Fog in combination can be mean, though.

-Hyp.

 

[Mahali]

As my step-mom (an english teacher) would say, "That was a non-responsive answer."

Obviously zig-zagging inside the area of effect on your turn you only take damage once. I'd say if you leave and reenter you take it twice.

What happens when you stop inside of it and on someone elses turn they Ring of Ram you 3 times moving you 3 times?

When same thing happens from 2 different people?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Obviously zig-zagging inside the area of effect on your turn you only take damage once. I'd say if you leave and reenter you take it twice.

Isn't that what I said?

In the case of a vertical-plane barrier, someone can completely pass through the plane of the blades by moving 5 feet. With a 30' move and the double move action, they could pass completely through the blades twelve times in one round, taking damage twelve times.

If it's a horizontal-plane barrier at waist height, and they walk the diameter of the disk, then they take damage once.

What happens when you stop inside of it and on someone elses turn they Ring of Ram you 3 times moving you 3 times?

When same thing happens from 2 different people?

If you don't pass through the barrier, you don't take damage. If it's a vertical plane, and two people with Rings of the Ram - one on each side - ram you through the Barrier back and forth, you take damage each time you pass through.

If you're standing in the middle of a horizontal-plane barrier, then however they ram you, by the wording of the spell, you don't take damage unless you pass through it.

-Hyp.

 

[rhammer2]

If you stand in and do not leave an area with a horizontal barrier, you take damage every round. The damage should be treated as continuous damage. If this wasn't true, a successfull save would not require you to leave the area by the shortest route.

I would apply damage:

a/ to a creature within the area when the barrier is invoked, providing they fail their save, or cannot exit the area,

and b/ to any creature passing through the barrier.

If someone chooses to run back and forward through the blades seven times, they take damage seven times. If someone gets knocked back and forth through the blades four times, they take damage four times.

Note that by the wording of a spell, someone who stays within the area doesn't take damage every round, only once. So tricks involving Blade Barrier and Reverse Gravity, or Entangle, or Wall of Force, designed to keep someone within the blades for a long time, don't work if the person just stays still.

Cloudkill, Blade Barrier, and Solid Fog in combination can be mean, though.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If you stand in and do not leave an area with a horizontal barrier, you take damage every round. The damage should be treated as continuous damage. If this wasn't true, a successfull save would not require you to leave the area by the shortest route.

That's not what the spell says.

Creatures within the blade barrier when it is invoked take the damage - negated with a successful Reflex Save provided they leave by the shortest route possible.

After that, if you enter or pass through, you automatically take damage.

By the wording, if you're in it when it is invoked and elect not to leave by the shortest route possible, you take the damage. After that, you only take damage if you enter it or pass through it. If you stand still, you're doing neither.

Likewise, if you enter it, you take damage, but if you then don't pass through it or enter it again, you're fine.

By the wording.

-Hyp.

 

[Mahali]

Most agree that if you start the round in it and move (at all) you take damage and this is what is meant by "moving through".

Does your opinion differ? I can see why you'd say that if you never leave you never take damage after round 1 but it doesn't seem right to me. That'd be against any image I have of the spell or the intent in my opinion.

 

[Janos Antero]

Most agree that if you start the round in it and move (at all) you take damage and this is what is meant by "moving through".

Hyp agreed with that, if you move at all, even a 5' step, within the plane of a blade barrier you take damage.

If you don't move at all, and took damage the first round in a blade barrier, if you stand stock still successive rounds, you don't take damage after the first round. Any other type of movement is going to cause you to eat whirrling blades of death.

Good single person in radius blade barrier analogy:
Best way to picture a Blade Barrier is actually like a giant ring, both the outside and the inside rings are razor sharp, and the hole within the center is pretty tiny, just barely big enough to fit someone. When the ring of blades is first summoned it automatically puts the center safezone of itself in an area not covered by potential targets of the spell. If you make your save, you jump out of it before it hits you. If you fail your save, you jump into the eye of the blade barrier, but still took damage from that movement. If you move any direction within the radius the inside sharp edge, or the outside sharp edge of the blade barrier slices and dices. If you stay still inside that "eye" you're safe, now. If you're outside the barrier and try to get to the eye, or get to the other side, you take damage for passing through it. But once you've taken damage in the radius, if you stop moving again, you've gotten into that "eye", you take no further damage.

That's a good analogy/example for picturing when damage is taken that helps my players picture it on occasion.