Can I make a really 'frilly' Wall of Force?

[Anabstercorian]

Theoretically, as long as it didn't have any 'holes' in it, a Wall of Force could be made in to an enormous star shape, so that it partially blocked an enormous area but didn't block a whole lot of anything. You could even, theoretically, with enough mastery of the spell, create a fractal Wall of Force that expanded far beyond the usual area limits, as the expense of having lots of little breaks in it.

My question is, when does this cross the line from creativity to abuse?

 

[hong]

"The caster can form the wall into a flat, vertical plane..." [PHB, p.299]

Notice the presence of the word "flat".

 

[Scion]

"The caster can form the wall into a flat, vertical plane..." [PHB, p.299]

Notice the presence of the word "flat".

so you are saying that a sheet of paper (roughly a flat finite plane) with a hole cut in the center is no longer flat?

I think the only real part that may stop this is, "The wall of force must be continuous and unbroken when formed" depending on what they mean exactly by 'continuous'.

 

[hong]

so you are saying that a sheet of paper (roughly a flat finite plane) with a hole cut in the center is no longer flat?

I think the only real part that may stop this is, "The wall of force must be continuous and unbroken when formed" depending on what they mean exactly by 'continuous'.

Eh?

As far as I can tell, Anabsterthingumybob is talking about creating a wall of force that bends all over the place, so that it can encompass a big area.

 

[Scion]

Eh?

As far as I can tell, Anabsterthingumybob is talking about creating a wall of force that bends all over the place, so that it can encompass a big area.

possibly, but I read it as a large plane, but with holes in it so that it covers a larger area, or at least looks like it. So if you had that sheet of paper you could cut a thousand little holes, and then take those cut out parts and put them on the ouside of the paper. All of this still in the same plane but it spreads out to a very very large area. With the fractals I've seen 2d ones that have a total area that is very small because the lines are small, but the overall area of the plane they are in can be 'huge'. If I read it wrong then I'm sorry but even so, you can make the same shapes in 2d.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Take Sculpt Spell or some other warp-dimension metamagic feat. Wall of Force was reworded to specifically disallow customized versions, much like Blade Barrier.

 

[Pielorinho]

I think the emphasis isn't on FLAT -- it's on PLANE and on UNBROKEN. A series of short segments does not equal a line, nor does a flat web equal a plane. A series of short segments does not equal an unbroken line, nor does a flat web equal an unbroken plane. In fact, about the only thing consisting of a series of short segments is a student film festival.

There's no point at which this crosses the line between creativity and abuse. It's certainly creative, but it's a violation of the rules as written.

Daniel

 

[hong]

possibly, but I read it as a large plane, but with holes in it so that it covers a larger area, or at least looks like it. So if you had that sheet of paper you could cut a thousand little holes, and then take those cut out parts and put them on the ouside of the paper. All of this still in the same plane but it spreads out to a very very large area. With the fractals I've seen 2d ones that have a total area that is very small because the lines are small, but the overall area of the plane they are in can be 'huge'. If I read it wrong then I'm sorry but even so, you can make the same shapes in 2d.

Hm, yeah, I think I was the one who read it wrong. D'oh!

 

[MerakSpielman]

Would creating a wall of force shaped like the Mandelbrot set constitute a breach of the unbroken plane rule? Each side would be perfectly flat and smooth, and at no point is there a hole in the shape. Does fact that the edges of the shape are infinitely complex (literally) have any impact on the spell?

 

[Pielorinho]

Would creating a wall of force shaped like the Mandelbrot set constitute a breach of the unbroken plane rule? Each side would be perfectly flat and smooth, and at no point is there a hole in the shape. Does fact that the edges of the shape are infinitely complex (literally) have any impact on the spell?

I don't think such a wall would count as "broken", but I'm not sure I'd count it as a "plane."

More importantly, the spell doesn't mention that the spell's area is shapeable anywhere, simply that you can affect its area. I'd rule that you can give it a width and a height, and that's it.

Daniel