How can a Wall of Force be made frictionless?

[Storyteller01]

Been readin Illium/Olympos, and I like the cavitation force field ideas (looking to integrate them into my DS campaign). I know that psionics has the skate power, but it lacks the defensive abilities.

So, can a standard wall of force be used for this effect? How would you modify it if it wouldn't?

 

[Sejs]

You're really going to have to forgive my ignorance here Storyteller, but how does cavitation relate to force fields? Cavitation's a hydrodynamic principle, yes?

 

[Plane Sailing]

So, can a standard wall of force be used for this effect? How would you modify it if it wouldn't?

No it can't. The wall of force says nothing about the spells frictional possibilities so it basically doesn't do anything along those lines.

What I'd possible allow as a DM would be a feat which allowed a slippery effect (exactly like the grease spell) to be added to any Force spell with a duration, otherwise I'd require a new spell to be created with the desired properties.

Having said that, I've not read the book you reference. How do "cavitation force fields" work in that book? What are the benefits and restrictions of them?

 

[Blightersbane]

Helium at -400* in vacuum creates the frictionless surface you wanted, how to recreate thru magic? Ahh probably in Ebberon.

BB

 

[Veigle]

I believe Helium at -400 is frictionless to itself, or to anything passing through it. It would not, however, act as a perfect lubricant. It in fact has a lubrication effect of nearly 0. Instead of acting as a "Go between" for 2 surfaces, it would be extremely good at getting out of the way.

Normally, surfaces viewed at high magnification (or even at the molecular level) are incredibly rough terrain, and it is the massive mountains and deep valleys scraping over each other that create friction.
Oil works when layers of the liquid form a film over the surface of a material. This film fills in the "Valleys" and rides above the "mountains" as well. 2 surfaces covered with oil touch each other, instead of the surfaces of the layers the oil films are attached too. As oil has innately very little friction between itself, and the surfaces are (by hydrodynamic nature) very smooth even at the molecular level, friction is reduced.

A force field would act as a perfect lubricant, as it has no "Surface" for the other material to scrape against.

While this surface is in fact frictionless, that does not mean that there is no resistance to movement across it. That would depend on exactly what the nature of the "Force" is (no star wars jokes please)

An example would be if you took a large chunk of Aluminum and tried to move it quickly through a strong magnetic field. The result would be that the faster you tried to move it, the more resistance you would encounter, even though you never touch anything. In fact, the metal would quickly become to hot to hold onto. (I have experienced this first hand).

In the end:
There is no way to define the true properties "Force Field" until we actually create one
The resistance to motion can not be determined logically
The surface would in fact frictionless,

This should mean that would be a DM determination in each campaign.


Personally, I always liked the idea of it being frictionless (no resistance), so many neat trap opportunities.

 

[starwed]

Hmm, I'd have to say a Wall of Force would be frictionless, if the topic came up. That means there's no way to climb it, or to walk properly along one if it was laid sideways.

I mean, it's a uniform field of force; there's nothing to rub against to produce friction.

 

[pallandrome]

supercooled helium is nifty and all, but I prefer buckminster fullerine for my slip-n-slide needs. Less frostbite, donchaknow.

 

[Pyrex]

I've always assumed that a Wall of Force is near enough to frictionless as doesn't matter, but then again it's never ever been an issue in any of the games I play in.

What type of effect are you trying to achieve that requires frictionless 10'x10'x0 planes?

 

[Deset Gled]

That means there's no way to climb it, or to walk properly along one if it was laid sideways.

Sorry, but this is wrong on two counts. First, you can climb even a "perfectly smooth" wall with a DC 70 climb check. Second, a wall of force must be "a flat, vertical plane", so you cannot create one sideways. Fun fact: you can even walk through one with a DC 120 escape artist check.

A wall of force doesn't exist in the real world, so you'll get nothing but headaches from trying to apply physics to one. I'd say that since you need to create a new spell to make a wall of force that isn't vertical in the first place, you might as well create the new spell to specify that it's frictionless as well. Off the top of my head, a level 7 spell seems appropriate (given some of the possible applications).

 

[Veigle]

Even a perfectly smooth wall has a surface.
A wall of force does not.

Hence:
No Friction (not even with suction cups )
Resistance to movement at DM's Distrection

Heck, for fun I might even rule that all non-metal objects experience 0 friction and 0 resistance.
All metal (or objects with metal components like armor) percieve no friction, but do encounter resistance to movment. Fast movement in armor(sliding down a 45 degree plane of force) will cause the equivalent of the druid Heat Metal effect for each 50' traveled, but slow the acceleration.

Level 7 Field of force sounds about right to me as well.