How would you aducate this anti-dragon tactic?

[Kershek]

The spell range can be extended with metamagic, either by the caster or with a rod.

As for being anchored, as was stated earlier, wall of force cannot be anchored to anything. See the spell description.

Can this be done in other situations? For instance, the big Fire Giant is charging at you and you throw up a prismatic wall. Does he automatically run through it?

 

[Derren]

No. At any point, the giant can simply stop moving.

 

[Kershek]

So, then are you saying that the dragon cannot simply stop moving because of its poor maneuverability? Then, next round, it will fall (and use hover to stop from splatting if it has the ability).

 

[Derren]

Scenario 1: Dragon does a double move and the wall comes up in the second move: Dragon just stops moving or uses wingover. As he already has flown a move action no stalling

Scenario 2: Dragon does a double move and the wall comes up in the first move: Dragon uses Hover or wingover, otherwise crash or stalling

Scenario 3: Dragon uses his standard action for something and then moves when the wall comes up: Wingover or Stall/Crash

Scenario 4: Dragon moves towards you intending to use its standard action on something when the wall comes up: Hover, Wingover or Stall/Crash

Note that the crash would do very little damage.

 

[KarinsDad]

There is no momentum in D&D. Hover lets a dragon instantly stop.
Hover is not a free wingover, it requires a movement action which is a big difference. With the same reasoning you could say that beeing able to change direction at all while flying cheapens wingover because they both do the same thing.

Hover does not let a dragon instantly stop in all circumstances.

Readied actions are special in that they interrupt the action they are going against, they do not necessarily stop it. Once the readied action is resolved, the action it interrupted is continued (if possible).

Creatures cannot change their declared action because of a readied action. If you start to cast a spell and I ready against it, you cannot suddenly change your mind and start attacking with a melee attack.

If you are moving past my invisible character and notice me when I perform my AoO, you cannot say "Opps, I did not move through that square".


In fact, the readying character can put the Wall of Force on a square line in front of the Dragon (according to the rules) as the Dragon leaves that square (as the trigger). He interrupts the Dragon leaving the square (due to the ready rules), but BECAUSE the Dragon is leaving the square in order to trigger the readied action, he does not get to go back and decide to "not leave the square".

And neither Hover nor Wingover will stop the wall from impeding the Dragon.

 

[Kershek]

In fact, the readying character can put the Wall of Force on a square line in front of the Dragon (according to the rules) as the Dragon leaves that square (as the trigger). He interrupts the Dragon leaving the square (due to the ready rules), but BECAUSE the Dragon is leaving the square in order to trigger the readied action, he does not get to go back and decide to "not leave the square".

So, in your opinion, does that mean the Fire Giant would charge through the prismatic wall? What if he's double-moving and interrupted?

 

[KarinsDad]

So, in your opinion, does that mean the Fire Giant would charge through the prismatic wall? What if he's double-moving and interrupted?

It does not matter if he is doing a 5 foot step, a move action, a double move, a charge, or a run.

If the wording of the ready action is that when he leaves the square, I will put the Prismatic Wall on the square line he is leaving through, then he goes through it. The readied action occurs before the movement action, but does not allow the creature doing the movement to stop it.

There are OTHER actions though that could stop it. For example, if the Giant had a Contigency Teleport to go home if he walks through a wall spell, ..., then the Teleport would trump the movement action as well.

 

[Kershek]

Interesting. I've heard good arguments from both sides and I don't know which way to go.

 

[azmodean]

There is a tradeoff I believe, if you place the wall immediately in front of the target, then they wold be unable to stop before touching the wall (or even slow down), however, in both cases they are then in range to reach out and automatically disrupt the formation of the wall (I'd give them a reflex save to do it) The only problem with this is they would have to know that touching the wall would halt its formation, not exactly common knowledge IMO. Therefore I would require a knowledge(arcana) check of them in order to attempt that reflex save.

On the other hand, if you put the wall out of their reach, they may have time to stop before making contact (prismatic wall complicates this by attempting to blind the target at the same time). A target with perfect manuverability (including a walking target) would definitely be able to stop, but a flying creature with poor or worse manuverability might have problems doing so. Then again, if the target is walking, you might have another spellcaster readied to cast grease under the target...

 

[Kershek]

Hey, now there's an idea.

Ready an action against a charge from Mr. Fire Giant. On the readied action, cast a quickened grease and then the prismatic wall. Watch the show