Hypersmurf said:
No, you take damage when the spell comes into effect, and when you pass through the barrier. If you're just standing there, and don't actually pass through the barrier, you only take damage the when it first appears.
When the Hold wears off, and you pass through in one direction or the other, then you'll take a second lot of damage.
-Hyp.
I disagree on two fronts. Logic, and RAW
First Logic: (yes, I know that it is a game, and that logic does not always play a part. But I feel that when it can, it should)
You have a spell that makes tons of blades of force that whirl around so much, and are so dangerous, that if you just try and walk/run/dive through them, you will take (lets say) 10d6 damage. Ouch.
But if you walk right into them, and stand right where they are whirling around, and just hang out for many many rounds, lets say 30 rounds, 3 minutes, and then continue walking out. You will take the *same damage*
Now, that just doesn't sound right. Most things try and have a hook into logic, even if tenuous.
Second, RAW: The rules do not state "when you pass through" as you wrote. they state "Any creature passing through the wall takes 1d6 points of damage" So it is not when you have done something. It is while you are doing something.
To have passed through is a decreet moment in time, it only happens once. To be passing through, can take quite awhile.
Lets say it was a 100'x100' room of fire. And the text said "anyone passing through the room takes 10d6 damage. Would you really rule that stopping in the middle and tieing your shoe, and doing some light stretching would not add to the damage? After the first round, are they still passing through? sure are, more damage.
Now, an argument can be made that being held means you are no longer 'passing through' and are thus no affected. But that is really a tenuous attempt at semantics, and even that does not hold up well.
Lets take the same room, and now it says, "for every round moving through the room, you take 10d6 damage". If one of the characters stops, and stands still, do they stop taking damage?
.