Wall of Fire and Forced Movement

[Kinneus]

Heard something surprising from my DM lately. I idly mentioned I was interested in taking some forced movement powers so I could slide enemies into my favorite daily, Wall of Fire. That's when he said that I'd need some mighty forced movement to accomplish that. Since if costs three extra squares of movement to enter the wall's space, my DM said I'd need a power with at least 4 squares of forced movement to bat baddies inside the wall.

This surprised me, since I've merrily been Beguiling Stranding enemies into the Wall o' Fire for quite some time now in another campaign (with another DM). Not to mention I've seen lots of people drag enemies through squares of difficult terrain without having the difficult terrain apply a penalty to the forced movement.

According to the DM that told me this, there was a FAQ that addressed this, but I haven't been able to find it (it's not in the official PHB FAQ, at any rate).Can anybody find a source for this?

 

[S'mon]

RAW is forced movement is unaffected by difficult terrain; you get a save to fall prone to avoid being forced into hazardous terrain.

Is a Wall of Fire terrain? If so, the above applies. If not - and by RAW I believe it's not - then no save & the extra movement requirement applies, since the specific effects of the wall of fire trump the general rules on forced movement.

Personally I'd be inclined to treat it as hazardous terrain.

 

[keterys]

Difficult terrain... and terrain that 'requires 3 extra squares to move through' are different things.

You can forced movement through difficult terrain with ease, but alas not so much with wall of fire.

And, if you want something more official, how about a developer FAQ on wizards.com:
Can you slide a target multiple times (by using a warlock's diabolic grasp or harrowstorm powers) into a wizard's wall of fire for iterative damage?
There are several factors to take into consideration here. First, a target must move into the wall's space—that is, moving into every square of that space does not inflict iterative damage. However, if a target moves into the wall's space, then back out, and then back in again, it will take more damage; but remember, entering each square occupied by the wall costs 3 extra squares of movement (which might be possible with a high-level use of a harrowstorm).

 

[Kinneus]

Thanks for the source, keterys.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

I note, for completeness' sake - and acknowledging that this is a rules forum - that there is also an (anectodally) popular house rule to the effect that a creature cannot suffer damage by being forcibly moved into a conjuration or zone more than once during a round (or variations thereof). I personally have used this house rule as DM since the beginning of 4E, and have found it curbs the excesses of mega-forced-movement, but as player of a wizard still like to push or slide enemies into corrosive mists and stinking clouds - it's still satisfying, even if you only do it once per round.

But yes, forcibly moving enemies into your wall of fire still means you need to create 3 squares of forced movement.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[keterys]

I'm a big fan of the once per round houserule, myself. It does look like WotC's been tweaking things to once per turn in many cases.