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Message: <blockquote data-quote="demadog" data-source="post: 3264134" data-attributes="member: 8156">Whelp, I figure every good spell needs it's day in court, so I'll argue for the prosecution.The defense would have you believe that this is an open and shut case.  All damage stacks.  However, we are not really talking about damage per sea, we are talking about spell effects.  The question is; do all spell effects stack?The clear answer is no.  The defense by thier own addmission and clearly stated in the RAW, spells like Bull's Strength, Bless, and Ray of Enfeeblement effects are not cumulative.  Now lets remember one point here, what do these non-cumulative spells have in common?  They all have a non-instantaneous durations.Now, i'll concede that the defense has a strong case.  The Combining Magical Effects section of the RAW does start by saying that most spell effects do stack, but it also then goes on to decribe several ways in which spells like the aforementioned Bull's Strength do so non-cumulatively.  At the end of these general exceptions is an odd adjunct about Instantaneous Effects, which goes out of its way to tell us that indeed spells with an Instantaneous duration are in fact cumalative.Moreover, the flavor text of the Instantaneous Effect section goes on to specifically point out that Fireballs and Cure Light Wound spells are prime examples of spell effects that are definately cumulative (3.5 PHB pg. 172).  What do these two flavor text spells have in common?  They both deal with damage.  The defense led us to believe that this kind of statement would have been unnecessary, but there it is.  The RAW goes out of its way to tell us that Instantaneous Damage producing/healing spells are cumulative.But here's the crux, does that mean that other damaging spell effects are not cumulative?  Is Acid Cloud, Ice Storm, or as an example Heat Metal cumulative?  Heat Metal has a 7 round duration and it does damage.  The text of Heat Metal decribes the spell effects as turning metal searing, but it surely doesnt say that another Heat Metal spell can make the object more searing or extremely searing.  No, Heat Metal can only make an object searing hot.Now exclaim the aged ladies, we are sure to be misunderstood.  If there are two Walls of Fire right behind one another then of course both would have an effect.  They would if they were set apart on the battlefield.  Well, lets examine that more closely.Wall of fire is an area-of-effect spell.  Area-of-effect spells must begin on a grid interestion and then emanate out from there, wether in a ring or a straight line in the case of Wall of Fire.  This rule has the eloquent effect of not being able to run two line-effect spells parralel less than five feet apart.  However, you cetainly can put two ring radii very close together, they should have a cumulative effect.Not so fast.  Area-of-effect also states that a square, an entire square, is effected if the line goes through two sides.  So, the curtain of a Wall of Fire isn't paper thin.  Like every other area-of-effect spell it effects the whole square it passes through or none of it.  It cannot and does not effect half or part of the square, its all or nothing (3.5 PHB pg. 175). Therefore, having two or more rings of a Wall of Fire spell pass through the same square is just like having two or more Heat Metal spells on the same piece of armor.   They are non-instantaneous spells effecting the same object or area and are not cumulative, just like Bull's Strength.With that the prosecution rests.  I will forgo any redirect and let the jury decide after any defense rebuttal.</blockquote>

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