Wall of Force - How tight the seal?

[The Souljourner]

So, if there is a 10 foot wide vertical wall of force in an otherwise open area and caster is on one side and unwilling dupe is on ther other, would a color spray "go around" the wall and effect the guy or not?

Let's see, color spray is a burst, and wall of force most definitely gives cover, so no, it's not going to magically (heh) go around the wall of force and work on the dupe.

If the same wall of force blocked a direct line from the caster's eyes to the target's eyes would charm person fail?

Eyes? Charm person doesn't have anything to do with eyes. You need line of effect to the target. If you can trace a line from a point in your square to a point in his, you can target him. If not, then not.

What if the wall were such that the eastern most half of each combatant were not covered?

As above, there's a line of effect to the target, therefor you can affect him.

Would detect secret doors allow you to see a secret door on the other side of a wall of force?

Certainly not. It is impervious to magic. The area of effect of the detect spell would stop at the wall of force.

Also, since the description says that spells can not pass, would that explain why cloudkill would not get through the wall but air would?

Sure. I suppose there aren't many non-magical airborne poisons in the game... few enough that it doesn't matter. Still, seems like if something as mundane as air can get through, magic ought to be able to also.

I don't really want answers to these questions

Too late!

Personally I would not asphixiate a person trapped in a chamber made airtight by a wall of forcer (or forcecage) simply because it seems to cheap, easy, and overpowering way to use the spell.

I'd try to make sure it doesn't happen more than once a campaign... it's the whole cold-war analogy: You don't forcecage our mages, and we won't Mordenkain's Disjunction your party.

-The Souljourner

 

[Nyarlathotep]

I'd try to make sure it doesn't happen more than once a campaign... it's the whole cold-war analogy: You don't forcecage our mages, and we won't Mordenkain's Disjunction your party.

-The Souljourner

awesome line.... next time my party is complaining about devious tactics I'm going to use that. Thanks!

 

[Staffan]

I would let sound through. But that's just me.

I wouldn't let sound through. I would have a hard time justifying that you could talk through the wall, but that it would stop the AoE of a sound burst at the same time.

Also, I think you could make a case for the spell automatically failing if you cast it in an irregular area, unless the area is big enough that the wall fits despite irregularities. That's on account of the general "if the spell can't conform to the targeted stuff, it fails" rule. I'm not saying I would make it fail, but you could make a case that it would.

Hmm... how about this to prevent airtight seals in most situations: the "if the wall is broken by stuff, it fails" rule applies even to irregular areas like caverns. So, in order to avoid that, the caster has to make it small enough to get around those irregularities. See the attached picture for an example of what I mean.