Wall of Ice Spell Use....

[FCWesel]

We were playing a game lastnight of good ol' D&D (Forgotten Realms) and I was running the game and a PC whose player could not make it to the game and I had him cast Wall of Ice.

He cast the 13' diameter *hemisphere of ice* some 200+ feet above a dragon so that he could let it fall on top of the beast. This way he didn't have to deal with Spell Resistance, and did some damage. Made the PC do a Touch Attack.

Thoughts?

 

[RigaMortus]

I don't believe you are allowed to cast something like that in mid-air. It's the same reason you aren't allowed to summon an Orca Whale 30' above an enemy.

 

[shilsen]

What RIgaMortus said. Check the second paragraph under "Conjuration" on pg.172 of the PHB.

 

[James McMurray]

Yep, conjured things must be conjured somewhere capable of holding them.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Not only that, but if I'm not mistaken, a Wall of Ice specifically has to be anchored to something.

 

[Fieari]

I don't believe you are allowed to cast something like that in mid-air. It's the same reason you aren't allowed to summon an Orca Whale 30' above an enemy.

More than that, Orcas are only allowed to be summoned in a marine enviornment, which I always thought was stupid. I mean, I'd LOVE to call out a "Wall of Celestial Orca" to block a passage to persuing foes. It's not like it would be unbalanced to do so compared to other spells you can cast at that level...

 

[WaterRabbit]

From SRD on Conjurations:

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

From Spell description:

Ice Plane: A sheet of strong, hard ice appears. The wall is 1 inch thick per caster level. It covers up to a 10-foot-square area per caster level (so a 10th-level wizard can create a wall of ice 100 feet long and 10 feet high, a wall 50 feet long and 20 feet high, or some other combination of length and height that does not exceed 1,000 square feet). The plane can be oriented in any fashion as long as it is anchored. A vertical wall need only be anchored on the floor, while a horizontal or slanting wall must be anchored on two opposite sides.

Hemisphere: The wall takes the form of a hemisphere whose maximum radius is 3 feet + 1 foot per caster level. The hemisphere is as hard to break through as the ice plane form, but it does not deal damage to those who go through a breach.

While the description for hemisphere doesn't explicitly state it must be anchored, the general rule for conjurations makes it clear you cannot cast Wall of Ice in any form without anchoring it.

I would also place an another obvious restriction on the hemispherical form: The rim must be anchored to another surface. Thus you couldn't create a Bowl of Ice.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Furthermore I'd say it would be almost impossible to drop something from 200ft and make it hit a target if you were right over it... let alone conjure something somewhere else vertically above a target (even if conjurations could be used that way).

e.g. if someone wanted to telekinese a boulder and hold it 200ft above a dragon and drop it, I'd let maybe let them hit on a 20.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Thus you couldn't create a Bowl of Ice.

Aw, but it'd be so great for parties!

 

[TracerBullet42]

We were playing a game lastnight of good ol' D&D (Forgotten Realms) and I was running the game and a PC whose player could not make it to the game and I had him cast Wall of Ice.

He cast the 13' diameter *hemisphere of ice* some 200+ feet above a dragon so that he could let it fall on top of the beast. This way he didn't have to deal with Spell Resistance, and did some damage. Made the PC do a Touch Attack.

Thoughts?

*Reads responses*

Oops...(I won't tell anyone if you won't!) Stor "The Mighty Eldritch Knight" Stormwind isn't bothered by "rules."