Wall of..spells

[Mystery Man]

What are some good uses and tactics for wall spells.

Wall of ice, wall of stone etc..

There are so many different types it leads me to believe that they're useful somehow.

Suggestions?

 

[AuraSeer]

Their main combat use is to divide the battlefield. If you can split the enemy into two groups, while leaving your party entirely on one side of the wall, you can gain a numerical advantage and quickly take down some of the baddies.

This works extremely well in an enclosed area, where there is no room to go around the edges of the wall, and the enemy must break through if they want to rejoin the fight. In a dungeon, a well-timed wall spell can split one very difficult encounter into a pair of easy ones. Outdoors the tactic is less effective, but it can still buy a round or two of time, while the split forces run around the wall to rejoin the fight.

 

[Urbanmech]

Wall spells are excellent for dividing the battlefield. If a group of archers has set up down the hall from your group and some fighters are charging your front lines then a wall spell can block the archers while your party focuses on the melee threat.

Walls that can be dismissed can also give your group time to prepare in an ambush situation if the terrain or conditions are right. Put up the wall to block the bad guys and then take a few rounds to cast vital spells and then when you are ready drop the wall. Just make sure you look at each specific spell to see if it can be cast as a free standing wall.

 

[Urbanmech]

Double post!

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Unlike most other spells, Walls are useful for both offense and defense. There are many ways to defeat a Wall; but IME disrupting the opposition's game plan for a even round or two is a big tactical edge.

 

[The Kender]

This is kinda cartoonish, but...

In a dungeon, monsters (perticularly unintelligant ones) are chasing you. Run into a side corridor, Wall of Stone. They'll run right past.

^_^

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

What are some good uses and tactics for wall spells.

Wall of ice, wall of stone etc..

There are so many different types it leads me to believe that they're useful somehow.

Suggestions?

Use it to separate spellcasters and psions from your party. If said spellcaster is a cleric or mystic theurge, separate him from his allies as well. (Now he can't heal or buff them.)

Many wall spells block line of effect, you see.

It's also a great way to keep reinforcements away and to cut off an enemy's retreat - but that's not so effective against spellcasters and psions.

 

[Mystery Man]

Spanks!

 

[daTim]

Wall of Ice is definatly my favorite wall spell because it does damage if someone breaks it and tries to go through, with no save Also, it can be used to bridge chasm's, make ramps, walls etc etc. It is by far the most versatile, though not toughest of the wall spells.

 

[Justinian]

Wall of ice is the best wall spell, hands down. It doesn't need specific supports like wall of stone, it is solid unlike wall of fire, and it can oriented in any direction unlike wall of force.

Monster Tactics: The osyluth. Wall of ice at will. Caster level 12th, so 12 10-ft. squares or a hemisphere with a maximum radius of 15'.

These tactics assume a cave or lair of some kind, not a wide-open flat plain.

Tactic 1: Cast WoI (plane) about 1" off the ground, creating a new floor for rogues to slip on and to force normal movement. Use at will fly to stay above it.
Tactic 1a: More generally, use the plane form to make new surfaces to fight on, or force people to fight at a disadvantage. Sloped floors, etc.

Tactic 2: Cast WoI (plane) about 1" off the ground, shatter it, and everyone in the room takes damage while they stand on the floor. Use fly to stay above it.
Tactic 2a: More generally, use the plane form and break it to make an easy trap that deals fairly nice damage, and is technically not visible (a sheet of frigid air).

Tactic 3: Cast WoI (hemisphere) on the cleric, use at-will teleport to get inside, kill him to your heart's content. Repeat on the mage, and so forth.
Tactic 3b: More generally, isolate characters from their allies, and kill them one by one.

Tactic 4: Cast WoI (hemisphere) around the osyluth itself, minimum radius to surround it. Inside, cast at-will invisibility, cast at-will teleport, and now attack from above, invisible.
Tactic 4b: More generally, use the hemisphere form to hide yourself to cast certain spells, or protect yourself. Readying an action to recast the wall every time it breaks is fairly easy.

Other tactics include:
Casting the plane form about 4' off the ground, so only Small PCs can fit underneath, and then doming them inside, alone.
Casting the hemisphere form in the air arguably drops a large mass of ice on people, since only the plane form is required to be anchored.
A combination of hemisphere and plane form would allow you to pin people to the plane in midair.

Any creature with at-will spells can be incredibly dangerous, and wall spells can easily force a party's destruction. Most of these tactics I came up with when a friend needed help running an osyluth. It's not hard to think of creative uses for walls.