Wall of..spells

[Mystery Man]

How long is a piece of string?

Melting time depends on the size of the wall, and the heat you're using on it. Destroying a foot-thick wall with a torch will be much slower than destroying an inch-thick wall with a meteor swarm.

I notice that the description tells how long the wall can be but it doesn't say how thick the wall is.

Unless I'm missing it. Using the 3.5 PHB.

 

[Nail]

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.

Ooooo. Rules-lawyering at it's finest!

Here's the text:

This spell creates an anchored plane of ice or a hemisphere of ice, depending on the version selected.

So, you would argue the hemisphere does NOT need to be "anchored"? That's stretching things a bit thin.

 

[iwatt]

Pressure Cooker

This tactic presuspose two rounds of casting, unless you're a 3.0 hasted wizard.

It only works in a room which you can close up:

Room:

____| |_____
|                |
|                |
|                |
|                |
|                |
|___    _____|
      |  |

First Spell: Wall of Fire parallel to an existing wall. Therfore, ther is no escape across the wall.

____| |_____
|               F|
|               F|
|               F|
|               F|
|               F|
|___    ____F|
      |  |

Second Spell: Wall of force parallel to the Wall of Fire. Should be 20' fett or less of separation.

____| |_____
|         W   F|
|         W   F|
|         W   F|
|         W   F|
|         W   F|
|___    W__F|
      |  |

Voila, you have a killing fround in which you are suffering at leasta 1d4 per round. The wall of fire can be kept up indefineitely, and if not it still lasts quite a bit. If you place the wall of force 10' away from the wall of fire, creatures suffer 2d4 damage. If a creature stradles both areas (more and less than 10') he suffers a cumulative damage of 3d4/per round. That's 7.5 fire damage per round. Not bad, considering you get a lot of time to wait

In a packed room, this usually can catch about 50% of the creatures inside.

The tactic works even better when combined with the party's cleric using wall of stone to close any exits.

 

[Lamoni]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by Xavim
I'm amazed that no one has mentioned the ability to create a wall of iron mid air and dropping it on the entire party for a nice saveless 10d6 damage.

Not to mention the fact that the party is now pinned beneath a wall of iron...
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No one's said it because that tactic is not allowed:

Quote:
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Originally Posted by SRD

...You cause a flat, vertical iron wall to spring into being.....

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Ahem.

You can create an unsupported wall, and then try to tip it over onto your opponents. Maybe that's what you were thinking of.

Actually, I see no problem with creating a vertical wall in the air and having it drop on your enemies. The problem comes when you look at the width of the wall. It should be a very easy reflex save to move out of the way and avoid all the damage. The only way it would work well is if you created one down the center in a narrow hallway where they couldn't move far enough out of the way. Then it would be a lot of damage. I have never been in a situation like that yet in my gaming experience. (lots of narrow hallways, but never full of enemies) The first time I do come across that situation though I will try and use that tactic.

 

[allenw]

Wall of Ice limitations

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.

It does have its drawbacks, however. Note that (in 3.5), "Any creature adjacent to the wall when it is created may attempt a Reflex save to disrupt the wall as it is being formed. A successful save indicates that the spell automatically fails." So any plan that depends on creating the Wall right next to someone may fail, especially if it's next to several people. Also, you can't create it in an area occupied by physical objects or creatures, so none of the "floor of ice" strategies will work if there are already people standing in the area of effect when you cast the spell. I like the "cast the sheet on the bare floor and then break it" trick, though.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Evil Bad Guy: Traps Wizard and Cleric behind Wall of Force to deal with Fighter and Rogue.
Wizard: Grabs Cleric buddy, teleports past wall.
Cleric: Flame Strike
Rogue: Sneak Attack
Fighter: Charge
Evil Bad Guy: Ah, I'm dead.

Not a very good example. Change that to "Traps Cleric and Fighter behind WoF" and the combat will proceed rather differently.

It is true that walls generally work better when you have allies/minions involved in the combat. Where are the Evil Bad Guy's mooks?

The problem with Wall of Fire and Wall of Ice is that the damage is a joke. 2d6+level? Who can't take that kind of damage? Sissy elven wizards? If a whopping 27 points of damage, from a 15th level caster, is threatening then you probably shouldn't be taking on this guy in the first place. It's a question of marginal utility; sure, damaging the group with a Wall of Fire might be useful, but is it as useful as other 4th level spells cast in its place?

I agree the damage is not necessarily a big deal. But it is rather intimidating to take damage crossing a wall that you may have to retreat through.

What is more important than damage is getting the opposing spellcasters/archers to move away from their well-chosen range and LoS arcs. I want them to scoot forward where my allies can reach them.

When I use Walls it is not because they are particularly effective as a standalone tactic. I use them to give my buddies a tactical edge for a round or two. In larger parties it is a big force multiplier.