Wall of Stone Question / Overpowered?

[Kyrail]

Yes, but really even if allowed to stack up, it's easily countered by a fourth level spell-- stone shape.

 

[Tatsukun]

Except that wall of force isn't permanent, wall of stone is.

I personally wouldn't allow increasing of thickness, because as Mistwell calculates, the wall becomes impossibly strong.

Well let's see...

9th level barbarian, power attacking all the way, rage, maybe bull's strength, +1 Adamantine elder-maul (or greatsword, both are 2D6 two handed weapons).

2D6 + 18 (PA) + 8(Str) +1(weapon) = average 34 points per hit, two attacks a round, makes 68 points a roundSo, this 5th level spell will hold off said barbarian for an average of about 24 seconds (4 rounds).

Doesn't seem impossibly strong to me. Even if the weapon isn't adamantine, it still only takes another round or so.

I would allow it.

-Tatsu

 

[Mistwell]

Well let's see...

9th level barbarian, power attacking all the way, rage, maybe bull's strength, +1 Adamantine elder-maul (or greatsword, both are 2D6 two handed weapons).

2D6 + 18 (PA) + 8(Str) +1(weapon) = average 34 points per hit, two attacks a round, makes 68 points a roundSo, this 5th level spell will hold off said barbarian for an average of about 24 seconds (4 rounds).

Doesn't seem impossibly strong to me. Even if the weapon isn't adamantine, it still only takes another round or so.

I would allow it.

-Tatsu

Wow. Yeah, that puts it into perspective a bit.

My hope was to use the wall to block a horde of creatures for about a turn or two, while we deal with another horde. The two hordes teaming up at the same time is what I was trying to prevent, and I figured blocking one door with a bit block of stone would do the trick.

 

[AuraSeer]

My hope was to use the wall to block a horde of creatures for about a turn or two, while we deal with another horde. The two hordes teaming up at the same time is what I was trying to prevent, and I figured blocking one door with a bit block of stone would do the trick.

Wall of force is better suited to this kind of situation. It's impervious to damage, tunnelling, and most magic, so no horde of grunts is going to get through it at all. Also it's dismissible, so once you've dealt with the first group of monsters, you can shut off the wall and let the second group in.

 

[Mistwell]

Wall of force is better suited to this kind of situation. It's impervious to damage, tunnelling, and most magic, so no horde of grunts is going to get through it at all. Also it's dismissible, so once you've dealt with the first group of monsters, you can shut off the wall and let the second group in.

I'm a cleric

 

[AuraSeer]

I'm a cleric

Oh. Er... have you got a wizard in the party?

You might try getting your hands on a scroll of blade barrier, depending on what kind of enemies are involved. It works very well against hordes of weak melee monsters; a wall that kills enemies who breach it is even better than one which can't be breached. The downsides are that it won't kill strong enemies, it only gives cover (not full cover) against ranged attacks, and monsters with Evasion may get through with no damage at all.

I'm trying to think of something besides wall of stone for this because it's permanent and undispellable. Unless you've got a way to destroy or remove it when you don't want it anymore, it can work against you, because the second horde may escape or get up to other mischief while you're unable to reach them.

 

[DanMcS]

I'm trying to think of something besides wall of stone for this because it's permanent and undispellable. Unless you've got a way to destroy or remove it when you don't want it anymore, it can work against you, because the second horde may escape or get up to other mischief while you're unable to reach them.

Well, if he's playing a cleric, he can use Stone Shape.

 

[Nail]

I'm a cleric

In one of my games, I too play a cleric.

I don't see any problem with allowing the wall to be completely shapable...after all, that's what the rules say. Moreover, it doesn't make the spell too powerful. Many, many, many CR-appropriate monsters have the damage dealing prowess to break through the wall.

And really: much of the time, you'll be wanting to seal off whole corridors...and that makes the wall much less thick.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

By the time you can cast Wall of Stone, how many of your opponents can't defeat it? Most likely, none of them.

The only question is whether they can or must burn a limited resource to do so in a convenient amount of time. Given enough time even a vanilla Orc will get through. Brute monsters can simply smash a hole in the wall in 1 or 2 rounds of full attacks.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Well let's see...

9th level barbarian, power attacking all the way, rage, maybe bull's strength, +1 Adamantine elder-maul (or greatsword, both are 2D6 two handed weapons).

2D6 + 18 (PA) + 8(Str) +1(weapon) = average 34 points per hit, two attacks a round, makes 68 points a roundSo, this 5th level spell will hold off said barbarian for an average of about 24 seconds (4 rounds).

In this circumstance I'd take note of the line in PHB p165 "the DM may determine that certain weapons just can't effectively deal damage to certain objects".

If you ain't got a pick, you ain't tunneling through stone walls matey. Swords can't chop through stone

Cheers