Words of power barrier target word question

[elgabalawi]

so, my question.

can you, for instance, cast torture with the barrier target word? i feel as though i've seen it implied that you could. if so, how long does the barrier last? there's nothing in the description of the barrier target word that i could find regarding this. all i can figure is that we have to assume that it lasts as long as torture's effect would last, but that doesn't really make a ton of sense to me either, i mean it's not as though a burst of torture would be more than instantaneous, but an instantaneous barrier seems to kind of defeat the purpose (not that one couldn't still find uses for it).
any thoughts?
thanks in advance.

[Marthkus]

Well no one really plays with words of power so there are little official FAQs about it.

For torture you can look at it one of two ways. It is either a field that reapplies the effect every round for anyone in the field or applies the effect for the duration in the area.

Regardless they get another save every turn. Now in the first option there would be no duration for effect which seems wrong, so I would be inclined to go with the second option.

So by that logic the barrier target word would be the shape of the effect and would last for an instant.

[elgabalawi]

in that case, i guess the only use in it is that it would work like a ray but emanating from a wall. not as cool as an actual barrier that sits there, but potentially useful.

[elgabalawi]

now that i think about it, it seems as though the barrier target word would suffer from that issue for most spells. hmm. if that's how it was intended, maybe they should've just called it "ray from a wall" :-)

[hogarth]

Quote:

A wordspell with this target word creates a visible barrier that is 10 feet long per caster level and 10 feet high. Creatures touching or passing through the barrier are subject to the spell's effect. The barrier does not hinder creatures passing through it unless noted in the spell effect. Creatures occupying the space of the barrier when it forms are subject to the spell's effect. The wall is 1 foot wide and must be anchored on a solid surface. The wall must be straight when formed.

My interpretation:

You get a wall that lasts one round/level, and anyone touching or passing through it is subjected to an effect that lasts one round/level or until the barrier expires (whichever comes first).

My two cents:

The barrier target word doesn't make much sense except for the spells that can only use the barrier target word.

[John Turknett]

I was thinking the same thing but perhaps if a spell has a duration added to it, like a barrier of Illumination with wrack would last 10 minutes per level but not instant, while a burst of the a similar effect would be instant does this sound like a good rule of thumb?