Subject basically says it all. Why can't you make this angled or horizontal? Seems a very odd restriction, given that "single flat plane" and "fails when cast in space occupied by creatures" prevent pretty much all the stupid abuse possibilities about cutting people in half or effectively mimicking forcecage.
Has this *always* been a restriction of this spell, or is it something new to recent editions?
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Some jerk would cast it horizontally, four feet above the ground, in front of a cavalry charge (charging orc horde, whatever), and slice them all into bits with the indestructible invisible edge of the wall of force.
I imagine it can't be cast way up in the air for a similar reason, as it would be the go-to spell for splatting dragons and rocs and other ridiculously large and powerful critters out of the sky, by casting it in front of them and watching them go splat.
{Granted, that's still an option if a wyvern, dragon, etc. is doing flyby melee attacks, like snatch and grabs, by readying wall of force to interrupt his arc of flight when he comes in low. I'd imagine the look on the multi-tonned flying lizards face when it splats into the invisible (mostly) indestructible 'window' must be priceless, even if its not likely to do more than falling damage.)
Had this done last week in my game. The alchemist greased the floor and the wizard put a wall of force at the end of it. When the ghast high priest ran in, expecting to terrify the adventurers with his ghastly evilness, he went skating directly into a plate glass window. Did lots of damage and knocked him silly. So much not the grand entrance he was going for.
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Some jerk would cast it horizontally, four feet above the ground, in front of a cavalry charge (charging orc horde, whatever), and slice them all into bits with the indestructible invisible edge of the wall of force.
I imagine it can't be cast way up in the air for a similar reason, as it would be the go-to spell for splatting dragons and rocs and other ridiculously large and powerful critters out of the sky, by casting it in front of them and watching them go splat.
{Granted, that's still an option if a wyvern, dragon, etc. is doing flyby melee attacks, like snatch and grabs, by readying wall of force to interrupt his arc of flight when he comes in low. I'd imagine the look on the multi-tonned flying lizards face when it splats into the invisible (mostly) indestructible 'window' must be priceless, even if its not likely to do more than falling damage.)
Remember that there is now a Break DC for Wall of Force... so if one of my players pull that off on a multi-tonned flying lizard, I will have the said lizard roll STR check for free to see if the wall is busted. Forcing down walls/doors via STR check does not cause damage. :)
Edit: I will also add that while invisible, a wall of force is not undetectable, especially when considering the high perception check of most dragons (not sure what the spot DC would be... do you add the arbitrary 10 to objects, as if they "take 10", or do objects always start at "0" as if they auto fail all skill checks? assuming the latter , we have DC 0 - 4 (large size let's say) + 40 (immobile invisible) = DC 36 to spot?)
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Snarky response: Because it's "Wall" of force, and not "floor" of force.
(bows)
Actually, that's not as snarky as it sounds.
Magic is heavily dependent on concepts, especially the preconceptions of the caster. If a wizard (for example) learns a spell as a "wall", it's probably more difficult than just "rotate the effect" to make it into a "floor" or "bridge". At least, this is one way to look at it.
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Snarky response: Because it's "Wall" of force, and not "floor" of force.
(bows)
..I still want your stuff when/if you die.
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Snarky response: Because it's "Wall" of force, and not "floor" of force.
(bows)
Actually, that's not as snarky as it sounds.
Magic is heavily dependent on concepts, especially the preconceptions of the caster. If a wizard (for example) learns a spell as a "wall", it's probably more difficult than just "rotate the effect" to make it into a "floor" or "bridge". At least, this is one way to look at it.
Also, putting the wall on it's side makes it much more like a utility spell, allowing you to make well-nigh indestructable bridges and ramps. Although, I don't see it as game-breaking. I would just rule that it has to be connected to some sort of physical surface to move it off the vertical axis (to prevent the invisible cavalry-mandoline example).
Snarky response: Because it's "Wall" of force, and not "floor" of force.
(bows)
And that'd be the (Creative Director) rearing its ugly head.
Also, putting the wall on it's side makes it much more like a utility spell, allowing you to make well-nigh indestructable bridges and ramps. Although, I don't see it as game-breaking. I would just rule that it has to be connected to some sort of physical surface to move it off the vertical axis (to prevent the invisible cavalry-mandoline example).
You could always connect a floor of force to a wall of force.
Also, inside a dungeon there are other wall to anchor it on.
However, as its entirely possible for creatures to impact the sharp edge of a wall of force even as written--for example, a wizard standing in a doorway yelling "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo!" and casting wall of force at 90 degrees so the charging barbarian will be bisected by the side edge of the mandoline--I would recommend just treating wall of force as a blade barrier spell, but for charging creatures only. Gives a nice easy mechanic to judge damage and saving throws without having to say "It somehow doesn't work at all, defying physics and logic" or "They all die horribly but somehow you're the first wizard to ever think up this use."
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The whole Force Wall Blade is EXACTLY why Wall of Force is Vertical only. As a Wall there's no shenanigans about bisecting moving ships and creatures. I mean it's nice to get creative with a spell, but pushing the spell so totally outside it's parameters is just wishful thinking.
The spell does what is says it does.
--Vrocking Grasp
The whole Force Wall Blade is EXACTLY why Wall of Force is Vertical only. As a Wall there's no shenanigans about bisecting moving ships and creatures. I mean it's nice to get creative with a spell, but pushing the spell so totally outside it's parameters is just wishful thinking.
To which I counter: falling or down-charging dragon, or perhaps a reverse gravity spell combined with wall of force just before it expires. Even a falling ceiling trap brings up debate if it's countered with a vertical wall. Then there are planes where gravity is a multiple choice question, making the very definition of 'vertical' vague at best.
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The whole Force Wall Blade is EXACTLY why Wall of Force is Vertical only. As a Wall there's no shenanigans about bisecting moving ships and creatures. I mean it's nice to get creative with a spell, but pushing the spell so totally outside it's parameters is just wishful thinking.To which I counter: falling or down-charging dragon, or perhaps a reverse gravity spell combined with wall of force just before it expires. Even a falling ceiling trap brings up debate if it's countered with a vertical wall. Then there are planes where gravity is a multiple choice question, making the very definition of 'vertical' vague at best.
If a creature or object hits a wall of force from the top as its falling or charging apply the appropriate falling damage for hitting a solid object, apply it to the wall as well and if it's still there determine randomly what side the creature or object falls on. Falling ceiling traps are no different. There's a reason it has a hardness & hitpoints now. You can adjucate any of your situations within the existing ruleset.
--Vrockslide
Rule the wall is an eighth of an inch thick with rounded edges.
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Rule the wall is an eighth of an inch thick with rounded edges.
Heck, you could make it a whole inch thick, or a foot thick, without meaningfully changing anything mechanically. While sci-fi force fields are often shown as being paper-thin, or even monomolecular thin, there's no mechanical description of the wall of forces thickness in the PF write-up.
Or the wall of force might be naturally repulsive on the edges, so that anything slamming into it edge-on would be pushed to one side or the other, and not cleft in twain.
If a creature or object hits a wall of force from the top as its falling or charging apply the appropriate falling damage for hitting a solid object, apply it to the wall as well and if it's still there determine randomly what side the creature or object falls on. Falling ceiling traps are no different. There's a reason it has a hardness & hitpoints now. You can adjucate any of your situations within the existing ruleset.
Then how is this any different than making a horizontal wall of force? Your earlier statement gave the distinct impression that it was the orientation that imbued it with its bisecting powers, despite the fact those very same situations occur in another axis which you casually dismiss.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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A wall of force is just an object. Running into it, be it by charging or falling, has the same effect as running into any other solid object, no more, no less, whether it strikes the wall's face or its edge. It is not magically superduperultramegasharp.
A moving creature encountering a solid obstruction in the game does not typically take damage from it unless it is in an uncontrolled fall, and the rules for falling damage are pretty clearly spelled out. There are a few other oddballs, like the Awesome Blow feat (wherein hitting an obstacle inflicts all of 1d6 damage).
A moving creature, whether walking, running, charging, flying, or any other means of moving that attempts to move into the space occupied by a solid object has their movement blocked in that direction. Their movement doesn't END unless they are out of movement for that turn. A flying creature trying to move through a wall of force expends 5 feet of movement trying to move through it AND THEN can keep moving in another direction. If they are a flying creature, they might need to make a Fly check to pull off the 90-degree turn required. Otherwise, hitting a wall of force has no effect other than to stop movement in one direction.
If you need a rationale as to WHY it doesn't cause damage to a moving creature crashing into it, simply flavor text that the WoF is an inertial dampening field. The "force" of the WoF, by its very nature, absorbs and negates the kinetic energy of objects hitting it (in which case the wall itself would take damage from the impact but the creature hitting it would not, which actually corresponds with the rules for attacking an object, wherein the weapon used to attack an object does not take damage from the attack, like a giant punching a stone wall with its slam attack does not take damage to his hand but the wall does take damage, assuming he overcomes its hardness).
If you are deeply invested in having a 'bug on a windshield' moment with a flying creature hitting a WoF, of course you can come up with a house rule as you feel it necessary.
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Something to consider, if you are affected by "spider climb" then up and down is somewhat arbitrary. If I'm standing sideways on a wall then casting a wall of force would be vertical to my position and thus horizontal to everyone else's.
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Otherwise you assume that whatever powers your world's magic intrinsically knows what direction down is (or what direction gravity is pulling anyway).
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Vertical and horizontal are determined from the objective reality of the game world, not the subjective perspective of a creature.
It's rather like an orc may believe itself to be a "good guy" and, from its perspective, it's those darned paladins who are "evil," but the objective reality of the game-verse says otherwise, because its standards are independent of the orc's subjectivity (or the paladin's, for that matter).
As for the Wall of Force, I think it was stipulated as being vertical to help avoid any implicit assumption or suggestion that it was supposed to be usable as a slicing razor. Yes, you COULD create a scenario where a creature is likely to hit a WoF edge-on when it's vertical, but it's a lot harder than if you could set it up as this long slice-a-matic floating horizontal plane. For good or ill, if you could make it horizontal, more people would probably ASSUME it could be used as a slice-a-matic (regardless of whether the spell actually says that it does that), whereas when it's vertical you have to go through a bit more mental gymnastics to rationalize how it should be a slicing spell.
Tradition. It's an uber defensive spell for pseudo-medieval/LotR type campaigns. That said, my group uses both as a wall and as a floating shield to block aerial bombardments.
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Subject basically says it all. Why can't you make this angled or horizontal? Seems a very odd restriction, given that "single flat plane" and "fails when cast in space occupied by creatures" prevent pretty much all the stupid abuse possibilities about cutting people in half or effectively mimicking forcecage.
Has this *always* been a restriction of this spell, or is it something new to recent editions?
in the RPG superstar wonderous items last year there was a peice of chaulk that a wall of force sprung from whatever line was drawn by it. I then asked "what happens if I draw a line on a club? do I now haw a club with reach? or just a club I can hide behind? If I swung the club hard enough, could the wall 'break off' the club and go flying into my enamies/allies?"
Someone here mentioned it, why didn't they just limit the spell so it had to be anchored to something solid between its ends if cast horizontally?
Such a simple, overlooked fix.
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Some jerk would cast it horizontally, four feet above the ground, in front of a cavalry charge (charging orc horde, whatever), and slice them all into bits with the indestructible invisible edge of the wall of force.
I imagine it can't be cast way up in the air for a similar reason, as it would be the go-to spell for splatting dragons and rocs and other ridiculously large and powerful critters out of the sky, by casting it in front of them and watching them go splat.
{Granted, that's still an option if a wyvern, dragon, etc. is doing flyby melee attacks, like snatch and grabs, by readying wall of force to interrupt his arc of flight when he comes in low. I'd imagine the look on the multi-tonned flying lizards face when it splats into the invisible (mostly) indestructible 'window' must be priceless, even if its not likely to do more than falling damage.)
Remember that there is now a Break DC for Wall of Force... so if one of my players pull that off on a multi-tonned flying lizard, I will have the said lizard roll STR check for free to see if the wall is busted. Forcing down walls/doors via STR check does not cause damage. :)
Edit: I will also add that while invisible, a wall of force is not undetectable, especially when considering the high perception check of most dragons (not sure what the spot DC would be... do you add the arbitrary 10 to objects, as if they "take 10", or do objects always start at "0" as if they auto fail all skill checks? assuming the latter , we have DC 0 - 4 (large size let's say) + 40 (immobile invisible) = DC 36 to spot?)
hey, what happened to the break DC for wall of force? did it get dropped from the BETA?
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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It's worth noting that dragon knows right where a newly created wall of force is (blindsight), and can potentially avoid it. Conjuring it up immediately in front of it seems quite the act of timing to me, likely to accidentally hit the wall on the dragon and cause the spell to fail.
My biggest gripe about is that, unless I'm misreading it, you can't make it into a dome any longer.. and I really loved that effect.
Caught out in the open and a dragon or horde of whatevers or avalanche is coming? Dome of Force- yes please.
Now its "wall of easily walked around". Blech.
(not that I didn't use it to totally halt and damage a ship that was chasing us once.. but that was a singular event that i don't really miss.. it was just fun to do once :0 )
-S
**Necro**
My biggest gripe about is that, unless I'm misreading it, you can't make it into a dome any longer.. and I really loved that effect.
Caught out in the open and a dragon or horde of whatevers or avalanche is coming? Dome of Force- yes please.
Now its "wall of easily walked around". Blech.
(not that I didn't use it to totally halt and damage a ship that was chasing us once.. but that was a singular event that i don't really miss.. it was just fun to do once :0 )
-S
You're looking for Emergency Force Sphere.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/e/emergency-force-sphere/
Another question, is there anything that says you can or can't have corners in your Wall of Force?
I'd wager good money that Selgard isn't still watching this thread over seven years later.
'a flat, vertical plane' implies no internal corners (bending the plane) are allowed. Since the size is measured in 10-foot squares external corners are all but required.
Transparent Floor: Transparent floors, made of reinforced glass or magic materials (even a wall of force), allow a dangerous setting to be viewed safely from above. Transparent floors are sometimes placed over lava pools, arenas, monster dens, and torture chambers. They can be used by defenders to watch key areas for intruders.