Can a wall of iron be created over an opponents head and squish him?
In one of our last games my wizard did this to the rival evil magician who was levitating above the battlefield behind the front lines.
We winged it and had fun but are now wondering about how to legally work out the mechanics of it all in case it comes up again (or at us from the GM).....
I think part of the trouble here is that Wall of Iron got hit with the game mechanics nerf bat a little too hard the other way. In 3.5, it was Wall of Money, since it was more efficient for a wizard to create iron by means of a spell than miners to mine or from the earth, refine it and so forth.
Now we've got a spell that is intended to have no use apart from it's use as a spell with very specific language about how the wall of iron can't be used to craft anything else, ignoring the fact that a giant piece of sheet metal is useful and valuable by itself. Need a roof? It works nicely for that. Something to cover an old well? That hole where the purple worm popped out of the main street and now horses are liable to fall in? Maybe just a really large pancake griddle for your army or the local inn?
There's also the business where it now costs 50 GP of gold dust as a spell component.
I'd be tempted to say that the wall of iron is real craftable iron but also requires its commodity value in gold and/or gemstones. That way it's not a way to break the economy, but still lets a wizard zap a valuable bit of sheet metal into existence without having to worry about iron-that-is-not-iron or people being unwilling to pay for a useful wall.
As for dropping it on someone's head, that's one of the many uses of a flying carpet. Also useful with summoned creatures. Cow tip a water buffalo off a flying carpet.
Can a wall of iron be created over an opponents head and squish him?
In one of our last games my wizard did this to the rival evil magician who was levitating above the battlefield behind the front lines.
We winged it and had fun but are now wondering about how to legally work out the mechanics of it all in case it comes up again (or at us from the GM).....
By RAW, it is a no go:
Conjuration
Each conjuration spell belongs to one of five subschools. Conjurations transport creatures from another plane of existence to your plane (calling); create objects or effects on the spot (creation); heal (healing); bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or forms of energy to you (summoning); or transport creatures or objects over great distances (teleportation). Creatures you conjure usually—but not always—obey your commands.
A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it. The creature or object must appear within the spell’s range, but it does not have to remain within the range.
Unless a spell has an exception to that, this establishes the general rule for spells of that school.
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Can a wall of iron be created over an opponents head and squish him?
A commonly overlooked rule on PHB p209 is "nor can it appear floating in an empty space."
No, but the thing can be brought into existence on a cliff above someone and tipped over to crush someone below if they fail the reflex save to get out of the way.
The general theme in D&D is that in order to harm someone in any way, one must cast a damaging spell (Wall of Iron isn't directly one) or one must make a successful attack roll or the target must make a successful Reflex save to get out of the way.
As written, the Wall of Iron does allow you to cast it them tip it over for a Reflex save to get out of the way, but they leave the DC unspecified. This is bad, as you can assume this was for two reasons and both are valid/right.
1) The DC is the DC of a 6th level spell from the caster of course. The wall in effect zigs and zags to try to hit the target.
2) The DC is left unspecified as the DM would need to adjudicate the complexity of the Iron hitting the target and assign a low but fair DC to it, say like 15 or 5 or 25 depending on situation.
I would go with #2 and fell satisfied I'm playing RAW, but I've have no issue with any DM playing with #1.
Nope that used to be a problem but the PF guys changed that read the individual wall spells the best that can happen by RAW
If you desire, the wall can be created vertically resting on a flat surface but not attached to the surface, so that it can be tipped over to fall on and crush creatures beneath it. The wall is 50% likely to tip in either direction if left unpushed. Creatures can push the wall in one direction rather than letting it fall randomly. A creature must make a DC 40 Strength check to push the wall over. Creatures with room to flee the falling wall may do so by making successful Reflex saves. Any Large or smaller creature that fails takes 10d6 points of damage while fleeing from the wall. The wall cannot crush Huge and larger creatures.
I agree with what KenderKin said, by RAW
(now if this thread ever gets moved out of Rules Questions, then my answer will change:)
Can a wall of iron be created over an opponents head and squish him?
A commonly overlooked rule on PHB p209 is "nor can it appear floating in an empty space."
No, but the thing can be brought into existence on a cliff above someone and tipped over to crush someone below if they fail the reflex save to get out of the way.
The general theme in D&D is that in order to harm someone in any way, one must cast a damaging spell (Wall of Iron isn't directly one) or one must make a successful attack roll or the target must make a successful Reflex save to get out of the way.
As written, the Wall of Iron does allow you to cast it them tip it over for a Reflex save to get out of the way, but they leave the DC unspecified. This is bad, as you can assume this was for two reasons and both are valid/right.
1) The DC is the DC of a 6th level spell from the caster of course. The wall in effect zigs and zags to try to hit the target.2) The DC is left unspecified as the DM would need to adjudicate the complexity of the Iron hitting the target and assign a low but fair DC to it, say like 15 or 5 or 25 depending on situation.
I would go with #2 and fell satisfied I'm playing RAW, but I've have no issue with any DM playing with #1.
In case 1) using the spell DC is pretty much off the table. The spell's effect is creating an object. You are taking a "static" object and manipulating it which doesn't have anything to do with the spell other than the item used may expire at the end of the spell's duration. The trap rules would probably be the best way to figure out a DC, or at least the closest reference.