| Stazamos |
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Wall of Suppression states that it affects magic items and spell effects that move through the wall, and its clear use case is, well, making a wall between two parties for defense, or perhaps to trap someone. But the wall can be placed where creatures are standing currently, and the spell only talks about moving through the wall. That may be to lessen its power a bit, to make it more defensive than offensive, but it raises some questions:
1. What, exactly, does "passing through" mean? If I try to reason this out using English, it ends up being really complex. The phrase makes a lot of sense with respect to thin barriers, but you can make a strangely shaped Wall of Suppression. If you start out in it, and move around within it, and don't leave, are you passing through it? You're certainly passing through cubes it affects, but are you passing through it? The spell uses that phrasing every time. I could see that answer go either way. I've been thinking about this too long, and I think I've made it worse for myself. I want to make it simple, and say, "moving into an affected cube counts as 'passing through'." Valid interpretation? (Side note: other walls with passing-through effects are planes, not cubes, and other walls that are cubes do not have passing-through effects. So, I can't find precedent elsewhere.)
2. Does casting a spell to teleport out of the area count as moving through the wall? My guess would be no, but I'm not so sure on this one.
3. Can Dispel Magic dispel it when cast within the wall? What about from outside? I'd say "no" for inside, and "yes" for outside.
(There was already a thread asking this, but it is old, and if I attempted to revive it, for some reason, it would move from Rules Questions to Advice, so it seems better to just start this query anew.)
| MurphysParadox |
1. The wall is five feet thick, conveniently, so there's no concept of thin barrier. Considering it is an "anti-magic wall" according to the definition, starting inside or entering the wall triggers the suppression and that suppression lasts for 1 round per level after the creature leaves the wall's affected square.
So if you cast it on top of a creature (and I'm not sure you can; though I can't find any rules discussing where you can and cannot put a wall... I figure since this is not a solid wall, you can drop it on top of other things verse, say, a wall of iron), that creature starts its turn suppressed. It won't start the 1 round/level countdown to magic until it leaves the wall. If it re-enters a square, it will start the effect over again.
2) No. The spell speaks of moving through an affected square, not just past it. You could also fly over it, jump it, burrow under it, etc.
3) Yes. It does not stop you from casting spells, it just turns off persistent magical abilities, buffs, items, and such constant effects. You can also cast dispel from outside the wall. However, if surrounded by the wall, you cannot target creatures on the other side with a spell (due to it blocking line of effect).
Additionally, I would allow this (in my games due to a perfectly reasonable interpretation if I do say so) to contain something like cloudkill or other moving magical effect. I'd probably have it turn the magic fog into normal smoke that would return to dangerous 1 round/level after passing through the wall (unless it expires before that time limit).
| Stazamos |
Thanks for your input. With #2, I meant starting inside the wall and teleporting to escape it, and I'm not sure if you're answering that way, but since I now agree that sharing space with the wall triggers suppression even if the creature or spell is standing still, so the question isn't really important any more. Also, I'd handle Cloudkill like you would, except I'd remove the normal smoke as well.
After giving it some thought, I believe there simply has to be an error in the spell. And the error is that the wall should not be able to be placed where creatures are standing.
Otherwise, we have this situation: the party of PCs begins the boss fight, but the evil boss wizard wins initiative. Or maybe she doesn't, but survives the first round, and the PCs are still close enough for this tactic to work. Being the boss, she probably has at least 1 caster level higher than the party's highest caster. She then casts Wall of Suppression at her caster level minus 1 (assuming she's level 18 or higher), and chooses the wall to occupy the spaces where the party is standing. Without any saves or spell resistance, all of their buff spells and items stop working for 17+ rounds. And yet, since she had cast it at her caster level minus 1, any spells she casts at normal caster level are unaffected by the spell. This is no longer a wall, but an amazing offensive force of suppression of epic proportions, and tactically, does the job of Mage's Disjunction, only better (MD suppresses for minutes, but you only need a handful of rounds).
Now, suppose we have the same situation, but the wall cannot be placed to share space with creatures. Here, she can still create the wall, though this time as a barrier between her and the PCs, but still with the "trick" of doing it at 1 caster level lower. This still effectively makes a one-way block for line of effect, and that is powerful, but without the additional effect of suppressing all the party's buffs and magic items for 17+ rounds. That difference is significant. It sounded mythic before (or better?), and now it sounds like a 9th level spell.
Edit: RAW, I think it works in the harsh manner I first described, though that seems incorrect, so I'm still interested in hearing how that might be an incorrect reading. If indeed it is.