Originally I believed stone shape could be used to go over to a stone wall, and outline a door, but awhile ago it was argued to me that the spell can only affect certain sizes of stone. So if the stone wall was too large, then the spell wouldn't work.
I am not that experienced with spell casting, so I'm hoping someone could carefully look over the spell and inform me how this works.
I could see two interpretations the way it is written.
Target stone or stone object touched, up to 10 cu. ft. + 1 cu. ft./level
You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it’s possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn’t possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn’t work.
A) The stone object touched must not be larger than the target size.
B) The stone object can be larger than the target size but the area affected is 10cu ft +1cu ft/level.The comma between the two halves in the target line seem to be two different elements, not one combined element.
Additionally, the description would make less sense if it were A because you would not be able to make a door in a wall (the most common application of making a door).
My take is that it is B.
I agree. You can target larger masses of stone, but only a small area of said mass is affected by the spell.
If you want some ideas on just how awesome this spell can be, check out my "Weaponizing Stone Shape" thread.
If you ruled A with a wall made of many individual stones, then you'd only affect one stone, and not make much progress.
The argument I have about the coffers and the doors is that you are shaping stone to form them from stone that are in sizes you can use the spell on.
I'm going to talk to my friends about this more on how we'll rule it in our game.
Anyone know if a developer or anyone has ever discussed this matter of this spell before?
The spell Passwall, level 5, makes me wonder, if B is really right.
Passwall goes way deeper.
10th level caster= 20 cubic feet. Sounds like a lot, but thats 5 feet wide by five feet tall by ~10 inches. That will go through a stone door, but not most walls, unless you want the party to wriggle though, which comes with it's own problems. (like kobolds playing whackamole)
I think it's a matter of what an object is when it's made of composit parts. Pathfinder tends to be a little more platonic and treats items all as one thing even when they're made if different parts. Spells affect "your weapon" even though there's the pointt end, the hilt, the pommel, and the handle, all of which are different things you can take apart and are probably different materials.
I think a wall as the object whether it's made of one solid piece or individual pieces cemented together.
