The various wall spells frustrate me. Each one seems to have a different description of what constitutes a wall shape, and some are ambiguous. Most are not shapeable but some are so ill-defined that they might as well be.
Wall of ice and wall of iron seem to be well defined and just so happen to match what I would consider a wall shape: an upright vertical plane. Later published wall spells seem to be specifically described as vertical rectangles.
The other night a player of mine cast a wall of fire spell and snaked it across the battlefield for 220 ft. catching every enemy in its fiery embrace. I just shook my head and rather than stall the flow of the game, I just accepted it and moved on. I don't think he was trying to abuse anything, he was just scribbling out 220 ft. of flaming death. Which is no small chore.
Wall of fire describes the effect as a 'sheet', a 'curtain', and a 'wall'. What are these things? Are they flat planes? Can they be curved, zig-zag?
Is a square keep composed of four walls or one square wall?
Other spells that are simply described as 'walls' yet aren't shapeable are wall of sound and blade barrier.
Essentially, I'd say that unless the spell description specifically states it can be shaped in any way (spells like Wind Wall and Wall of Stone have this wording), then it shoud be a single, straight sheet with no "snaking" possibilities... If a player made this with a wall of fire, then a Blade Wall may perfectly become a meat grinder on anything it catches inside.
If Wall of Fire could be given any shape the caster chooses then there would have been no need to distinguish between an "opaque sheet of flame up to 20 ft. long/level or a ring of fire with a radius of up to 5 ft./two levels; either form 20 ft. high".
Thanks for the support.
If it happens again, I may point out that a 10th level wizard gets a 200 ft. sheet or a 25 ft. radius ring. If you could wind the 200 ft. sheet as you wish then you could wrap it around to form a ring with a radius of over 30 ft., and that is clearly a violation.
Or I'll just say no and move on.
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I'd let the player know before the situation comes up. Otherwise it could disrupt the session with a debate or mess up the plans of the player make them take longer on their turn as they try to figure something else out.
Thanks for the support.
If it happens again, I may point out that a 10th level wizard gets a 200 ft. sheet or a 25 ft. radius ring. If you could wind the 200 ft. sheet as you wish then you could wrap it around to form a ring with a radius of over 30 ft., and that is clearly a violation.
Or I'll just say no and move on.
Be sure to mention why this is the case in the spell, and the differences in the wall spells. You might convince the player that all wall spells work like that, and ask if they were confusing it with something like Wall of Stone. It's not a difficult mistake to make.
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I second DD it would be better to address this before it happens again.