The spell calls out "sheet". So far I interpreted this to be the line between the squares.
On the other side there seems to have been quite a bit of discussion about 5feet corridors filled with a wall of fire. That would suggest that the wall occupies a line area similar to the aoe of a lightning bolt.
So does it
A - run along the border between squares
or
B - form a 5 foot wide line?
Bonus points for why ;-)
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You draw the Wall of Fire from a grid intersection to another grid intersection as a line. It either runs across a grid line, or diagonally through squares.
Use the rules for area of spells to determine wall of fire's area of effect.
Area: Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.
Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don't control which creatures or objects the spell affects. The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection. When determining whether a given creature is within the area of a spell, count out the distance from the point of origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection.
You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far edge of a square is within the spell's area, anything within that square is within the spell's area. If the spell's area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the spell.
Here's an example 10 ft. wide corridor.
Let's start the first scenario. A spellcaster puts the Wall of Fire straight down the centre.
Example One is where you draw a line straight down the middle. If you were to put a Wall of Fire in a straight line along the grid line down the exact centre of a 10 ft. wide hallway, nobody takes damage from entering the wall when it's cast because it isn't passing through their square. However, it's blocking their movement to the other side of the hallway. If they moved across the line from column d to column e in Example One, they'd take damage as they crossed the wall's effect. The caster picks which side of the wall radiates heat, so anyone on that side takes the specified damage.
Example Two is where you fill a column with fire. Instead of drawing the wall down the grid line, you could draw the line from one corner of the column d to the opposite, and it therefore passes through all the squares in column d. In that case all creatures in column d when it is cast take damage as if they entered the wall.
In Example Three, the caster has put the Wall of Fire all the way across the hallway. Anyone in column d, rows 1 to 4, are inside the wall. Anyone in column e, rows 5 to 8, are inside the wall. Anyone moving from d5 to e4 takes damage too. The other squares are safe, so long as you don't enter a square containing the Wall of Fire or cross through its line. The wall radiates heat from the corner of the square it occupies up to the distance specified as counted for movement.
Excellent :-)
Many thanks and extra points for great detail
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Excellent :-)
Many thanks and extra points for great detail
There's the "small" issue that Wall of Fire does not use area aiming
First, check the spell description for the aiming descriptor the spell has:
Effect 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
The bold word on the spell description states the descriptor the spell has. In the case of Wall of fire, it's aiming descriptor is Effect, so you abide by Effect rules, not by Area ones.
Second, use the aiming rules based on that spell descriptor:
Under Effect rules, you see this:
Effect: Some spells create or summon things rather than affecting things that are already present.
You must designate the location where these things are to appear, either by seeing it or defining it. Range determines how far away an effect can appear, but if the effect is mobile, after it appears it can move regardless of the spell's range.
Wall of Fire has effect aiming since it creates something out of nowhere, same as many other spells like summons.
Essentially, you can place the spell anywhere you want as long as you can see the destination or can define it correctly, limited by the specific aiming rules a spell may have or the type of effect it generates, if any (for example, to aim a Summon monster spell you have to designate an empty square - or group of squares - that can "fit" the summon, because creatures are placed in squares). You're not forced to "latch" the spell to any grid intersection, since that's an area-aiming specific rule.
Also, you must abide by Line of Effect rules:
Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.
You must have a clear line of effect... to any target that you cast a spell on or ...to any space in which you wish to create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any spell you cast.
A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation spell affects only an area, creature, or object to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst's center point, a cone-shaped burst's starting point, a cylinder's circle, or an emanation's point of origin).
An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a spell's line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a spell's line of effect.
Emphasys the bolded words. You can perfectly define an effect inside of a fog cloud even if you don't see the destination location as long as you can define it correctly, but you can't define an effect behind the castle walls (unless there's a big enough gap that allows you to see the other side) since the walls are solid barriers
Sorry, unfortunatly this got me more confused than that it answered questions.
I made a pic of the versions discussed above some time ago. JDLPF says C is correct andd I'd agree with that.
Would you suggest a different shape (A or B) or do you mainly focus on "The caster doesn't have to see the end of the wall"
Go to Versions.
Feel free to ignore D and E
Sorry, unfortunatly this got me more confused than that it answered questions.
I made a pic of the versions discussed above some time ago. JDLPF says C is correct andd I'd agree with that.
Would you suggest a different shape (A or B) or do you mainly focus on "The caster doesn't have to see the end of the wall"
Go to Versions.
Feel free to ignore D and E
Essentially, all the shapes in the following image are right:
Wall of fire uses effect targeting, and for effect targeting, as long as you declare a legit destination (by seeing it or defining it) you have Line of effect to, you can place the effect any way you want unless the spell itself or whatever is created has specific placement rules.
You can perfectly "latch" the wall to a grid intersection if you want for ease of use, but you are not forced to because Effect spells do not have the "point of origin must be a grid intersection" rule. In fact, if you stick to intersection targeting you are forced to always place WoF's diagonally to benefit from the "If you evoke the wall so that it appears where creatures are, each creature takes damage as if passing through the wall" rule. But as said, since it's an Effect you can perfectly place the wall in the middle of a square, where creatures actually are.
As for line of effect, you must see or define the entire space the wall will appear on, and no solid barrier can block the defined space. Essentially, if you use sight to determine LoE you must see the total space the wall will appear on (from where it starts to where it ends). If you rely on defining, whatever you define must be legit with no solid barriers blocking your LoE (for example you're casting in the open against some enemies hiding in a fog cloud: "maximum length, start and end to the sides of that fog, splitting it in half" is totally valid as long as you're in range and you can create a wall of enough length)
Wow, this is awesome.
To me it was always area of effect.
I didn't notice so far that these are separate mutually exclusive things (which might still give similar results).
It took me quite a bit of reading to get my head around the fundamental mistake I made so far.
Many thanks for taking the time to explain that :-)
Wall of fire also state that ''An immobile, blazing curtain of shimmering violet fire springs into existence. One side of the wall, selected by you, sends forth waves of heat, dealing 2d4 points of fire damage to creatures within 10 feet and 1d4 points of fire damage to those past 10 feet but within 20 feet.'' so yes it has an area aiming for the spell its just describe in the spell text, always read a spell in its entirety
A spell has it's aiming descriptor written in bold in the spell description from three possible choices: Target, Effect or Area. There's no bolded Area on the spell descriptor, only Effect, so no, WoF does not have area targeting. What a spell does or affects once it's brought into play is a completely different thing that how you must aim or or target it to successfully bring the magic power into existence.
Wall of fire has the Effect descriptor, so it abides by Effect aiming rules. And the Effect is the "Opaque sheet of flame up to 20ft/lv long, 20ft high" that is being brought into existence. What that "sheet of flame" does doesn't matter.
Effect 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
Fireball has the Area descriptor so it abides by Area aiming rules (including the fact that the PoO must be a grid intersection). It also states the area type Fb uses (spread)
Area 20-ft.-radius spread
Charm Person has the Target descriptor, so it abides by Target aiming rules, also stating the amount of targets it can affect (one), and their type (humanoid)
Target one humanoid creature