Cube of Force

[der_kluge]

Given the following:

Srd:
Cube of Force: This device is about 3/4 inch across and can be made of ivory, bone, or any hard mineral. It enables its possessor to put up a special wall of force 10 feet on a side around her person. This cubic screen moves with the character and is impervious to the attack forms mentioned on the table below. The cube has 36 charges, which are renewed each day. The possessor presses one face of the cube to activate a particular type of screen or to deactivate the device. Each effect costs a certain number of charges to maintain for every minute (or portion of a minute) it is in operation. Also, when an effect is active, the possessor’s speed is limited to the maximum value given on the table.
When the cube of force is active, attacks dealing more than 30 points of damage drain 1 charge for every 10 points of damage beyond 30 that they deal. Spells that affect the integrity of the screen also drain extra charges. These spells (given in the list below) cannot be cast into or out of the cube:

Cube Face	Charge Cost per Minute	Maximum Speed	Effect
1	1	30 ft.	Keeps out gases, wind, etc.
2	2	20 ft.	Keeps out nonliving matter
3	3	15 ft.	Keeps out living matter
4	4	10 ft.	Keeps out magic
5	6	10 ft.	Keeps out all things
6	0	As normal	Deactivates

Attack Form Extra Charges
Horn of blasting 6
Wall of fire 2
Passwall 3
Disintegrate 6
Phase door 5
Prismatic spray 7
Moderate evocation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, wall of force; Price 62,000 gp.

I have some questions:
1. When activated, is the wall of force effect an entire cube, or just a wall in the front? Or is it one wall per face and I just choose which wall I want where?

2. "Keeps out magic" - does it include magic items?

3. Are the effects cumulative? That is, if the BBEG activates it as "keeps out living matter", can I still shoot arrows at said BBEG, even though the step below it would disallow arrows?

4. If BBEG activates "keeps out magic" or "keeps out all things", can BBEG still cast spells through it? It only mentions the spells below, but not other spells, e.g., magic missile or fireball.

 

[Pyrex]

1) My reading is that you are surrounded by the one selected wall on all six sides.

2) I would rule so.

3) Effects are not cumulative. Pressing face '3' is functionally similar to casting Anti-life Shell and does not stop arrows. (or undead)

4) Nope. As per (in this case a selectively permeable) Wall of Force line-of-effect is blocked in both directions.

 

[der_kluge]

I don't know. It's certainly not entirely clear, but this is my take:

It creates one wall at a time, and the user could determine which side (left, front, read, or right) that they want the wall to face. Likewise, I wouldn't see any reason why they couldn't activate two or more faces at a time, but each would have to be a different kind of wall. That is, they could have "keeps out everything" in the front, and "keeps out magic" on their right side, for example.

Furthermore, the reading is specific, it mentions specific spells that can't be cast into or out of the wall, but it describes it as a "special" wall of force, which seems to imply that spells can continue to be cast out of it.

At least, that's how I'm going to interpret it unless someone has seen some sort of official ruling on this thing.

 

[Stalker0]

the description says the wall goes around the creator, so I would say it covers everything.

 

[Artoomis]

...This cubic screen...

Cubic - as in the shape of a cube. There you have it.

This means it is over and under you, too, though I'm not sure how that works under you, if you can still move. Maybe they didn't really mean "cubic?" Or maybe they did.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

"It enables its possessor to put up a special wall of force 10 feet on a side around her person. This cubic screen moves with the character...The possessor presses one face of the cube to activate a particular type of screen or to deactivate the device"

Seems pretty clear to me - the wall of force effect is 10' per side, on ALL sides of the user. Also, consider that if different effects were intended to be active at the same time, there would be ways to deactivate a particular effect - and there isn't. Option 6, Deactivate, is the only way to shut down the cube, and that option would have to affect the entire cube (otherwise, how does the cube know which side/effect to deactivate?)

All that said, I don't know that it would be a problem to rule that the user can choose fewer sides when activating the cube, as long as the charge cost is spent for each effect activated. Activating three different effects, on three different sides, could get expensive in a hurry. And I'd still rule that the only way to change an effect is to first deactivate the entire cube, then begin activating the effects, one at a time, all over again. Nope, doesn't seem too unbalanced if you prefer to run it that way.

 

[Rel]

All I know is that there is a great Dragon Magazine article from back in the day (and I mean way back in 1E) that talks about fun ways of keeping players from becoming too cocky when they've got one of these things.

One thing I distinctly recall is having ogres or giants pile stuff on top of it. Great article.