D&D 5E Wall of Force and spells

[ECMO3]

Doesn't the target have to be right inside the twisting colours for HP to work?

The spell does not actually say this as it does not specifiy the dimensions of the colors only the area of the creatures that can see it. Moreover colors are not physical, so even if this is the case, the cover only effects the point you target. You would have to to target outside the wall or it the target would become the edge of the wall if you tried to centerthe spell inside it. However the wall would not stop the twisting pattern of colors from going through it, just it doesn't stop the light from a torch.

 

[Hussar]

If and when this comes up in my game, I’m going to make wall of force opaque. That solves all these problems.

 

[Charlaquin]

These are all pretty open to interpretation, but your interpretations all make sense to me.

 

[Lanefan]

There's another thread on this, but the rules are simple. Things like Misty Step work because the target is the caster, not the point in space they are teleporting to. Anything else? You can't have an obstacle between you and the point in space or the creature you are targeting.

The rule is quite simple and does not have exceptions (emphasis mine)

A Clear Path to the Target​

To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can’t be behind total cover.​

​

If you place an area of effect at a point that you can’t see and an obstruction, such as a wall, is between you and that point, the point of origin comes into being on the near side of that obstruction.​

I bolded the relevant bit here and will note it again for emphasis: "at a point you can't see". That's where the arguments arise here, because, assuming open ground, just behind a Wall of Force is a point you can see because the Wall is transparent; which renders the rest of that sentence (regarding obstructions) redundant.

If and when this comes up in my game, I’m going to make wall of force opaque. That solves all these problems.

It does, but at the same time makes WoF far less entertaining and-or useful.

And still only solves the problems for WoF, not for ordinary glass.

 

[ECMO3]

If and when this comes up in my game, I’m going to make wall of force opaque. That solves all these problems.

Most of them. Not Dimension Door, Plane Shift, Scrying, Sending or Psychic Lance

 

[Hussar]

Most of them. Not Dimension Door, Plane Shift, Scrying, Sending or Psychic Lance

Psychic lance requires you to see the target. So, that is stopped. Plane Shift requires reach - so, it was already blocked. True, Dimension Door would still function. Not particularly concerned about that. Kinda the same with Scrying. Again, not something I'm particularly concerned about.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Psychic lance requires you to see the target.

Not if you know the target's name.

Plane Shift

The destination of Plane Shift must be a different plane. So you could use it to shift out of a dome of force trap to a different plane, but you couldn't use it to cross a wall of force to a destination on the same plane. It does not allow you to have a precise target location, so not even two Plane Shifts can do that. As you say, in order to send someone else to another plane you need to touch them, so definitely cannot work across a wall of force.

 

[Hussar]

It does, but at the same time makes WoF far less entertaining and-or useful.

I find spells like Wall of Force to be already far less than entertaining. Poof, you win the encounter because the baddy doesn't have a teleport effect and you just bury it in summonings. Gee, that was a fun encounter. Conversely, you do it to the party. Yay, I tpk the entire party because the wizard didn't happen to have teleport today. Wow, that's fun.

This is a very, very poorly worded spell and is FAR too powerful for the level it's at.

 

[Hussar]

Not if you know the target's name.

Again, not really a major concern. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that probably 99% of the things that the PC's fight, the PC's don't know the given name of. Just an off the cuff estimate, but, one I'm fairly confident in.

The destination of Plane Shift must be a different plane. So you could use it to shift out of a dome of force trap to a different plane, but you couldn't use it to cross a wall of force to a destination on the same plane. It does not allow you to have a precise target location, so not even two Plane Shifts can do that.

Sorry, I was presuming that Plane Shift was being used offensively - which means you have to touch the target. Sure, you could escape a Wall of Force with a Plane Shift. But, as you say, it's really, really hard to get back to where you came from. Again, not really a major concern.

I'm far more annoyed with players using Wall of Force as a higher powered Force Cage spell with a lower casting cost.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Again, not really a major concern. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that probably 99% of the things that the PC's fight, the PC's don't know the given name of. Just an off the cuff estimate, but, one I'm fairly confident in.

I would say a considerably higher proportion than that in my games, since we fight more villains than monsters, and when it comes to bosses, then it's unusual for the PCs not to know their name.