what spells cannot penetrate a WALL OF FORCE?

[Albert_Fish]

Recently a spellcaster enemy cast Wall OF FORCE to split the party then started atttacking half of the trapped party. The wizard and cleric were on the far side of theWALL OF FORCE cast spells to help their trapped comrades. They argued that since teh spells such as "summon monster" do not actually" travel" to their destination then they can be cast through the portal. lacking any sort of logic i could use against them. See the spell description of WALL OF CORCE says spells cannot penetrate it.
Does anyone know what spells can penetrate it?
Could the Cleric Summon the Celestial hound to attack the wizard through the WALL OF FORCE?

a Second question while i am here: Using WALL OF STONE to trap a creature wholly within the WALL OF STONE that has spell turning and Magic resitance. Does the said target get to turn the spell or resist sucha spell or does he just get a saving throw? if he only gets a save doesnt that make the "WALL" spells supremely potent against such tough monsters??

 

[Cloudgatherer]

I'm pretty sure Wall of Force blocks line of effect, which you need for spellcasting. Essentially, the only spell that work on Wall of Force is Disintegrate. Of course, one could cast spells around the Wall of Force or move around it (if applicable). Also, there should be a reflex save on Wall of Force to avoid being trapped inside of one.

For Wall of Stone, the creature does not use spell turning or spell resistance against it. The creature gets a reflex save to avoid being trapped under the wall of stone, but that's not a big deal. It's not super powerful because spellcasters can teleport away while beefy creatures can easily break apart the wall (the hardness and hitpoints are not that great, fairly easily broken). So no, it's not insanely powerful.

 

[Oni]

"A wall of force is transparent. Does that mean you can cast spells on the other side of it? I know if the spell actually travels from the caster to the target that it will be blocked but what about situations where you designate the originating point, such as flame strike? Common sense suggests that it would be possible to cast such spells, but I know I am going to need more than common sense to resolve this issue.

Perhaps you are confusing the rule for line of effect with the rule for line of sight. If your spell has a target entry, you must have line of sight to your target or be able to touch your target (see Aiming a Spell in Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook). If your spell has an effect or area, you need not see the place where you aim the spell, but you have to designate the place where you're aiming somehow (also see Aiming a Spell in Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook). So, if your line of sight is blocked by something that does not also block line of effect (such as darkness), you can still cast an area or effect spell through the blockage.

A wall of force blocks line of effect, just like any other solid barrier. As noted above, you need line of effect between you and the point of origin for your spell (or to your spell's target or to the space in which you create an effect with a spell; see Line of Effect in Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook).

If the line of effect from the example flame strike spell passes through a wall of force, the spell is blocked. The blocked spell fails and is wasted. The spellcaster knows the spell failed but does not necessarily know why. A successful Spellcraft check (DC 15) reveals that line of effect was somehow blocked."


[edit: from the Official Dnd FAQ]

 

[Albert_Fish]

so you can or cannot cast spells like summon monster or flamestrike through a wall of force....or any transparent barrier for that matter...including a glass window or transparent ice wall?

 

[Astlin]

so you can or cannot cast spells like summon monster or flamestrike through a wall of force....or any transparent barrier for that matter...including a glass window or transparent ice wall?

Can't.

Any solid barrier blocks line of effect. (Stone, glass, wall of force, ...)


Astlin

 

[Lela]

Does anyone have the page numbers for line of effect?

 

[Astlin]

Does anyone have the page numbers for line of effect?

PH pg150.


Astlin

 

[Geoff Watson]

An easier question is 'What can penetrate a Wall of Force?'

Gaze attacks.
You can Teleport/Dimension Door to the other side.

That's it.
Hardly anything gets through a Wall of Force.

Geoff.

 

[Lela]

An easier question is 'What can penetrate a Wall of Force?'

Gaze attacks.
You can Teleport/Dimension Door to the other side.

That's it.
Hardly anything gets through a Wall of Force.

Geoff.

Which means that Wall of Force can't be cast through a Wall of Force.

Anyway, what a way to screw a party. If it's cast at the right time. . . BOOM! Party Seperation->TPK

PH pg150.


Astlin

Thanks

 

[Jeremy]

Good for the goose...

We had an encounter with a wandering monster at one point. 6 advanced hit die templated umber hulks. I'm sure they were seriously bad stuff. Unfortunately our wizard saw them first and hasted herself.

Then she sat there for a moment waiting for a good opportune moment. It came when they clumped up to get ready to ambush us. Cast Cloudkill, extra partial action from haste: Cast Wall of Force hemisphere. They couldn't get through the wall and the cloudkill nickeled and dimed them for 1d10 a round for a duration measured in minutes (not rounds).

Funniest thing I ever saw. Especially when the DM finally realized that hemisphere meant only half a circle. And that these were umberhulks. I thought that was relatively apparent and that the stupid critters would choke a little then dig. Nope. They sat in it for the whole duration of the cloudkill then burrowed out. Amusing.