Wall of Force is CURSED in D&D 5e! - Advanced Guide to Wall of Force

[@PackTactics]

This video is sponsored by The Wandering Tavern: www.kickstarter.com/projects/homieandthedude/the-wandering-tavern?ref=axtt74 Thank you very much HOMIE and The DUDE for sponsoring this video!

[@magmotox2541]

hey kobold, its a bit odd but could you do a build video on tryin to optimise astral monk. I know the class is really underpowered but there has to be some way to make it work.

[@LucanVaris]

Wall of Force + Heat Metal. Sure, it doesn't deal much _physical_ damage, but if you want a Microwave that deals _Emotional_ Damage...

[@joemama114]

Had a riot with this spell, used it when our barbarian engaged with 3 enemies and they were kind of annoyingly mobile, faster than him being he was a dwarf. Managed to catch all 4 of them in a dome, he chuckled. That wall may be invisible but the blood splatters were not, that's for sure. Angry dwarf made blender noises that day. We eventually started calling it the Stonebeard Special on account of his clan name. He thought it was hilarious because he got to meme the "I'm not trapped in here with you, You're Trapped In Here WITH ME!"

[@Treblaine]

"None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you, YOU'RE LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME!" that Dwarf, probably.

[@fadeleaf845]

One notable application is based on the fact that you don't need the walls to be vertical - a horizontal wall of force can give you more walking space over dangerous terrain like water, marshes, acid or lava, while potentially sealing off creatures submerged underneath. In general, it's a very fast way to generate bridges or ramps for traversal. Contiguous panel placement does allow for corners so you can also use complex shapes for mobility aid and battlefield control alike. While many DMs will gnash their teeth at this application, walling off creatures in an encounter can also mean that you just run past the enemies without having to battle them.

[@swxqt6826]

I actually used that once while me and my party was fighting a bunch of Shadows. It didn't do all that much although it definitely helped.

[@mr.calamity8886]

Harry Potter gave us Wizard's Chess and Wizard's Hockey. DnD gave us Wizard's Fortnite.

[@thecookiemeister5374]

Isn’t this just cage of force but better?

[@swxqt6826]

@@thecookiemeister5374 Wall of Force requires Concentration, while Forcecage does not.

[@thecookiemeister5374]

@@swxqt6826 oh. i guess so.

[@40Found]

Setting aside all the weird, problematic, cursed and broken stuff in the spell, its use as intended is just busted in terms of its effect on the action economy and I can prove it with math. As an example, let's say you're fighting 8 demons or something and the party can kill them at a rate of 2 per round when they focus fire. Normally the encounter would be over in 4 rounds and the demons would take a total of 20 actions (the 2 demons who die round 1 each get 1 total action, the demons who die round 2 get 2 each, etc.) If you just cast wall of force and split the demons into 2 groups of 4, you reduce their total actions to *12*. You've nearly halved the enemy action economy. Its effect is equivalent to if you had taken out 2 demons on your own in round 1, effectively doing the same damage as the whole party in one action. This is a very generic example but I hope it gets across how insane this spell is even in its most basic use case.

[@DogBehaviorGuy]

This is why demons can cast spells.

[@white5pace]

Lanchester's law in action

[@motokuchoma]

Air doesnt pass through the wall, but 10 minutes isnt enough time to suffocate someone in that room.

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

how many chain casts of wall would you need to suffocate a creature...

[@jamescampbell2353]

@@undeniablySomeGuydepends on the amount of air inside the wall of force I guess

[@Aneqqu]

I know physics don't apply to dnd but with physics it is logical a 20ft radius fireball would burn all the air, meaning that the enemies have 1+their Con mod minutes of holding breath until fainting, which isn't a big deal and saying it would be less because it'd burn the air in their lungs is a stretch, which won't fly at a lot of tables, and isn't supported by RAW, so technically there is no big advantage to having wall of force having not letting air pass, since most enemies don't care about suffocating since the spells duration is only a minute, but with the air not passing rule and burning the air, it could count as a Walmart silence spell, allthough even after the burning there are still other gases so technically you'd be able to talk just not with the air. Eitherway in my opinion wall of force is a spell that is difficult to deal with as a DM since it is just another one of those options that trivializes some types of encounters, not to blame it or not allow it at tables, but it is the kind of spell that almost 'forces' you to spend your 5th level slots on it.

[@joemama114]

@@undeniablySomeGuy There is no reasonable level of assumption that you could perfectly chain cast this to "maintain" a low oxygen area.

[@thismemelord4048]

@@jamescampbell2353 according to the rules of a bag of holding, 64 cubic feet of air can sustain a creature for 10 minutes. A sphere of radius 10ft has volume 4189ft, 65.5 times more air than a bag of holding. So we can expect to need 66 casts or 11 hours worth of wall of force.

[@Silungar]

Wizards truly are the best tanks in the game

[@Demolitiondude]

H.E.A.T. rounds 50 caliber Hellfire missiles Artillery rounds Napalm Problem solved.

[@murderyoutubeworkersandceos]

​@@Demolitiondudeall physical that cant pass through invulnerable wall

[@murderyoutubeworkersandceos]

This is why wizards dont wear armor. Nit cuz "if they did, theyd be unbalanced".

[@Demolitiondude]

@murderyoutubeworkersandceos armor piercing. Doesn't matter if it's a physical or magical barrier. It's going through. As a wall, things can still go over a wall. Napalm can stick around and wait.

[@murderyoutubeworkersandceos]

@@Demolitiondude try "nothing-can-physically-pass-through-piercing". Wizard can w8 too

[@jb123581]

Did this with Wall of Stone instead of Wall of Force, but the same strategy applies: DM had set up an extremely deadly encounter with powerful monsters that had ranged attacks standing atop towers in the dungeon, a dozen melee monsters, a huge creature, the room otherwise extremely wide open, and nowhere to seek cover. I cast my wall spell by the narrowest point of the room, the entrance, and angled it leaving only a ten foot gap. Our martials used the wall to bait the melee combatants into the gap and took them on two at a time, and once cleared, our ranged attackers were able to do the step, shoot, step routine without leaving themselves at risk.

[@SmokeSolo1975]

I tpk'd a group of level 6 players (on purpose for story telling purposes) using a level 7 druid with plant growth and wall of fire.

[@AutumnReel4444]

Well, the step shoot step thing doesn't really work since the wait action exists, right? But good strat either way

[@jb123581]

@@AutumnReel4444 it works about halfway. Keep in mind that held spells still eat concentration and a held action only allows for a single attack, not a full attack sequence.

[@davidsmith7752]

The way I rule a Wall of Force is that it provides total cover against spells that explicitly have to travel from the caster to the target. For example, a Line spell, or spells like Fireball that explicitly travel to a point and then detonate. Spells that appear at a point of the caster's choice, however, bypass the Wall of Force by just appearing on the other side of the wall.

[@ADT1995]

I rule that the same way. I don't care if that's RAW or not, it seems RAI, and more importantly it seems right to me and my group because they were all on board with that when we discussed it several years ago.

[@kingbaby210]

I would go so far as to say that’s RAW. 🤔 hmm. Thinking about it, there’s nothing saying that’s not the case. Holy shit.

[@PVS3]

This is a very good interpretation, and it makes sense with the "magical glass dome" evoked by the spell description

[@ihtfp01]

This interpretation makes the disintegrate spell work properly as well. The ray leaves the caster's finger and hits the interposing wall of force, destroying it... Have a cookie🍪

[@davidsmith7752]

@@ihtfp01 🙂

[@7of475]

Wall of Force + Silence is a great lock down for social encounters, too. Court Wizard has it out for your party? Have the face of the party use "Stay thy tongue" as a code for the combo, then carry on with your discussion. Ofc, some counterspell bouncing may go off (unless the silence caster has subtle spell). Now the Court Wizard is peacefully detained so you can plead your case for 10 whole minutes. Edit: Just gonna add that yes, this is, in fact, a hypothetical scenario. As such, it is infinitely possible to add information to the hypothetical to make the premise no longer function. That's how hypotheticals work. The point of this hypothetical is to introduce a scenario that's reduced to simple constituent parts to make it easily applied to other circumstances. If you're in a court as unknown schmucks, OBVIOUSLY don't do this. If you are, however, semi-affluent individuals who've been able to build a degree of trust with a king or otherwise significant figure, yet ONE of their aides have sought to undermine you, and you have evidence of not only that but other misdeeds of said party, then maybe consider doing this. Context matters.

[@funnyman359]

If you cast several such spells in court that is gonna get the whole city guard on your ass

[@Glorious_Mane]

Unless you're using subtle spell meta magic on both of them, you're going to die for trying this.

[@arcticwulf5796]

If the court ruler wants to have their own wizard be available and respects their opinion (them being in the service of the lord). The party is attacking their servant, which in turn is an attack on them and their safety. If a party of dudes can just do that to the court wizard who manages the defenses in all things magic, the ruler is in danger, because of the implications. " Oh you shouldn't trust your council, trust us (or else)" If there is a next meeting there would be more safety measures. scribes and more scribes with counter spell scrolls, sorcerer's or the meeting would be done with the party remaining outside the keep.

[@ecothunderbolt257]

@@arcticwulf5796 yeah, a Court Wizard would probably just take his meetings with the relevant audience in an Anti-magic Field.

[@7of475]

All of you seem to be missing my initial point, which is on me, I suppose. My point wasn’t really the scenario and was more the “if you want to trap a spell caster who might have disintegrate, you can potentially coordinate with your party to drop Silence, possibly as a held action, to prevent that.”

[@alex2legit]

WoF story: tldr stopped a pirate ship we’re level 16, on a pirate ship, and have to take down the pirates and escape back to our fleet before assaulting the war barge from the Unrelenting Storm boss. The bard (me) sets up Wall of Force horizontally from port to starboard, but at a 45 degree angle with the higher side towards the bow. The Druid sets up wall of fire on top of it (they could see it because of blood or something on it). The boat keeps going until the mast crashes into the wall of force, stopping the entire boat, cracking the mast, and setting fire to the sails. Our sorcerer does animate objects on the pirates smoke powder barrels, and has them each ready an action to charge into the fire. I cast teleport as soon as the barrels jump through the fire and we have an epic escape right before the whole ship explodes xD

[@overforest1195]

Im currently playing an Artillerist Artificer in a high level pirate campaign (currently level 14), once I get access to level 5 spells I'm hoping to do something very similar to this.

[@simonharris7387]

Cast Wall of Force as a bridge over a deep chasm. Chuck some stuff on top (or use an illusion) to make it look like a regular bridge. Lure enemies over it, then get rid of the wall to drop them to their deaths. Can also use it to make a bottleneck against enemies if they’re in large groups so your tanky party members can go up front and protect the squishy casters more easily (plus you can shove AOE stuff that they have to go through). In a corridor with a tall ceiling where there are enemies above, you can use Wall of Force to create a temporary ceiling to block them from entering the fight while you deal with other threats on the ground.

[@jasonreed7522]

Also with the corridor you can cut it in half vertically with ramps at each end. Squish enemies into a crawl, or lift them up and over you as your group runs over/under them. The main issue is that after 10minutes they will be free again and likely to give chase or get friends. You may want to set traps behind yourself if doing this as an aggressive bypass of a fight.

[@40Found]

Why have the martials protect anyone? Just leave a 1/2in gap so no melee can't happen in the first place.

[@theuncalledfor]

I would rule Leomund's Tiny Hut to actually be a full sphere, but I know that's homebrew. I just think a hemisphere is stupid, especially since Leomund's Tiny Hut says the interior is warm and dry. Well how can it be warm and dry of cold air and water can get in through the bottom? It's stupid. No, I'm making it a sphere if and when I run a game. It extends through the ground. Screw you, RAW.

[@theuncalledfor]

10 minutes isn't nearly enough to get anything to start suffocating inside a sphere of that size.

[@siyaamhussain6180]

It’s a magical area with a dome surrounding it. It’s possible the magic can absorb the moisture underneath and can force the conditions inside to be as in the spell description.

[@MannonMartin]

@@siyaamhussain6180 Yeah I was gonna say, the whole thing is magical and the interior being warm and dry is what throws you? It doesn't really matter why the interior is warm and dry, if the spell says it is... it is.

[@theuncalledfor]

@@MannonMartin I realize that, but it's still stupid. And don't use the tired excuse of "durr the setting haz majyk, it no maek senz anneeweii!", that kinda argument disqualifies you from discussing anything in relation to fantasy.

[@TheMichaellathrop]

I actually feel like hemisphere and dome should be distinct templates in the 2024 edition where one explicitly does have a floor/fills the entire area and the other explicitly does not.

[@zacharylona]

Using saving throw cantrips to target ankles, avoid Dexterity saves except Sacred Flame, as they do get the benefit of cover. The cursed part about "concealed" in total cover is that it doesnt mean visually, it does mean by an obstruction that would block line of effect. E.g. a target entirely behind a translucent pane of glass has total cover. This was later clarified but no errata were issued to fix the verbiage for those of us who know the difference between cover and concealment, but if you look at the section on cover with a critical eye, you can easily tell they're just trying to write a rules section without repeating language in three consecutive paragraphs, which results in the stretch that concealment equals cover.

[@SoaresPatrick]

Please note that is really hard to suffocate someone with spells. Even the dome option (the smallest area) would have thousands of liters of air. A person uses about 450 liter per hour. The spells last for 10 minutes.

[@BiggieBows1752]

True, but put a large enough fire in there, and not only will it burn through the oxygen quicker, the poor souls inside have to deal with the fire and smoke it produces.

[@Friend2Trolls]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but using this with a party of small characters is also pretty efficient. Simply cast the wall as a ceiling above your head, and now any medium sized enemies coming after you are forced to approach while suffering from the squeeze into a smaller space rules. I did this once in a hallway, forcing some of the enemies above and some below the wall. This split the encounter and applied the malus. Another good option is to use this to create cover and instant forts. If you're ambushed and have a storm of death bearing down, the ability to toss down ten 10x10 panels is hugely useful to cut out a little breathing room. Obviously, this is also quite good for creating bridges, but it's worth mentioning. If you suddenly find yourself needing to cross a burning ring of hellfire that will immolate you, Wall of Force is a great choice.

[@jasonreed7522]

Also for that hallway situation, bend the end panels into ramps to trap all enemies and simply run over them to bypass the encounter. Just keep in mind that in 10minutes they will be free and angry, so maybe leave some traps behind yourself, or other obstructions like wall of stone concentrated untill permanent.

[@reinierkwint9419]

one other way to use Wall of Force is to cast it horizontally slightly above the floor, going through the legs of other creatures. This way you can force enemy creatures downwards, squishing them against the floor, and force allied creatures upwards, so they're standing on top of the floor of force. This is possible because it never says anywhere that all creatures have to be forced to the same side of the wall.

[@joemama114]

Disintegrate should be phrased better tbh, in such a way that it doesn't require you to see the wall. "A think green ray springs from your pointed finger at your chosen target. You may choose a creature or object that you can see, or you may choose a creation of magical force such as the wall created by spell Wall of Force"

[@Treblaine]

Bring back the old "line of sight to" rule that they used all over the place in 3.5e. It may have been more awkward to read but it was there for a reason.

[@ecothunderbolt257]

I think it's fine honestly. Disintegrate explicitly lists you can target a Wall of Force with it. Any concern over improper wording in that regard is pretty much outright ignoring the rather obvious in this case written intention of the spell. It's like when people say revivify doesn't work because dead creatures aren't creatures they're objects. Is it *technically* correct? Sort of. But it's practically wrong and predicates it's argument on ignoring the actual intention of a given ability.

[@FarothFuin]

Thing is, you dont need to 'aim' the wall, just something behind the wall, since the spell would break it when it passed on it You can aim to an enemy who casted the wall and then the spell would hit the wall, destroying it and hit the caster on the other side without s problem, since is not said you need to aim for the wall as is said on other spells like prismatic wall

[@emma-rz7mf]

even if wall of force blocks air it lasts for 10 minutes. a 10 foot radius hemisphere contains ~2093 cubic feet and there is ~28.317 liters of air in a cubic foot so there is ~59267 liters of air in a wall of force dome, the average person consumes 6 liters of air per minute, so theyd have to be in the wall of force for ~164 hours before starting to suffocate

[@FlatlandsSurvivor]

The Portable Hole specifies that it has 10 minutes of air in it, and the dome is even bigger than that.

[@emma-rz7mf]

@@FlatlandsSurvivor portable hole doesnt make an area of normal air into an enclosed space, i feel like portable hole is a semi-demiplane that probably doesnt have a lot of air in it to begin with

[@WASD_ii]

how was the rock gig mr tactics?

[@PackTactics]

Very good! Audience were very drunk and full of energy! I got to play pipes in the mosh pit while they danced around. Then I got on stage and we played perfectly! It was very fun!

[@CheckingForPulse]

Damn nice dude, glad it went well

[@leisuresuitlink]

I love your analysis on the hemisphere v hemispherical dome. My players constantly try to argue in favor of Wall of Force having a floor in this case and my take is precisely the same as yours. Rules as written!

[@grimwolf9988]

I'd argue that Wall of Force _does_ block magical projectiles, because it would need to in order for Disintegrate to interact with it. Whether or not it blocks air is more nebulous. No one's going to suffocate in 10 minutes anyway with air already inside, so I don't think there's much of an abuse case for that. Logically I think it _should_ block gases, which affects how the spell would interact with things like Stinking Cloud. In particular, if air _can_ pass through then that means someone could escape using Gaseous Form. And if gases can get through, then what else can? Does force pass through? Plasma? If someone sets off a Fireball outside the wall, does that mean someone on the other side is still hit by the explosion? I'd argue that, just like the description says, it blocks _everything._ The only reason light can pass through is that the wall is specifically invisible, which precludes that from being possible.

[@armorclasshero2103]

Disintegrate can't target an unseen barrier but it can target whatever is behind it then get blocked by the unseen barrier. That's what the disintegrate spells is hinting at, I believe.

[@ryanadshead4809]

I agree, no where does it say or hint the Disintegrate ignores WoF on it way to the intended target but that it destroys WoF and can be targeted specifically. If you look at it as blasting through unhindered, this could be extremely exploitable by targeting something you see as far as possible but with as many targets/object(barriers, bridges, shields etc) and everything is going to be hit since the caster was "target" was behind everything else but still in line of sight. Spell such as A) catapult, and B) lightning bolt do describe the effect to A) with catapult everything before or after target in range makes a ST (in order closest to furthest) until one target fails ST then it stops or out of range or B) Lightning Bolt travels through each creature in a 5'x100' line. Its not written but if lightning bolt strikes a wall it will stop it (older editions it would bounce off of stone) igniting flammable objects that aren't being worn or carried.

[@KiithnarasAshaa]

One thing to remember is that Cover blocks effect but not necessarily sight. Concealment blocks sight but not necessarily effect. A bush would grant concealment but not cover. A glass wall would grant cover but not concealment. A stone wall therefore grants both. In this case, wall of force would block all spells that make attack rolls and spells that project something to create their effect, such as fireball or lightning bolt or chill touch. Some spells don't do this, though, and would likely work through a wall of force, such as Entangle, Spike Growth, or Charm Person. Also, air is physical, made of matter, and is also blocked by wall of force, thus similarly blocking thunder damage effects from passing through; though you might be able to cast a spell that creates such an effect through it - Thunderwave originates from the caster iirc and would be blocked from passing through wall of force, but nothing I read on Shatter would prevent it from being cast on the opposite side of such an effect. If you can cast a spell through a solid glass window without breaking the window, you can also do so with wall of force.

[@catastropheoverclock]

Spells that don't project an effect through the air still requires you to target the creature being effected, and total cover prevents targeting. ie you can't charm person a wizard inside a hollow diamond, not because the diamond blocks a projected charm effect from hitting them, but because the wizard can't be targeted

[@CycloneSP]

Okay, so, here's my WoF story :D I was playing a 11th level Wild Soul Sorcerer. during our adventures, our party was beset upon by young blue dragons during a sandstorm. We handled the fight fairly well, so well, in fact, that the DM decided to have the remaining welps flee, calling for help from mommy... who answered their cries. So now we have an ancient blue dragon bearing down upon us in a turn or so, and we're not lookin so hot for the new contestant. So in an act of quick thinking, I have my sorc jump into the middle of the party, and use WoF like a Titan bubble from Destiny 2, just popping that thing around all of us, and then immediately telling our wizard to cast tiny hut while we've got a 10 minute reprieve. So we get tiny hut up, and immediately commence taking a short rest WHILE the ancient blue dragon is taunting us and clawing at the impenetrable bubble XD after the bubble intermission, the fight starts anew (thanks to our dwarf paladin making some dumb choices) Not thinking we'll fair well even after the rest, I double check with our DM just how large a dragon is, and got confirmation that it occupies a 15ft by 15ft area (which, btw, is small enough to fit inside a 10ft radius sphere) so I immediately cast WoF ON THE DRAGON, capturing it inside. our wizard immediately follows up by casting flaming sphere, having it spawn inside the WoF, and we spend the next 10 min making broiled dragon XD (flaming sphere says it appears at a point that you can see, there is no travel, and WoF is invisible, so we can see the point inside of it)

[@Medixum]

Wall of force is the only spell my dnd group has banned after an incident where we spent about 1.5 hours trying to come up with a configuration of the panels of it to trap a giant while allowing us access to its heels.

[@askadoctorifheresyisright4you]

If you were trying to do that during combat, my DM would just start counting you down and you get what you get at the end.

[@burgernthemomrailer]

Literally just make it a dome floating a few feet above the ground. Squeezing rules forbid it from being able to squeeze out. Not hard.

[@RasAlCool]

One game I ran a few years back, a creepy old wizard was offering magic rings to see the invisible path across a chasm (he had taken the bridge out). The rings gave limited blindsight/true seeing but were also cursed. The bard cast wall of force and they all just walked across! One of them took a ring out of curiosity anyways. Next session, the players were racing down a cliff side ledge while being shot at by archers on the opposite side of the chasm (like a gauntlet to prove themselves), and they wall of forced across the chasm and dealt with the archers up close 😂 It took me completely by surprise that but it was awesome! WoF is just a great spell in and out of combat.

[@shepinel]

Not me calling it “Hotboxing” instead of “Microwaving”

[@tommihommi1]

that's only when you use cloudkill

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Wall of Force has *always* been a win spell, and unlike the instant-death spells, it didn't get meaningfully nerfed in 5e. If anything, it's stronger than it used to be, because monsters tend to have fewer abilities than they used to.

[@Paul-nn9oj]

🐊 enemy lined up across a chasm shooting us... 1 long wall of force thru their tokens along their line & choose for them to be pushed off the cliff🤩

[@Treblaine]

Pro-tip: cast fog-cloud over it to prevent all teleportation other than Dimension Door. For those few creatures who do have Dimension Door, don't use the fog cloud so you can see them to use counterspell.

[@JazzJackrabbit]

A common way to get around Wall of Force is the Misty Step spell, or any other effect that gives a short-range teleportation (Circle of Dreams druid, some elf subraces such as Shadar-Kai, etc.)

[@MegaPokefan97]

Comboing this with sickening radiance is my favorite thing to do with this spell

[@ecothunderbolt257]

Sickening Radiance is my favorite spell ever since I used it in session to tandem explode 287 undead worms and earn my party enough exp for 2 levels in only one round.

[@jothrax4673]

This ended up being a long rest strat in a lv 20 one-shot. After going through multiple encounters, the DM ambushed us with a Black Dragon, Balor, Terrasque and Solar. Our whole party was clumped up so I cast Wall of Force to enclose our group. The enemies couldn't reach us at all (the Solar could teleport but there wasn't enough room in the dome to fit him). The Bard then cast Magnificent Mansion and we spent the next day chilling out and periodically opening the door so they wouldn't know when exactly we were coming out.

[@Evil_Idol]

In a pirate campaign I was playing in last year, the crew and I were in 1 on 1 ship combat against a Man o War. Totally outclassed our current ship and facing potential TPK. The Artificer cast Wall of Force as a dome within the ocean along the MoW's path so that when it sailed over the dome, the MoW cracked in half over its own weight. It was so sick!

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

9:35 your understanding of "force" there needs a bit of expansion. It does have a wavelength, just like anything else does. It may be invisible, but it is solid. As to blocking spells, this does make perfect sense. "Force" as a theoretical category of energy type is basically just the type that is not typified by any element, etc. It's the "other" option on the list of choices.

[@LocalMaple]

My party of level 8 characters with very basic magic items (+1 weapons/focus) took out an Adult White Dragon. It was working with a warlock as part of his deal with Tiamat, and said warlock was the leader of a city with a colosseum. I lured the dragon into the arena, and the sorcerer cast Wall of Force to checkerboard the lip of the arena so the dragon couldn’t slip through. We proceeded to potshot the dragon from a safe distance while it floundered its breath weapon reroll. Eventually, the Sorcerer accidentally swapped Concentration spells, and the bloodied dragon fled. But it flew over the leaping Dwarven monk for its escape path. That monk managed to jump up, grapple the dragon by the back of its head, and land a single kick. 7 damage. The dragon had only 5 HP remaining. The citizens of the city watched as a monk piledrived a dragon to death. Full story shared via All Things DND, the playlist is on my channel.

[@deamon6681]

That doesn't make any sense, how does a lv 8 sorcerer cast the lv 5 spell wall of force?

[@JazzJackrabbit]

PT went balls-to-the-wall with this one!

[@jamcdonald120]

2:20 its a sphere... that has been cut in half (hemisphere).... horizontally.... resting on the ground so it makes a shielded space above the ground (dome)...

[@michaelmisak5704]

I once used it as DM to lock a druid in a 10x10 area (he was next to a dungeon wall) with 3 or 4 minions of my big bad. He used polymorph to turn himself into a giant ape, and the baddies soon found that they were locked inside with him instead of the other way around.

[@Terminator356]

10:07 Easy way around this problem, and yes I know it's not RAW. You can see your target in the wall of force. You TARGET the object or creature in the wall of force. Disintegrate hits the wall of force being blocked completely and destroying the wall of force.

[@MonochromaticPrism]

For another option: Making a complex shape with the panels allows you trap a creature’s head, and only their head, inside the walls. Depending on the size of the creature and the shape of their head you can also lock their head into a specific orientation. For example, dragon heads are distinctly oval shaped and larger than their neck. You can lock an ancient dragon’s head orientation and lock their movement due to their skull’s width, preventing them from engaging in melee and from using their breath weapon. You can then default kill them from outside melee range with cantrips and arrows over the next 60 rounds. Doesn’t work on Themberchaud.

[@falkbachmann9919]

Sometimes i wish Gator would make a funny Video on how to counter Kobold´s Advanced Guide to what ever he comes up with. That could be pretty funny to see how to get out of these kind of shenannigans, like themicrowave

[@jiiaga5017]

You can push creatures off of cliffs with it. Closest unoccupied space might be empty space over a very large drop.

[@capawalk655]

I’m actually going to be participating in a one shot that involves a train heist. My plan is to enter at the front of the train and when the train is going full speed use while the force in between two of the cars and split the rest of the train off from the half I want to be on. Only downside is it will probably kill everybody on the other side but that’s not my problem lol

[@PackTactics]

I love the way you think. You are a gigachad. I would give inspiration for that.

[@pedrostormrage]

3:06 Yeah, Jeremy Crawford is basically saying that "a dome doesn't have a floor, but a hemisphere does", which implies he actually means "ball" (the solid) when he says "sphere", and he means "hemisphere" (half of the hollow circular shell) when he says "dome" (that's where the whole confusion came from). Wall of Force can be a "hemispherical dome", which is unfortunately just ambiguous enough to be interpreted either way (as a -hemisphere- hemiball or a -dome- hemisphere). But yeah, I guess it would make more sense for it to be a hemisphere (hollow with no floor) than a hemiball (filled in with a floor), since creatures can be trapped inside it (so for that to happen the structure needs to be hollow).

[@jacktough]

Sounds like Gator's entering puberty

[@DanTheYoutubeAddict]

In my current campaign a while ago we did a filler session because one person was not able to make it but the rest of us still wanted to play. In this session we fought a group of mimes who could cast various spells at us through pantomime, and after resolving our conflict with them in an amicable way my wizard was gifted a spell scroll of Wall of Force. It has since become one of my favorite spells and I have used it for numerous purposes including cutting the boss off from his minions while we dealt with them and even putting a couple of evil simulacrums of ourselves (long story) in a time out while we took out a couple of others. I find it funny that a spell which I originally obtained through filler has become a staple of my character.

[@OliverK1]

ok,.the whole disintegrate vs the wall is funny.

[@SilverFoxR]

A fun little thing you can potentially do with Wall of Force is cause a group of enemy combatants to go prone. Place the spell along the ground just low enough for there to be room and shunt all enemies within the spell below it. Now they're stuck on the floor prone and have to crawl to get out, using half of their movement to move as they are squeezing through that space. At that point, you can drop anything else you'd normally place down, including Spike Growth if you're feeling extra evil, making them take damage and halving their movement again.

[@gabe7109]

One of the players in my group uses Wall of Force a lot. I have a homebrew item that is basically a bag of holding, but I can store and retrieve items regardless of their size, so long as it doesn't exceed the weight limit. After we were done with an encounter that included a Wall of Force, I jokingly asked the DM if I could try storing the wall. He didn't like that idea, but made the mistake of saying it explodes, causing a partial cave-in in the dungeon we were exploring. We've since weaponized this power, by surrounding our enemies in a Wall of Force, then making it detonate and drop however many tonnes of rocks on them. Our DM has yet to think of a counter, so now all of combat occurs outside.

[@LordJacobGinsberg1st]

The bbeg of my friends campaign was a snack talking wizard name Scott toe stepper and he casted wall of force on himself and laughed at us as we couldn't hit him. We could see him so I casted conjure animals with line of sight summoning 8 wolves around him to attack him and drop his con.

[@jonathanbronico]

Two cool things my bladesinger did with WoF: 1) Expensive disengage that breaks grapples. 2) An unconscious character dropped at an enemy's feet, and I used the Big Suck to shunt the enemy upward into a box. I used my free object interaction to drag the character away. (Also works to snag dropped items.)

[@Twosocks42]

I was running a third-party module as a side adventure for a few characters in a long-term game (downtime activity). In the module, there was a magical orb in the air that would summon a random number of ice mephits each round (like 2d4) continuously until the orb was destroyed (it had HP and an AC) during a battle with a boss creature. The wizard summoned a flipping wall of force dome around the sphere, ending the mephit threat and allowing the group to deal with the big-bad. Now, even after that threat was ended, the orb continued to summon mephits who had nowhere to go... and the wizard decided it was a good time to be a mad scientist and wait and see what happened. Needless to say, eventually the dome ran out of space and the mephits began to crush each other, filling the space until the orb itself finally shattered under all that squashed mass, causing mephit goo to rain down everywhere.

[@jasonreiyn9311]

In an earlier version of DND I used Wall of Force in a game I ran that caused a TPK. The party crossed what they perceived as a carved land bridge to a stalactite that was a hollowed out and used as a wizards tower that was hanging above a large pool of magma. The door of the tower was highly warded with magical traps though it also had a magic mouth that activated whenever someone cast Detect magic. The message was simple. If you must attempt to enter my tower don't be crude, Dispel magic isn't the way. The party then cast Dispel magic as the AoE version as there were multiple wards. The problem however was that the casting of Dispel magic triggered another magic mouth which was outside the range of the dispel and it spoke the command word that dismissed the wall of force the party had been standing on. The party basically had enough time to realize something was wrong when their dispel did remove the illusion that had covered the wall right before all horizontal surfaces around them ceased to exist.

[@Drag00n1990]

When we first started in 5e, we did the Tiamat campaign. When we got to the final fight, I (the wizard) used Wall of Force in a way to create a chessboard pattern between the party and Tiamat. This prevented most of their attacks and gave us advantage against breath attacks (the DM liked the idea). Helped us to eventually win the fight.

[@AshnakAGQ]

I’ve use this spell during a naval battle to instantly disable a ship. Basically you can lay it horizontally in front of the fast moving ship, just above deck level. The ship will either get wedged in there or get its masts cut in half or have its crew knocked off. Best part is that it is invisible and has long range.

[@theodorheidhues2566]

If you have a few 1 st level spell scrolls use create water to drown everyone inside

[@infern0711]

There was an encounter my party had with a homebrew Young Elderbrain Dragon. We were level 9 and had just gotten 5th level spells. And we microwaved it with Sockebing Radiance and Wall of Force while we explored and mopped up the rest of the dungeon encounters. We came back after clearing all the other rooms and taking a short rest to collect our treasures.

[@TheMichaellathrop]

I had never thought of the big suck before, but that opens up a bunch of other forced movement strats such as moving a non flying creature over a drop and depending on if your DM considers the 1/4inch sides of the flat panels as a side of the wall then you could bisect a creatures space with one panel and then connect the other nine panels vertically placing the creature on top of a ten foot by 1/4inch wall 100 feet up in the air where any ranged forced movement option would drop them or simply have them exit the side at the top dropping them 90 or 95 rather than 100 ft(even assuming the DM does not have them instantly fall from the top), Similarly you could connect the panels horizontally to move the target into another space and if you could catch more than one foe in a line you could place multiple enemies in the same dangerous/disadvantageous location. The text also doesn't say that the wall can't pass through solid objects (only that it can not be passed through and what happens if it bisects a creature), or that you must see where the secondary segments of the wall will appear(only that them must be contiguous), so not only could you use this to move a creature through vertically and horizontally but you could technically use this to move creatures through a wall or the ceiling or floor or into a solid object such as a rock.

[@XyrusOblisk]

Back in the day in 2nd ed D&D, I DM'ed a fairly dangerous encounter between the party and a ruthless random encounter wizard-fighter multiclass. The start of the encounter had the Wizard-fighter secretly casted Wall of Force in a very very particular way. The rules stated maximum size for the wall, but no minimums, and so the W-F casted it between the two groups, but made it razor wire thin. Fighters from the player's party charged into melee range not knowing and risked being cut in half (it was ruled to be something of a massive damage so something like a disintegration ray worth of damage). Players argued that magic armor they had could save them and one very very luckily did make their save. The other got tossed a Heal spell. I never did that again. It was... fairly ruthless.

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

One of my DMs slightly regretted giving my high-level Warlock a Staff of Power. He had set up a gauntlet type session where we had to cross a courtyard surrounded by snipers (we were time-displaced so they had SMGs) enter a guarded building and disarm a bomb. I spent a charge to set up a Wall of Force as a tunnel across the courtyard, making the snipers irrelevant. Once we had breached the building and found the bomb in the basement, I spent a charge to make a Wall of Force box around the inside of the basement so that no guards could get in giving my teammates all the time in the world to disarm the bomb. Beware what you give a clever player as they may trivialize your opposition.

[@codebracker]

Or just put a wall of force around the bomb and your familiar and tell him to attack the bomb

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

@@codebracker ...Where were you when we needed you most...?

[@MartijnMos]

In our Curse of Strahd campaign we locked the Mad Mage in a Wall of Force with Silence inside, together with the Figher and Rogue to get him restrained enough so that the Cleric could do her thing. It was really fun to see the Mad Mage struggle as it wanted to Misty Step, but couldn't

[@jeydomo]

Wall of force(lifted a 1ft ) in dome. Toss grease under. Fairy fire,burning hands, control flame to turn off after burst, repeat to cook.

[@bronbust4797]

The wall of force has a way to be impenetrable and also invisible. Since it's magic it could be seen as an impenetrable wall of force that also copies and transfers everything you could see from each side to the other. That way nothing passes physically and it's still invisible. Don't ask me what happens to the photons that smack against the wall tho....they get deleted or something idk.

[@DeadpoolAli]

Great video!

[@lloydlineske2642]

My favorite story with this spell was the DM stuck us under one and a second caster used Sickening Radiance. I got us out by casting Mold Earth and made a narrow channel just underneath it to crawl out.

[@ElManReborn616]

Wall of force can also provide a safe retreat/rest if set up parallel to the ground, it being completely invisible means a subtle (or item) casting of it will make it so it's not detected, makes for excellent bridges/slopes. An advanced tactic is to setup the tiles so they make for holes of the right dimension to block a larger enemy movement but still allow the party to attack it. Wall of force is also precious in social encounters as it completely shuts down sounds. Notably, in the forgotten realm lore, misty step and abilities akin to it of fey creatures pass by the ethereal plane to teleport and are therefore blocked by wall of force, but of course this isn't raw (more like ral, read as lore?) As a DM, a really messed up thing to do is to have a monster set it up and having a rakshasa moving in and out as they completely ignore LV5 or lower spells

[@nanbread5593]

Someone that I used to play D&D with made a small sphere (only a few feet in radius), squished the target into it, and used Create Water to drown them.

[@chadcurtis7967]

Your logic is correct, however I think I would give it a floor for this reason, the total surface area; if you have ten 10x10 panels, if you make a cube (6 panels and ditch 2 panels) you make a larger interior space with a floor. The dome without a floor uses the least amount of surface area.

[@BrentAsunder]

The Death by Doggo version of the microwave kill also gets around concentration. Cast Faithful Hound & lock your foe in a Wall of Force dome with your phantom pooch. It will make a 4d8 attack per round every round for 8 hours, the dog is insubstantial, it can't be harmed & doesn't require concentration.

[@joemama114]

Had a fun encounter in a blasted wasteland area a bunch of dark dwarves set up trap, a killing floor of sorts. They would hide in the walls. They constructed a bunker, it look abandoned but was deep enough to provide shelter from the elements, if anyone came in the dwarves could slide open arrow slits and take pot shots. Also they had a wizard who could take some magical pot shots too but their ace was having the wizard drop a wall of force in the entrance and then flood the bunker with noxious gasses.

[@DanTheYoutubeAddict]

One strategy that I have thought of that requires two casters is to have one cast Wall of Force around them both and then the other is free to cast something like Bigby's Giant Hand. Both are relatively safe while still able to go on the offense.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

My ruling is a dome Wall of Force only has a floor if the caster specifies they wish there to be one. It makes little sense to dig out the ground if you don't need to as such a thing would imply. So in the absense of defining this parameter the spell will simple make a wall of the specified shape rather then an enclosed space as the name itself suggests.

[@shadowstorm657]

A really great application of this would be to cast this spell and then have ea cleric with Sprit guardians and just stand by them to microwave the creature in the dome. For this one you don't even need to lift the bottom, and you can cast darkness over them with a third caster, or even better silence.

[@BibesyViper]

A party I had just joined use the panels of the wall of force to trap an ancient white dragon before it could get close enough to use its breath weapon, but we could shoot it through strategic holes left between the panels. Seeing my level 9 party kill an ancient white dragon in my first session with them was pretty insane.

[@Shimatzu95]

I once had a bossbattle whete the bbeg was sitting behind a wall of force, on a small platform surrounded by lava that used some mechanism to damage us with floortraps while we figured out how to get to him. I cant remember how exactly we dealt with the wall itself (or if we just sidestepped it) but we ended up pushing that guy into the lava and holding him in place there (bigby's hand).

[@Fimbulvetr2012]

Turn the dome upside down, you can put basically a group into a eye level pit and lob acid to the center

[@hyper_sword8835]

Last session I casted wall of force around a deep dragon DM ruled it that I had to cleverly place the panels to account for the extra wing span and the tail just managed to cage it with only a few 5ft holes in the wall which it can't climb through we are resuming the session today and the DM already had plans for overcoming my trap the previous session. Can't wait to see how it pans out.

[@hyper_sword8835]

I also once cast wall of force using panels to create a tunnel along the outer wall of an encounter where we needed to save a hostage and we were able to safely escort him from danger because of that as the aberrations we were fighting couldn't do much to stop it

[@FallenFromGlory]

Squeezing rules 0_0

[@merlinmeurer5339]

Reduce a 10ft stone spheres size to a 5ft sphere, then cast wall of force to pull the target in next to the sphere. Now the concentration on reduce is broken, it grows back into its original size and turns the target into paste.

[@Geninacra]

This video, great as allways, should have gone out in May 4.

[@KuaEtus]

Cursed 🐊. Good video. Finally, i have arguments to defend my Hut's floors. Although... Sorry, but i dont think that light should be considered "physical", it's an electromagnetic wave, it's pure energy. Also, if nothing can pass through, then air can't pass, and sound needs matter as a means of transportation, so unless the wall transfers the sound energy from the air outside to the air inside, the wall also blocks sound too. I think they didn't specify the air thing because the wall has a sort duration, it's not enough time to make a creature inside die because of CO2 intoxication (you die earlier for that than for lack of oxygen)

[@Wanderingsage7]

I've used it as a staircase and as a bridge as well as to keep a burrowing worm from surfacing and attacking the party.

[@isaacthek]

... Since you get 10 10'x10' panels you could craft them into multiple cells. Using square magnetizes, you can create 4 triangular prism cells with no ceiling or floor and still have one left offer to angle like a ramp so you can throw victims into the cells or shoot down into the cells from 10' up and out of reach

[@wesleyjudson599]

There's a 4th cursed interaction: Although it says it can placed as a free floating object, it does not specify whether it can be moved. For example, if you are on an enemy pirate ship, and want to sink their vessel, if you place wall of force in a horizontal plane to cut the ship in half as it moves(or something similar), the GM could reasonably claim the wall of force simply gets pushed along with the ship. The problem with this is lack of clarity. Nowhere does it specific how heavy the wall of force is. If its "force", maybe its actually super light-weight. Of course, some GMs will rule that it can't be moved, but the number of uses it has greatly depends on which of these is the correct interpretation PS Just because 'Otiluke's Resilient Sphere' calls out the fact that it can be moved does not mean Wall of Force can or cannot be moved. In fact, it implies that 'force' as an object has no inherent property preventing its movement. In addition, some might claim that because it moves the creature, or because its "free floating", its 'pinned' in place. However, if you've ever handled a helium balloon before, you know that "free floating" does not mean heavy. And the pushing effect could easily be caused by the spell itself.

[@PVS3]

So... Add a Dex save to avoid being trapped (or to effect which side of the wall you end up on), Clarify the hemisphere/floor issue, maybe include a note that the wall shimmers slightly so it can be seen for purpose of spells (or clear exception). Such a mess.

[@malrok5452]

Nah, no save is the best feature of this spell.

[@PVS3]

@@malrok5452 I meant for the "push to one side or another" or the "seal inside a sphere" application. Maybe if I explain it this way: If the wall is being formed *right on top of you* you can make a dex save to dive to the side of it you want instead of being pushed. The wall will still be there, but if you want to 100% entrap someone you need to make a bigger enclosure than a 5ft sphere.

[@malrok5452]

@@PVS3Well, while your remark about the pushing aspect of the spell holds some merit, I would disagree on the entrapment issue. The spell in question is of instantaneous nature, which would mean that invisible prison just springs into existence around you. You probably wouldn't even know you have been snatched into it until you try to move and hit your face into an unseen obstacle.

[@cozzie2579]

Wall of Force + Sickening Radiance is such an effective shutdown on single-target beefy enemies and hoardes of smaller ones alike. legendary resistances and high con saves will only get you so far when faced with 10 full minutes of agonising direct radiation

[@lucasnunes8432]

I would say the caster can choose floor or no floor. If the spell can divide it self in 10 by 10ft panels, it makes sense you would be able to put in a floor or take it away.

[@di11onm1nkgaming]

If some creature is chest the edge of a cliff you can use wall of force to push them off the ledge essentially and then drop concentration, you could do the same thing to hold a creature underwater and drown it

[@CityState_of_Valletta]

Wow never heard of this spell as a wizard (to be fair never made it past casting level 3 in a campaign) and I loooove utility force spells like this and Tenser’s Floating Disk. I feel like it should require concentration or have a damage threshold or some weakness. But maybe spells at that level are just meant to be op. If so I’d love a smaller wall with the before mentioned downsides at lower levels as the flavor and creativity of whats essentially a shield spell with free placement is super cool.

[@Avabees]

Wait.. why is this an evocation spell rather than an abjuration spell?

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Id rule it stops at any solid floor. or has to stop at the ground leaving only one person hampster balled. Dirt, gravel, water, platforms.. those mmmaybe could have the sphere pass into. any object would be taking damage too so would constantly vaporize the floor under falling into the earths crust. Means meld into stone to wait it out, passwall the floor, or astral movement could be a way out in some cases. This is why i prefer the 1 exit wall of stone with a faithful hound.

[@tylarsaunders4303]

Love wall of force super fun with my bladesinger also algorithm bump

[@christophershell7564]

Wall of Force does not seem to be anchored in place, so if your DM is willing you might be able to roll it off cliffs or into rivers and since it floats, you can probably make it fly into the stratosphere. I am not sure whether the wall has mass or whether is considered an object, but a willing dm may allow a warlock to repelling blast the wall around the battlefield. Though the wall is immune to damage, it is not immune to spell effects like forced movement. A 10 minute duration gives you 60 rounds to move it someplace like really high in the air.

[@drawbyyourselve]

I always considered the walls invisible and disintegrate would destroy the wal, however you had to aim it at something else, i.e. at a target behind the wall. The spell would logically need to go past the wall of force and thereby destroying it. I also ruled that to end the disintegrate action, or someone could pierce a wall and hit their target in one go. My favorite way to use the spell so far, was trapping a party inside a cube and have rocks fall on top of it. They had to watch and listen to the BBEG monologue (which they hated) and he just left. They couldnt just destroy the wall or risk dying to a stone avalanche and had to invent a solution for the spell ending. In the end I was lenient and gave the cube no bottom (which kind of makes sense, as the cube didnt cut anything by appearing or anyone had to jump to get in) and they broke the floortiles, dug a small tunnel, removed more floor and went back to the dungeon entrance.

[@LesbianWitchAcademia]

I maintain that Wall of Force is the single best spell in the game. It has a viable use in almost any encounter a DM could make, and its one of the few "auto win + no counter" strategies in the game. Unless your DM has provided more enemies with counterspell than you have allies with counterspell, or there's something with disintegrate (which i would argue forcing a disintegrate on a Wall of Force instead of going into one of your party members is an objective win) or powerful antimagic, there's nothing the enemies can do.

[@RandomInternetStranger]

I typically rule that only light is allowed to pass through, and nothing else. Assuming you used the 10ft sphere, you'd have more than enough oxygen to last through the Spell's duration. I suppose you could drain the oxygen if you chose a dome raised slightly off the ground and just cast Fireball around it constantly, and I'd argue that if someone cast Stinking Cloud or some other Spell inside that it'd effectively hot-box them, but that just seems like a creative usage, it doesn't seem to make it that much stronger.

[@nothankyou4859]

NOOOO GATOR GET OUT OF THERE 😭

[@michaelturner2806]

You could argue that light doesn't need to physically travel through it if it's a wave. If you choose the panels option, can they intersect? It neither says they can or they can't. I assume you could make a cube with the panels option, using 6 of your allowed panels to surround a foe with floor and ceiling. What about two more panels in the middle, a millimeter apart, both intersecting a creature. By the rules, you could squeeze them into that 1mm space? Even if the DM says they can survive that because magic, it still might be little enough room they could suffocate. This seems an easy way to neutralize a Tarrasque too.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

Heh, the 'saving throw' for Wall of Force is breaking concentration. 'Hemispherical dome' is a hollow half-sphere. I agree that dome implies no floor. But a dome with a floor is still a dome by definition. Spheres are solid or hollow. The word sphere does not distinguish between the two. A ball is a type of sphere, and also does not distinguish between hollow or not. Light is not a physical effect in D&D, and since the wall is invisible, light passes through it. I think the WoF does block air - especially wind. With that said, I think it would also block most sound. WoF does not block spells (or line of effect) and it does not provide cover - it does not say that it does, so it doesn't. Spells do what they say they do, and nothing more. It blocks damage from spells. For example, WoF would not block Hold Person or Teleport, but would block a Fireball from exploding on the other side of the wall (the bead must travel to the detonation point). Great video, keep up the good work!

[@DarwinAwardWinner]

The concept of a hemisphere as an AOE shape is actually even more cursed. What happens if you cast Tiny Hut on a hillside or any other terrain that's not flat and level? You know, like almost all outdoor terrain is? Does it conform to the terrain, or does it just kind of hover above the hill or cut into it? I think the way Tiny Hut and other dome/hemisphere-shaped force wall spells should be written is that they project a spherical wall, but then the spell specifies what happens where the wall intersects something solid. For Tiny Hut, the obvious interaction is that the wall simply doesn't appear anywhere there is already solid ground (which would in turn mean no floor). Another option would be for each part of the wall to obey the line of effect rules, coming into being at the furthest unobstructed point within the radius. Essentially, this would work kind of like inflating a balloon into the specified shape: it would create a floor that conforms to the terrain under the point of origin. I'm not exactly sure how to write either of these in a spell description, but to me these are the two most logical options for how "hemispherical" areas should work. The benefit of having it work this way is that, well, first of all Tiny Hut now works on hills. But it also makes such spells work in reasonable ways in more unusual situations, like casting Tiny Hut on the ceiling in an area of reversed gravity, or on the wall while spider climbing. Or even floating in the middle of the elemental plane of air (where you would just get a full sphere).