Quote from: Ladybird;783195Create a spell that picks up all of the diamond dust and puts it back in your pouch. Awkward, but it'll pay for itself, and wizzies are lazy buggers, plus it would double the spell slots required.

Actually, as its just a simple task that would be very time consuming, Unseen Servant probably would already fit the bill. If you want to do it quickly, you may need a new spell though.

Quote from: Ladybird;783211Mage Hand and Prestidigitation don't quite look fine-grained enough to me (Diamond dust would be awful to pick up, I imagine it as being like toner crossed with ground glass), plus this is a pretty nice effect, so let's go for...

Dyson's Fantasia, 1st-level transmutation
Casting time - 1 action
Range - (Spell Level) metres
Components - V, S
Duration - Instantaneous
When the caster casts this spell, they imagine a particular type of item (For example, dust of a particular type, coins of a particular denomination, flowers or a particular type), no larger than a coin. The spell produces an invisible, magical helper that picks up all instances of that object within range and deposits them instantly within a container on the wizard's person. If there are sufficient of the items that they would not fit in the container, the container will burst.
Higher-level spell slots: for items which have been used as M components for spells, as they still contain some residual magical energy, this spell must be cast using a spell slot of equal or higher level in order to handle them.

Nice!

Quote from: Sacrosanct;783117Chimera

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 11 (+0) 19 (+4) 3 (−4) 14 (+2) 10 (+0)

Note the 3 intelligence though... The polymorphed PC is going to barely be able to string coherent thoughts together. They might retain their alignment and personality. but at an INT of 3 their personality is going to be subsumed in the beast quite a bit.

All sorts of potential for turning this from a boon into a nightmare for the PCs.

They are also going to be more susceptible to enemy charms and effects targeted at low intelligence beasts.

A wyvern might be a better option for the level 6 character change since its not going to effectively lobotomize the PC and turn them into a NPC pet.

On the other hand this could be used to effectively create powerfull pets for the PCs that wouldnt otherwise be possible. A chaotic good Chimera pet? Hell, a fricking lawful good T-Rex mount! Roll up a new character. We can mount the whole party on these! (once the new soon to be NPC reaches level 8... ahem.)

Quote from: Omega;783226Note the 3 intelligence though... The polymorphed PC is going to barely be able to string coherent thoughts together. They might retain their alignment and personality. but at an INT of 3 their personality is going to be subsumed in the beast quite a bit.

All sorts of potential for turning this from a boon into a nightmare for the PCs.

They are also going to be more susceptible to enemy charms and effects targeted at low intelligence beasts.

A wyvern might be a better option for the level 6 character change since its not going to effectively lobotomize the PC and turn them into a NPC pet.

On the other hand this could be used to effectively create powerfull pets for the PCs that wouldnt otherwise be possible. A chaotic good Chimera pet? Hell, a fricking lawful good T-Rex mount! Roll up a new character. We can mount the whole party on these! (once the new soon to be NPC reaches level 8... ahem.)

That's more of what I was getting at.  Not necessarily polymorphing the PCs directly, but doing it to their henchmen or hirelings.  After all, with a 3 INT, the hireling won't remember that you polymorphed him  They'll just have this vague recollection that you're the boss.

Quote from: Skywalker;783222From my experiences of previous editions, the ability to teleport (or be teleported out of it) out of it has generally been seen as the spell's primary "out" (along with disintegration).

Also, the Wall of Force doesn't stop the target from casting spells or doing other things, including those that have effects beyond the Wall provided they are not of physical in nature. As such, its advantage, whilst potentially devastating, is somewhat more circumstantial compared to Hold Monster, Wall of Ice or Forcecage.

Someone on another forum just pointed out that total cover stops all spell targeting regardless of whether the total cover is transparent. If this holds up I think Wall of Force is out of the problem zone.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;783232Someone on another forum just pointed out that total cover stops all spell targeting regardless of whether the total cover is transparent. If this holds up I think Wall of Force is out of the problem zone.

Given that Forcecage calls out all spell effects as being blocked specifically, I am not sure that's right. I would certainly agree that Wall of Force provides total cover for spells of a physical nature that pass through it, and so prevents targeting of such spells. That does leave a number of spells that can be cast in and out of the sphere though.

Either way, go with whatever feels good for you and your group.

The other thing with Wall of Force that some people seem to be missing is that it is just that - a wall.

The spell description says the wall can be made of up to ten 10'x10' squares, and I've seen people therefore saying that you can use six of them to form a cube to trap people within.

But this is explicitly disallowed by the spell description which says that the wall must be flat.

So the wall might temporarily block a corridor or something, but it won't trap creatures. Most of the time it won't be any better than a Wall of Stone or the like.

There is an option to have it a hemisphere or sphere instead, but that's a 10' radius so you're really going to struggle to surround much as the majority of the hemisphere (which is 20' across) is only going to be a couple of feet high - not enough to fit over the heads of a group of creatures or even stuff like furniture. If you want to fit a target inside it you basically need it to stand in the middle of a room so you've got 20' of clear space around the it to accommodate the rest of the hemisphere.

Quote from: Blacky the Blackball;783244There is an option to have it a hemisphere or sphere instead, but that's a 10' radius so you're really going to struggle to surround much as the majority of the hemisphere (which is 20' across) is only going to be a couple of feet high - not enough to fit over the heads of a group of creatures or even stuff like furniture. If you want to fit a target inside it you basically need it to stand in the middle of a room so you've got 20' of clear space around the it to accommodate the rest of the hemisphere.

Anything that straddles the boundary though is pushed to one side or the other at the caster's choice though. So there isn't much need for too much finesse.

Quote from: tenbones;783143you could tax their XP because they're gaining it in a foreign form,

Good point this. The polymorphed PC should not be getting EXP.

Quote from: Skywalker;783248Anything that straddles the boundary though is pushed to one side or the other at the caster's choice though. So there isn't much need for too much finesse.

Cast the flat version to produce a wall of force, say, an inch above the floor.

The caster chooses the side creatures cut-through are pushed into, so let's have them pushed into the underside of the wall.

Bam, one thousand square feet of instant death by crushing. And you don't need to worry about concentration, because even if being flattened didn't kill something, it wouldn't be in a fit state for anything afterwards, and wouldn't be able to recover.

(For shits and giggles, you can do the same trick against horizontal walls, but it's probably less useful. A strict reading suggests you could do the same thing with ceilings; a quick check didn't reveal the height of a space, so strictly you could do the same trick using the ceiling or against flyers outdoors, but that seems a bit too daft for me.)

Quote from: Ladybird;783263Bam, one thousand square feet of instant death by crushing.

You mean: Bam, the GM tells you to stop being a dick.

EDIT: Or if your GM is also a dick: Bam, the GM fields nothing but Wall of Force wielding monsters to kill your PC until you stop

Quote from: Skywalker;783241Given that Forcecage calls out all spell effects as being blocked specifically, I am not sure that's right.

Many spells with similar effects in the book have very different wording and formatting. That may be reminder text?

Quote from: Skywalker;783269You mean: Bam, the GM tells you to stop being a dick.

EDIT: Or if your GM is also a dick: Bam, the GM fields nothing but Wall of Force wielding monsters to kill your PC until you stop

Yeah, it clearly can't actually work, because otherwise, wizards would have used it to end every confrontation ever.

But it's legal and doesn't even bend any rules.

Quote from: Ladybird;783273But it's legal and doesn't even bend any rules.

Don't make me write: "Rule 0: Don't Be A Dick!" inside the front cover of your PHB

More seriously, your example just shows that an RPG will never be free of ambiguity regardless, so using judgement and common sense are a necessary input into any RPG.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;783272Many spells with similar effects in the book have very different wording and formatting. That may be reminder text?

Go with what works for you I personally think Wall of Force is clearly meant to be just a physical barrier, where Forcecage is also a barrier to spells.