Wall of Sound questions

[jguy]

Wall of Sound (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/w/wall-of-sound) from Ultimate Magic seems like a pretty simple spell but even the slightest bit of creativity turns it into a broken, one shot anything spell. I want to make sure my reasoning is sound on this.

If I cast wall of sound and my archer buddy shoots an arrow at it, the arrow will bound harmlessly and everything within 10 feet will take 2d4 sonic damage, no save. If my gunslinger buddy shoots at the wall with a pistol, the same will happen, same thing if my hafling friend hits it with a sling bullet. Now, what if my caster friend uses Telekinesis (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/telekinesis) and uses the Violent Thrust option of 15 arrows to shoot them at the wall? Am I now doing 30d4 sonic damage? If my gunslinger friend unloads a shotgun blast on it, would each pellet count as a single object? Looking it up, the number of pellets range from 6 to almost 400 in modern cartridges. These are just a few ideas I've had. Question is, does it work?

[Segev]

I'm less sure about shotgun blasts, because I don't know that the RAW for them indicate a specific number of "objects." But for the rest of it...yes, your reading seems to be correct. Your 9th level wizard working in coordination with your party can convert each ranged attack they can make to a guaranteed 2d4 sonic damage to a small AoE.

Just remember that it's mostly battlefield control after the first round (and that you want to coordinate your actions to go off on the same initiative tick as your allies'), because the wall is stationary and foes can simply move away from it.

But for a battlefield control spell that starts with a potential for decent amounts of damage on the first round, it's not bad at all.

[Fouredged Sword]

That and the damage comes in 2d4 increments as independent effects. It is defeated by 10 sonic resistance no mater how many objects you hit the wall with.

Now that benefits the party, as if you can get enough points of sonic resistance you can walk in and around the wall and force your opponents to get close to the wall, and then you can step back and forth through the wall causing 2d4 points of damage per 5ft of movement your character has.

Also, bullrushing a target into the wall would be funny.

[Deox]

Also, bullrushing a target into the wall would be funny.

Why am I now imagining a Dungeoncrasher Fighter and a Wizard coming up with the deadliest game of Pinball ever?

[Chronos]

I think that the deflection of arrows and the damage to nearby creatures are intended as two separate effects, and that the damage is supposed to be per round. Compare to Wall of Fire, for instance.

[Segev]

I think that the deflection of arrows and the damage to nearby creatures are intended as two separate effects, and that the damage is supposed to be per round. Compare to Wall of Fire, for instance.

No, it quite clearly indicates that the effect is within ten feet of the "triggering object or creature." This means it's per impact.

[jguy]

See, now what I want to do is have an unseen servant with a big 'ol bag marbles just fling it open upon the wall or use Gust of Wind on a dropped thing of ball-barrings. This would probably only happen once because I don't know of any DM that would let +60d4 of unsaveable sonic damage keep happening. The funny thing is, since the damage only hits creatures, your triggering objects are unharmed.

Also, another question. If I set up Wall of Sound behind a creature and my archer friend shoots at said creature, and misses, where does the arrow go? Did it hit the ground in front of the creature, missing the wall, or does it sail behind the creature and hit the wall, triggering the effect?

[Arc_knight25]

Just because I'm a benevolent...ish person. I would either give you a 50% chance on a miss to see if you hit the wall or dig the arrow in the ground next to your target. Alternatively if you miss their AC by more then 5 nothing happens 5 and below if they are close to the wall it triggers.

[Fax Celestis]

Why am I now imagining a Dungeoncrasher Fighter and a Wizard coming up with the deadliest game of Pinball ever?

Oh, no, that would be a Dungeoncrasher Fighter bull-rushing an opponent through a legion of sentinels field.

[Deox]

Oh, no, that would be a Dungeoncrasher Fighter bull-rushing an opponent through a legion of sentinels field.

Marvelous.

[StreamOfTheSky]

It's a cool spell, but you have to keep in mind the damage the archers could be doing normally. And for TK, that you're now blowing another mid/high level spell and possibly 2 rounds just to get any damage at all. Compared to what you'd get with a more conventional blasting spell and allies attacking normally...it's not nearly as shockingly amazing as it seems.

It is still pretty decent, though. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it. It's actually pretty unique and different, and encourages working together / combo'ing with other PCs.

I also have no idea how it'd work with those gun rules. Seems like a nice spell to empower via a metamagic rod, if only bard got it one level lower...lesser rods are SOOOO much cheaper...