5e Wall of Force Ruling

[Senrioth]

Hey all, quick question. Is it possible to climb a wall of force? Normally, with spiderclimb, etc? DM ruled yes if the creature climbing has spider climb, but we're both curious as to whether there is an official ruling. Seems less useful as a wall if people can just climb over it.

[Finger6842]

Well, instead of damage it lets you shape or place it at any angle plus push enemies to either side. This should give you a way to stop the climb but it is a solid surface and there's no mention of anything that prevents climbing

Wall of Force
Evocation
Level: 5
Casting time: 1 Action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of powder made by crushing a clear gemstone)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes


An invisible wall of force springs into existence at a point you choose within range.
The wall appears in any orientation you choose, as a horizontal or vertical barrier or at an angle. It can be free floating or resting on a solid surface. You can form it into a hemispherical dome or a sphere with a radius of up to 10 feet, or you can shape a flat surface made up of ten 10-foot-by-10-foot panels. Each panel must be continguous with another panel. In any form, the wall is 1/4 inch thick. It lasts for the duration. If the wall cuts through a creature’s space when it appears, the creature is pushed to one side of the wall (your choice which side).

Nothing can physically pass through the wall. It is immune to all damage and can’t be dispelled by dispel magic. A disintegrate spell destroys the wall instantly, however. The wall also extends into the Ethereal Plane, blocking ethereal travel through the wall.

[Senrioth]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, it seems it does have a lot of innovative uses; I think next time I'll use it as a pseudo force cage.

[Tanarii]

I'd definitely call for a DC if a player wanted to attempt it. Climbing doesn't usually require a DC, but climbing particularly sheer or slippery surfaces does (per Athletics). Climbing what's typically envisioned as a perfectly smooth surface with no handholds? Sounds like Strength (Athletics) DC 30 to me! Im usually a proponent of setting reasonable DCs if a check is required at all, but I'm not sure what qualifies as a more difficult thing to climb. Unless you want to reserve DC 30 for climbing the water of a waterfall, or climbing on clouds, or something actually impossible.

Speider Climb should work without any issues.

[Zalabim]

If the wall happens to be vertical and only 10' high, a good running jump should let a lot of average humans reach the top. From there, it's not so hard to just haul yourself over. Since it's invisible, there's no way to tell how tall it is until you try, and that's after determining where the wall is in the first place.

[Hooligan]

If the wall happens to be vertical and only 10' high, a good running jump should let a lot of average humans reach the top. From there, it's not so hard to just haul yourself over. Since it's invisible, there's no way to tell how tall it is until you try, and that's after determining where the wall is in the first place.

Really? How many average humans can jump and grab a basketball rim with 2 hands? Not to mention a "good running jump" into a solid wall involves necessarily smashing your face into it.

[Zalabim]

Really? How many average humans can jump and grab a basketball rim with 2 hands? Not to mention a "good running jump" into a solid wall involves necessarily smashing your face into it.

High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance.

And

You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1 1/2 times your height.

Thus, a human with 10 strength that is more than 4' 8" tall could reach the top of a 10' wall on a running high jump. The character would probably want to stop and feel the wall to see where they need to jump, maybe putting a foot up on the wall as they push off like some kind of parkour ninja, but it'd be in reach for most human PCs.

[Coffee_Dragon]

The rules for high jumps make no sense whatsoever. Haven't done since 3E. I can only assume they were ported through three editions because nobody with a brain bothered to check if they were worth updating.

[Tanarii]

The rules for high jumps make no sense whatsoever. Haven't done since 3E. I can only assume they were ported through three editions because nobody with a brain bothered to check if they were worth updating.
The rules for jumping in general don't. Anything str related really. I don't know anyone that can clear a 8ft running jump and land on their feet and keep moving. Nor carry 100 lb backpack all day long with a 20 lb maul in their hands.

Alternately, I don't know anyone with a Str 8 or higher. Whichever. :smallamused:

Seriously though, they obviously decided that High Fantasy Wu-shu was a better direction to go than the Guy at the Gym fallacy.

[Sigreid]

I would say it's entirely up to the DM as it could easily be ruled that a wall of force has none of the normal tiny imperfections that even a spider needs to climb a surface.

[iTreeby]

If the wall is perfectly flat it could have ionic friction. I could see an argument against being able to climb a wall of force because there is no matter at all to climb, simply a force that keeps you from reaching a certain point, not quite frictionless but I could see it being very hard to lean on a wall of force. The problem with this idea of a force wall is that wall of force blocks moonbeam and other laser like things and can also be disintegrated.

[furby076]

The rules for jumping in general don't. Anything str related really. I don't know anyone that can clear a 8ft running jump and land on their feet and keep moving. Nor carry 100 lb backpack all day long with a 20 lb maul in their hands.

Alternately, I don't know anyone with a Str 8 or higher. Whichever. :smallamused:

Seriously though, they obviously decided that High Fantasy Wu-shu was a better direction to go than the Guy at the Gym fallacy.

I can carry a 100lb backpack, plus 20 lb weapon all day long. Ive done it when i was in rotc :)