Wall of Stone being suspended?

[Sensei1551]

So I have an idea to use Wall of Stone as a means of crushing something underneath it after it has been fully cast by suspending it from a ceiling rather than having it come from the ground up.
My only concern is that in the wording of the spell, it states "Unlike a wall of iron, you can create a wall of stone in almost any shape you desire. The wall created need not be vertical, nor rest upon any firm foundation; however, it must merge with and be solidly supported by existing stone"

The idea being that I would cast the spell (25th caster level) and suspend a 120 square foot cube by the remaining 5 square feet and hopefully have it be too much weight that the cube would come crashing down onto anything beneath it. From the wording on the spell description I'm not sure it is possible to have it break-off and come crashing down in the same turn as it is cast or if the support would then need to be broken in a subsequent round by something like a disintegrate spell.

Curious as to what everyone here thinks of the idea and how this would play out with the RAW.

P.S. fighting a pretty nasty Drider, chosen of Lolth and I thought it would be comical to, literally, squash the bug.

[DeTess]

The 'solidly supported' clause suggests that whatever you make has to be able to remain as it is after the magic has run it's course. Anything that would collapse without outside intervention wouldn't be solidly supported.

You could try making a big column or similar, which the party strong guy/gall then pushes over onto the enemy.

[TheStranger]

The 'solidly supported' clause suggests that whatever you make has to be able to remain as it is after the magic has run it's course. Anything that would collapse without outside intervention wouldn't be solidly supported.

You could try making a big column or similar, which the party strong guy/gall then pushes over onto the enemy.

That’s my reading of it as well. But I don’t see any issue with it being solidly supported by a wall or ceiling rather than resting on the floor, as long as it’s structurally sound. And a subsequent disintegrate or similar could drop it, sure.

Not going to do the math right now on how much that would weigh or how much damage it would do, though, so I can’t say whether it’s actually worthwhile. And I think by RAW the drider might get a Reflex save to avoid damage but I’m not certain.

[Jay R]

It's a DM judgment call. I am certain that neither of my 3.5e DMs would accept it, and neither would I. The clear intent is that this is a permanent structure, not an attack.

If you have a decent Knowledge(Engineering and Architecture) check, you might try to build a free-standing stone bridge that is just barely strong enough to stay in place. Then put a wall of iron on the bridge.

[Milodiah]

As a DM I'd definitely say that the "solidly supported" phrase is meant to prevent things exactly like this. The part about not "resting on a firm foundation" is presumably included to allow you to make freestanding bridges or ramps across canyons and whatnot.

I would, however, be willing to let you use Stone Shape afterwards in order to deliberately compromise its structural integrity, since it's a separate spell and thus not bound to those requirements. Of course, that's two standard actions' worth of casting, which kinda telegraphs your intention to any enemy other than, like, completely mindless undead or something. It'd still be a hell of a combination with something that entangles or immobilizes your enemy, or if you managed to shape it in such a way that they wouldn't be able to get out from under it.

[rel]

I read 'solidly supported' as not liable to collapse on its own. Someone is going to have to set off your trap

[Bronk]

I think you could set something up beforehand, casting the spell like you want, with the trigger leading to some kind of stonefire spell capable of setting the sprue on fire, destroying it and dropping it maybe a round later. Maybe the trigger could be in the center, and the target would have to figure things out and run to the edge to survive. Actually, that sounds more like a DM thing, never mind.

If you were to do this, I'd suggest telling your DM what you want to do just before you try it and, if it doesn't fly at first, suggest setting it up with some kind of skill check and outside help. Pass the skill check, then send whichever fellow player most fits the crazed barbarian type and have them attack the sprue for the rule of cool. It would probably be easier with stonefire or shatter or whatnot, but this is probably going to be a one time thing anyway, lest every dungeon you encounter in the future resemble a series of suspicious looking construction zones...