Wall of Force

With a gesture of hard magical authority, you shape empty air into an invisible boundary that nothing physical may cross, forcing the world to obey a line that did not exist a heartbeat before.

5th-Level Evocation
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
Available To: Wizard

Effect

You create an invisible wall of force at a point within range.

The wall takes one of the following forms:

• a flat surface made of up to ten contiguous 10-foot-by-10-foot panels, with each panel sharing at least one side with another panel, or
• a hemisphere or a sphere with a radius of up to 10 feet

Nothing can physically pass through the wall.

The wall is immune to all damage and extends into the Ethereal Plane, preventing ethereal movement through it.

The wall cannot be ended by Dispel Magic. It is destroyed only by Disintegrate.

If the wall appears in a creature’s space, that creature is pushed to one side of the wall, chosen by you.

Why This Spell Is Dangerous in the World

Wall of Force is dangerous because it replaces struggle with separation.

A battlefield can be divided without blood. A passage can be sealed without a gate. A creature can be removed from meaningful participation in a conflict without being wounded at all. The spell does not need to overpower what it stops. It only needs to exist in the right place.

That has consequences beyond combat. Chambers become secure in new ways. Escapes fail without chains. Audiences, rituals, prisons, sieges, and negotiations all change when a caster can create an invisible, untouchable boundary that ordinary force cannot answer.

The spell is unnerving because it does not look like dominance. It looks like the end of access.

Best Uses

Divide the Battlefield:
Break one encounter into smaller, more manageable parts.

Absolute Containment:
Trap a creature inside a sphere or cut it off behind an impassable line.

Protect Allies:
Place a perfect barrier between vulnerable targets and immediate danger.

Control Space:
Seal corridors, stairs, entrances, bridges, and choke points.

Force Enemy Adaptation:
Compel opponents to waste time, reposition, or rely on unusual answers.

Tactics

Wall of Force is a spell of placement.

Its strength lies not in raw magical power but in where you decide the boundary belongs. Used well, it changes the entire logic of the encounter at once. A single wall can isolate the strongest enemy, preserve the weakest ally, deny a route of attack, or buy the exact time the party needs.

Do not think of it as defense alone. It is often stronger as reconfiguration. The best cast is usually the one that makes the enemy’s current plan impossible.

Remember, however, that the spell does not eliminate threats. It postpones, redirects, or partitions them. Teleportation, indirect pressure, prepared responses, and broken concentration can all change what the wall achieves.

DM Notes

Run Wall of Force as invisible finality.

Its strongest presentation is usually minimal. A blade stops short. A charging beast hits empty air. A path that should exist no longer functions. The quieter the wall is presented, the more absolute it feels.

Be exact about what it does and does not do. It blocks physical passage and extends into the Ethereal Plane. It does not automatically solve every problem, and it does not inherently stop effects that do not rely on crossing the barrier physically.

This spell places real pressure on encounter design. Single-creature fights, narrow approaches, and simple melee threats are highly vulnerable to it. Encounters that matter should still function when sudden separation becomes possible.

Good Combinations

• Forcecage: A harsher escalation of the same principle.
• Counterspell: Preserve the wall by denying magical escape or disruption.
• Dispel Magic: Revoke hostile magic while maintaining physical separation.
• Banishment: Remove one threat while sealing off another.
• Cloudkill or similar area pressure: Exploit confined space once movement has been denied.

Final Precision Note

The defining truth of Wall of Force is:

It is not a shield against force.
It is a ruling that force does not pass here.

Wall of Force

“Summon an impenetrable, invisible barrier with the Wall of Force spell, shaping a magical wall that nothing can pass through.”

A wall of force spell creates an invisible wall of force.

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.

Evocation [Force]

Level Sorcerer/Wizard 5
Components V, S, M
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect Wall whose area is up to one 10-ft. square/level
Duration 1 round /level (D)
Saving Throw None
Spell Resistance No

The wall cannot move, it is immune to damage of all kinds, and it is unaffected by most spells, including dispel magic. However, disintegrate immediately destroys it, as does a rod of cancellation, a sphere of annihilation, or a mage’s disjunction spell. Breath weapons and spells cannot pass through the wall in either direction, although dimension door, teleport, and similar effects can bypass the barrier. It blocks ethereal creatures as well as material ones (though ethereal creatures can usually get around the wall by floating under or over it through material floors and ceilings). Gaze attacks can operate through a wall of force.

The caster can form the wall into a flat, vertical plane whose area is up to one 10- foot square per level. The wall must be continuous and unbroken when formed. If its surface is broken by any object or creature, the spell fails.

Wall of force can be made permanent with a permanency spell.

Material Component A pinch of powder made from a clear gem.