(All links take you to DnD Beyond unless otherwise noted.)

Overview

“You create a wall of fire on a solid surface within range. You can make the wall up to 60 feet long, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick, or a ringed wall up to 20 feet in diameter, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick. The wall is opaque and lasts for the duration.

“When the wall appears, each creature in its area makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 5d8 Fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

“One side of the wall, selected by you when you cast this spell, deals 5d8 Fire damage to each creature that ends its turn within 10 feet of that side or inside the wall. A creature takes the same damage when it enters the wall for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there. The other side of the wall deals no damage.

“Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d8 for each spell slot level above 4.”(Dnd Beyond Link)

Our sorceror loves wall of fire. It’s so flexible. It can be used for offense or defense. It blocks line-of-sight. And while they’re figuring out exactly how to place it for maximum effect, the rest of us have twenty minutes to stretch, grab a beverage, or catch up on sleep.

5d8 damage to everything in a 60’ line is fine damage for a 4th-level spell—maybe too much damage if we ever want to see anything leap through the flames. The whole “only one side of the wall does damage” thing is just fiddly and overly-complicated. And like way too many spells, the list of casters is long: druids, sorcerers, wizards, light clerics and forge clerics, and warlocks of both heavenly and diabolical patrons.  

Wall of fire in past editions

In OD&D, the wall did 1d6 damage to any passing through (2d6 damage to undead), and creatures under 4HD couldn’t cross it at all. In AD&D, wall of fire was a druid spell. It could be a wall or a ring, and it did 4d4 damage (+1 point/level) to any creature touching it. AD&D started the damage from the heat radiating off the wall. Idisosyncratically, the spell decription specified that the flames were amber in color. In second edition, the flames became violet or reddish-blue (aka purple?) if you were a wizard, but yellow-green or amber for priests. The heat only radiated from one side, and depending on your level, the wall could be huge (20 20’ squares at 20th level). 

In 3rd edition, they settled back on violet for all walls. The wall could be made permanent with our old friend permanency. In 4th edition, the wall only granted partial concealment. 

How good is wall of fire?

The spell is fine, but every time it gets cast, I sigh. It takes the caster forever to place it exactly just so, and we always forget which side of the fire is the hot side and who needs to flee the heat. As written, it’s a C-tier spell.

House rules and other thoughts

Reddish-blue Purple fire is cool. Walls of fire are cool. We want people jumping through them because it’s dramatic. I’m not sure why they can’t be floating in air, and you should have a means as a player to create a permanent one. Concentration spells don’t need additional time limits.

About Spell-by-Spell

Spell-by-spell is a series of articles where we discuss the spells in Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e. We start with the spell as-written, and we’ll provide our take on how “good” the spell is (S-Tier to F-Tier), and thoughts for using the spell as a player or DM. We offer up suggestions for adding color or flavor to the spell, out-of-the-box ideas for non-combat applications, and occasionally stories from the game-table. We might look the history of a spell and the different versions across editions or even different games.  Finally, we weigh in on how well the spell does what it says it does; how well it plays in-game (does it slow the game down, does it steal the thunder of other classes, is it fun); whether it should be banned, nerfed, or boosted; and revisions we’d like to see in theoretical future editions or that we plan to make (or have made) in our own D&D games.

Spell-by-Spell Tier Rankings

• S-Tier: Spells that are so cool or so useful that you want to be able to cast them as many times as possible.
• A-Tier: Spells that you always want to have in your spellbook or spell list. There may be situations where you would choose to not memorize or prepare them, but those cases are rare.
• B-Tier: Good, solid spells. Spells you are often happy you have in your spellbook or spell list, but maybe don’t memorize or prepare every day.
• C-Tier: Spells that are only situationally useful, that do too little damage, or that have some other strange or confusing unexpected flaw. Also poorly-named spells that don’t do what you would think they do.
• D-Tier: Spells that are poorly designed, overshadow the schtick of other classes, or interact with other effects or abilities in ways detrimental to the player or game.
• F-Tier: Spells that are so bad, they shouldn’t be in the game. This includes useless and trap spells, as well as always-spam spells that seem to have been created to cause friction between players and GMs.