Wall of Fire

The wall of fire is a defensive tool. While it won’t do much for your lawn—or leave you any lawn to talk about, for that matter—some people line the perimeters of their strongholds with a set of nearly continuous walls of fire. This risk is a real hazard in dry conditions, so clear the area of any flammable vegetation before you try it. Otherwise, you could end up burning the surrounding countryside.

A more innovative use of a wall of fire would be to use it as the basis of an interior, fuelless heating system. To work this tactic, install a permanent wall of fire in an empty room in the lowest level of your stronghold. (Heat rises, remember.) Then, to assist with circulation, place a permanent gust of wind either behind or perpendicular to it, situated to blow the heated air out of the room and through the rest of the place. Remember that anything within 20 feet of the flames takes damage from it directly.

In warmer climates, you may choose to shut the wall of fire down in the summer months so you don’t swelter. In the meantime think about how much effort you’ll save in having to haul wood in for your fireplaces in winter.

This kind of heating system can easily take care of a place with up to twenty (contiguous and relatively compact) stronghold spaces, keeping the temperature in the place balmy throughout the harshest winters. In larger places, you can set up multiple heating rooms if you like. Alternatively, you can heat a portion of the place and seal the rest of the rooms off for the colder seasons.

Particularly ruthless stronghold owners could even place a pit trap in the room over a heating room lined with a wall of fire.

Casting: 280 gp (Clr7 or Wiz7) or 320 gp (Sor8) or 450 gp (Drd9)

Permanent: 10,600 gp (12th)