What happens if you cast the spell while underwater? It specifically talks about freezing the surface if it 'strikes' a body of water, but it's not doing that, it's already underwater, and it doesn't make sense to freeze the surface.
It doesn't make sense, but that is the RAW of the spell. There are a few potential rulings:
The globe strikes a point underwater and freezes the surface of the water, applying the restrained condition as normal.
The globe strikes a point underwater and freezes a 6" think portion of that square, applying the restrained condition to creatures swimming in the area.
The globe is blocked by the body of water and triggers one of the above rulings in the caster's space.
Hm. On reflection, I don't actually care much about what RAW is, I was just considering spells for an underwater encounter and freezing large quantities of water seemed interesting, though obviously a giant block of ice would be a bit much. Might rule that Wall of Ice can be cast underwater without being on a surface.
If cast under water, wouldn't the ice immediately float to the surface of the water?
Well, that depends on your definition of immediately. Ice is less dense than water, but it's not a lot less dense than water, and water has a lot of drag, so it's not going to move super fast (depends heavily on shape and size; using a value of 30'/turn will not be wildly wrong).
What happens if you cast the spell while underwater? It specifically talks about freezing the surface if it 'strikes' a body of water, but it's not doing that, it's already underwater, and it doesn't make sense to freeze the surface.
It doesn't make sense, but that is the RAW of the spell. There are a few potential rulings:
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Hm. On reflection, I don't actually care much about what RAW is, I was just considering spells for an underwater encounter and freezing large quantities of water seemed interesting, though obviously a giant block of ice would be a bit much. Might rule that Wall of Ice can be cast underwater without being on a surface.
If cast under water, wouldn't the ice immediately float to the surface of the water?
Yes, unless it was anchored to something or something sufficiently heavy was embedded within it.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Well, that depends on your definition of immediately. Ice is less dense than water, but it's not a lot less dense than water, and water has a lot of drag, so it's not going to move super fast (depends heavily on shape and size; using a value of 30'/turn will not be wildly wrong).
who says ice has the same density relative to water in dnd land?