Question about Continual Light

Hey all, so this came up in my gaming groups last session and both the question itself I'd like a clarification on, as well as the implications surrounding it.

Hitting level 3 as a Mage, I finally had acces to the unbridled arcane might that is level 2 spells, with one of the choices I was going to take would be Continual Light.

Obviously, I was planning to have some sustained light sources that the party had access to, but my DM (and one other player) pointed out that the spell description of Continual Light doesn't say that light emenates from a point/object but that it creates an area of affect of 30' which is daylight. Based on this, he also said that it could go through walls (so at night, you could be in a building against the wall and there would be 15' of daylight in a bubble on the outside of the wall).

Basically I'd like some clarification on the intent behind continual light (and got DM permission to do so), as this reading is frankly bonkers to me (gaming & in world) but is also reasonable based on plain reading of Continual Light. Does Continual Light create a sort of ball of light, or does it emenate from a single point? (It seems crazy to me that a mage would create a spell that acts the opposite of how they think of light functioning i.e you create fire, it emenates light, during daylight, the sun emenates light. Going the other way would be completely against how someone would think of light at that point in time).

This also brings me to my second part, the implications. Based on said reading of Continual Light (that it would go through walls), what is an area of effect with regards to magic? Is it stopped by solid objects? If it's like that do things like Fireball, Hyptonic Pattern or Illusion spells also go through objects like walls? If they don't, is it possible to 'net' Continual Light? So you throw a large piece of leather over it and pull it in until you can contain it in a small area?

Looking forward to responses.

 

ps. How exactly does Hypnotic Pattern work? Is it a point in space where you create the light, does it emenate out from the caster, or can you create the Pattern anywhere within 30' and then anyone within range of that is affected? It's not very clear unfortunately.

I would not rule that Continual Light passes through walls. I have no idea whether that ruling is supported by the exact wording, but light working like light seems to clearly be the intent. 

Continual Light does emanate from a point. It does not pass through walls or obstacles that block light. It can be contained. For instance, if you cast Continual Light on a coin, and then put the coin in an opaque bag, you will conceal the Light (though if the bag is thin-skinned it might radiate through; think of a flashlight under the covers).

The Hypnotic Pattern is created around the caster. Creatures that see it within 30' are affected.

 

Thanks for the reply Alex. It's how I thought it would work (it's how most human beings would create something like that) and it doesn't mean that if you use the spell you're followed by a really weird halo whenever you go into town.

Thanks for the clarification on Hyptontic Pattern, turns out it's a spell with a lot of restrictions (I'm assuming that allies are included in the creatures within 30').

You're welcome! Yes, with Hypnotic Pattern, your allies are also effected. For best results they need to be elsewhere, or averting their gaze. The rules for averting your gaze from medusas work well in this regard.