The rules in 5E don't repeat themselves. Therefore, the chill touch spell still needs to meet the requirements of a targeted spell which includes "To target something, you must have a clear path to it".I also think it's too much work to have to read through the spell description fluff to determine whether it works or not. For example, I always thought of chill touch as a ghostly ray much like a low power disintegration.
So personally I would have a hard time being consistent basing rulings on fluff. I don't want to have to read through the description of every spell to see if it works.
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You always need a clear path to the target. If I can hit the target with an arrow (assuming range, etc) I can target it with a spell.
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