Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Harmor 09-23-04, 03:03 AM	I'm looking at basically making a spell that give total cover on one size of a square like a tower shield does when it goes total cover. But I want the 'wall' to move with the caster and be able to concentrate to move the 'wall' to a different side of his square. For example: Cast the spell and this 'portable wall' that gives total cover appears on the side of his square. Would this be too powerful to allow a caster to have one of these 'walls' up to protect against melee attacks? Please help with the mechanics.
kSquared 09-23-04, 09:11 AM	3.5 gave up the "sides" mechanic. You're considered to be actively defending, so with a tower shield you get cover from any side if you choose to use it that way (by giving up your attacks). A 1-square wall that gives total cover is effectively a wimped wall of stone, though the fact that you'd be able to move it makes a bit more powerful. Maybe level 3? We'd have to see the spell.
DemonMonkeyBoy 09-23-04, 09:53 AM	Improved Shield Abjuration [Force] Level: Sor/Wiz 2 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Personal Target: You Duration: 1 min./level (D) Improved Shield creates a visible, tower shield-sized mobile disk of force that hovers in front of you. It negates magic missile attacks directed at you. The disk also provides a +4 shield bonus to AC. However, you can instead use it as total cover, though you must give up your attacks to do so. When using total cover the disk takes the form of a bubble, to surround you on all sides. This bonus applies against incorporeal touch attacks, since it is a force effect. The shield has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance. The shield does not, however, provide cover against targeted spells, except as noted above. :b: That is how I would do it. The parts in bold are whats different from shield.
Huan 09-23-04, 10:25 AM	This one isn't bad either (since is the start of a chain of spells <- I'm ignoring Slapping Hand when I say that): Interposing Hand Evocation [Force] Level: Sor/Wiz 5 Components: V, S, F Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Effect: 10-ft. hand Duration: 1 round/level (D) Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: Yes Interposing hand creates a Large magic hand that appears between you and one opponent. This floating, disembodied hand then moves to remain between the two of you, regardless of where you move or how the opponent tries to get around it, providing cover (+4 AC) for you against that opponent. Nothing can fool the hand—it sticks with the selected opponent in spite of darkness, invisibility, polymorphing, or any other attempt at hiding or disguise. The hand does not pursue an opponent, however. An interposing hand is 10 feet long and about that wide with its fingers outstretched. It has as many hit points as you do when you’re undamaged, and its AC is 20 (–1 size, +11 natural). It takes damage as a normal creature, but most magical effects that don’t cause damage do not affect it. The hand never provokes attacks of opportunity from opponents. It cannot push through a wall of force or enter an antimagic field, but it suffers the full effect of a prismatic wall or prismatic sphere. The hand makes saving throws as its caster. Disintegrate or a successful dispel magic destroys it. Any creature weighing 2,000 pounds or less that tries to push past the hand is slowed to half its normal speed. The hand cannot reduce the speed of a creature weighing more than 2,000 pounds, but it still affects the creature’s attacks. Directing the spell to a new target is a move action. Focus: A soft glove.
Harmor 09-23-04, 01:44 PM	3.5 gave up the "sides" mechanic. You're considered to be actively defending, so with a tower shield you get cover from any side if you choose to use it that way (by giving up your attacks). A 1-square wall that gives total cover is effectively a wimped wall of stone, though the fact that you'd be able to move it makes a bit more powerful. Maybe level 3? We'd have to see the spell.Read the FAQ. Tower shield, when used for total cover, have "sides".
UltimateGnome 09-23-04, 01:54 PM	ummm. tower shields give total cover in all directions in 3.5. go ahead and post a link to this FAQ if you still think this.
d_nychus 09-23-04, 02:08 PM	D&D Main FAQ (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a) It's in .pdf format, but here is what is says. Total cover prevents any attack against you. You can use a tower shield to get total cover if you give up all your attacks. What does 'give up all your attacks' mean? Can you move while getting total cover from the shield? Can you cast a spell? Also, do you get total cover from all directions or from just one side of your square? Will the total cover from a tower shield negate spell effects? Will it negate attacks of opportunity from movement or from other actions such as spellcasting? Will it prevent charge attacks against you? What about bull rush attacks? Can it prevent grapple attacks or snatch attacks? Will it stop fear effects, gaze attacks, or clouds of poison gas? Will it defeat traps? To claim total cover from a tower shield, you must use a standard action. The tower shield rules don't say that, but that's what they mean. Since you can only take one standard action each round, you cannot also attack, cast a spell, activate a magic item (except for some use-activated items), use a special ability, use total defense, or start or complete a full-round action during the same round you claim total cover from the shield. You can, however, take a move action before or after you claim cover from the shield. Like other kinds of cover, the shield has to have a location relative to you on the battlefield. When you use the shield for cover, choose one edge of your space (not a corner). You have total cover against any attack's line of effect that passes through that side of your space. If an attack's line of effect goes through the corner of the side of your space that the shield blocks, you get cover from the shield (+4 AC, +2 on Reflex saves) instead of total cover. If an attack's line of effect passes through a side of your space that the shield does not block, you get no cover from the shield at all. To determine where the line of effect enters your space, draw a line from the attacker's center to your center. Or, in the case of a magical effect, from the effect's point of origin and your center. Once you claim cover from the shield, the shield keeps blocking the side of your space that you chose until the beginning of your next turn, when you can again decide whether you'll use the shield for cover. Once you choose the side of your space that the shield blocks, you cannot change it until your next turn. You continue to threaten the area around you while you use the shield for cover; however, it provides your opponents with the same benefits you get. You cannot make attacks through the side of your space that the shield blocks, and should you attack through the corners of that space, your foe gets cover against your attack. Since cover of any kind prevents attacks of opportunity (see page 151 in the Player's Handbook), the shield keeps you from making attacks of opportunity in a pretty wide swath. Total cover or cover from a tower shield has the following effects in different situations: • Magical Attacks: A tower shield's effects on magical attacks depend on the kind of magical attack. Any attack aimed at your equipment is aimed at you. If a magical attack has you as a specific target (that is it does not merely affect the area that contains you but is aimed right at you), the shield has no effect. All rays fall into this category, as does any spell that has a Target entry in its header and any spell that has an Effect entry and affects creatures (provided, of course, that the attacker can and does choose the shield user as a target). Magical attacks that fill areas (bursts, cones, cylinders, lines, emanations, and spreads) are subject to all the rules for cover on page 151 of the Player's Handbook. Such attacks are completely blocked if line of effect between you and the attack's point of origin passes through the side of your space the shield blocks. You get cover (+4 AC, +2 on Reflex saves) if the magical attack's line of effect passes through the corner of the blocked side. Spread effects reach around the shield if they normally would extend into your space, but you still get a Reflex save bonus for cover when they do. A gaze attack is blocked if the shield would give you total cover against attacks from the creature with the gaze attack. If the shield gives you cover only, you're still subject to the gaze attack (although you could avert or close your eyes to avoid the attack). • Attacks of Opportunity: As noted earlier, cover or total cover prevents attacks of opportunity. So you could, for example, hunker down behind a tower shield and pick up a weapon or rummage around in a backpack and avoid attacks of opportunity against you. If you're moving while using the shield for cover, things get a little more complicated. You must determine whether the shield gives you cover (or total cover) at the point during your movement when you'd normally provoke an attack of opportunity. Remember that attacks of opportunity are usually resolved before the actions that provoke them. In many cases, the shield won't be positioned correctly to protect you during your whole move. • Charging and Bull Rushing: Opponents can charge you while you claim cover from the shield. An opponent moves as normal when charging you, moving to the closest square from which a melee attack normally would be possible. If the shield gives you total cover from the attack, the attack automatically fails. Foes can bull rush you normally, moving right into your space in spite of the shield. You normally get an attack of opportunity against someone entering your space, but not if the shield gives your foe cover or total cover. • Grapple and Snatch Attacks: Total cover from a tower shield blocks such attacks (the foe just can't get hold of you). The foe could, however grab the shield. Conduct such attacks just like any other grapple or snatch attack. Your foe can't damage you unless he pins you first. You can escape the foe's hold simply by dropping the shield (a standard action since its strapped to your arm), so long as the foe has not pinned you. • Traps: Cover or total cover from a tower shield is just as effective against a trap as it is against any other attack. Not that I agree with it, or think it's good mechanics, but that IS what is in the official FAQ.
Heron_Marked_Blade 09-23-04, 02:09 PM	You'll probably want to specify that "attacks" includes spellcasting. I know the FAQ states that "all attacks" includes standard actions, but stating in your spell that you have to give up your standard action will be much more clear than sending someone to the FAQ to look up the information.
kSquared 09-23-04, 02:30 PM	I stand corrected. Thanks for the link, d_nychus.
d_nychus 09-23-04, 02:49 PM	No problem. Sorry if that is a little hard to read, but I didn't feel that reformating the whole thing was really needed. Personally, I would prefer the ruling not to have any sort of facing, but I also am at a loss of what I would rule as well.
UltimateGnome 09-23-04, 03:06 PM	Well, in my campaigns people will be recieving total cover in all directions, but can't make any attacks, except maybe for that quicken spell before they declare. They will still threaten for the benefit of flanking but will not have any AoO. "Stupid" facing rules only complicate and slow down the game. thanks for the FAQ entry