Post/Author/DateTime	Post
isaac anthony 02-22-05, 11:40 PM	i was thinking about researching a variant on mage armor to change the bonus into "shield" rather than "armor" bonus. also, i was thinking +1ac per 2 caster levels (+5max), anyone see a problem with this?
GoodTeletubby 02-23-05, 12:48 AM	use the shield spell? Shield Abjuration [Force] Level: Sor/Wiz 1 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Personal Target: You Duration: 1 min./level (D) Shield creates an invisible, 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. 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. Unlike with a normal tower shield, you can’t use the shield spell for cover.
High Octane 02-23-05, 01:37 AM	i was thinking about researching a variant on mage armor to change the bonus into "shield" rather than "armor" bonus. also, i was thinking +1ac per 2 caster levels (+5max), anyone see a problem with this? Cause it would be worthless to low level characters. Mage armor already has trouble being only +4 AC and only lasting 1 hour per level. If you want to increase your AC over that you can add on the shield spell (Which stacks since it is a shield bonus) or use the complete arcane's Greater Mage Armor which is a 3rd level spell and is +6 to armor (otherwise identical)
Talchar 02-23-05, 03:49 AM	Cause it would be worthless to low level characters. Mage armor already has trouble being only +4 AC and only lasting 1 hour per level. If you want to increase your AC over that you can add on the shield spell (Which stacks since it is a shield bonus) or use the complete arcane's Greater Mage Armor which is a 3rd level spell and is +6 to armor (otherwise identical) One minor flaw. For some unknown reason the Greater Mage Armor spell has a material (not focus) component with a cost of 25 gp. (though I am betting one a desire to limit wands of greater mage armor ) The +1 AC per 2 levels with a +5 limit ? I would say no. Why? because then it would be better the Shield of Faith and as a rule, Cleric defensive spells are always better then wizard spells. I would make a scalable, stackable defensive wizard spell with a 1 hour per level duration, be in the 4th to 5 th level range. With the defense bonus beiing limited to +4 max. IMO wizards, suck on brute force defense spells. What a wizard does is use their spells in novel ways to keep safe. To get a +1 or +2 here and there, so that in the end the sum of their defenses is greater then the parts, but still is conditional, and most likely of short duration.
isaac anthony 02-23-05, 07:18 PM	One minor flaw. For some unknown reason the Greater Mage Armor spell has a material (not focus) component with a cost of 25 gp. (though I am betting one a desire to limit wands of greater mage armor ) The +1 AC per 2 levels with a +5 limit ? I would say no. Why? because then it would be better the Shield of Faith and as a rule, Cleric defensive spells are always better then wizard spells. I would make a scalable, stackable defensive wizard spell with a 1 hour per level duration, be in the 4th to 5 th level range. With the defense bonus beiing limited to +4 max. IMO wizards, suck on brute force defense spells. What a wizard does is use their spells in novel ways to keep safe. To get a +1 or +2 here and there, so that in the end the sum of their defenses is greater then the parts, but still is conditional, and most likely of short duration. right, i think GMA is a waste of $. i see your point with shield of faith, BUT: mage armor (the 1st level version) IS better than SOF until your cleric is 13th level... maybe if i worded it so it wasn't "stackable" with other spells? i think mage armor is a bit overpowered at lower levels, and underpowered at higher levels, that's why i like the +/level feature, and a shield bonus is more important to me that armor (because i already wear armor). i completely disagree with your last statement (there are plenty of high-powered arcane defence spells to prove my point).
Talchar 02-24-05, 01:14 AM	right, i think GMA is a waste of $. i see your point with shield of faith, BUT: mage armor (the 1st level version) IS better than SOF until your cleric is 13th level... maybe if i worded it so it wasn't "stackable" with other spells? i think mage armor is a bit overpowered at lower levels, and underpowered at higher levels, that's why i like the +/level feature, and a shield bonus is more important to me that armor (because i already wear armor). i completely disagree with your last statement (there are plenty of high-powered arcane defence spells to prove my point). Mage vs SOF: Mage armor is a Armor Bonus, Shield of Faith is Deflection Bonus. IMO Deflect bonuses are much better then armor bonus. And you prove the point with (because I already wear armor) With respect to your statement about high powered arcane defense spells. In the PHB there a 88 spells with a duration greater then 200 minutes. (Not counting the Instant spells like Wall of Iron and the like) Spells higher then 3rd level (65) None of them provide an AC Bonus on par with what you describe. So what spell are you refering too? [side note: please prove me wrong, it will help, I am writting a excel spreadsheet that runs comparitive analysis on all spells]