Wild Shape and Ice Armor


Rules Questions


Hello everyone,

Recently, I've stumbled across the spell Ice Armor, and I'm curious how it works with regards to Arcane Spell Failure and Proficiency.

Ice Armor:
You create a suit of armor made of ice. While cold to the touch, it does not harm the wearer, especially if worn over normal clothing (though it can hasten the effects of exposure in cold environments). It offers the same protection as a breastplate, except it has hardness 0 and 30 hit points. If the intended wearer is immersed in water when you cast this spell, you may form the armor around the wearer (who may be you); otherwise the wearer must don the armor normally. Attacks against the wearer that create heat or fire degrade the armor, reducing its armor bonus by 1 for every 5 points of fire damage the wearer takes; when the armor's bonus to AC reaches 0, the armor is destroyed and the spell ends. Because the ice is slightly buoyant, the wearer gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Swim checks, except when swimming downward. Druids can wear ice armor without penalty.

So, a few questions:


  • Do you need medium armor proficiency to wear this without penalty?
  • Do you suffer the usual spell failure chance?
  • Can a druid wild shape into a tiger, then cast the spell to be wearing a breastplate?

The main reason for my confusion is the phrase: "It offers the same protection as a breastplate". Nowhere is it stated that it has the other benefits/drawbacks of breastplate.

Thoughts?


I'd treat it as a standard metal breastplate that fits the wearer in all respects except where stated. So my answers would be yes to all three questions.

A more literal reading would be that it does nothing except what's stated, in which case it has no weight and no ACP, which seems implausible.

Liberty's Edge

The answer to your third question is only "yes" if your character is immersed in water while casting the spell. Otherwise, it will create a standard (i.e. humanoid-shaped) breastplate made of ice, which would not fit your tiger form.


It would be awkward donning it, but it's legal.
It even says you can wear it without penalty, I presume that goes beyond the whole not metal thing.


baradakas wrote:
The answer to your third question is only "yes" if your character is immersed in water while casting the spell. Otherwise, it will create a standard (i.e. humanoid-shaped) breastplate made of ice, which would not fit your tiger form.

I don't see anything in the text to support that. I would expect the caster to be able to make it to fit the desired recipient. Would you allow me use the spell to make armor for a small-sized PC? If so, why not barding for a larger creature? (Even if they'd need an friend to help them don it.)


master_marshmallow wrote:

It would be awkward donning it, but it's legal.

It even says you can wear it without penalty, I presume that goes beyond the whole not metal thing.

The fact that it specifies druids implies to me that it's only referring to the "Cannot wear metal part". However, simply stating "Without penalty" can be theoretically extended to wearing it even if you are not proficient.

Overall, it's pretty poor wording, but having it act as anything besides a regular breastplate might be a bit too powerful, considering the 1 hour/level casting time and the benefit druids already get.


It's an undefined 'armor' with the same protection as a breastplate, specific hardness and hp, and a special rule about donning. That's it. It doesn't say it *is* a breastplate, or that it has the proficiency requirements of a breastplate, or anything else to that effect, so it doesn't. The part about Druids wearing it is just redundant reassurance, considering that it's obviously not made of metal.

Liberty's Edge

I would make an assumption that the spells creates armor of standard PC sizes, small and medium humanoid. Yes, the wording does not say anything about side, but then is can make colossal armor, make custom barding for an ancient white dragon friend. Intent is just humanoid armor for a PC. It is not particularly well written and left huge gaping holes in interpretation. It would have been better had they said "This armor is effectively a standard breastplate."


Not much sign of consensus here...

Looking at the actual spell description I notice:
(a) It's a level 1 spell that lasts 1 hour per caster level.
(b) It requires 5 gallons of water as a component.

5 gallons of water weigh 50lbs. That implies that the armor is made of that water and weighs as much. This is more than a regular breastplate (which is reasonable because ice isn't as strong as metal).

In that context it would be reasonable to rule, if you think that creating armor for a larger creature is beyond the scope of a level 1 spell with high duration, that the armor has a maximum size based on the components and therefore it can make it for a smaller recipient but not a larger one.

I'm still not convinced that such a heavy suit of armor would have 0 ACP or ASF though I can't see anything in RAW to contradict the idea.

In terms of game balance, how does this compare to Mage Armor (which is in itself a pretty good spell)? Mage Armor has no ACP or ASF and works on any shape or size of creature. Ice Armor has:
50% better protection.
Somewhat awkward components.
Doesn't provide protection from incorporeal touch attacks.
Harmed by fire.

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