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So tower shield affects most attacks as
"You gain total cover for attacks that pass through this edge and no cover for attacks that do not pass through this edge (see Combat). The shield does not, however, provide cover against targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell on you by targeting the shield you are holding."Here are my assumptions: correct as needed :D
You are treating yourself as being in a square and one of the 4 sides which you choose, you cannot be attacked from(ie total cover).Fireball:
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. So it doesn't require line of sight just distance and height?So effectively the fireball could be placed directly above the person using the tower shield and bypass it?
Technically no (the way you wrote it), since the fireball has to be placed on a grid intersection and a player stands inside the square, but the reality is yes. You may target a grid intersection behind a player in order to remove their cover from the fireball.
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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Yes, you can target a Fireball above person behind a Tower Shield.
Per the spell description (pg. 283 of the core rulebook):
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst.
A Fireball can be targeted at any point in space within the spell's range, regardless of grid lines. While it is easier to place a fireball on a grid intersection from an AOE perspective when using a battlemat, there is nothing in the RAW to indicate this to be necessary. You'll just have to break out the area of effect templates or a good old fashioned ruler if you don't target a grid line.
As for the effects of cover, remember, Fireball is an area of effect spell. It doesn't target anything, so cover is not useful against it (aside from a possible bonus to your Reflex save, at GM discretion) as AC is meaningless when a Fireball is heading your way.
Hope this helps!
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Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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The obvious choices are feats that help improve saving throws, such as Iron Will, Great Fortitude, and Lightning Reflexes. Reach weapons and readied actions are also nice for disrupting spells. You might also consider taking anything that gives you better chance at avoiding AOE spells (such as improving DEX as you move up levels), enchantment/charm spells (improving WIS) or spells targeting CON.
Aside from these suggestions from the Core Rulebook (not counting magic items per your request), I can't think of any other options for you.
Hope this help!
Having a spell resistance can be entirely negative if a party member is trying to heal you as I dont believe you can volunteer to fail a spell resist check.I've always been under the impression you can do that, just like you can volunteer to fail a save.
No. Turning off your spell resistance for 1 round is a standard action.
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Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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Having a spell resistance can be entirely negative if a party member is trying to heal you as I dont believe you can volunteer to fail a spell resist check.I've always been under the impression you can do that, just like you can volunteer to fail a save.
Correct.
Per page 217 of the Core Rulebook:
A creature with spell resistance must voluntarily lower the resistance (a standard action) to be affected by such spells without forcing the caster to make a caster level check.
So, your creatures with Spell Resistance can lower their SR if they need magical healing.
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Yes, you can target a Fireball above person behind a Tower Shield.
Per the spell description (pg. 283 of the core rulebook):
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst.
A Fireball can be targeted at any point in space within the spell's range, regardless of grid lines.
What you quoted is flavor text. Flavor text cannot and will not ever trump basic rules. According to page 214 of the Core Rulebook under area, "The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection."
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Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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the fireball may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.
How is this determined?
Does this mean it will fill a void and curl around barriers or does it just radiate basically outline what ever is stopping it. The tower shield could be seen as a barrier could it not?
The spell text does not say the spell always stops at a barrier, only that it results in "an early detonation", and the damage would continue beyond the barrier if enough damage was done to shatter or break the barrier. How the fireball would react to things behind barriers that were not destroyed or into a void would be up to GM interpretation.
Based on the Tower Shield example, I would rule the Fireball would do its damage to the Tower Shield and do its damage to the person behind it, as the AOE of the Fireball is larger than the surface area of the Tower Shield and the Tower Shield is not effective against fire damage. I don't view the Tower Shield as a barrier, as it is not large enough to cover the entire fireball blast the way a wall or ceiling would.
Since shields and armor do not provide DR to the wielder/wearer, and cover only provides a bonus to AC, damage will be done equally to all persons and objects within the spells AOE.
Now, other GMs may rule that the Tower Shield must be destroyed before damage can be done to the wielder (effectively treating the Tower Shield as a barrier, as you suggest), especially if the wielder is completely underneath the shield or has the Tower Shield between himself and the blast when the Fireball goes off. This is definitely the GM's prerogative, but one I don't particularly agree with.
However, in the end, I don't think either option is technically "incorrect", as there is no hard and fast rule for this in the spell.
To me as a caster, though, the whole point is moot, as it would be silly to target the front of the Tower Shield with the Fireball when you can just as easily cast it 5 feet above the PC, or behind the PC, where the Tower Shield won't provide any cover at all.
YMMV.
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Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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What you quoted is flavor text. Flavor text cannot and will not ever trump basic rules. According to page 214 of the Core Rulebook under area, "The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection."Yes, you can target a Fireball above person behind a Tower Shield.
Per the spell description (pg. 283 of the core rulebook):
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst.
A Fireball can be targeted at any point in space within the spell's range, regardless of grid lines.
Good point. However, my point is still relevant, as the grid intersection is 3 dimensional, so you can still target a grid intersection point above and behind the tower shield, negating the cover. It's a Fireball, not a Firedome.
the fireball may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.
How is this determined?
Does this mean it will fill a void and curl around barriers or does it just radiate basically outline what ever is stopping it. The tower shield could be seen as a barrier could it not?
The spell text does not say the spell always stops at a barrier, only that it results in "an early detonation", and the damage would continue beyond the barrier if enough damage was done to shatter or break the barrier. How the fireball would react to things behind barriers that were not destroyed or into a void would be up to GM interpretation.
Based on the Tower Shield example, I would rule the Fireball would do its damage to the Tower Shield and do its damage to the person behind it, as the AOE of the Fireball is larger than the surface area of the Tower Shield and the Tower Shield is not effective against fire damage. I don't view the Tower Shield as a barrier, as it is not large enough to cover the entire fireball blast the way a wall or ceiling would.
Since shields and armor do not provide DR to the wielder/wearer, and cover only provides a bonus to AC, damage will be done equally to all persons and objects within the spells AOE.
Now, other GMs may rule that the Tower Shield must be destroyed before damage can be done to the wielder (effectively treating the Tower Shield as a barrier, as you suggest), especially if the wielder is completely underneath the shield or has the Tower Shield between himself and the blast when the Fireball goes off. This is definitely the GM's prerogative, but one I don't particularly agree with.
However, in the end, I don't think either option is technically "incorrect", as there is no hard and fast rule for this in the spell.
Actually, I'm sorry, there is a hard and fast rule for Fireball, as there is for almost all spells with Areas of Effect.
Fireball
School evocation [fire]; Level sorcerer/wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a ball of bat guano and sulfur)
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes
... ...
...If the damage caused to an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the fireball may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.
Emphasis Mine
The Bolded text defines the Fireball AoE as a Spread.
Area: Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.
...
Burst, Emanation, or Spread: Most spells that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the spell's point of origin and measure its effect from that point.A burst spell affects whatever it catches in its area, including creatures that you can't see. It can't affect creatures with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don't extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst's area defines how far from the point of origin the spell's effect extends.
An emanation spell functions like a burst spell, except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin for the duration of the spell. Most emanations are cones or spheres.
A spread spell extends out like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin, and the spell spreads out a given distance in all directions. Figure the area the spell effect fills by taking into account any turns the spell effect takes.
Thus, Fireball turns corners, so being behind a tower shield is not usually any protection against the effects of the spell. If Fireball had an AoE defined as a 20 foot radius Burst, then the tower shield would protect whoever was behind it provided that the fireball didn't destroy the shield. The limited case where a Tower Shield would protect from a Fireball is in the case of a bottleneck, for instance, in a 5 foot wide hallway. If the Fireball explodes in front of the Shield, since the Shield provides Total Cover in that direction, if the Fireball doesn't destroy the shield, its progress is stopped by the barrier.
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Good point. However, my point is still relevant, as the grid intersection is 3 dimensional, so you can still target a grid intersection point above and behind the tower shield, negating the cover. It's a Fireball, not a Firedome.What you quoted is flavor text. Flavor text cannot and will not ever trump basic rules. According to page 214 of the Core Rulebook under area, "The point of origin of a spell is always a grid intersection."Yes, you can target a Fireball above person behind a Tower Shield.
Per the spell description (pg. 283 of the core rulebook):
You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst.
A Fireball can be targeted at any point in space within the spell's range, regardless of grid lines.
That's true enough. The conversation was semantics to start with, of course.
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I have never liked that explanation for Tower Shields since 3.0, where the reasoning for Total Cover came from. It was copy/pasted over from the 3.0 FAQ to 3.5, except that WotC seemed to forget that a significant rule changed between the new rules, 3.0 useed Facing while in 3.5 implemented that all creatures instead "face" all directions at any given time. Having Tower Shield grant cover to only 1 direction pretty much makes the Tower Shield worthless even to the things it is obviously intended for like blocking archers or ignoring a dragons breath weapon.
Hmmm, I was always under impression that fireball is burst not spread. It must be fault of flavor text using word burst. Well, one learns all his life... Hopefully.
I think that 3.0 granted evasion-like effect with 75% or 90% cover which was provided by tower shield. Or something like that.
I have never liked that explanation for Tower Shields since 3.0, where the reasoning for Total Cover came from. It was copy/pasted over from the 3.0 FAQ to 3.5, except that WotC seemed to forget that a significant rule changed between the new rules, 3.0 useed Facing while in 3.5 implemented that all creatures instead "face" all directions at any given time. Having Tower Shield grant cover to only 1 direction pretty much makes the Tower Shield worthless even to the things it is obviously intended for like blocking archers or ignoring a dragons breath weapon.
The Tower Shield used for 1 side of cover is not at all unreasonable, since it does grant Total Cover against a number of attacks, including arrows from far enough away (the further away the archer, the more he has to move to get around to a side of the character that isn't protected by the Tower Shield, and that movement is in place of additional arrows he could be firing), as well as any Burst AoEs that don't damage the shield enough to destroy it. Most useful, though, is the ability to use it for cover at a doorway or other choke point. And, of course, one of the alternate class options for Fighter in the APG provides extra utility to a Fighter wielding a Tower Shield. And then there's always the enterprising character who grabs up a Tower Shield and uses it as a snowboard, makeshift bridge, foxhole cover, or in some other crazy idea.
I remember one group sending the Illusionist and the Paladin with a Tower Shield into one part of the basement with a pair of Immovable Rods that were Sovereign Glued to the shield. The Paladin traded a few blows with the guards and beat a retreat to where the Illusionist had already set up an Illusion of the Paladin. The Illusionist then proceeded to activate the Rods while the Paladin actually held the shield, then the two of them withdrew covered in Illusion, leaving behind a Ghost Sounds spell to make the Illusion of the paladin holding the shield work better. The guards rallied against the intrusion but couldn't budge the shield for the longest time, giving the heroes enough time to sneak in another door. Of course, the guards eventually saw through the trick and confronted the party, but it was a great use of a tower shield in a choke point.