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I have a quick rules question.
A wizard has the Mage Armor spell and the Shield Spell active. Lets assume this wizard has a Dex of 10, and those spells are his only defensive measures.
In one round he is attacked by a wraith, A cleric with the Repose Doman who is attempting to use his domain ability Gentle Rest, and finally by a sorcerer who has cast Scorching Ray at him ( the sorcerer has Point blank and Precise shot feats)
My question is this: How does the Mage Armor spell and shield spell protect against
1) The wraith’s incorporeal touch?
2) The cleric making a Melee touch attack using his domain power?
3) The sorcerer casting the scorching ray spell making a ranged touch attack?
Thanks.
Magical or mundane armor and shield bonuses do not protect against touch attacks. So by that same logic platemail and a tower shield are similarly useless.
I have a quick rules question.
A wizard has the Mage Armor spell and the Shield Spell active. Lets assume this wizard has a Dex of 10, and those spells are his only defensive measures.
In one round he is attacked by a wraith, A cleric with the Repose Doman who is attempting to use his domain ability Gentle Rest, and finally by a sorcerer who has cast Scorching Ray at him ( the sorcerer has Point blank and Precise shot feats)
My question is this: How does the Mage Armor spell and shield spell protect against
1) The wraith’s incorporeal touch?
2) The cleric making a Melee touch attack using his domain power?
3) The sorcerer casting the scorching ray spell making a ranged touch attack?
Thanks.
Let's take a look at the RAW for the spells, shall we?
For the first, it says within the spell descriptions that the spells bonuses are force effects, meaning it accounts for ethereal attacks the same as it does corporeal attacks. In other words, the normal benefits of the spell applies as if the attack from the Wraith was affecting his standard AC, which is affected by the spell effects.
The second one is a physical touch attack, meaning that it can only be stopped by deflection, dodge, and dexterity bonuses (primarily). The force effects of the armor does not change the factor that the cleric only has to physically affect the character to entail the effects of the touch attack.
The third one is pretty much the same as the second in terms of explanation.
Hope that answers your question...
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Thank you for your answers.
I had thought force effects were proof against the conduction of many "magical" forms of energy, such as electricity, Fire, Cold, etc....and thus, such protection spells that employed force would help to deflect such attacks as a shocking grasp, or scorching ray etc so the armor bonus they provided would help against those spells.
Was I really off in left field thinking this?
Thanks
You were overthinking it ;)
Thank you for your answers.
I had thought force effects were proof against the conduction of many "magical" forms of energy, such as electricity, Fire, Cold, etc....and thus, such protection spells that employed force would help to deflect such attacks as a shocking grasp, or scorching ray etc so the armor bonus they provided would help against those spells.
Was I really off in left field thinking this?
Thanks
Yes and no.
Your thinking isn't too far-fetched; it has crossed my mind as well, if the spells would also be affected by the pure energy (spell) attacks, but the spells you mentioned don't affect the ability to outright avoid that kind of attack.
The spells only work in protecting an attack that can be treated as a normal attack (such as a Wraith, only bypass all basic protection through its ethereal composition, though both the creature and the spell are considered a spiritual type of power, the latter also able to affect both ethereal and corporeal).
In terms of an attack that easily bypasses the standard protection of armor, such as an attack that is entirely composed of energy damage, or has no elements affected by basic protection methods, the spell would not work because its composition and purpose affect something completely different than what the examples you listed, as per the RAW.
i dont think you are thinking to wrong, and it is always valid to ask any question
I appreciate that PF has little logic but in my 'imagination' it would seem valid that a magical shield of force should at least protect against a ranged touch attack....in my minds eye i visualise this.
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Again thanks for the answers.
Well when looking at Mage Armor, and Shield's higher level cousins, namely Otiluke's Resilliant Sphere, and Wall of force...those spells I believe stop such magical energies.
I do not believe a fire ball nor a lightning bolt, nor a Ice storm spell, nor acid arrow spell, will be able to penetrate the force effect, namely the sphere or wall, that those spells conjure up.
So I guess I assumed that the lower level spells provided some partial protection from those spells. (in the form of being proof against touch attacks)
Anyways, Thanks It is good to know what the Raw definition is...then in a home game you can decide how close to the baseline you want to hold things. Of course in a PFS game, you stick to the RAW.
The problem is you are calling them higher level cousins. That is like saying burning hands and incendiary cloud are cousins because they both use fire. They are very different spells.
- Gauss