Mage armor provides an armor bonus. Shield provides a shield bonus. Because they are different bonuses (and cleverly named) they do stack.
Mage armor also lasts 1 hour/level. So you should have cast it before the encounter started.
I'll let others decide if it is worth it.
Yes, th stack. One is a shield bonus and one is an armor bonus. At level 2 i dont think the slots are worth it for shield as it just lasts two minutes, but mage armor is always a solid option.
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It's probably not worth two rounds. I'd use one or the other. If you use Mage Armor often outside of combat, or if you sneak around enough and know when danger is coming, you should be able to keep it on you most of the day, and use Shield once you go into battle, thus saving you a standard.
They do stack but shield is the less useful of the two as it has a much shorter duration but it does stop magic missiles cast at you so would probably be hood to keep on scroll as back up
Mage Armor is the staple defense for mages until level 13+. You should cast it well ahead of time and be walking around with it. Not until very late levels, when you've exhausted all your AC increasing tactics and finally start with Bracers+5 do you give up casting Mage Armor.
Shield is more specialized, being a big AC increaser and defense against magic missiles. If you're going up against incorporeal enemies, it is invaluable. Otherwise, you hopefully shouldn't need it most of the time, and can use that slot for something else.
==Aelryinth
Get yourself a lesser rod of extend spell, once you get to a decent level to afford it. Cast Mage Armor in the morning and you're good to go all day. Then your Mage Armor/Shield combo only takes one round to cast. But as Aelryinth said, you probably only need it in some more specific circumstances.
Yep alright. Cause casting mage armor sends me up to 20 AC. So ill bee good probably anyway.
Thanks guys
Primus
Ze alarm bells, zey ring!
A 2nd level wizard with a non-buffed AC of 16? Mind if I ask how?
Small character, Dex of 18 & Dodge feat? It could certainly be done...
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Yep alright. Cause casting mage armor sends me up to 20 AC. So ill bee good probably anyway.
Thanks guys
Primus
Ze alarm bells, zey ring!
A 2nd level wizard with a non-buffed AC of 16? Mind if I ask how?
Hm. sorry that would be 3rd level (+3 dex, +1 natural armor(bloodline), +2 lamellar cuirass.) 5% spell failure chance. although now tempest has me wondering if they stack or not.
The best armor bonus applies, they dont stack.
Wouldnt wear armor without arcane armor training. With +2 dex, mage armor and shield your ac is 20. Why go lower AND accept spell failure chance?
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basically 16 AC without having to use buff spells is preferable. id love to be wearing mithral parade armor because 5% fail is low i think and +3 no check penalty. My problem although it may not be much of one is that for arcane armor training it requires a swift action, and if thats no problem, i also need the light armor proficiency feat to get it.
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You don't need armor proficiency to wear armor. If you are not proficient, the ACP applies to your attack rolls. If you are using armor with an ACP of 0, there is no penalty. Or, if you are not bothering with attack rolls, or even if you are only making attacks vs touch AC, the penalty isn't that bad for most light armor, especially if its made out of mithral.
The Armor Expert trait can be invaluable for this, as it reduces the ACP of all armor by one.
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Yep, thats why im wearing lamellar +2 AC max dex +4 and Check Pen is -. the proficiency i mentioned is the prereq for arcane armor training. I dont want to spend two feats to lower my spell failure chance. i mean, if i were to do that and used an armor with 30% fail chance made it mithral and used Arcane armor master or whatever(making it 3 feats) i could send it to 0%. but by then i might want to use quicken spell. cause ill be high level enough. so swift action will be used elsewhere.
A sensible approach might be to walk around in your cuirass but if you know you are approaching danger, stop and take if off, then cast Mage Armor. Then you have your full AC and no spell fail chance for the next few hours.
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At very low levels the combination is solid. Because most non-boss mob's have low damage and low attack rolls, you can use this combo to literally wade into combat up until level 4 or so. After that you are soft and squishy enough to just hang back and blast, but since you have plenty of spells to cast, that works out well.
I play a teleportation conjurer who would wear this combo at low levels and draw his dagger and move up to a bad guy, then teleport behind him. This gave the rogue a sneak-attack buddy, and a flanking bonus.
As I go up in levels this will become less and less useful, because my chance to get hit goes up, but the relatively high AC of the combo was good for a few levels at least.
As a sorcerer, you probably want to keep both until you get bracers of ac 4 or better. You probably don't need the shield spell either - just take a wand of shield, and you can cast it in fights against other casters to protect against magic missile (or get a broach of shielding).
Ditch the armour and use the spell as it effects incorporal monsters attacks as well .
Scribe a few scrolls or buy a wand if you can afford it
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At level 2, you really should make a point of being tactically cautious, high AC is okay, not being near anything swinging is even better. I recognize you can't keep the attack to nearly nil, but at low levels, you should be fine in Mage Armor and dex, and forgo shield which doesn't have the duration. Especially as a sorcerer with limited spells known.
Mage armor and shield will always be best at low levels, mages dont wear armor for a reason :p