Shield-Spell: Does it grant its protective effects to attacks from all directions?

[Xhanthan]

Hi!

As I was picking my spells for my Sorcerer, I stumbled across this question regarding the spell shield, which I am not really sure how to answer my self...

Thie description of Shield states, that “an invisible shield of force that hovers in front of you” is created. This force shield “negates magic missile attacks directed at you” as well, as it “provides a +4 shield bonus to AC”, which also “applies against incorporeal touch attacks, since it is a force effect”.

My question is,
(option 1) whether it provides its protective effects against attacks from all directions,
or
(option 2) does it only provide this protection against attacks from the front, regarding the description "...that hovers in front of you"?

I would tend to argue the 2nd option. Not just because it says so in the description, but also because this would make the spell differ more from the mage armor spell.
In case of option 1 I think shield would be way more powerful than mage armor - the only advantage of mage armor would be, that you can cast it on anyone other than your self.

thanks for any answers in advance!

Xhanthan

[Kalindlara]

Officially, it works like example #1. In Pathfinder, your "front" is considered to be omnidirectional. (On an unrelated note, this is one of the main issues with Stealth in the system.)

That said, I've seen it done another way - it doesn't apply against flanking. That was interesting and easy to adjudicate. ^_^

[wraithstrike]

The game does not really have facing, so it protects you from all angles.

Facing is not in the game on purpose, so that things are less complicated.

Many things in the rules are written not just as a rule but for descriptive purposes.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

It operates like a physical shield, which protects you from all directions.

[Blakmane]

Pathfinder has no facing, so the shield spell protects you from all directions.

Note that shield has a duration of minutes/level while mage armour has a duration of hours/level. This actually makes mage armour a better spell than shield in most situations (although both at once is even better!).

[Mulgar]

Mage armor in general is better. Mage armor doesn't protect against magic missle.

Shield protects against magic missle

[Xhanthan]

Thanks for the quick response!

I guess it technically makes sense, but I was hoping the ruling on this would be more diverse somehow... but again, thanks for the answers!^^

[Johnny_Devo]

As a magus player, shield is definitely better.

Most likely because the Shield bonus stacks with my armor's Armor bonus, while mage armor does not.

But anyway, people are definitely correct. With the nebulous lack of "facing" in this game, a shield spell will protect you at all angles. The general idea is that in the same amount of time it takes someone to swing at you, you also can react to move the shield in front of the attack, which is the general flavor of your AC in the first place. When flanked, you can still turn to try and block an attack, but it's more difficult because there's a possibility that you were 180 from him, and you're pressured on both sides.

Overall, I think that including facing rules would have you end up with a lot more situations where it doesn't make sense.