Force Fields, How do they work?

[Default 108]

I have a question about how Force Fields work and wanted some second opinions. Since it is described as an energy barrier and provides temporary hit points do the resistances and DR of the character it protects apply to the damage against the force field?

I.E. Arc pistol shot against a force field when the character has Electricity Resistance 5...would that reduce the damage while the forcefield is up or would it only reduce it when the field is down?

It's just such a weird thought to me since it seems like hitting a force field would not include the characters defenses since it's not hitting them technically. I just don't know.

[dragonhunterq]

linky
Pathfinder doesn't work in layers. It works in steps.
You only take damage after working out resistances and DR, so the forcefields temp hit points only kick in after that step.

Arc pistol gets it's damage reduced by 5 then takes HP off of the force field.

[Torbyne]

Based on this line in force field descriptions "All damage dealt to the wearer of a force field is subtracted from the temporary hit points it grants first" I would rule that this is a case where the force field is a separate pool that has no DR or resistances, damage is rolled and totaled, negating criticals per force field special rules, and applied against the field. If the field is collapsed by being reduced to 0 then the remaining damage is applied against the targeted character's DR or resistances before finally subtracting from their actual HP.