Bardic Spell Inspire Defense.

[wojorider]

"You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws, as well as resistance equal to half the spell’s level to physical damage."

With rounding am I reading that this correctly? cantrip does NOTHING for physical damage resistance UNTIL you cast it at level 2 ie when your character is at level 3 its cast at level 2. so 1/2 of 2 is 1.

[cavernshark]

wojorider wrote:

"You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws, as well as resistance equal to half the spell’s level to physical damage."

With rounding am I reading that this correctly? cantrip does NOTHING for physical damage resistance UNTIL you cast it at level 2 ie when your character is at level 3 its cast at level 2. so 1/2 of 2 is 1.

The earliest you can get inspire defense is level 4, when it would give you 1 resistance as you noted. There's no circumstance currently where that formula results in less than 1. At character level 7, it would be giving you 2 resistance and at 11 you'd be getting 3.

[Skojar]

This wouldn't be a bad deal, anyway. Compare with Abjuration Wizard's protective ward which costs focus and only gives the +1 AC over a smaller area.

[tivadar27]

Yeah, and the number of things that give status bonuses to AC can currently be counted on one hand :). I think it's a reasonably solid spell, even over Inspire Courage. It really depends on if you have more straight-up damage dealers or if the boost to AC/saves helps. Courage is going to be more effective in a battle against a single big-bad (more attack rolls than defense), and Defense is going to be better when you're fighting a bunch of creatures around your level, really.

[wojorider]

Thanks all for your help, I and my player missed that this was a composition cantrip acquired only via the feat.