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The Brooch of shielding reads as follows:
Brooch of Shielding
Source Starfinder Armory pg. 110
Level 2; Price 1,000; Bulk —
Description
A piece of metal jewelry originally used to fasten a cloak, a brooch of shielding has a brilliantly colored jewel mounted in its center. The brooch counts as a worn magic item unless you install it in armor, taking up one upgrade slot. While worn, the brooch absorbs incoming force damage, which causes the jewel’s color to fade. Once the brooch absorbs 55 force damage, the colorless jewel crumbles to dust and the brooch becomes nonmagical.
The 3rd printing CRB errata basically went through and removed all instances of Force damage being a thing that exists. So, what does the brooch of shielding do now? Does it:
A. Block things the used to be force damage, if you have an old book to know what they are.
B. Block damage from any source with a force property or descriptor, including things that were never Force damage.
C. Do nothing.
Force damage is still a thing by the looks. I remember the broach from Pathfinder so I looked up the original use.
Magic Missile
You fire two missiles of magical energy that strike targets unerringly (the creatures must still be valid targets) and deal 1d4+1 force damage each. You can’t target specific parts of a creature, and objects are not damaged by the spell.
You can target a single creature or several creatures, but each missile can strike only one creature. You must designate targets before you attempt to overcome spell resistance or roll damage.
You can cast this spell as a full action. If you do, you fire three missiles instead of two.
Force Blast
You gather mystical energy and blast it outward in a mighty wave originating from your fingertips, damaging and potentially knocking back your enemies. This spell deals 2d6 force damage to each creature in the area unless it succeeds at a Reflex saving throw for half damage.
Additionally, the force from this spell effectively attempts to bull rush all creatures in the area. Attempt a single bull rush combat maneuver, using your caster level + your key ability score modifier as your attack bonus. Compare the result to each target’s KAC + 8. If you’re successful, that creature is knocked back 5 feet, plus 5 additional feet for every 5 by which your attack exceeds the creature’s KAC + 8. If there is an obstacle in the way, the creature stops at the obstacle instead.
So I would say it does as its description, blocks Force damage, now rather then only blocking Magic Missile it has a couple extra bits
In the 3rd printing of the CRB with errata, magic missile and force blast no longer do force damage.
Do apocalypse crystals still do force damage?
Apocalypse crystals never did Force damage. They do the same type as your weapon, they just cause your damage to be a force effect. The damage type is still B, P or S.
Is that errata somehow not on the site ? Or am I blind ?
Anyways, there are still a few other sources in force damage, in later sources of course. So... There's at least that.
But yes, I have to assume the brooch works on any damage tagged with the (force) descriptor.
It's either that or it slipped through the editing process and will be corrected eventually.
The changes to spells like magic missle and force blast aren't listed in the errata, no. They are changed in the CRB revision, though, if you look at a new book or current PDF version.
Magic Missile and Force Blast still have the (Force) descriptor.
What purpose does removing force damage serve?
It was most likely a clean up and unification. Starfinder had been moving to the model of "X damage, but with the force descriptor" with new gear and options, so this errata just made it so the remaining old spells followed the same model.
For the Brooch of Shielding, damage with the force descriptor seems uncommon enough that I think option B stays closest to the spirit of the item while keeping it useful and playing nice with the new rules. Option A takes historical knowledge while Option C makes the item useless, which no one wants.
My PDFs wasn't up to date.
Going with the general thoughts, apply it as reducing force descriptor weapons/effects.
Though personally, I never really liked the limited effect for the cost.
Not really seen it till now in Starfinder but in the first Pathfinder, I wasn't a fan
I do hope a brooch of shielding still works against Magic Missile otherwise one of my Starfinder Society characters wants her credits back!
So i lean towards B because how should we know what was changed without reading all the errata back and forth to not miss a single instance of force damage.