M_Natas
Hero
The problem with Shield, but also with Silvery Barbs, Luck feat and even to a part Counterspell is that the disrupt the order of play.It’s the problem though with a dms proffered method leading to a radically different power effect in game.
Some dms are happy to track every players AC and can just say “hit or miss”. Others prefer to call out the attack and let the players do the work of confirming it’s a hit or miss.
The fact that two very reasonable methods of play lead to a radically different power scale for a 1st level spell…might indicate the problem is with the spell
Like, Shield is literally a Time reverse spell, because it triggers when you are hit by an attack. So first you ate hit by the attack and retroactively you can decide, no, I don't wanna be hit by that attack. You are literally changing time with it. The same with Silvery Barbs.
Other spells or abilitites that are like "do this when the dice a rolled but not an outcome declared" are not much better, because you have to interrupt the game before people do the calculations in their head.
It interrupts the flow of the game and is quite bad game design.
At least Guiadance doesn't disrupted the essence of time and counterspell needs to be cast when a spell is cast (so even before any roll is done to determine if the spell was successful).