A question about shield

[Wolfwood]

I know that the shield spell offers a cover bonus, but what I am having a hard time figuiring out is if cover helps against touch attacks. A guy I know keeps asking and I can't find the answer.

I know my answer is probably in a Dragon Magazine, but I don't have access to them all right now. I would appreciate any help.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

The short answer: yes it does.

The long answer: Touch attacks ignore armor bonusses and natural armor bonusses. That's it. They do not ignore other types of bonusses (including but not limited to cover, deflection, dodge, sacred, luck, etc). Except in one instance: Some ranged touch spells will ignore cover granted by a tower shield as specified in the tower shield's description.