Help with deflect arrows

[chilibean]

In my game, I am playing a Monk. Our DM has ruled that the Deflect Arrows ability I have will not work against boulders thrown by giants because they are too heavy to deflect.

Sounds fair enough to me. However, I have a ring of force shield. What would people think about the use of that to assist me with deflect arrows?

I know I need to have my hands free to deflect arrows, so normally you cannot use a shield. But this is a weightless invisible force field. So do you think I could attempt to deflect a thrown boulder with it?

I would think yes, since a normal shield still counts towards your armor class. Therefore a normal shield is effective protection, so this should be effective protection too. It's just a melee attack, not a touch attack.

Lastly, should I be able to deflect arrows (regular missles now, not giant rocks) more effectively than normal (ie. a +2 bonus to my reflex save, or some such), since I have this weightless shield to assist me?

What do you guys think? Am I just being whiny and trying to get an unfair advantage, or do you think it's reasonable?

 

[Rogue]

Yes, you are simply being too whiny. Whether or not that shield you carry is made by a diety, your strength is what's going to be lacking to deflect a missile hurled with such strength (speakin' of the giants boulder). I might even count it as negative mod, due to the increased area for the boulder to land on.

As for the bonus against standard missiles, then I would be willing to grant a +2 on a force bonus, similar to mage armor. It's not Reflex, as the shield is not increasing your speed, simply your area of deflection.

 

[Crothian]

I wouldn't allow any bonus to deflecrt arrow because of the force shield. First, the deflect arrows feat is easy to begin with, secondly, I think it's more of reaction. The force shield descroption is rather brief, but I think if you could use it for anything other then AC bonus it would have stated it.

 

[Gromm]

Consider this the boulder is coming at you at high speed. You instictively try to deflect it with your force shield. It plows through you and smashes you into the ground. The force shield however is unharmed.

Basically theres too mcuh velocity to be deflected by you. We wont get into the physics of it, but think of it like a bullet proof vest in a way. Great against bullets, but not so useful against say cars.

 

[Crothian]

That's a really good analogy. Basically, it comes down to a shield provides AC bonus, nothing else. d20 is pretty specific aon what can do what and they don't allow one thing to do too much. That whole balance thing in action.

 

[hong]

Trying to use a ring of force shield to deflect a giant's boulder kinda reminds me of Daffy Duck's disintegration-proof vest, in _Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century_.

 

[chilibean]

All of these arguments give the impression that the force shield is incapable to preventing you from taking damage from the thrown rock. By this logic a regular shield would also be incapable. If a big steel shield is incapable, then so is leather armor. So why do people still have a lower chance to take damage from the attack (ie. not be hit) when wearing leather armor?

So now your saying that a giants thown boulder should be logically a ranged touch attack, since nothing can withstand the force. If thats the case then fine, nothing will stop it. It's like shooting a ballista at a person, your armor means nothing, you're either in the way or you're not. Works for me.

But my argument is that either shields should work or they shouldn't. It seems dumb to me to allow a shield to work always EXCEPT when a monk trys to deflect it. The only difference is that the monk gets a second chance (once per round on a reflex save) to avoid it, whereas everyone else only gets the first chance to avoid damage (bonus to AC).

 

[Crothian]

First off, your mixing up 2 different things. Actually you are doing this twice. First, you are mixing up Defelct arrows bonuses with AC bonuses. Shields and armor provide AC bonuses, not defelct arrows bonuses. According to the game AC bonuses help against a thrown boulder at you. Deflect arrow bonuses are there to help deflect a ranged attack.

The second two things you are mixing up is game and reality. In game that plate mail pretcts you against the 2 ton boulder being thrown at you. In real life it hinders you because you need to get out of the way really really fast.

Game mechanics are simple and usually accurate in real life scenerios. However, there are plenty of examples that challenge the rule.

Also, note that you logic of a steel shield not being able to protect means leather won't protect is also wrong. Leather and steel protect well against different things. However, this complicates the game much more then most people (myself included) like.

The bottom line is you can't use you force shield to deflect attacks. It helps to protect you against attacks (meanin AC bonus) but deflect arrows is a reaction. You time your block just right so that the projectile bounces harmlessly away. You can't do that precision with a force shield. Sorry if you feel otherwise.

 

[chilibean]

Actually, that is fine. Simply say, for game balance it shouldn't be allowed. Cool.

If you claim it shouldn't be allowed because it is incapable of helping, then I would only ask for a reasonable explaination of why.