How does Shield work in 3 dimensions?

[AuraSeer]

This has been argued before, but... I disagree with the foregoing. The fact that it doesn't state it's good for 3D means there is no reason to presume that it is.

Well, I disagree with your disagreement. I doubt either of us will convince the other, so I'll just tell you my own reasoning and leave it at that.

First off, even though the game is played on a 2d map, a 'battlefield' is not a 2d surface. Even ground-bound creatures exist in a threespace. To my mind, "half the battlefield" implicitly means "half the three-dimensional space in which the battle is occurring." In the absence of an explicit rule one way or the other, each of our initial impressions are equally valid.

The spell does explicitly state that it's "in front of you".

I view that as flavor text, since it doesn't mean anything in rules terms. Since there is no such thing as facing, you do not have a "front" at all. It's impossible to put the shield in a nonexistent direction, so the bit about being "in front of you" is a void statement, and can be ignored.

The language about "half the battlefield" must presume a battlemap-type combat field in 2D. The Sage's expansion and graphics for these rules in Dragon magazine make no exception for position the shield above the caster.

That's because the huge majority of battles are fought on the ground. When you're explaining a rule's basic operation to someone who doesn't understand it, you do not throw in unnecessary complexities. Especially not when that would at least triple the number of required diagrams.

Anyway, as you say, this has all been argued before. I won't tell you how to run your game, if you don't tell me how to run mine.

 

[LokiDR]

Times past?

I'm looking here at AC 2 vs hand-hurled missiles, AC 3 vs small device-propelled missiles, and AC 4 vs all other forms of attack... providing they originate from in front of the caster, where the shield can move to interpose itself properly.

-Hyp.

You know, since I started 3e, I have flushed 2e out of my brain. I never liked casters in that system anyway

 

[Hypersmurf]

You know, since I started 3e, I have flushed 2e out of my brain. I never liked casters in that system anyway

2e? Bah. I know not this 2e of which you speak.

I skipped straight from 1e to 3e.

-Hyp.

 

[AuraSeer]

1e? What's that? Does the E stand for "Elf"? That was my favorite character class....

 

[LokiDR]

1e? What's that? Does the E stand for "Elf"? That was my favorite character class....

LOL.

I don't remember many elf class characters taking shield either.

 

[Destil]

This has been argued before, but... I disagree with the foregoing. The fact that it doesn't state it's good for 3D means there is no reason to presume that it is.

The spell does explicitly state that it's "in front of you". The language about "half the battlefield" must presume a battlemap-type combat field in 2D. The Sage's expansion and graphics for these rules in Dragon magazine make no exception for position the shield above the caster.

By this logic the fact that thretened area and flanking section in PH 122 would mean that flanking won't work in 3D, while it's stated in the aerial combat section that it does. Or you wouldn't be able to cast a spell like hold person on anything but a creatues on a flat plane around you since there's no rules stating that the range listings work in the third dimention.

In general the rules are stated with reguard to 2D, but that's just because most combats don't take place in 3D. Clearly once this becomes an issue things don't change much, you just need to consider the complexity the third dimention adds.

3D does have a minor issue that most creatures are taller than 5', making 5' cubes a bit problematic to work with. But in general you would extend a creatures 5' reach out into 27 (or 36, if you want to deal with the height descrepenicy) 5' cubes around a creature. A shield spell would be a plane that blocks off 9 cubes (one edge) from where you are, and anything that needs to travel through thoes cubes. So it could block off everything above you, below you, at a 45 degree angle from the ground, or even at some odd arc. For sanity I think I'd restrict it to 45 degree angles, myself.