Mage Armor and Touch Attacks

[Plecak]

Hi guys,

Does the armor bonus provided by the Mage Armor spell count against touch attacks?

In my opinion it should, as armor made of force covers the whole subject, leaving no gaps like mundane armor does, in effect entirely isolating the individual. That is why it works against incorporeal attacks.

What is the official ruling on it?

Thanx in advance.

 

[Nail]

Does the armor bonus provided by the Mage Armor spell count against touch attacks?

Nope.

 

[Korak]

It does not protect against ordinary touch attacks, only incorporeal. Just as a regular touch attack doesn't have to hit a gap in your armor, touching your armor is good enough. Thus, no armor bonus vs touch attacks. It is the same with mage armor (and bracers of armor).

 

[Nail]

Remember, a touch attack has to do just that: touch you. It does not matter what part of "you" the touch hits, so being "completely encased in armor" is irrelevant.

 

[IcyCool]

It does, however, help against incorporeal touch attacks.

 

[Hellefire]

As far as I know only dex and deflection bonus, and size modifiers add to the base 10 for touch atacks. Hm, the DMG says everything EXCEPT armor, shield and natural ac bonuses count, so I guess other things may come into play.

Aaron

p.s. Where in Poland are you? I am near Poznan, and having a helle of a time finding players who speak English well enoguh to play.

 

[Plecak]

Thank you guys.

I think that the rules are pretty artificial and inconsistent here. What is, after all, the difference between touch attacks and touch attacks delivered by incorporeal creatures?

Aaron:
At the moment I am living in Nottingham, UK (a three year contract with the University). However, I was living in Poznan for ten years. Where exactly do you live? You might have a problem finding players in smaller towns. If you can make it to Poznan, try to contact guys (students or postdocs) from computer science at Poznan University of Technology. A plenty of geeks over there .

 

[pressedcat]

I think that the rules are pretty artificial and inconsistent here. What is, after all, the difference between touch attacks and touch attacks delivered by incorporeal creatures?

I think the difference is that an incorporeal attack simply passes through your armour etc since it is partially on another plane. Mage armour is a force effect and so aids in repelling the incorporeals attack, in the same way that magic missile is a force attack that can damage incorporeals.

On a slightly different vein, shield ward in the phb2 grants you your shield bonus to you touch ac, which i'm assuming will work against ethereal attacks, though i can't quite work out the logic on this... Still a cool ability

 

[Dracorat]

Thank you guys.

I think that the rules are pretty artificial and inconsistent here. What is, after all, the difference between touch attacks and touch attacks delivered by incorporeal creatures?

Aaron:
At the moment I am living in Nottingham, UK (a three year contract with the University). However, I was living in Poznan for ten years. Where exactly do you live? You might have a problem finding players in smaller towns. If you can make it to Poznan, try to contact guys (students or postdocs) from computer science at Poznan University of Technology. A plenty of geeks over there .

An incorporeal touch attack isn't really a touch attack. It's an attack with a creature's natural weapons and due to that creature being incorporeal, your armor is ignored except when it's mage armor. (A force effect).

On the other hand, if a ghost cast a real touch attack spell (like chill touch for example) and then attempted a touch attack, your mage armor still wouldn't help you then.

 

[Hellefire]

Thanks for the tip - I'll see if I can make some contacts at the PolyTech university. I'm in Murowana Goslina, about 15km North of Poznan. I work in Poznan and go there most days anyway. Drop me an email at aaronblairak@yahoo.co.uk or hellefire@interia.pl sometime and we can chat that way.

Aaron