Mage Armor scaled up? or Where are the high-level abjurations?

[Stalker0]

Me problem is it seems like a lot of the AC boosters got weakened, while a lot of monster AC's went up some. The tanks aren't going away, but they do seem to be losing a bit.

 

[DM_Matt]

Barkskin now scales with level up to +5 (I think its level/3)

 

[RangerWickett]

You might also try putting something together from the Spell Templates in the back of Heroes of High Favor: Elves.

You DO have it, right RW?

Wulf

I'm one of those people commonly referred to as starving artists. Thankfully, I've got friends who I can mooch off of for food, so I'm not skinny; I just don't have money to buy anything. You think I'd spend so much time writing my own D20 books if I could afford the stuff everyone else writes? I mean, you guys are much better than me anyway. I'd rather be an artist; that's where the real money is. The last D&D book I bought was . . . Manual of the Planes, back over a year ago.

Anyway, lesse. . . . In the Psionics Handbook, 5th level power, Ectoplasmic Armor gives +10 armor bonus to AC, or 6th level power Shield of Prudence gives +6 insight bonus to AC, both for an hour per level. Now that I think about it, Mage Armor is an armor bonus too, so it doesn't stack well with existing armor. And I think they are changing Shield in 3.5e to just give +4 AC all around (but it probably will have a shorter duration and not protect against astral attacks).

I guess that a 9th level Abjuration spell might give a +30 Armor bonus to AC for 1 minute per level, or a +20 general AC bonus.

 

[Greybar]

Oh, and I know Mage Armor is listed as a Conjuration spell, but it really oughta be Abjuration, methinks. Anyway.

Just to take a stab at this - Mage Armor conjures up a magical suite of armor. Thus Armor bonus rather than Deflection bonus. By contrast, Sanctuary is an Abjuration.

I freely admit that this breaks down against the flavortext of Stoneskin, which should be Transmutation by that logic if it changes your skin to be super-hard.

John

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

3e Barkskin scaled with level already. It granted a +5 NA bonus at clvl 12.

Barkskin now scales with level up to +5 (I think its level/3)

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Re: Improved Mage Armor

That's pretty weak for a 3rd level spell considering that Displacement and Blink are the same level and give (generally) better defense for a similar amount of time. (IME 1 min/level is usually one encounter--just like 1 round/level).

Not core, and not abjuration, but Unapproachable East has the spell "Improved Mage Armor"

Conjuration (Creation) [Force]
Sor/Wiz 3
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 minute/level

Provides an AC of +3 +1/2 levels, to a max of +8 10th level.
Material COmponent: tiny platinum shield worth at least 100gp

not goo al day round, but you can have mage armor up all day, and throw this up for the nasty fights.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Except for Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Acid Arrow, Mirror Image, Barkskin, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Cone of Cold, Disintegrate, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Horrid Wilting, Shield of Faith, Divine Favor, Divine Power, Flame Strike, Firestorm, Blade Barrier, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestment, the polymorph spells (new forms available depending upon clvl), Shapechange, Slow (more targets), Spiritual Weapon, Flame Arrow, Vampiric Touch, Fire Shield, Cure Light Wounds, Stoneskin, etc, etc, etc.

If WotC doesn't believe in scaling spells they sure have a funny way of showing it.

WOTC does not believe in scaling up of spells......

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

House-rule it to a +4 Armor Bonus, +1/5 levels. That makes it equivalent to plate armor at 20th level (of course, that's pretty good for a 1st level spell, too, but what else are you going to use 1st level spells for at 20th level besides magic missiles?).

Would run counter to the "make items useful" philosophy WOTC seems to be preaching, though, since scaling Mage Armor makes bracers of armor unnecessary.

 

[howandwhy99]

Bigby's Hand spells are very nice and suggestive of what a high level abjuration can do. Interposing hand lends 9/10th's cover for a +10 bonus that stacks with most everything. Plus the reflex save. Unfortunately it only works agains one opponent. The other 4 hand spells state "...as interposing hand" plus other handy features.

I've always thought of the wall spells as abjuration spells. They allow you to change the face of the battlefield potentially giving your nonspellcasters an advantage. Some can be domed to provide protection; not just trap your enemies. (Maybe they changed this in 3.5?) This would include the prismatic wall/sphere spells and the invulnerable globe spells too.

Many spells can be used for protection even if they don't form barriers to an attack. i.e. invisibility spells, ethereal jaunt, the poly's and shapechange, iron body & statue.

Protection from spells, of course, is a spell, but this added feature is certainly protective. If you're looking to gauge what a high level abjuration spell can do, you may want to add magical protection in too. (SR, DR, elemental protections)

For a spell that strictly gives an AC bonus, I would use the Improved Mage Armor listed above. Anything that potent that lasts all day is better than many magic items which will cost far more than that spell. (a spell that would ALWAYS be used) Imagine if you could cast it on your friends. AC is already delicately balanced at high levels. A +10 general AC bonus would require a commensurate bonus to attacks.

Maybe your best bet is to try WotC's rules help line like one of these other threads suggested.

 

[aurellius]

Oh great and wise Basilisk..

I am not meaning spells that do x/ lvl something......

But such things as Summon Monster [x]

When you prepare this spell select a level, you can summon a creature = to lvlx2 HD.


And many of the spells of the x/lvl variety or variable dice are being altered by 3.5 into static versions, or at least of the ones previewed so far.


Marcus