Mage Armor: What do you get besides armor boost?

[argo]

Does it block magic missle? Does it have any other "force" benefits? I feel kind of gyped with it.

GW

"gyped"? It provides a decent AC boost with no encumberance, no max dex penalty, no armor check penalty, no arcane spell failure, no proficiency required, it stacks with the Shield spell and it lasts for the better part of a day. What more do you want from a first level spell? :\

It does protect against incorporal touch attacks, which is nice, but not against normal touch attacks.

Later.

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

"gyped"? It provides a decent AC boost with no encumberance, no max dex penalty, no armor check penalty, no arcane spell failure, no proficiency required, it stacks with the Shield spell and it lasts for the better part of a day. What more do you want from a first level spell? :\

It does protect against incorporal touch attacks, which is nice, but not against normal touch attacks.

Later.

When you put it that way, I see what you mean. You guys have set my mind right on this.

Thanks,
GW

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Did the dragon by any chance have mage armour and cure light wounds as his two spells?

Was he a red dragon with a CR of about 9?

When I played him, 2 characters died out of a party of about 7. One other collapsed. I think I could have been a lot nastier about things, but in the end I think the fight was memorable enough.

No CLW, he was Red, but is no longer. The Warband has an Ogre, a wolf riding Goblin, 2 more goblins, 4 Orcs, and a kobold. All between 5th and 6th level.

This party does pretty awesome melee damage, and to-hit bonuses rivalling the Dragon's for one or two of them.

If they ever meet one again, it will not go down like this.

GW

 

[Saeviomagy]

No CLW, he was Red, but is no longer. The Warband has an Ogre, a wolf riding Goblin, 2 more goblins, 4 Orcs, and a kobold. All between 5th and 6th level.

This party does pretty awesome melee damage, and to-hit bonuses rivalling the Dragon's for one or two of them.

GW

So hammer them from the air. Breath weapons rule.

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

So hammer them from the air. Breath weapons rule.

That would have worked, had they not been in his lair. The combat moved outside, only after he had taken more than 3/4 of his hp in damage already. Two good arrows and a magic missle killed him. ;( To top it off, they defeaned him with a thunderstone, lowsy saving throw.

GW

 

[domino]

So, would Mage Armor provide protection against Brilliant Energy weapons?

From Brilliant Energy

Armor bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor.

And from Mage Armor

An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of a mage armor spell, providing a +4 armor bonus to AC.

Except that the armor bonus from Mage Armor isn't from material, but force. So would it count as trying to make an incoporeal touch attack, instead of a normal one?

 

[AuraSeer]

Briliiant energy doesn't care what the armor is made of, it only cares about the bonus type.

A BE weapon ignores all armor bonuses. Mage armor grants an armor bonus, therefore it gets bypassed.

 

[UltimaGabe]

So, would Mage Armor provide protection against Brilliant Energy weapons?

Nope. In fact, there's no indication that a Wall of Force can stop a Brilliant Energy weapon.

 

[sfedi]

I did not play the Dragon tough enough in my estimation. Only 2 party members nearly died during the encounter. I just want to make sure I was playing all the abilities correctly.

Dragons, and sorcerers for that matter, should know Shield instead of armor.
You can cast armor from a Wand or Scroll.
Or at higher levels.

Just IMHO
(at least, I always run Dragons that way)

 

[shilsen]

Dragons, and sorcerers for that matter, should know Shield instead of armor.
You can cast armor from a Wand or Scroll.
Or at higher levels.

Just IMHO
(at least, I always run Dragons that way)

I don't see the reason for your distinguishing between the two. You can cast Shield from a wand or scroll too. Is it because Shield blocks Magic Missiles?