Mage Armor: What do you get besides armor boost?

[Graywolf-ELM]

What does the Force effect of mage armor work against? The write up is pretty plain, and does not mention the force itself doing much beyond being an AC booster.

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

GW

 

[Demoquin]

I think the spell shield blocks MM. At least it does on Never winter Nights

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Yep, I know that one does. Thanks.

GW

 

[Rel]

What does the Force effect of mage armor work against? The write up is pretty plain, and does not mention the force itself doing much beyond being an AC booster.

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

GW

My understanding is that it provides the AC bonuse vs. Incorporeal attacks by virtue of the "force" descriptor. Handy against Shadows and the like.

 

[BSF]

If I recall correctly, it works against touch attacks. I think it also works against incorporeal creature attacks that otherwise bypass your armor. So it does have application when you use a wand on a fighter in a crypt filled with shadows and the like.

 

[Rel]

Great minds think alike, eh BSF?

 

[shilsen]

Besides the normal benefit of raising armor class, it works against incorporeal touch attacks (not normal touch attacks). That's it. Can't expect more from a 1st-lvl spell, IMNSHO .

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Thanks for the comments. I was pretty sure this was the case. I had a Dragon go down to the party Friday night, and I was looking for some other way that it could have gone. he had mage armor up, was taking an enormous beating, and the ignominous death came with the final three attacks being , magic missle, arrow, arrow. He had no shield spell among his repetoire of spells as a sorceror.

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.

Thanks,
GW

 

[shilsen]

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.

Thanks,
GW

Tsk, tsk! Any time you're running a dragon encounter, just post for help on the General RPG discussion page and you'll get dozens of posts telling you how to deal with the pesky PCs. Long live BADD!

 

[Saeviomagy]

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.

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.