Shield spell + Mage Armor spell

[ceratitis]

i think thats exactly why you cant cast it at others.
if you want to change it raise it to 3rd level spell.
Z

 

[Whimsical]

My least favorite thing about shield is the target: You. I'd love for my party wizard to be able to cast it on the 2-weapon fighter or rogue or whatever. What do people think of making the target "Willing Creature Touched" or something?

Jesse Decker describes the problem of "floaty shields" in a Design & Development webarticle.

Oh wow do I hate the floaty shield. Of course, by “floaty shield” I mean the animated shield property from page 218 of the DMG. The intent of the game is to make using two-handed weapons or two weapons a tradeoff -- you get more offense but must sacrifice the defense of a shield. The animated shield property plus the magic vestment spell make this tradeoff essentially non-existent. For a very small price (compared to the wealth of a high-level character) a two-weapon fighter can have it both ways -- high offense and a big shield bonus to AC.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Unfortunately, barkskin is not as limited and it's a higher bonus at lower levels than magic vestment. I'd like to change barkskin to be "Target: You or an Animal" and at least use the same scale as magic vestment but my wife is the druid. I know my limits.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Nope. No errata.

It did get FAQ'd, for what that's worth

The 3E FAQ declared it to be a cover bonus to AC, rather than a bonus to AC granted by cover... hence no bonus to Reflex saves or immunity to AoOs.

-Hyp.

 

[frankthedm]

Mmhh..

Two-handed wielders barbarians with a shield potion?

Not in my game, thanks.

I agree.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Two-handed wielders barbarians with a shield potion?

Not in my game, thanks.

Yeah! They can get their Shield spells out of a Minor Ring of Spell Storing like everyone else!

-Hyp.

 

[Amazing Triangle]

With Mage Armor and a nice shield (i.e. Tower Shield) you can cast Shieldbearer and have floating cover

 

[Darthjaye]

I've always liked taking Point Blank Shot at first level for the Mage. You can use it with Ray spells as well as the crossbow. Early on most of the Meta Feats aren't so useful anyways. Juice up your AC with spells and save that last one. The Miothrial +3 buckler would be cool with the Feat Improved Buckler Defense. You'd have your hands free plus the AC from the Buckler. Take a level of Fighter or something similar for your Shield Proficiency and with the bonus fighter feat take IBD. That and no arcane spell failure or penalties of any kind.

 

[Bront]

Mithral buckler +3

Compared to a chain shirt? Or even a Mithril Chain Shirt. Armor is easier to use and cheeper to get.

Also, that +4 shield bonus doesn't go away when you're flat footed like a normal shield bonus (at least I don't see why it would as it's just hovering there blocking for you), and the kicker of negating completely a common 1st level attack spell that normaly is a no save, no avoiding attack.

 

[MarkB]

Compared to a chain shirt? Or even a Mithril Chain Shirt. Armor is easier to use and cheeper to get.

We're talking about mage protections. A mithral buckler doesn't have arcane spell failure - a mithral chain shirt does.

Also, that +4 shield bonus doesn't go away when you're flat footed like a normal shield bonus (at least I don't see why it would as it's just hovering there blocking for you), and the kicker of negating completely a common 1st level attack spell that normaly is a no save, no avoiding attack.

Normal shield bonuses don't go away when you're flat-footed.