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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Storyteller Hero" data-source="post: 7263688" data-attributes="member: 6813635">There was a debate on Facebook about how the Shield spell works and what it looks like. I thought that it would be worth sharing in forum.The Shield spell grants a +5 bonus to AC, cast when you are hit by an attack.According to Sage Advice, the caster should know the roll made for the attack before casting Shield.<a href="https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/11/shield-before/" target="_blank">https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/11/shield-before/</a>There were some that argued that the caster should not know the roll and should cast Shield before seeing if the spell would block the attack or not, because it was metagaming too much to know the roll.The counter argument was that if the caster was able to cast Shield in time (the moment before impact, before damage can be rolled), then the barrier of force created by the spell would block the attack, so if the attack was going to hit anyway, the caster would not have had the chance to cast the spell in the first place before getting hit.This brought up a question of whether Shield was a surrounding forcefield that could be broken through or if it was something more like a big floating shield made of force that positioned itself to block attacks.It was argued for the floating shield opinion that Shield gave a bonus to AC instead of temporary hit points like the abjuration wizard archetype feature Arcane Ward, so it wasn't something destructible.It was also argued for the floating shield opinion that the Shield spell does not protect from area effects, so it couldn't be a surrounding field that covered the body from head to toe.The counter argument about the lack of protection from area effects was that the Shield Master feat allows a character to use a shield to defend against area effects. The counter argument was itself countered by a statement that a feat could be made to do the same for the Shield spell, and that if it takes a feat to make a worn shield or Shield spell to protect from an area effect, then neither would normally have an effect that covered the whole body at all times.Mage Armor was mentioned as a surrounding effect that granted AC instead of temporary hit points, but that was countered by the argument that Mage Armor might surround, but it does not necessarily envelop completely from head to toe; a belt surrounds the body but it doesn't cover everything. Mage Armor probably functions more like (though not exactly like) actual worn armor, which is why it can only be cast on a creature not wearing armor. The debate ended there. What do you all think? How do you feel about this?</blockquote>

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