D&D 5E Vet this spell please?

[Amatiel]

Thoughts? Opinions?

Astral Armor
Abjuration
Level: 2
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (100gp diamond)
Duration: 8 hours

You conjure a protective magical force of astral fire that resembles plate armor that surrounds you until the spell ends. The armor flickers with silver flames that sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius, and dim light for an additional 5 feet. Your base AC becomes 13 + your Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if you don armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you gain a +1 bonus to armor class and the radius of your bright and dim light increases by 5 feet for each spell slot above 2nd.

 

[Caliban]

Eh. It's basically a slightly worse version of Mage Armor when cast with a lvl 2 spell slot (cause you are glowing and making yourself a target), and a slightly better version of Mage Armor when cast with a level 3 spell slot (because it's +1 AC).

Having the AC increase once only when cast in a higher slot, but the light radius increase with with every higher level slot is kind of wonky.

Just make it a 3rd level spell and have it be AC 14+Dex all the time. That's when most wizards would stop preparing mage armor and prepare this instead anyway.

 

[FrogReaver]

Thoughts? Opinions?

Astral Armor
Abjuration
Level: 2
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (100gp diamond)
Duration: 8 hours

You conjure a protective magical force of astral fire that resembles plate armor that surrounds you until the spell ends. The armor flickers with silver flames that sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius, and dim light for an additional 5 feet. Your base AC becomes 13 + your Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if you don armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you gain a +1 bonus to armor class and the radius of your bright and dim light increases by 5 feet for each spell slot above 2nd.

I like mage armor better than it in every situation that I can think of. Normally I would be worried about scaling AC but to get enough extra ac for it to even start mattering on a wizard you would need to cast it at level 5+ and you have very few of those kinds of spell slots. A tankier wizard for a level 5 spell slot doesn't sound bad, but it is a 5th level slot and a lot can be done with that instead of just giving +3AC for the day.

It's cost to cast using anything higher than a 5th level spell is really prohibitive.

I'm not concerned with the spell, nor do I know why any wizard below level 7 at the minimum would be concerned with it either.

 

[5ekyu]

As a rule, i tend to keep AC boosters/setters out of the up-slot increase in power thing. The higher Ac possibilities plays bloody hell with bounded accuracy. So this spell as written would ne a non-starter for me.

What i would like to see instead is for higher level slots to turn it into touch at 3rd, then add additional targets at higher slots.

As for the light effect, that can have some significant impact as far as how darkness interacts with it when up-slotted.

 

[ad_hoc]

It's weak. I'd never use it. That said, I think you should be careful about creating spells that increase AC.

Regardless Shield is better than both Mage Armour and this.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm guessing the idea was to combine mage armor with a light source, thus justifying the higher level. The problem is, light sources are a dime a dozen, and a lot of PCs can see in the dark anyhow. The benefit is minimal, and the fact that you can't turn it off is a big drawback. Say goodbye to stealth or subtlety.

Now, if it gave you a base AC of, say, 16 (no Dex mod), that would be more interesting. Now you've got an option for wizards with low Dex to still have decent AC, without jumping through hoops to get heavy armor proficiency. That might be worth a 2nd-level slot.

 

[aco175]

I would be careful with getting too powerful of a spell and think that making the material component expensive will counter it. 100gp diamond is a good cost for a spell if the table tracks these things and not just assume the player is. My table never tracks these unless it is very exotic/expensive, like raise dead.

This spell does not seem powerful like what others said. I could see something that duplicates chain mail, but not for 8 hours. This way you get a bonus to dex and a good base ac. Make it for only 2 hours, or even 4, so it is not just a slot tax each day to take away one of the limits on the mage.

 

[jaelis]

Seems like a bladesinger could use this to become unhittable?

A better approach IMO would be something like this. You could put the illumination part back in if you like.

Astral Shield
Abjuration
Level: 2
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 8 hours

You conjure a protective magical force of astral energy resembling a shield that wards you until the spell ends. For the duration of the spell, you gain a +2 bonus to AC as long as you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. The spell ends if you dismiss the it as an action.

At Higher Levels: If cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the AC bonus increases. With a slot of 4th level or higher, the bonus is +3. With a slot of 6th level or higher, the bonus is +4.

(That follows the magic weapon spell bonus progression.)

 

[jgsugden]

I think the AC bonuses are too great at higher levels.

There are a lot of ways to get an ongoing light effect. The easiest is the light cantrip, which lasts an hour. Many DMs still have continual light spells in their games that allow the creation of everburning torches and similar permanent light sources. Further, there are a lot of ways to get darkvision cheaply as well. To that extent, using a spell slot to get your light is a bit excessive, even when it is coupled with armor.

With that in mind, I do not think the spell is a necessary addition to the game.

However, if a PC wants it, it will not hurt to add something like it. I'd go with jaelis' option above.