Why do ranged touch attacks bypass shields?

[noretoc]

Actualy the reason shields do not block touch attacks, is not that they go through armor. IT is because touching the armor has the same affact as touching the person. You do not have to touch bare skin. You only have to put a hand on the target. That includes touching the shield that is strapped to his arm. In the case of a ranged touch attack it is the same, only from a distance. Think of an old fantasy movie where the ray shoot a person. The ray does not go through his stuff and hit him. It affacts him as soon as it contacts anything on him. If I was dming, the only chance I would allow the shield to give a cover bonus is if it were not in contact with the person, like a tower shield can be. Maybe somone who unstrapped the shiled and threw it in front on him, so the ray hits the shield while he is not touching it, might be a case for the attack being thwarted.

 

[FANGO]

How about make an enchantment that lets someone use a shield's bonus to deflect ranged touch attacks...call it spell deflecting or something, make it a +1 or +2 (probly +1), and the shield's AC bonus counts towards ranged touch attacks.

Personally, I don't see much of a problem here. Wizards have terrible attack rolls, and if you really want to defend against ranged touch attacks, find a way to get yourself some SR or buy a ring of protection or something. There's a wizard in an 18th level campaign I'm in, and he has something like +9 to hit with his ranged touch attacks. Comparing this to the other PCs in the group, he has probably a 25% chance or so, on average, to hit anyone in the group. It doesn't seem like a very problematic situation (well, except for the wizard maybe).

 

[Li Shenron]

Actualy the reason shields do not block touch attacks, is not that they go through armor. IT is because touching the armor has the same affact as touching the person. You do not have to touch bare skin. You only have to put a hand on the target. That includes touching the shield that is strapped to his arm.

Yes, I think this is the original idea behind touch attacks (melee or ranged): that from a point of view of a touch attack, the target body and the target equipment are considered one whole thing. That's why armor and shield don't protect you, while deflection or dodge bonuses do.

 

[hong]

On a tangent: Does anyone else think ranged touch spells can be overly powerful? (actually, should be another thread, but...)

Overall, no. In particular cases, yes, but melee characters can also be stupidly broken when you start talking about particular cases.

 

[frankthedm]

Yes, I think this is the original idea behind touch attacks (melee or ranged): that from a point of view of a touch attack, the target body and the target equipment are considered one whole thing. That's why armor and shield don't protect you, while deflection or dodge bonuses do.

Yes think of it as your equipment is considered part of your essence / aura. Thus also why you get to roll saving throws for your eqipment when the shatter spell hits them and why area attacks don't hurt them unless you botch a saving throw, but also why the ray just needs to hit some of your gear.

Maybe if you purpose to your dm all equipment suffers the same damage as the wearer he might reconsider things.

 

[SevenSir]

Well, obviously there are some spells that are regulated by ranged touch that definitely should "go through shields." If the noble fighter blocks a Disintegrate ray with his shield, he's still in trouble. But others such spells need not bypass shields. If my maximized Melf's Acid Arrow hits a shield, the guy behind it will be pretty thrilled that he's not the one taking 8 damage per round.

The DM can pretty easily call whether most ranged touches can be stopped by a shield. Maybe a ray of enfeeblement can course through the material of a shield to its wielder, but a Flame Arrow sure won't.

Actually this makes for some fun situations. A Melf's Acid arrow will amost always eat up a metal shield (probably a wooden one too), and and a Flame Arrow will toast a wooden shield with no problem. A ray of frost may still deal 1 damage (or the full 1d3, DM's call) if it hits a metal shield, but a less conductive wooden one would foil it.

Question: if my mage intentionally targets the enemy's +2 shield with a Melf's Acid Arrow, can I destroy the shield?