Wings of Cover Clarification

[Angry Bob]

I've a player who likes spamming Wings of Cover to shield himself and the guy whose shoulder he's riding on from various unpleasant effects. This is fine. He can only do it once per round, and so far, it's hardly made him invincible. But I feel like we're misreading the effect of it. I read the description of the spell, and from what I understand, it blocks line of effect between you(and your targets) and one enemy thing. Now, what does and doesn't need line of effect?

The things I feel like he blocked but shouldn't have been able to are thus:
A hellwasp swarm's swarm attack.
A feeblemind spell.
An iron golem's breath weapon.

Can someone clear these up and/or provide a rule of thumb for what it can and can't prevent?

[Tar Palantir]

The second two are definitely blockable, not sure about the first.

[Tyndmyr]

If it's targeted, and he has the ability to cast the spell(slot, action, etc), then it works.

Note that against area attacks, it only provides AC, which is often useless.

[Tael]

If it's targeted, and he has the ability to cast the spell(slot, action, etc), then it works.

Note that against area attacks, it only provides AC, which is often useless.

It also provides a bonus to ref saves IIRC.

I would rule that a Swarm attack couldn't be block, as it's not one but thousands of tiny attacks, but that's just me.

[SalverioN]

I want to ask something about that spell that bothers me. If the caster is unaware of the attack, can he still cast this? e.x. invisible enemy attacks caster, can he cast Wings of Cover in this case?

[Elric VIII]

I want to ask something about that spell that bothers me. If the caster is unaware of the attack, can he still cast this? e.x. invisible enemy attacks caster, can he cast Wings of Cover in this case?

No. In this cast he would be flat-footed with regards to the unknown assailant. You cannot cast immediate action spells while flat-footed.

I think this breaks down in a stupid way if there's an undetected enemy that intercedes in the middle of an ongoing combat. If I recall, in that scenario you would only be denied Dex to AC, which does not preclude immediate action spells, technically.

[Spuddles]

1. A swarm doesn't technically "attack". It simply moves into your square, and when it ends its turn there, whatever is in the square takes damage. Wings of Cover would eat up 5' of move of the wasp swarm, maybe. But technically, as it is not a ranged, melee, spell, or psionic attack, I don't think Wings of Cover would help at all.
2. Feeblemind would be foiled.
3. A breath weapon is an area of effect... effect. As such, Wings of Cover only grant +4 on reflex saves vs. it.

[Seffbasilisk]

Additionally, unless he's dragonblooded, it only shields him, not the person he's sitting on, his horse, the fraying rope bridge he's on...

[TypoNinja]

Additionally, unless he's dragonblooded, it only shields him, not the person he's sitting on, his horse, the fraying rope bridge he's on...

Wouldn't someone standing so that he is directly between him and the origin of the area of effect still get the cover bonus?

If the Wings block line of effect for the caster, then he briefly becomes an obstacle as far as the area of effect goes, much like standing behind a pillar the caster should provide a blind spot directly behind himself right?

[Maginomicon]

Wings of Cover grants total cover only against attacks that have instantaneous duration, not continuous duration effects. However, your square can still be targeted as the origin of an effect (such as a fireball), and then the AC (such as if you were invisible and attacked) and reflex save (such as from an area-of-effect) rules apply as stated.

In fluff, the adjacent allies effect gives each of them their own wings of cover (although not duplicated entirely as if they were casting the spell themselves). We know that this is the case because it doesn’t imply that you’re simply enlarging your own Wings of Cover to encompass them, and you could for example target three adjacent allies on three different sides of your square but not any of the corners.

[Spuddles]

Wouldn't someone standing so that he is directly between him and the origin of the area of effect still get the cover bonus?

If the Wings block line of effect for the caster, then he briefly becomes an obstacle as far as the area of effect goes, much like standing behind a pillar the caster should provide a blind spot directly behind himself right?

The spell doesnt say it does that, so I am inclined to say it does not do that.

[Scow2]

The spell doesnt say it does that, so I am inclined to say it does not do that.

The spell says it blocks line of effect to the caster, so it sort of does say it does that when you take the common-language definition of line, unless you start using weird geometries.

[Spuddles]

The spell says it blocks line of effect to the caster, so it sort of does say it does that when you take the common-language definition of line, unless you start using weird geometries.

A tower shield also blocks line of effect to the wearer, but someone behind them is still only getting soft cover.

[Seffbasilisk]

A line, like a lightning bolt, would stop. A breath weapon would not stop and would have a negligible lee. A swarm would not care about that instant, it's damage is continuous (part of why they shut down casters.)

[CRtwenty]

Of those three the first and third are right out. The swarm is still effective due to the unusual nature of its attack, the breath weapon is a breath weapon with an AOE effect which only provides a +8AC and +4 Reflex Save bonus when this spell is used (neither of which help in this case).

As for the Feeblemind, technically it's not considered a "Spell Attack" which is explicitly defined as any Spell that requires an attack roll. Feeblemind does not require an attack roll so I'm not sure if it would be blocked either.