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Gimur
2013-08-06, 04:35 PM
So I'm running an Abjurant Champion in a campaign, and I've discussed creating a spell for total armor coverage that meshes with the prestige's class features. Essentially, I'm looking to combine Shield and Mage Armor into an solid buff.

This is what I've come up with:

Malto's Arcane Armor
Abjuration
Sorceror/Wizard 4
Cast Time: Standard Action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10 min/Lvl
A translucent but slightly shimmering set of armor and a shield form upon the caster's body. They can take the appearance of whatever form of armoring the caster wishes, but defaults to that of a set of Full Plate and a Light Steel Shield. As they are made of force, incorporeal creatures cannot bypass it in the same way as standard armor. The armor grants an armor bonus to AC of 4 + 1 per 4 caster levels (Max 8). The shield grants the same amount to AC, but as a shield bonus. While this spell persists, if the caster would be reduced to 0 or less HP, the spell immediately discharges, soaking up the excess force from that blow, to leave the caster at exactly 0 HP, unconscious.


Thoughts? Criticisms?



Edit: Thanks to SamBurke and Elricaltovilla for their pointed critique! I had missed a pretty key thing, and would have overlooked it entirely, otherwise. And, the initial design was a bit too conservative.
-Changed spell school to Abjuration (Whoops!)
-Added 0 HP clause
-Reduced to Std Act to cast
-Reduced spell level by 1

SamBurke
2013-08-06, 07:57 PM
I think you could safely add in that extra bit.

Comparitively speaking, what you're doing is Barkskin + Mage Armor + Shield, without the length of Mage Armor or the "deflects Force Effects" part of Shield... all for 1 Standard Action. Putting it together, level 5 is easily manageable. I'd go for L4, personally.

Gimur
2013-08-06, 08:37 PM
I think you could safely add in that extra bit.

Comparatively speaking, what you're doing is Barkskin + Mage Armor + Shield, without the length of Mage Armor or the "deflects Force Effects" part of Shield... all for 1 Standard Action. Putting it together, level 5 is easily manageable. I'd go for L4, personally.

Well, for a Full-round action, anyway. And no Natural armor bonus, just a scaling progression. Still, I'm glad to hear it may be able to drop to 4th level. Always arbitrated by the gm, but he's lenient.

Elricaltovilla
2013-08-06, 11:17 PM
I think you could stand to make it a Standard Action.

Also, if this is for an Abjurent Champion, why isn't it an Abjuration Spell?

Gimur
2013-08-07, 04:50 AM
I think you could stand to make it a Standard Action.

Also, if this is for an Abjurent Champion, why isn't it an Abjuration Spell?

... I had completely overlooked that very important point!
Thank you for that!
It's been a while since I've actually played the character, so my memory on the class was less than total.

Andion Isurand
2013-08-08, 12:48 PM
I would leave out that final absorption effect, there's already a spell that does something very similar, and its level 5 that lasts 1 min/level.

Indomitability. (SpC 121)

Gimur
2013-08-08, 09:41 PM
I would leave out that final absorption effect, there's already a spell that does something very similar, and its level 5 that lasts 1 min/level.

Indomitability. (SpC 121)

I was unaware of that spell, thanks for the heads up.
However, I do see a difference between mine and Imdomitability. Indomitability leaves you conscious at 1 HP.
So, I agree that the final absorption is too much as is, as it'd still make Indomitability entirely obsolete, but perhaps taking the absorption effect down a peg will make it remain viable? Say, "soaking up an amount of damage up to 1 point per caster level (max 15), but will leave the caster at 0 HP (or less, if the absorption is not sufficient), and stabilized" ?
That way, it'd still leave the caster unconscious, but it's not going to be soaking some absurd amount of damage. Its just a little buffer from death, not a sure thing like Indomitability is.