[Synthesist] Mage Armor VS Ablative Barrier

[Yanisa]

Ablative Barrier is a so-so spell, most people don't seem to think it's worth and I can understand. For Sorc/Wiz it is a level 3 spell which is horribly late. Other more gish like classes get it a level earlier but most of these classes already have armor so half of the benefit is lost. Also in general terms this spell seems to lose from Mage armor, like I saw a post stating "you know what would have prevented that 5 non lethal damage? 2 more armor from a spell 2 levels earlier!". Changing damage type doesn't really do a lot for getting damage and you prefer higher AC as a GISH or just avoid getting damage altogether as a not gish.
But I feel that I as a summoner, a synthesis to be precise, am in the unique position this spell might be better then Mage Armor. But I do already have Mage Armor, which I can swap out, but stil I am unsure and I feel I am trying to solve a problem the wrong way. Anyways pro's and cons:

My second level spells are precious and limited, and I already got spells like Haste en Lesser Evolution Surge, Ablative Barrier would eat in those slots. Also choosing Ablative Barrier would cost me a spell like Barkskin, Bull's Strength and other strong level 2 spells that allude me atm. To add the spell isn't at full power yet and also there is the risk that soaking damage will end up costing me my +2 ac.

The AC loss from Mage Armor seems like a counter argument, but my AC is already 20 unbuffed, and easily reaches up to 27 buffed with Mage Armor (25 with AB). I don't fear normal attacks and rarely I have faced an enemy that can hit without critting. Then again I also have 20% miss chance (Shadow Blend), so hits should be very rare.

Yet the dice are loaded against me. My DM crits way too often with enemies that normally cannot hit me, and confirmed crits do imply double 20's... I already pointed this out without much changing, but I think the DM is doing this on purpose to challenge me, if he didn't roll those crits I would never get damage and no combat would costs me anything. He is "cheating" so I don't feel like God. AB does offer me another tool of dealing with a way of negating this. No sure if that is smart or not though.

To add to this, I am my own healer, restore eidolon and all that, and AB will double the potential of my healing spell.



So does self healing, high base AC and the fact I will be critted a lot justify taking Ablative Barrier over Mage Armor. Or is the higher level spell slot not worth it because I can cast far better spells and the crit problem isn't something that should be solved in IC?



P.S. sorry for any spelling mistakes, my spellings checker is on the fridge saying correctly spelled words are wrong and incorrectly spelled words are right. :smallconfused:

[Eldaran]

I like Ablative Barrier a lot, particularly on a regular Summoner. The AC is basically pointless, you can just use both Mage Armor and Ablative Barrier, the AC won't stack but you still get the main benefit. The huge advantage Ablative Barrier has is it stacks with DR, because it just subtracts from the damage you take. If your Eidolon has DR 5, and you're fighting enemies who do 15 damage, it takes 5 lethal and 5 nonlethal per hit, which you then get double efficiency from when you heal it.

However, given the situation you described where you're only getting hit on confirmed crits, I don't think it's very useful, because 5 damage off a crit is pretty minor. I also think the Synthesist doesn't want to spend the action to heal in combat when they'd be better off doing damage, so unless you have a dedicated healer it's not going to matter much except for out of combat healing (which is super cheap anyway).

[avr]

If your GM is deciding on hits rather than rolling them then higher AC won't help, no. If you can't deal with that OOC & you want to continue playing the game then Ablative Barrier will at least let the GM knock your character out occasionally without too much risk of killing them

[Yanisa]

I like Ablative Barrier a lot, particularly on a regular Summoner. The AC is basically pointless, you can just use both Mage Armor and Ablative Barrier, the AC won't stack but you still get the main benefit.
With my limited spells? It could work, but then again my AC is already high enough without buffing and it seems a bad use of spells per day. It does save me from the horrors of choosing a different level 1 spell, because I have no clue what I want. :smalltongue:


The huge advantage Ablative Barrier has is it stacks with DR, because it just subtracts from the damage you take. If your Eidolon has DR 5, and you're fighting enemies who do 15 damage, it takes 5 lethal and 5 nonlethal per hit, which you then get double efficiency from when you heal it.
It also works wonders with Fast healing, even though that is still long away.


However, given the situation you described where you're only getting hit on confirmed crits, I don't think it's very useful, because 5 damage off a crit is pretty minor. I also think the Synthesist doesn't want to spend the action to heal in combat when they'd be better off doing damage, so unless you have a dedicated healer it's not going to matter much except for out of combat healing (which is super cheap anyway).
I see the other way around. Because I get crit a lot Ablative has the chance to work. In a world without automatic hits I would never take damage. And the crits have been heavy, but still easily in Ablative range. The last two crits, in the same combat, did 20 damage total. Which is a large chunk of hp, but ablative would have halved the healing needed easily. Even at high levels it allows 100 damage to be healed with 50 damage. Add that to the fact we are way behind wealth by level and don't have the funds to afford healing items which means I will be healing myself with my own spells slots for a long time.


If your GM is deciding on hits rather than rolling them then higher AC won't help, no. If you can't deal with that OOC & you want to continue playing the game then Ablative Barrier will at least let the GM knock your character out occasionally without too much risk of killing them

He is not out to kill me, just challenge me. So far I am only went down once, the rest of the group had more brushes with dead. That's also another reason why I hesitate to take ablative. Should I really find a defense against crits when my DM is already has trouble dealing with my defenses? But that is beside the issue, the spell seems good enough to take regardless, I guess.