Dispelling Touch vs. Dispel Magic

[RexDart]

Obviously, Dispelling Touch is a more limited version of Dispel Magic in that, most obviously, it must be used as a touch spell.

Other nuances I'm less clear on.

"Magic items carried by a creature are not affected."

But the target of the spell is "One touched creature, object, or spell effect." What if a magic item *is* the target?

For example, suppose an opponent is carrying a +1 shield that also has Shield of Warding and Light cast on it. It seems to me that as long as the caster manages to specifically touch the shield, that would be a valid target and you'd have a dispel check first against Shield of Warding, then against Light if that failed. But it also seems that the +1 enchantment wouldn't be subject to Dispelling Touch in any way (unlike Dispel Magic, which has specific rules about temporarily suppressing magic items.)

Is my understanding correct?

(I could see an alternative reading that, looking strictly at Dispelling Touch, the +1 enchantment is an "ongoing spell that has been cast on a creature or object," which could actually be dispelled permanently since there's nothing that says the effect is temporary, but among other things that seems way too powerful for a 2nd level spell....)

[Lapak]

Since the spell is specifically removing a spell effect (either on a creature or object, or a freestanding one) by the rest of its text, your reading about what would happen to a shield (either light or SoW goes, but not the +1) is right. But can you target it?

The only two ways the creature-carried clause could be read are
'targeting a creature doesn't attempt to dispel effects on its stuff'
or
'even though you can normally target an object to dispel effects on it, you can't do that if someone is holding it at the time.'

The second one reads as way more likely to NEED the clause, honestly. The first reading would assume the player thinks that in this one case, the target can basically jump from creature to object when it doesn't find a spell on the creature or fails to dispel them all, which is not a thing that generally happens otherwise. The second reading puts an additional limit that wouldn't otherwise exist on the spell from a straight reading.

So I read it as 'if the shield is sitting on the ground, go for it, but you can't dispel the Light from a shield an opponent is currently using against you in combat.'

[Raven777]

My understanding is that the player would specify their intent before making the attempt: "Leonard's hand glows an eerie green as he attempts to touch and dispel the Gnoll's shield!"
Which is similar to: "Leonard's hand sizzles with electricity as he attempts to touch the opponent's chest!"

Both are resolved as a melee touch attack against the caster's opponent. The result of the attack resolves wether the character accomplished what the player intended. If they aim to target an attended item rather than the person holding it, they still make their touch attack against the person in any case. If they succeed, they successfully touch the item and dispel an effect on it. Remember, tabletop is also theater of the mind where rolls determine success or failure, but description gives them meaning. Aiming for the opponent's chest (which the opponent will try to protect through the abstraction of AC) or the opponent's shield (which the opponent will try to move out of the way through the abstraction of AC) is equally abstracted by the attack action. You just need to state your indent to the DM so that he can resolve and describe the consequence of success (or failure) adequately.

As for dispeling an item's bonus (like a +1 or a "Flaming" on a sword), Dispel Magic cannot touch them. These are qualities of the item decided at creation. Dispel magic would only remove ongoing spells, for exemple an ongoing Magic Weapon.

[Lapak]

As for dispeling an item's bonus (like a +1 or a "Flaming" on a sword), Dispel Magic cannot touch them. These are qualities of the item decided at creation. Dispel magic would only remove ongoing spells, for exemple an ongoing Magic Weapon.Just to clarify: Dispel Magic can absolutely touch those if targeted at a permanent magical object by suppressing them for 1d4 rounds and making the object temporarily non-magical, but Dispelling Touch can't even do that.