Storm Shield Questions

[Gen Melchett]

The spell Storm Shield from Lost Empires of Faerun has the following description:
This spell creates a small, glowing sphere of amber light at a point you designate.
Any effect that deals electricity damage (such as a lightning bolt or a blue dragon's breath weapon) that passes within 30 feet of the storm shield is attracted to it and strikes the shield instead of its intended target.
In the case of area spells such as lightning bolt, this redirection occurs if any portion of the spell's area is within 30 feet of the storm shield.
In such a case, the entire effect is drawn to the storm shield, and all creatures or objects that otherwise would have been in the spell's area remain unharmed.
The storm shield takes full damage (no saving throw) from any effect drawn into it.
The shield can absorb up to 20 points of electricity damage per caster level before dissipating.
Any remaining damage is applied to all creatures within 10 feet of the storm shield's position (Reflex half; spell resistance applies).
For example, suppose a storm shield cast by a 5th-level cleric has already absorbed 78 points of electricity damage when it is struck by a lightning bolt that deals 45 points of damage.
The first 22 points of damage is enough to destroy the storm shield, so every creature within 10 feet of it takes 23 points of electricity damage (or 11 with a successful save).

My questions are:

1) How does Storm Shield interact with effects which deal electricity damage to creatures within a certain distance? Let's take the spell Body of the Sun (which has had energy substitution applied to it to deal electricity damage) as an example. Does the electricity effect need to move to interact with Storm Shield and be redirected? If there is an interaction, how much damage does the Storm Shield absorb?
Fire extends 5 feet in all directions from your body, illuminating the area and dealing 1d4 points of fire damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d4). Adjacent creatures take fire damage each round on your turn.

2) How does Storm Shield interact with the wall of electricity left behind by a casting of the spell Body Blaze modified with energy substitution? This wall does not move once created, so if movement is a prerequisite for Storm Shield the answer is simply that no interaction exists. If movement is not required and there is an interaction, what damage would be absorbed?
You are surrounded in flame, which does not harm you or your equipment.
When you move, you leave a vertical trail of flame in your wake.
The sheet of flame left behind you is up to 20 feet high, 2 inches wide, and lengthens as you move, exactly following the path you take across a horizontal surface—you leave no trail on vertical surfaces or through the air because the sheet of flame must be anchored on a horizontal surface.
The blazing wall deals 2d6 points of fire damage +1 point of fire damage per caster level (maximum +20) to any creature passing through it.
If you pass through a square more than once, the damage dealt by the wall to creatures moving through that square does not increase.
You take no damage from your own blazing wall.
If you overrun a creature or otherwise manage to pass through its square, each creature takes damage as if passing through the wall.
If any 5-foot length of wall takes 20 points of cold damage or more in 1 round, that section goes out.

I realize there is very likely no clear RAW answer to this, but some of you baffle me with your inhuman ability to understand and explain RAW, so I thought I'd give it a shot. If there truly is no RAW answer I'm also interested in people's opinions on RAI.

[Darg]

Storm Shield absorbs the entire effect, not just the damage. If a character with electrified Body of the Sun passes within 30ft of the storm shield it gets absorbed and the effect is no longer on the character. It would be the same with Body Blaze. If Storm Shield is laid down on the trail after it was laid, it would also absorb the effect.

The way I read it, it wouldn't matter how many targets are in range for an effect absorbed like chain lightning the shield counts as a single target. The spell also mentions that the shield takes full damage. I would rule that spells that do damage over a duration would do the full amount of damage that would be done over the remaining duration to the shield. If it breaks the shield, the full amount left over would be discharged as described by the spell, warts and all.

[Gen Melchett]

I really appreciate the response! Good catch on the absorbing the whole effect part, I somehow missed that.

I fully agree with you for the interaction with Chain Lightning.

For your point on duration spells doing the full amount of damage that would be done over the remaining duration, I can see some issues however. That same electrified Body of the Sun spell, if persisted would do some rather ludicrous damage. As you said, "warts and all" :smallsmile:

My main reason for asking the question was the interaction with Body Blaze and the possibility of an abjuration spell being used as a powerful offensive spell. If, as you say, the Storm Shield absorbs the whole Body Blaze trail, the damage dealt to the shield (and inevitably those within 10ft of it) would be capped only by the length of trail already laid on the map, regardless of the distance of the rest of that trail from the shield. This would obviously be a problem.

Maybe I'm misreading your response though. Were you suggesting that like Chain Lightning, Body Blaze would only do a single targets worth of damage to the Storm Shield (2d6+1/caster level) and absorb the entire trail left by the spell, regardless of the total length?

Again, I'm probably asking for the impossible with a RAW ruling here.

[Darg]

I really appreciate the response! Good catch on the absorbing the whole effect part, I somehow missed that.

I fully agree with you for the interaction with Chain Lightning.

For your point on duration spells doing the full amount of damage that would be done over the remaining duration, I can see some issues however. That same electrified Body of the Sun spell, if persisted would do some rather ludicrous damage. As you said, "warts and all" :smallsmile:

My main reason for asking the question was the interaction with Body Blaze and the possibility of an abjuration spell being used as a powerful offensive spell. If, as you say, the Storm Shield absorbs the whole Body Blaze trail, the damage dealt to the shield (and inevitably those within 10ft of it) would be capped only by the length of trail already laid on the map, regardless of the distance of the rest of that trail from the shield. This would obviously be a problem.

Maybe I'm misreading your response though. Were you suggesting that like Chain Lightning, Body Blaze would only do a single targets worth of damage to the Storm Shield (2d6+1/caster level) and absorb the entire trail left by the spell, regardless of the total length?

Again, I'm probably asking for the impossible with a RAW ruling here.

This is entirely my interpretation; yes, Body Blaze would do 2d6+1/CL per round remaining. It's also fully reasonable that a single round's worth of damage is all that is taken considering it is ended in an instant while the effect requires contact for a duration for it to do its full damage.

There isn't a single RAW way of reading the interactions so you really just have to pick one that you think works the best for your game.