Astral Shield
 

Dammit, I came here to get away from threads about Oblivion!!

Anyway, I'm pretty rusty, and I never did know the answer to this: how does the MR roll vs. Astral Shield work? The description says the spell is more effective for more powerful astral mages - is it a simple -1 penalty to the roll for every astral level above 1? Or is it more complex / less intuitive than that?

I know there are threads on how MR works in general, but I've not seen one specific to this spell. Apols if this is a FAQ.

CC

Re: Astral Shield
 

maybe increased astral increasing how long the enemy is paralyzed?

Re: Astral Shield
 

From my experience that is correct

Re: Astral Shield
 

-1 penalty for every two levels over the minimum, +1 bonus for every two levels of astral magic the victim has. All "MR negates" spells work this way.

Re: Astral Shield
 

Hm. So, in all likelihood, Astral Shield is enhanced by Spell Foci, Rune Smashers, the Green Eye, and Rings of Wizardry/Sorcery, just like every other "standard MR roll" spell out there. Except Blood Vengeance, apparently.

Re: Astral Shield
 

I'm actually guessing not, simply because once cast, Astral Shield is semi-static : MR only seems to come into play when a spell / effect is cast, where AS is more of a constant effect. My guess is that it's more like, mmm, regen or fireshield : the spell effect goes by the level of magic in the path, and probably gets shafted when the caster shapeshifts or otherwise loses magic ability.

(Which, fwiw, seems bogus to me : If a dragon casts fire shield in human form, Fire Magic 9, the fire shield should be at that strength from when it was cast, not taper off when the caster changes shape and loses magic ability. Ditto Regen, etc. Oh - and if a Pythium mage casts Fire Shield at F7 from communicants, does _his_ FS go down in strength as communicants die?)

Re: Astral Shield
 

I don't know about that, I imagine the Fire Shield is actually being maintained through the battle by magical power from the casting mage, so its only as strong as the fire-magic-power the mage can supply it with.
I guess...

Re: Astral Shield
 

Hrm I didn't know AS/Fireshield scaled with magic paths. What is effected by increased magic power? Chance of catching fire, and/or damage?

And speaking of communicants...are there any spells that rely on base magic power? Someone said that Magic duel uses pre-buffed/booster for both sides. Is there any others?

Re: Astral Shield
 

If you have a Fire 9 Moloch cast Fire Shield, you'll quickly see that damage, at least, rises quite a lot.

Re: Astral Shield
 

I think f9 gives you 15ap damage, right?

Re: Astral Shield
 

I just assumed because of the charcol shield it was fixed. Normally you can tell because of the + in the spell dscription if the spell can be powered up. Fire shield has no such marker in the description, as I doubt any of the damage via buff spells do.

Do all improve will higher spell paths? Does a 9w mage get more bang out of Breath of winter for instance?

Re: Astral Shield
 

not sure, its alot easier to tell with spells that have range/dame with a + on it