D&D 5E Mage Armor Criticisms

[ren1999]

The Dungeon Master and the Player never wants to track 1 hour of Mage Armor. Giving spells time limitations like this is frustrating. Just give spells an encounter duration not a 15 minute or 1 hour duration. Mage Armor is a O level spell so it is At-Will according to the rules. And just assume that the first thing the caster does when going into combat, is to cast Mage Armor.

Why does Mage Armor add the caster's dexterity modifier to his armor class? A caster is likely to have a lower dexterity than his intelligence. Mage Armor should add the intelligence modifier which is the primary ability of a caster to his armor class. Intelligence Mod = magic mod.

So, just increase the caster's armor class permanently by adding the intelligence modifier and be done with it.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'm actually hoping they add time tracking to the whole of the game, but can understand it when there are simply too many tedious details to track alongside it.

 

[edhel]

The Dungeon Master and the Player never wants to track 1 hour of Mage Armor. Giving spells time limitations like this is frustrating. Just give spells an encounter duration not a 15 minute or 1 hour duration. Mage Armor is a O level spell so it is At-Will according to the rules. And just assume that the first thing the caster does when going into combat, is to cast Mage Armor.

Why does Mage Armor add the caster's dexterity modifier to his armor class? A caster is likely to have a lower dexterity than his intelligence. Mage Armor should add the intelligence modifier which is the primary ability of a caster to his armor class. Intelligence Mod = magic mod.

So, just increase the caster's armor class permanently by adding the intelligence modifier and be done with it.

1. False. 1 hour duration is no pain to track. It's just a short hand for 'lasts way longer than an encounter'.

2. 0 level spell doesn't mean it is at-will in the current version. You might take a tradition that gives you it as an at-will but the rules will be in flux for over a year so we'll see what we end up with.

3. Mage Armor gives you +2 to AC (12 + dexterity modifier) so I don't even understand what you are complaining about. You misunderstood the text? Every character gets +dex mod to AC if they're not wearing medium or heavy mundane armor.

4. I don't see why wizard should get their best stat to their AC. What's the justification for that? They're usually in their robes and not very good at punching or dodging things.

 

[Gorgoroth]

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+1. It's for that reason that dexterity cradles two sorts of stats, I guess you could say muscle training and a form of intelligence, conditioning of your central nervous system, specific to hand-eye coordination and general deftness of movement. It's not purely mental, and not purely physical either. So I don't think it's fair at all to give Int-mod for To-hit or To-Damage, for weapon-based attacks, or to AC.

Mage Armor I would have preferred being an at-will spell that required concentration to uphold, so that if you wish to cast another spell it drops at that point. You can always bring it back up again next round, but it's like lowering your deflector shields to fire a torpedo.

And that brings me to the current incarnation of Shield spell, which just sucks and is way too situational to be worth memorizing. How many enemy wizards are you likely to face in your career who are hurlling Magic Missiles at you? You should rather blast them to bits in retaliation with a lightning bolt for being so stingy in their use of spells against you. That'll teach you to underestimate me, Bavmorda!

What I'd rather have Shield be was a reaction that negates all damage against any attack spell that would otherwise cause you to drop. Sort of like a built-in contingency spell, hardcoded to that trigger as it were (you losing consciousness or life). 4e had a much better implementation.

Action economy is important, and a defensive spell in your back pocket is your get-out-of-the-morgue-free card. Keeping one or two in your back pocked would be good. Like activating the Omega-13. Just negates whatever attack would have dropped you. Or to make it less powerful and must-have, make it trigger on any hit, so you always send in the jabronis (kobolds) to get rid of PC casters' shield backup generator.

 

[Crowsion]

I'm only going to say something about the spell duration thing, because it's late and i need sleep soon.

The way i track time, is mostly done by the number of short rests the party takes. In my games we have it set at 30 minutes. 10 seems to short to aquatically apply bandages (healing kits) to wounds in that amount of time, and if they were they would be really rushed and be of poor quality.

Since every round is 6 seconds, if it has a duration longer than 1 minute, we don't bother tracking it because every player and monster would have to act 10 times in a single encounter before that spell would expire. I find that players get around 3 turns per encounter, sometimes more, but very early on we can tell how long it is likely to take. Then consider tracking anything with a duration longer than 30 seconds accordingly.

So, i would just simple say don't worry to the wizard, with that casting of mage armour you can have it for the next 2 encounters.

 

[Vegepygmy]

The Dungeon Master and the Player never wants to track 1 hour of Mage Armor. Giving spells time limitations like this is frustrating. Just give spells an encounter duration not a 15 minute or 1 hour duration.

Totally disagree with you. Abstract durations like "1 encounter" break immersion for me and push toward a style of play I don't care for at all.

 

[Jack99]

Yes please, let's measure time in actual time, please.

 

[ren1999]

I'm not following you. If we use actual time to expire spells then players who go to the bathroom during the game affect the spell durations. I know that is not what you are implying. Durations should be measured in rounds and turns.

If you are implying that one turn should be 6 seconds, fine. But be specific about that. Easier to call it just a turn.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'm not following you. If we use actual time to expire spells then players who go to the bathroom during the game affect the spell durations. I know that is not what you are implying. Durations should be measured in rounds and turns.

If you are implying that one turn should be 6 seconds, fine. But be specific about that. Easier to call it just a turn.

I think he means to use actual units of time, rather than the metagame terms. As in "an hour" rather than "lasts two encounters".

 

[MoonSong]

I'm not following you. If we use actual time to expire spells then players who go to the bathroom during the game affect the spell durations. I know that is not what you are implying. Durations should be measured in rounds and turns.

If you are implying that one turn should be 6 seconds, fine. But be specific about that. Easier to call it just a turn.

then we should just be calling feet squares?